James Oberstar

Mr. OBERSTAR

Mr. OBERSTAR. Madam Speaker, it is my great pleasure to congratulate the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO as this strong voice for transportation workers marks its 20th anniversary. Transportation is at the core of our daily lives and our economy. From ancient civilization through the present day, the quality of transportation serves as a true measure of a society. How well do people live their daily lives? How quickly and efficiently can people and goods get from one place to another? Does the quality of transportation strengthen or weaken an economy? As we map the vision for our future, we must keep asking these questions. Are we doing all we can to invest in modern, safe, and efficient transportation? Are the workers in this industry as well- trained, experienced, and prepared as possible? Are they treated with respect and dignity? Are they trusted and empowered? Do their wages and working conditions help--or hurt--the ability to attract and retain good men and women for these jobs? The work of the Transportation Trades Department (TTD), of the AFL- CIO lies at the heart of these questions. In every major transportation policy debate in Washington over the past 20 years, TTD has been front and center, providing an honest, substantive, and respected voice on behalf of millions of transportation workers. TTD brings their voices to those in public office, helping forge far better policy and decision-making than if the organization did not exist. TTD has always had the courage and conviction to demand accountability, to make sure that public and private sector transportation leaders are truly placing safety and our national transportation network's true needs ahead of ideology and profit. In an industry--and world--that has been so turbulent in recent years, the value of TTD's vigilant watchdog role is priceless. As the Chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, I can count on TTD to bring integrity, intellectual depth, and refreshing clarity to my Committee and the entire Congress. I have long valued TTD as a trusted friend and ally, and its substantive, bipartisan approach has often been helpful in bringing about consensus on important issues. As my committee has engaged in enacting critical legislation--from the surface transportation bill to the FAA reauthorization bill, from the Coast Guard reauthorization to Amtrak and rail safety reauthorization--TTD has been a comprehensive and credible resource. Its member unions are on the front lines of our transportation network--whether on the ground, in the air or at sea. The accomplishments of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO are far too many to enumerate. But to me, ensuring that transportation workers have a seat at the table, and a voice that is heard in key policy debates, has been the organization's greatest contribution to our nation. I congratulate TTD on 20 outstanding years, and look forward to many more.

Mr. OBERSTAR

Mr. OBERSTAR. Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H. Res. 1085, introduced by the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Brown), which honors and celebrates the numerous contributions of African- Americans to the transportation and infrastructure of the United States. As we celebrate National African American History Month this February, we recognize the contributions that African-Americans have made to American history through art, politics, business, and science. Today, we are taking time to recognize the significant and extensive contributions African-Americans have made to the transportation systems that connect our nation, bringing communities together and enabling economic growth and prosperity across the country. Whether we are talking about the development of our world class aviation system, or our highways or railways, African-Americans have played an important role in the development of our nation's transportation systems throughout history. In aviation, as a result of the leadership of Cornelius R. Coffey in establishing the Coffey School of Aeronautics at Harlem Airport in Chicago, more than 1,500 African-American students were trained as pilots and mechanics from 1938 and 1945. Many of the students of the Coffey School of Aeronautics went on to become Tuskegee Airmen. The Tuskegee Airmen were the first African-American airmen, aircraft and engine mechanics, armament specialists, radio repairmen, parachute riggers, control tower operators, policemen and administrative clerks during World War II. The service and performance of the Tuskegee Airmen was instrumental in ending segregation in the United States military. Benjamin Banneker, a self-educated scientist, astronomer, surveyor, almanac author, writer and farmer, is known for many things including helping to survey the boundaries of what is now the District of Columbia. In addition, the precursor to the modern day traffic light was invented by Garret A. Morgan, who is credited with the design of the Automatic Traffic Signal. Through innovation and invention, African-Americans have had a profound impact on the development of our world class railway system. One of the most notable inventors, Granville T. Woods, patented dozens of devices during his life to improve the railroad system, including one very notable invention that has improved railway safety by reducing accidents and collisions. In 1887, Mr. Woods invented the Synchronous Multiplex Railway Telegraph that enabled communications between moving and stationary trains, helping railroad engineers to determine the distance between trains for the first time, and thereby substantially enhancing safety. Through the Civil Rights movement, many influential African- Americans, such as Rosa Parks and Homer Plessy, were leaders in social and political movements to desegregate transportation, while other African-American leaders worked to make significant improvements to the working conditions and rights of transportation workers throughout the nation. I note the significant contributions of the Pullman Porters, who worked on board passenger trains and who became leaders in the civil rights and labor movements when they formed the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters in 1925, under the leadership of civil rights leader A. Philip Randolph. The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters was the first African-American labor union to sign a collective bargaining agreement with a major U.S. corporation. The Brotherhood literally paved the way for union labor throughout this country, and fought tirelessly to improve the often harsh working conditions and low pay that Pullman Porters and others received. I urge my colleagues to join me in celebrating and honoring these African Americans and their important contributions to our nation's transportation and infrastructure systems by supporting H. Res. 1085.

Mr. OBERSTAR

Mr. OBERSTAR. Madam Speaker, together with Highways and Transit Subcommittee Chairman Peter A. DeFazio and the gentlewoman from Maryland (Ms. Edwards), I rise today to introduce the ``Public Transportation Safety Program Act of 2010'', by request of Secretary of Transportation Raymond H. LaHood. I commend the Department of Transportation (DOT) for focusing its first legislative proposal on improving transit safety, and I am pleased to work together with Secretary LaHood and Federal Transit Administrator Peter M. Rogoff on this important initiative. Currently, public transportation remains one of the safest modes of passenger travel. In recent years, the fatality rate for rail transit systems--such as subways and light rail--has decreased to just .002 fatalities per 100 million passenger miles. This is one of the lowest fatality rates of all surface transportation modes. At the same time, Americans are riding transit at record levels. The growth in transit ridership is almost triple the growth rate of the population, and substantially more than the growth rate for vehicle miles traveled on our nation's highways. This public transportation renaissance taking place in cities large and small across America further elevates the importance of transit safety, while also spotlighting an issue that is inextricably linked to safety--the state of good repair of public transit systems. Unfortunately, the state of good repair of many transit systems has not kept up with the influx of new riders. Maintenance levels at many public transit agencies have decreased to a point where older, less safe rail cars, tracks, electrical equipment, and other assets are left in service long after their useful life. According to the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), more than one-third of the total assets of the largest rail systems in the country are in either marginal or poor condition, and the estimated maintenance backlog for the nation's rail transit systems exceeds $80 billion. According to DOT's 2008 Status of the Nation's Highways, Bridges, and Transit: Conditions and Performance, an average of $21.1 billion in annual capital investment is needed to bring all transit assets to a good condition by 2026. This level of investment represents an annual increase of $8.3 billion--an increase of 64.8 percent--above current capital investment levels. In addition to addressing this maintenance backlog, the Federal Transit Administration should strengthen its role in rail transit safety oversight. Currently, there are no nationwide mandatory minimum standards for rail transit safety. Unlike the Federal Aviation Administration and the Federal Railroad Administration, the Federal Transit Administration does not have the authority to directly regulate public transit systems. Instead, FTA oversees a State Safety Oversight (SSO) program which puts the safety oversight and enforcement responsibility for rail transit systems on States rather than the Federal Government. However, the legal authorities of the various state oversight agencies are limited and vary widely from State to State. According to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report in 2006, some States employ as few as 0.1 or 0.2 full-time equivalent positions dedicated to the safety of rail transit systems they are required to oversee. GAO also found that many SSOs lack sufficient financial resources and independence from the transit systems under their purview. The relationship between the Federal Government and States is a partnership, and a culture of safety must permeate this relationship, including at the Federal level. As in all partnerships, when one partner does not do his or her job well, the other must step in to help achieve their shared goals. I commend the Obama administration for acknowledging the shortfalls of the current state-based safety system and I believe that the Department's proposal represents much needed improvements. It will assure that each State has an adequate number of fully-trained staff, that it has sufficient authority granted by the state legislature and governor, that it can compel compliance by the transit agencies, and that the state oversight entity has financial independence from the transit systems it oversees. I think those are reasonable propositions. Safety is our number one responsibility in transportation. I would also like to applaud Secretary Ray LaHood for his leadership on this critical safety issue, and for directing DOT to take intermodal initiatives to enhance transit safety. This is a nonpartisan issue-- protecting human life from injury or death. I appreciate the Secretary's decision to create a new, internal safety council designed to enhance the culture of safety at the Department. At a very basic level, we need to ensure that passengers feel completely safe as they board rail transit systems, as ensuring safety is a key component of creating livable communities, which is a goal that both Secretary LaHood and I share. I look forward to working with the Department of Transportation on this proposal during consideration of the comprehensive, long-term surface transportation authorization bill. Improving transportation safety across all modes is a core principle of the ``Surface Transportation Authorization Act'', and I look forward to working with the Administration to further strengthen its transit safety provisions.

Mr. OBERSTAR

Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 2843, as amended, a bill to provide for the joint appointment of the Architect of the Capitol by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the President pro tempore of the Senate, the majority and minority leaders of the House of Representatives and Senate, and the chairs and ranking minority members of the committees of Congress with jurisdiction over the Office of the Architect of the Capitol, and for other purposes. I extend my thanks to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Wasserman Schultz), Chairwoman of the Appropriations Committee, Subcommittee on Legislative Branch, and the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Aderholt), Ranking Member of the Subcommittee, as well as the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Brady), Chairman, and the gentleman from California (Mr. Lungren), Ranking Member of the Committee on House Administration, for their cooperation and willingness to work with the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure on this bill. The Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure has a long and productive association with the Office of the Architect of the Capitol. Under House rule X, section (r), the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure has jurisdiction over the Capitol Building and the House and Senate Office Buildings, in addition to public buildings and occupied or improved grounds of the United States generally. Over the years, the Committee has worked with the Architect's office on developing the Capitol Hill master plan, Capitol Hill Building fire and life safety programs, parking studies, and most recently on requirements in the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (P.L. 110-140) to ensure the energy efficiency of not only the House and Senate office buildings, but also to upgrade the Capitol Power Plant. This bill provides congressional leaders with authority to appoint the Architect of the Capitol, and the appointments process includes House as well as Senate leadership, both majority and minority. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 2843.

Mr. OBERSTAR

Mr. OBERSTAR. I thank the distinguished Chair of the Appropriations Committee, my good friend from across the waters in Wisconsin, Mr. Obey, and I applaud him for his extraordinary persistence and leadership in bringing to us this Jobs for Main Street Act. He has been consistent, persistent, forceful, vocal, and very laser beam-oriented on creating jobs. Madam Speaker, in this Jobs for Main Street, $39 billion is allocated to additional transportation and infrastructure investment to create and sustain family-wage construction jobs and, at the same time, rebuilding the Nation's highways and bridges and wastewater treatment systems. We extend in this provision the highway and highway safety and transit programs through September 30, 2010. There is $27.5 billion for highways, $8.4 billion for transit, as in the current Recovery Act. There is $800 million for Amtrak, $500 million for airports where an extraordinary success was achieved with nearly all of the airport projects being either completed or under contract on the job, improving our airport capacity. There is $1 billion for the Clean Water State Revolving Loan Funds to improve wastewater treatment facilities and to build new ones where they don't exist today. There is $715 million for the Corps of Engineers, and there is $100 million for ship construction to help our maritime interests. We have a highly successful record on that portion of the stimulus that comes from the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure from which both Mr. Obey and the distinguished Republican leader are graduates. There are 220,000 direct jobs on over 8,000 projects. There are 630,000 direct jobs and jobs in the supply chain, supplying asphalt, cement, pipe, concrete, and culverts for this program. There is $10 billion paid in payroll checks and $179 million in unemployment insurance compensation checks avoided, and there is $230 million in taxes paid to the Federal Government by those on these jobs, and there is more to come. The results: There are 28,000 miles of highway pavement--improved, widened, expanded--underway right now. That is what we have achieved to this day, and we have more to come. There are 1,200 bridges restored, repaired, replaced, and with this addition in the Jobs for Main Street Act, we will have 56,000 miles of pavement rebuilt in the coming year. That will be 10,000 miles more than the entire Interstate Highway System just in this one bill. That is an investment in America. I assure my colleagues that this Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure will continue its vigorous oversight and accountability and transparency. Every month, every Member has received this report from our committee, a report with 14 categories of progress for each State under these key programs. You can track how many funds are associated with projects completed, how many projects are underway, the total job hours created and sustained, and the total payroll for hours created or sustained in every month for every State. We are making this clear that we are accountable and that we are investing in America and that we will continue to do this under the Jobs for Main Street program. Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 2847, the ``Jobs for Main Street Act, 2010''. This bill provides more than $39 billion of additional transportation and infrastructure investment to help create and sustain family-wage construction jobs and rebuild our Nation's infrastructure. The bill also extends the highway, highway safety, and public transit programs for the current fiscal year, through September 30, 2010. One-half of the $75 billion provided by H.R. 2847 is dedicated to transportation infrastructure investment, including: $27.5 billion for highways, $8.4 billion for transit, $800 million for Amtrak, $500 million for airports, and $100 million for ship construction. In addition, H.R. 2847 provides $11 billion for other infrastructure investment, including $1 billion for Clean Water State Revolving Funds and $715 million for Corps of Engineers infrastructure investments. Each of these investments is paid for--we use the Wall Street bailout funds to rebuild Main Street. These investments will build upon the investments already underway pursuant to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (P.L. 111-5) (Recovery Act), and will create and sustain more than 1 million good, family-wage jobs. The transportation and infrastructure investments of the Recovery Act have already played a key role in putting Americans back to work. Federal agencies, States, and their local partners have demonstrated they can deliver transportation and infrastructure projects and create urgently needed employment in the tight timeframes set forth in the Recovery Act. This Act has already resulted in almost 7,900 highway and transit projects breaking ground as well as hundreds of thousands of workers getting off the bench and back on the job all across the Nation. However, we have only begun to stem the tide of unemployment caused by the worst recession since the Great Depression. More than 1.7 million construction workers are out of work and the unemployment rate in construction is 19.4 percent--the highest unemployment rate of any industrial sector. In addition, the private sector construction market has collapsed. At a recent hearing of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, the president of an asphalt supply company testified that, although historically his company has received one-half of its work from the private sector and one-half of its work from the public sector, 98.5 percent of his current business is public sector work. To make matters worse, State budget crises are severely limiting States' ability to move fcrward with their own infrastructure programs or find matching funds for Federal transportation programs. Although the critical investments made by the Recovery Act have stemmed the tide of unemployment in the construction industry, they have not been sufficient to completely counteract the loss of private sector and State investments. Congress must act now to pass the ``Jobs for Main Street Act, 2010'', and build upon the successes of the Recovery Act. The Jobs Act ``doubles down'' on the highway and transit investments of the Recovery Act and will immediately create and sustain jobs. The Jobs Act provides almost $36 billion for highway and transit investment and much of it can be, and will be, put to use within 90 days for ready-to-go projects. According to a December 2009 American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, AASHTO, survey of State Departments of Transportation, there are 7,497 ready-to-go highway and bridge projects, totaling $47.3 billion. Furthermore, according to a December 2009 American Public Transportation Association, APTA, survey, there are thousands of ready-to-go transit projects, totaling $15 billion. In addition, Congress must also act now to extend the core Federal highway, highway safety, and transit programs. The long-term authorization for these programs, SAFETEA-LU, expired on September 30, 2009. Since then, these programs have been extended on a short-term basis at a funding level that is about $12 billion below the fiscal year 2009 authorized level. H.R. 3326, the fiscal year 2010 Defense appropriations bill, will provide an additional short-term extension of these programs, to February 28, 2010, but still at the reduced funding level. H.R. 2847 includes the Surface Transportation Extension Act (STEA) of 2009, which extends the highway, highway safety, and transit programs through September 30, 2010, at the levels assumed in the FY 2010 budget resolution. This one-year extension will provide greater certainty for States in their transportation planning, and increase funding to nearly the FY 2009 authorized level. STEA also includes provisions that will stabilize the Highway Trust Fund. Specifically, STEA restores to the Highway Trust Fund interest payments foregone on the Trust Fund's previous cash balances. Since 1998, the Trust Fund has been the only major Federal trust fund that does not accrue interest. The restoration of interest for this period, 1998-2009, results in transferring $14.7 billion to the Highway Account of the Highway Trust Fund, and $4.8 billion to the Mass Transit Account of the Highway Trust Fund. In addition, STEA allows the Highway Trust Fund to accrue interest on all balances going forward, which will increase Trust Fund receipts by an estimated $500 million to $1 billion annually, in the near-term. Finally, under STEA, the General Fund, rather than the Highway Trust Fund, will support longstanding fuel tax exemptions, such as those provided to State and local governments. Full refund payments will continue to be made from the General Fund, but the Highway Trust Fund will no longer bear the cost of these refunds. The end user will see no change in their process for obtaining a refund. This provision will increase Trust Fund revenues by about $1.7 billion annually, for a total of $9.8 billion over six years. I regret that the Other Body was unable to complete action on a multi-year surface transportation bill this year. I urge the Senate to focus on the needs of the millions of Americans who are without jobs or who are in danger of losing their jobs, Americans who are struggling to provide for their families, and desperately need the jobs that would be created not only by the bill before us today, but also by a long- term authorization of surface transportation programs. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 2847, the ``Jobs for Main Street Act, 2010''.

Mr. OBERSTAR

Mr. OBERSTAR. Madam Chair, I rise in strong support of the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. This legislation will protect consumers, end the concept that an institution is ``too big to fail'', and ensure that the American people never again have to be the lifeline for failing Wall Street firms. The failure of President Bush and a Republican Congress to regulate financial markets and to reign in excessive greed has had devastating consequences for families in northeastern Minnesota and across this country. In short, we have lived through the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. Irresponsible lending and bets by speculators against the housing market led to a mortgage meltdown that sent the Nation into a deep recession. By the fall of 2008, the failure of major Wall Street firms put in jeopardy our entire economy and threatened jobs in every community. Families watched as the value of their college and retirement investments were decimated. Excessive greed threatened the very livelihood of most Americans. As families in my district have been facing layoffs, stagnant wages, and reduced hours, the greed of Wall Street has shown no restraint. Last year, the Nation's nine largest banks ran up more than $81 billion in losses, and they accepted tens of billions of dollars in emergency aid from taxpayers. The culture of Wall Street led these institutions to respond with more than $33 billion in bonuses. Where else is such reckless performance so highly rewarded? Today, the House takes a bold step towards changing the rules of Wall Street. In the e-mails and phone calls that I have received from across Minnesota, my constituents have sent a resounding message. They work hard to earn their pay, to pay their bills, and hopefully, to have a little left over at the end of the month. They play by the rules, and expect others to do the same. This legislation places Wall Street under some of the common-sense rules that people on Main Street live by every day. That means no institution is ``too-big-to-fail'', failure will not earn a taxpayer-funded bailout, speculators will no longer be able to hide behind an unregulated marketplace, shareholders will be given a say on executive compensation, and consumers will be protected from confusing and abusive financial products. My constituents have asked me to focus on creating jobs. This legislation is part of that effort, and I am pleased to support this necessary reform.

Mr. OBERSTAR

Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H. Res. 907, recognizing the Grand Concourse on its 100th anniversary as the preeminent thoroughfare in the borough of the Bronx, which serves as an important nexus of commerce and culture for the City of New York. I commend the gentleman from New York (Mr. Serrano) for his work on this Resolution. Designed by Louis Aloys Risse and opened to the public in 1909, this beautiful, tree-lined thoroughfare was first conceived of in 1890 as a means of connecting the borough of Manhattan to the northern Bronx. The original cost of the project was $14 million, the equivalent of $340 million today. Over the past 100 years, this investment has leveraged significant private and public economic development activity in the Bronx, and has served as the backdrop to many historic New York City landmarks. Among these landmarks is the Loews Paradise Theater--at one time the largest movie theater in New York City--which was constructed in 1929 along the Grand Concourse. In 1923, the old Yankee Stadium opened near the Grand Concourse at 161st Street and has remained an important landmark in the surrounding Bronx community ever since. Over the course of its 100 years, the Grand Concourse has played a longstanding role in defining the Bronx community, serving as the central north-south artery of the borough. For over 4 miles, the Grand Concourse is lined by several parks, fountains, and other pedestrian- friendly community treasures. The apartment buildings along the Grand Concourse have been home to the likes of Babe Ruth, Stanley Kubrick, Milton Berle and other famous New Yorkers over the years. Reflecting much of the tumultuous history of the Bronx itself, the Grand Concourse is preparing for the rebirth and restoration of key social, economic and environmental infrastructure. Recently, $18 million was committed to upgrading the Grand Concourse to make it more pedestrian-friendly and to restore the roadway's beauty that has made it vital to the cultural and economic development of the Bronx for 100 years. Mr. Speaker, it is for these great contributions to the City of New York and to the Borough of the Bronx over the past 100 years that I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting H. Res. 907.

Mr. OBERSTAR

Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to support H.R. 4165, a bill to extend authority of the Secretary of the Army to accept funds from non-Federal public entities for the consideration of permits under the Clean Water Act and the Rivers and Harbor Act of 1899. This language is modeled after language included in the Water Resources Development Act of 2007 that included a short-term extension of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, corps, section 214 permit review authority. That authority expires at the end of the current calendar year, and this legislation will continue the program through the end of December 2010. I have been carefully monitoring the implementation of this authority. While this authority is very popular for the local public entities that have used it, we need to ensure that this authority does not affect the objectivity of the regulator. In May 2007, the Government Accountability Office, GAO, issued a report, upon my request, which expressed concern with the overall implementation of the section 214 authority. This report recommended several improvements to increase the overall transparency and impartiality of corps' permit reviews conducted with outside funds. Earlier this year, I requested GAO to reevaluate whether these recommendations had been implemented by the corps. In November, the staff of the Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment received a briefing by GAO that suggested additional improvements to the program were still warranted. As a track record of implementation develops, the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, committee, will have an opportunity to further review the implementation of this authority, and ensure that the corps' review of permit applications is a fair and equitable process. The committee will further consider this issue next year during its development of the Water Resource Development Act. However, because that process will take place after the existing program authority expires, it is appropriate that we provide for an additional, short- term extension of the section 214 authority. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 4165.

Mr. OBERSTAR

Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 1854, offered by the gentleman from California (Mr. Lewis), to amend the Water Resources Development Act of 1992 to modify an environmental infrastructure project for Big Bear Lake, California. The Big Bear Lake project was originally authorized in Water Resources Development Act of 2007 for the purpose of wastewater treatment at a funding level of $15 million. This bill modifies the Big Bear Lake Project, reducing the authorized funding to $9 million and changing the project purpose to water supply infrastructure. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 1854.

Mr. OBERSTAR

Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 3224, a bill to authorize the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution to plan, design and construct a vehicle maintenance facility at the vehicle maintenance branch of the Smithsonian Institution located in Suitland, Maryland. Currently the bulk of the Smithsonian's vehicle maintenance is conducted from the National Zoo's General Services Building. The Vehicle Maintenance Branch is responsible for maintenance, repair, and fueling of more than 780 Smithsonian vehicles and pieces of equipment valued at over $17 million. However, the vehicle maintenance operations over the years have become incompatible with the other needs of the General Services Building. After researching the potential of leasing a facility, the Smithsonian Institution determined the most economical method of housing its fleet management and maintenance operations was to request authority to build a facility on government-owned property located in Suitland, Maryland. Transferring the vehicle maintenance operations to a new site will increase the ability of the Smithsonian to use alternative fuels in its vehicles. The proposed site at Suitland currently has both a compressed natural gas fueling station and a gasoline fueling station. Furthermore, the Smithsonian plans to install E-85 and bio-diesel above-ground fuel tanks at the facility. The Zoo's General Services Building does not have the space available to accommodate these alternative fuel tanks. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 3224. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. OBERSTAR

Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 4217, the ``Fiscal Year 2010 Federal Aviation Administration Extension Act, Part II''. The previous long-term Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reauthorization act, the Vision 100--Century of Aviation Reauthorization Act (P.L. 108-176) expired on September 30, 2007. Although the House passed an FAA reauthorization bill last Congress, the Senate did not, resulting in the need for a series of short-term extension acts that, unfortunately, continues to this day. At the outset of this Congress, the House again passed a long-term FAA reauthorization bill. On May 21, 2009, the House passed H.R. 915, the ``FAA Reauthorization Act of 2009'', which reauthorizes FAA programs for fiscal years (FY) 2010 through 2012. However, this legislation is still pending in the Senate, as the other body has been unable to complete action on a long-term FAA reauthorization bill. Given that the current authority for aviation programs expires on December 31, an extension of current law is necessary to continue financing of aviation programs until a multi-year reauthorization bill can be completed. H.R. 4217 provides a three-month extension of aviation programs, through March 31, 2010. H.R. 4217 provides $2 billion in contract authority for the Airport Improvement Program (AIP) through the end of March. This $2 billion will enable airports to move forward with important safety and capacity projects. When annualized, this level of AIP funding equals $4 billion, which is consistent with both the House and Senate FAA reauthorization bills, and the FY 2010 Concurrent Budget Resolution. The bill also authorizes appropriations for FAA Operations, Facilities and Equipment (F&E), and Research, Engineering, and Development (RE&D) programs, consistent with average funding levels of the FY 2010 House-approved appropriations bill and the Senate-approved appropriations bill. In addition, H.R. 4217 extends the aviation excise taxes through March 31, 2010. These taxes are necessary to support the Airport and Airway Trust Fund, which funds a substantial portion of the FAA's budget. With an uncommitted cash balance of just $251 million at the end of FY 2009, any lapse in the aviation taxes could put the solvency of the Trust Fund at risk. In addition to extending the aviation taxes, H.R. 4217 extends the FAA's authority to make expenditures from the Airport and Airway Trust Fund through March 2010. To allow aviation programs to continue under the same terms and conditions as were in effect during the previous authorization period, H.R. 4217 also extends several other provisions of Vision 100. I thank Chairman Rangel, Chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means, for introducing this measure, and for his assistance in ensuring the continued operation of aviation programs. I also thank Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Camp and my Committee colleagues, Ranking Member Mica, Subcommittee Chairman Costello, and Subcommittee Ranking Member Petri, for working with me on this critical legislation. I strongly urge my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 4217.

Mr. OBERSTAR

Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Chairman, I do thank Chairman Gordon for the splendid work that his committee has done and the cooperation that we've had with the Committee on Science and Technology and that of the Committee on Homeland Security with the gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Thompson). We've worked very well together and very diligently to bring this very important Fire Grants Reauthorization Act to the House floor. Many fire departments in my district point with great pride and with gratitude to the fire trucks, the breathing equipment, the protective clothing, the radios, the other technology they have received through this valuable program. These are small grants, often just $2,500 to maybe a quarter of a million dollars for a new fire truck, but desperately needed in small communities and rural areas, replacing equipment, often more than 40 years old, or new gear to combat new issues such as fires at meth labs in the countryside or as we call it, the back woods of Northern Minnesota. The fire department needs that equipment, whether to combat a house fire or a chemical spill or a fire in the center of small communities. The FIRE grants program goes back to the year 2000 and predates the horrific events of September 11. It was never intended to be a terrorism preparedness program, but the Department of Homeland Security made it one. And in recent years, I've been concerned by reports, and I've met with the small fire departments that didn't receive a grant because they could not show a specific connection to terrorism. Our terror in Northern Minnesota is fire. Our terror is blizzards, tornados, floods. Those are the things that we need, and we need to be prepared for.

Mr. OBERSTAR. There are a lot of organizations that support this legislation. I just want to mention Pete Makowski, my district staff person in Northern Minnesota who is a volunteer firefighter who has introduced me to these issues and to these concerns, has brought me together with the volunteer fire departments in my district. And I just want to say, the pleasure, the joy, the pride that those volunteer firefighters have in getting this small bit of assistance is overwhelming to me. I am so pleased that we have in this legislation very clear language that these small firefighting organizations do not have to show that they're combating weapons of mass destruction.

Mr. OBERSTAR. I thank the gentleman for the time. I'm sure that the gentleman has the same experience with small volunteer firefighters who have to hire a grant application writer to fill out forms this thick. That's absurd. I think we changed that in this legislation and we take away this need to show a connection with terrorism. Our terror is fire. That's all we need to be prepared for.

Mr. OBERSTAR

Mr. OBERSTAR. I thank the distinguished Chair, Mr. Ackerman, for the time and compliment my colleague. Hvala lepa, moj Slovaski prijatelj, and we're all together. What I said simply was thank you. And I'm Slovene, you're Slovak, and we're all together in the spirit of the Slovak peoples yearning for freedom after conquest by foreign powers, domination by other governments, subjection to cultures and language of other peoples. I recall my grandmother who emigrated from Sodrazica in Slovenia telling me that in her youth they were required in the morning to study in German because it was the Austro-Hungarian empire, and only in the afternoon could they speak their native language, Slovene. This sense of Congress on the occasion of the 20th anniversary particularly of the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia is one that we must pay attention to, that we must address. As the distinguished gentleman from Florida so warmly, thoughtfully, with deep spirit, a deep personal sense of understanding so well expressed, the freedom that peoples of formerly Eastern Europe felt in their heart, the courage they took, the courage it took for them to stand up against oppression. It's not just the Velvet Revolution. A hundred sixty-one years ago was the great Prague Revolution. The Prague Spring of 1848 when the people of this great historic cultural center, Prague, marched to the streets, led by the students, to proclaim a time of freedom and democracy and liberty and opening and were suppressed. In 1939, the Nazis closed the Czech institutions of higher learning and those of the Slovak people as well. Many were sent off to concentration camps. Student leaders were executed. And 50 years later, students again led the way. On November 17, they took to the streets to mark the anniversary of the execution of Czech student leaders and the closure of universities by the Nazis. The government used violence once again to move in, break up this peaceful gathering of students. So we have the Prague Spring, the 1939 suppression, the Velvet Revolution, suppression once again. Those 42 days of the Prague-Velvet Revolution were momentous, popular demonstrations, public outpouring, people taking to the streets. But by December 10, the Czechoslovak President Gustav Husak appointed the first largely noncommunist government since 1948. And in 1990, Czechoslovakia held its first democratic elections and then split into both the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic. It has very special meaning for me both at the Prague Spring, the 1939 events, closing of the universities and the Prague student Velvet Revolution. In 1956, I was a student at the College of Europe in Brugge, Belgium.

Mr. OBERSTAR. I was a student at the College of Europe in Brugge, Belgium, when Hungarian students took to the streets to rise up against the Soviet occupation and oppression of their homeland, and they too were suppressed brutally as tanks rolled down the street and machine- gunned students. We were only 600 miles away from those momentous events in Brugge, Belgium. And students of the College of Europe organized a grand bal des etudiants du College de L'Europe, raised a scholarship to bring a Hungarian student to the College of Europe to study with us. And when he arrived, we asked him, What was your first reaction on coming into the West? And his comment was, The ability to walk up to a policeman on a street corner and ask direction without fear of being put in prison. That's what freedom means. So simple. That's what the gentleman from Florida was talking about. That's what this resolution recognizes. A revolution is not simply a continuous movement in one direction to come back where you started but an opportunity to change direction and move the human spirit ahead, and that is what we recognize in this 20th anniversary recognition of the Velvet Revolution.

Mr. OBERSTAR

Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, I thank the Chair of the subcommittee, Mr. Cummings, for his leadership on this issue, and Mr. LoBiondo for his participation in the hearings that we've held and the markup in the crafting of this very important legislation. It's an issue that I've been dealing with for 35 years, since I've served in the House. I started my service, of course, on the Public Works Committee, as it was called then, but also on the Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee, which has jurisdiction over our waters and the water environment and the ocean environment. Many years ago I gave a talk to a maritime group and quoted the poet Coleridge, citing our ocean environment and the ocean itself as deep, dark, heaving, endless and mysterious. Deep it is. Deeper than perhaps the Himalaya chain. Dark in its greatest depths, heaving in the worst of storms, mysterious, and we are beginning to unlock the mysteries of the ocean. Endless it is not. Endless has given rise to the notion we can discharge whatever refuge we have of humanity into the ocean because it is endless. It is not. The drift nets that continue to kill with no social redeeming purpose; the trash of plastic that we discharge into the oceans and that gather in a swirl where Pacific Ocean currents meet and gather thousands of square miles of plastics that are ingested by whales, and one was found starving because it had ingested so much Styrofoam it couldn't process food. It is not endless. And neither are the chemicals that we discharge into it. They don't just fall harmlessly into the bottom and go out of sight. They enter into the food chain. I learned in my earliest service on the Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee and on the Merchant Marine Subcommittee the need to protect the hull and vessels from fouling, that our large, deep, draft merchant vessels can accumulate up to 6,000 tons of plants--yes, plants that will grow and the accumulation on the hulls--and creatures and shellfish and, of course, the well-known and oft-referenced barnacles. And that accumulation can slow down the vessel, can cause up to a 40- percent reduction in speed and 40-percent increase in fuel. And science was enlisted to find a coating for hulls that would inhibit plant growth, and they found one: tributyltin. And like so many of these great discoveries, it has terrible side effects. It is causing shell deformation in oysters, neurotoxic and genetic effects in other marine species, and it's been found in the fatty tissue of whales and dolphins and sharks and other sea creatures. And it just goes on into the food chain. It is like PCB on land. We have to stop this. There is happily an international convention on toxics in the marine environment, and we need to be a part of that. We need to be a leader, even though our merchant fleet has gone downhill. From the time I was elected and took office in 1975, we had 800 merchant vessels in the fleet. We were eighth in the world's fleets. That was dead last. But at one time we had 25 million dead weight tons of shipping, we had 5,500 merchant vessels. We were number one in the world. Well, now the Cosco, the Chinese shipping company, is the number one, they have the greatest number of vessels. They have 25 million dead weight tons of merchant shipping.

Mr. OBERSTAR. I thank the gentleman. And the Maersk fleet of Denmark now carrying 13,000 containers on vessels a thousand feet in length, and other behemoths that ply the waters. And they are all accumulating these organisms and this tributyltin material being applied to the hulls. And it's all being sloughed off into the oceans So while we are, as a flag-carrier nation, small in the picture, our leadership is still huge. We have to take this step, this important step to prevent the continued pollution of the oceans and of their marine life within it so that some day we can return to Coleridge and find the ocean deep, dark, heaving, endless, and mysterious; and clean, inhabitable, useful for itself and for humanity. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 3618, the ``Clean Hull Act of 2009''. I thank the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Mica), the Ranking Member of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Subcommittee Chairman Cummings and Ranking Member LoBiondo for their bipartisan support of this much needed legislation. Enacting H.R. 3618 will make the necessary changes in U.S. law to comply with the requirements of the International Convention on the Control of Harmful Antifouling Systems on Ships (Convention), which was adopted by the International Maritime Organization in October 2001 and entered into force on September 17, 2008. Biological fouling is the unwanted accumulation of microorganisms, plants, and animals on structures that are exposed to the marine environment. Fouling can accelerate corrosion on a vessel's hull and on offshore and coastal marine structures. Antifouling is the process of removing or preventing the accumulation of biological fouling organisms. In less than six months, a deep draft tank vessel's hull can accumulate up to 6,000 tons of fouling material if it is not treated with an antifouling application. Such fouling can cause significant economic and environmental impacts by increasing a vessel's fuel consumption by up to 40 percent. Biological fouling has also been a conduit for the transfer of invasive species into ecosystems. Over the past 50 years, there have been a number of antifouling substances used to treat structures, but the most toxic to date has been tributyltin (TBT). Over time, TBT has been found in marine animals (including dolphins and whales) and in the waters of marinas, ports, harbors, open seas, and oceans. TBT has caused significant environmental and monetary impact by causing shell deformations in oysters, and neurotoxic and genetic effects in other marine species. Since 2000, the Environmental Protection Agency has prohibited the sale or application of paints containing TBT in the United States by enforcing the Organotin Anti-Fouling Paint Control Act of 1988 (OAPCA). In OAPCA, organotin-based antifouling paints are prohibited on some vessels less than 25 meters and the leaching rate of antifouling paints on larger vessels is limited. H.R. 3618 will ban all vessels using antifouling paint containing TBT from entering the United States, further protecting our marine environment from this dangerous chemical. It also prohibits a person from selling or distributing organotin or an antifouling system containing organotin and from applying an antifouling system containing organotin on any ship to which H.R. 3618 applies. H.R. 3618 will give the Coast Guard and Environmental Protection Agency the authority to ban foreign-flag ships from entering the United States if they have their hulls covered with paint containing TBT. The Convention will ultimately replace the OAPCA. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 3618, the ``Clean Hull Act of 2009''.

Mr. OBERSTAR

Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. I want to thank Mr. Bishop for his leadership on this issue, but especially the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Gerlach) who had the foresight and the tenacity of concern to draft this resolution and call national attention to the subject of safe driving, particularly on this busiest travel weekend of the year, the Thanksgiving holiday time. It is particularly poignant to me as nearly every year our daughter, Noelle; her husband, Todd; granddaughters, Emma, Lily, and Coryn, drive from Kenosha, Wisconsin, to Washington for Thanksgiving and back, 13- plus hours on the road. This year they are flying. My daughter Corrine and her husband, Steve, will come down from Pennsylvania near Mr. Gerlach's district and drive back, and it always bothers me there is so much traffic in the I-95 corridor which is so heavily traveled. It takes me back to the beginning of the interstate highway system, the driving force behind the interstate. Far more than congestion on the Nation's roadways, movement of goods and people, was the prospect in 1955, the rising number of highway fatalities, that if we didn't do something, in less than a decade, more than 100,000 people would be dying on the Nation's roadways. My predecessor, John Blatnik, who was one of the five coauthors of the interstate highway system, told me repeatedly when I was his administrative assistant that that was the driving force, the fear that we would continue to have carnage on the Nation's roadways, that drove the Congress, that pushed the Eisenhower administration to taking action to revive the study initiated under then-President Roosevelt just before the end of World War II that resulted in a recommendation of a 44,000-mile highway network for the continental United States. Eisenhower then designated General Lucius Clay to resurrect that study. The Clay Commission came back and reported what became the National System of Interstate and Defense Highways. Fatalities were in the range of 55,000 a year. We brought that down over 50 years to 43,000. Half of those are related to alcohol. Half of the fatal accidents are urban residents driving on rural roads not accustomed to obstructed line of sight, to blind intersections, to ground fog, to whiteouts at intersections during winter months. So half of the fatalities occur in rural areas. Half of those who die in rural areas are from urban centers. We are all engaged together in the need for a safer driving environment. It was bad enough to have alcohol and drug abuse, but now distracted driving. Mr. Bishop referenced the Secretary's summit, as did Mr. Gerlach, on distracted driving just a few weeks ago. The Secretary is on his way to a conference in Moscow on safe driving. He left yesterday to lead the way among industrialized nations of the world to develop better information and take stronger action to improve safety on our roadways. The European Commission, in 5 years, has reduced their highway fatality from 55,000 a year to 43,000 in just 5 years. A centerpiece of their action in the European Transport Ministry was to ban cell phone use. In Portugal, it is a crime to use a cell phone while driving. Whether you are involved in an accident or not, traffic police are authorized to arrest persons who can then be prosecuted as criminals for using cell phones while driving. The European community is serious about this, and we need to get serious as well. This resolution will move us into a greater awareness, a broader general awareness of the need for improved attention to safety. Our transportation bill that has been reported from subcommittee and ready to come to the House floor will double the investment, over 6 years, in highway safety to $12-plus billion over 6 years. That is what we need to do. We have funding for awareness programs and we have funding for increased driver training and driver education responsibility and more truck safety. There are a whole range of initiatives that need to be undertaken and need to be funded. We need a 6-year transportation bill to do that. This administration needs to get on board with us, not spend the next year dithering about what kind of bill we need to have. We have got the bill. We have the ideas. We have the initiatives and the public support. We need to move ahead with this bill. Thank heavens for this resolution that will increase public awareness in this very critical time of year. Many millions of our fellow citizens take to the highways. They need to take to the highways safely and come home safely.

Mr. OBERSTAR

Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman, Mr. Cummings, for the prodigious work done, the hearing preparation, not just the hearing, but preparation for the hearing, gathering the information and steeping himself in the subject of the hearing and gathering all the data, and then working to shape the ultimate legislation. He has done a superb job, as has Mr. LoBiondo, our ranking member, and former chairman of the subcommittee. I especially want to thank Ms. Matsui for her work at the behest of her constituent, having heard this terrible experience her constituent went through on that cruise experience. She then had the courage to testify at our committee hearing. That's really extraordinary. So determined was she to see justice done, to change the culture aboard cruise ships, the indifference we saw in this particular case, the indifference spread throughout this industry, to the plight of the rare but nonetheless experiences that cruise passengers go through. Some 10.5 million took a cruise vacation in 2007. That's a very sizable number of our constituency nationwide. There is only one U.S.-flagged cruise line, cruise vessel, I should say. There are over 200 cruise vessels that are registered under foreign flags. When crime occurs aboard those vessels, as was said earlier by both Mr. Cummings and Mr. LoBiondo, it's on the high seas, beyond the jurisdiction of the United States. But when that vessel comes into port, it is under our law. This is a law enforcement bill. And the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Shadegg) very well and thoughtfully and with great feeling described the experience of his constituent, the family of constituents of a woman who was actually lost. This legislation, as he pointed out, and as Mr. Cummings pointed out, provides a pathway to correcting those problems out into the future. But we have to get a bill passed. That is why we separated this bill from other legislation. There is already a hold on this bill in the other body. A Member of the other body is holding this bill up and insisting that a fee be imposed on cruise line passengers to pay for any Federal Government involvement. This is law enforcement. We don't ask our fellow citizens to pay a fee for their homes to be protected against burglary. We don't ask victims of rape to pay a fee to be protected against future rape. That is just--well, it's beyond description. I shouldn't say anything further. But we have to get a bill passed. And the Member of the other body who is insisting on those conditions needs to have a visit with reality. And the reality are those victims of violence aboard cruise ships. And this legislation will bridge the gaps between the rights of victims and the actual experiences they encounter, provide protection, provide access to assistance to victims of crime and give them the protection of U.S. law, extend that to those 10.5 million of our fellow citizens who take a cruise vacation so it will be a pleasant experience and not a nightmare. Mr. Speaker and colleagues, I just want to observe and thank the ranking member of the subcommittee, Mr. LoBiondo, that this particular bill, is the 200th bill of our committee in the 110th and now the 111th Congress, the 200th bill that we have moved through committee, and I expect soon through the House and one veto override, in the 2\1/2\ years under my chairmanship.

Mr. OBERSTAR. I want to thank my colleagues on the Democratic side and particularly my colleagues on the Republican side for the splendid participation we have had and the partnership we have enjoyed in moving together a legislative agenda for America, for the good of this country, a partnership that we extended during the years of the Republican majority from 1995 onward. It is a record of accomplishment that I think sets the standard for this body. And I appreciate the partnership that we have had, in particular Mr. Mica, who is the leader on the Republican side, and all of our colleagues on the committee, the 200th bill or resolution. It is a good day, a good day for America, a good day for our committee.

Mr. OBERSTAR

Mr. OBERSTAR. I thank the gentleman from Maryland again, the Chair of the Coast Guard Subcommittee, for his diligent work on this very tragic resolution. It is very important to pay recognition to those who lost their lives. I was very deeply touched by the remarks of the gentlewoman from California, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. LoBiondo) and Chairman Cummings. These are courageous servicemen and -women, those in the U.S. Coast Guard, those in the U.S. Marine Corps, our oldest service unit, which predates the establishment of our own Nation. The Coast Guard itself was the third act of the first session of the first Congress by this committee, the Committee on Rivers and Harbors, that established the Revenue Cutter Service to collect duties on inbound cargoes and repay the debts of the Revolutionary War. The Revenue Cutter Service later became the U.S. Coast Guard. That Coast Guard every year responds to over 60,000 calls for help, every year saves over 5,000 lives. It is tragic that in the course of their search and rescue service that Coast Guard men and women should have lost their lives. Now there is an investigation underway by the Navy and the Coast Guard jointly inquiring into the causes of this tragedy, hopefully for the purpose of unraveling that collision, but also to learn lessons to avoid such incidents in the future. This incident occurred in military- controlled airspace, airspace controlled by the U.S. Navy from an onshore facility at San Diego. The Coast Guard's C-130 had a data recorder on board. Search is underway to hopefully locate that data recorder and gain useful information about the circumstances under which the collision occurred. It was at twilight, it was at dusk. Very hard to distinguish and effectively operate under the rules of see and avoid. But there must be more at stake here. That C-130 was loaded with electronic equipment for detection of vessels or persons in the water, and one has to assume it had equipment to detect proximity of another aircraft. We have to unravel those facts and understand what occurred in order to avoid such circumstances in the future and engage the necessary training for personnel or install on board both helicopters and C-130- type aircraft traffic collision avoidance systems, which the Navy initiated 40 years ago and which is now aboard all commercial airliners. Unfortunately, the National Transportation Safety Board, at least at the outset, will not be engaged in the investigation. I'm of the view that the NTSB should be a partner in any such investigations of military aircraft in U.S. territorial airspace. That is a matter for another time, but as we pay tribute to and acknowledge those who gave their lives in service of this country in pursuance of their mission, I think it's important to recall that there is more we can and must do to improve safety in the domestic airspace, including safety under the control of our military units. There will be further attention paid to this issue. We will pursue the safety issues engaged in this tragedy. But for the moment, we must mourn the loss of those crew members whom Mr. Cummings already noted in his remarks.

Mr. OBERSTAR

Mr. OBERSTAR. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 3305, a bill introduced by the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Sullivan), which designates the United States courthouse at 224 South Boulder Avenue in Tulsa, Oklahoma, as the ``H. Dale Cook Federal Building and United States Courthouse.'' Judge Cook was a well respected jurist who served as a Federal judge for well over 30 years. Judge Cook served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II and later as member of the U.S. Air Force Reserve. During his long legal career, Judge Cook served as an attorney in private practice, chief prosecuting attorney in his county, as an assistant U.S. attorney, counsel to the Governor of Oklahoma, and finally as a member of the Federal judiciary. Judge Cook was nominated to the Federal judiciary by President Gerald Ford in 1974. He initially served as a visiting Federal judge with a seat on the bench of each of Oklahoma's Federal judicial districts. Judge Cook later became Chief Judge of the Northern District in 1979 and served in that position until 1992. In addition, Judge Cook sat several times by designation with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. Judge Cook succumbed to cancer just over a year ago, on September 23, 2008. He continued to hear cases on the Federal bench until only a few months before he passed away. Judge Cook was held in high esteem by his peers and served with distinction as a Federal judge. It is both proper and fitting to honor his civic contributions with this designation. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 3305.

Mr. OBERSTAR

Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, I have advocated a national health care system as long as I have served in Congress. Today we take a decisive step toward that goal. This is not a perfect bill but a good bill. The three committees have worked hard to address the needs of the people of my district, and my own concerns, regional disparities in Medicare reimbursement that penalize Minnesota health care providers, and ensuring taxpayer dollars are not used to fund abortion services. Last summer I met with the Skare family in Cloquet. Their son, born with a congenital liver disease, required a liver transplant as a child. Today he is 20 years old. The family is buried under mountains of medical bills, despite having health insurance. They constantly have to fight the insurance providers to make them live up to their commitments. This bill will ensure that families like the Skares will not be held hostage to insurance companies. It will protect all Americans from being denied coverage due to preexisting conditions. Today, we keep faith with the American people. Today we ensure that quality, affordable health care is available to everyone. Support this bill.

Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, throughout my service in the House of Representatives, I have been a strong proponent for a national health care system to ensure that all Americans have access to affordable health care. Our current health care system is paradoxical. While our nation can take credit for having the best trained health care professionals and the most advanced medical devices, far too many Americans do not have access to essential health care. Our current health care system has failed this fundamental fairness principle, and as a result, health care has been rationed in this country with more than 46 million Americans without health insurance. Long before the November 2008 elections and the beginning of this Congress, there has been near universal agreement that health care reform is necessary, and that the cost of inaction is unacceptable. Today represents an important opportunity to make health care more affordable and more accessible to more Americans. Comprehensive health care reform involves more than just extending access to the uninsured. The explosion of health care costs has created tremendous challenges for the private sector that has hindered our ability to compete in the global marketplace. Additionally, it is imperative to constrain health care spending that consumes an unsustainable percentage of our federal budget. Health care reform is vital to the nation's economic recovery and fiscal responsibility. I commend the leadership of the three committee chairman who have worked tirelessly to craft legislation to repair what is not working well and preserve what is working in our health care system. Thank you, Charlie Rangel, Henry Waxman, and George Miller for your dedicated efforts to seize this historic opportunity and produce a sensible health care bill that builds upon and improves the employer-provided and private health insurance market. I am very pleased that the House health care bill (H.R. 3962) includes many essential reforms that will improve health care. The health insurance provisions to ensure that Americans will not be denied coverage due to a pre-existing condition, the requirement for guaranteed issue and renewal, and the limit on out-of-pocket spending are much needed reforms that will make health insurance more available and affordable. For seniors, I strongly support the funding to close the donut hole in the Medicare Part D prescription drug program. I am also delighted that H.R. 3962 contains provisions to address the historic disparities in Medicare reimbursement that have long penalized Minnesota and other high-quality, low-cost states. I greatly appreciate the dedicated work of my colleagues in the Quality Care Coalition (Betty McCollum, Ron Kind, Bruce Braley, Jay Inslee) to include language that will promote Medicare geographic equity. I believe that the requirement for the Secretary of Health and Human Services to implement the recommendations of an Institute of Medicine study will lead to Medicare payment reform that will reward value, not volume. This payment reform is one of my biggest priorities because in 2007, Medicare paid Minnesota hospitals $1 billion below the actual cost of care. While I am very pleased that the House will have the opportunity to vote on amendment to ensure that taxpayer dollars are not spent for abortion, I am disappointed that several important amendments were not made in order. It was expected that the House would consider an amendment that would create a single-payer system for health care. While I continue to have great concerns about a single-payer system based on Medicare rates, I would have supported the single-payer amendment. I am disappointed that the Kucinich amendment which was supported in the committee mark-up to enable states to develop their own innovative state programs was stricken from the bill, and we do not have the opportunity to restore this language. I am also disappointed, however, that the House health care bill does not contain a number of important policy reforms recommended by the National Rural Health Association (NRHA). The NRHA made more than ten specific recommendations regarding longstanding payment inequities that were unfortunately not addressed in this bill. I am especially troubled that several rural health improvements that were accepted in committee mark-up were not included in the updated House bill. It is essential that provisions to ensure rural representation on MedPac, and improvements in the 340B Drug Pricing program and the super rural ambulance reimbursement are restored in conference. I am also hopeful that the final conference report will include legislation that Minnesota's Senators and I have authored to provide Critical Access Hospital designation for a hospital in Cass County, Minnesota which I hope the Senate will include in their bill. I strongly believe that Minnesota's leadership in health care reform should serve as a model for national reform. Minnesota is unique in requiring all health maintenance organizations (HMOs) to be nonprofit as a condition of licensure. Minnesota extended health care coverage to lower-income children long before the enactment of the federal SCHIP program, and Minnesota has done a better job in expanding access to care through its MinnesotaCare program than the rest of the nation. Minnesota has led the nation on integrated health systems to coordinate care, and a new partnership between Fairview Health and the Medica health insurance company that provides payment incentives to invest in health care rather than paying for ``sick care'' demonstrates Minnesota's continued leadership that is far ahead of national policymakers. Even with the expected improvement in Medicare reimbursement that will benefit Minnesota, I am concerned in many respects that Minnesota is picking up the tab to pay for national health reform. While I understand and support the need to reduce the excessive payments in the Medicare Advantage program, it is far easier for high-cost states to absorb a 14 percent cut than for Minnesota which receives significantly less in Medicare Advantage payments. I am also concerned with the addition of a tax on medical devices that will negatively impact Minnesota's important medical device industry, as well as changes in the second generation biofuel producer credit that will preclude ``black liquor'' from eligibility for this biofuel credit that will impact the wood product industry in Minnesota. I will strongly encourage modifications in the financing in the final version to ensure fairness for Minnesota. During the thorough discussion and debate regarding health care this year, I have greatly appreciated the opportunity to visit with constituents in Minnesota and in Washington. From seniors and health care providers to organized labor, the small business community and the faith community, I have gained valuable insights and recommendations to improve this legislation. While I recognize and understand there are still many issues that need to be addressed, I am prepared to support this legislation today to move this necessary process forward.