John Olver

Mr. OLVER

Mr. OLVER. May I inquire how much time remains.

Mr. OLVER. Mr. Chairman, I am very interested in this conversation. The gentleman from Arizona, who is usually so rational about this whole effort that he puts forward, he is going to earn a reputation as a grinch for trying to take the one Member representing 4 million people in Puerto Rico, taking a program that would provide ADA compliance in a very small park in a community that's done for children and teens, and he wants to deny the representative for those 4 million people the opportunity to have a very small earmark. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. OLVER

Mr. OLVER. Madam Speaker, I rise today to celebrate Hampshire College for opening its doors and welcoming its first students 40 years ago tomorrow. The Pioneer Valley of Western Massachusetts is home to the Five College Consortium, which includes three private liberal arts colleges, Amherst, Mount Holyoke and Smith; the state's flagship public university campus, the University of Massachusetts Amherst; and a progressive institution of higher education, Hampshire College. For 40 years now, the Consortium has served as a vehicle for collaboration and resource sharing across all five campuses, including broadening access to higher education and unsurpassed academic excellence. This structure encourages the use of a vast curriculum, faculty and resources, and presents each student with a richer and fuller educational experience. Hampshire College was founded within this consortial setting to offer an original education in which students design their own course of study in close consultation with faculty mentors. Hampshire's educational approach emphasizes individual choice and development, and its pedagogical cornerstone is an inquiry-based mode of teaching and learning. Just as it attracts talented and intellectually ambitious students, Hampshire appeals to faculty who are excited to experiment with new methods of teaching, and are keen to co-teach with their colleagues. Rather than being characterized by traditional, discipline-based departments, Hampshire College has five academic schools: the School of Cognitive Science; Interdisciplinary Arts; Humanities, Arts and Cultural Studies; Natural Science; and the School of Critical Social Inquiry. Each school develops an innovative curriculum, which is project-based and immediately challenges students with current problems in the research literature. Research and teaching at Hampshire tend to work across discipline-based boundaries, as faculty and students collaborate to grapple with problems from a range of perspectives, with an eye toward community impact, social justice, and the well-being of others. Team teaching and interdisciplinary research serve as the basis for collaboration and reflect a remarkable degree of creativity. A low student-faculty ratio (12:1) allows for an emphasis on individualized and small group training, where faculty research and artistic expression is fully integrated into coursework, inviting each class into the process of intellectual and artistic discovery. Within this mission--and wherever possible--Hampshire students ask questions that motivate their undergraduate years. Careful mentoring at Hampshire has shown to inspire and motivate students beyond the classroom, often resulting in students continuing their education at the graduate level, and indeed, culminating in rewarding careers. I am honored to represent this fine institution of higher learning. Please join me in congratulating Hampshire College as it continues to define and communicate its extraordinary mission for the next generations of students, their families and the general public.

Mr. OLVER

Mr. OLVER. Mr. Speaker, as financial reform takes shape, we must ask: Do Wall Street banks serve America or themselves? In these last years, we've seen the answer, and it is no surprise. Wall Street serves Wall Street. It could care less about the lives they ruin while seeking profits and bonuses. The Bush administration allowed Wall Street banks to chase profit by building their growth on a weak foundation of risky debt. Their scheme collapsed. They held America's savings hostage. Congress could not afford to let them fail, so they couldn't lose. Of course, they didn't. America lost. The International Monetary Fund estimates these gambles have destroyed nearly $3 trillion of economic value. Recently, economists have estimated the entire cost of World War II to be, roughly, the same. In other words, Wall Street banks devised a way to make billions in profits and bonuses while wiping out the savings of millions of Americans. They cannot be allowed to do that again. The final bill must end their gambling and protect our savings.

Mr. OLVER

Mr. OLVER. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize the Leominster Colonial Band for its 100 years of active involvement in the Leominster community. The Leominster Colonial Band started as a group of Italian immigrant musicians gathering together and soon became an institution in Leominster. The band was founded by Gaspare Bisceglia, a 16-year-old apprentice bandmaster, who immigrated to Leominster from San Giovanni, Italy. The band gave its first concert on the Leominster common on August 16, 1910. Known originally as the ``Banda Regione d'Italia,'' the band has undergone several name changes as its role in the city evolved and its membership diversified. It became the ``Italian Colonial Band,'' and later the ``Leominster Colonial Band.'' The history of the Leominster Colonial Band is interwoven with the history of Leominster. Over the years, the band has played at numerous civic events and parades. The band performed in celebrations at the end of World War I and led Leominster's welcoming parade when American troops returned from World War II. The band also played at the dedication of Leominster's Spanish-American War monument. During the Great Depression, Gaspare Bisceglia established a free summer concert series on the downtown common. This tradition has continued over the years and the band now performs five free concerts every year at Leominster's historic Carter Park. The band plays an annual Christmas concert and regularly plays at Italian feasts in Leominster, Boston and throughout Massachusetts. It frequently participates in church celebrations in the Worcester and Greater Boston areas and plays in processions for weddings and funerals. In 2006, the Leominster Colonial Band received the ``Citizen of the Year'' award from the Center for Italian Culture at Fitchburg State College, in recognition of its contributions and dedication to Italian culture. In the spring of 2010, the band will be honored with the City of Leominster's ``Citizen of the Year'' award. I am very proud to represent the town of Leominster, which is rich in history and public spirit. The members of the Leominster Colonial Band demonstrate a spirit of community involvement, a dedication to upholding Italian cultural traditions, and a commitment to performing quality band music. Please join me in congratulating the Leominster Colonial Band as it celebrates its 100th Anniversary.

Mr. OLVER

Mr. OLVER. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 961, I call up the conference report on the bill (H.R. 3288) making appropriations for the Departments of Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development, and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2010, and for other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. OLVER. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include tabular and extraneous material on the conference report to accompany H.R. 3288.

Mr. OLVER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 3 minutes. It is my privilege and pleasure to present the Consolidated Appropriations Act for fiscal year 2010 to the House. This conference report is the product of many hours of hearings and briefings across six subcommittees, always with bipartisan input and excellent Member participation, and culminated by extensive negotiations with our Senate colleagues. I especially would like to recognize the important contributions of our ranking member, Tom Latham of Iowa, in putting together the Transportation and Housing portions of this bill. While we may not always agree, I always appreciate his partnership, and his input has made the bill better. I am particularly proud of the Transportation and Housing portion of the report because it demonstrates our mutual commitment to investing in our Nation's housing and transportation infrastructure; our mutual commitment to maintaining critical services in urban and rural communities; our mutual commitment to vulnerable populations such as the elderly and disabled; our mutual commitment to building sustainable communities for our Nation's families; and our mutual commitment to maintaining an efficient and safe transportation system that contributes to America's place in a global economy. Notably, the conference agreement provides funding to improve and repair roughly 1 million miles of Federal aid highways; to support and expand a public transit system that carried more than 10 billion riders last year; to meet demand for 21st century intercity passenger rail systems, demonstrated by Amtrak's 11 percent growth in annual ridership; and modernizing the air traffic control system that is outdated and manages over 10.5 million flights annually. Within the Housing and Urban Development programs, the conference agreement fully funds the section 8 rental housing assistance program, thereby ensuring affordable housing for 3\1/2\ million families and individuals; the agreement provides 10,000 new vouchers to homeless veterans; the agreement keeps a roof over the heads of 1.2 million households living in public housing; and the agreement helps communities improve local economies and create jobs through the Community Development Block Grant program. In conclusion, we worked hard to balance many competing demands to produce a bill that reflects the bipartisan needs for transportation and housing, and strengthens the foundation upon which our economic turnaround is being built. This is a good product, and I urge Members to support it. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. OLVER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Lowey). Nita Lowey is the chairwoman of the State and Foreign Operations Subcommittee of Appropriations, one of the bills which is included in this package.

Mr. OLVER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 additional minutes to the gentlewoman.

Mr. OLVER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey). Mr. Obey is the chairman of the full Appropriations Committee but also serves as the chairman of the Labor, Health, and Education Subcommittee.

Mr. OLVER. Mr. Speaker, I yield the gentleman 2 additional minutes.

Mr. OLVER. Mr. Speaker, at this time, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Edwards), chairman of the Veterans Administration and Military Construction Subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee.

Mr. OLVER. Mr. Speaker, I yield the gentleman 1 additional minute.

Mr. OLVER. I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Michigan (Ms. Kilpatrick), who is a member of the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Subcommittee.

Mr. OLVER. I yield myself 2 minutes, Mr. Speaker. I fully recognize the argument that is being made by the other side on this issue of the level of expenditure. There has been an increase in the discretionary expenditure that we are providing for the needs of this country. The fact is that, through the 6 previous years before we came into the majority, there was constraint in discretionary expenditures for programs that do things for people in this country and which provided money for our education system, for our health care system, for our transportation systems, and for our infrastructure in general--not just the transportation infrastructure but whatever source of infrastructure--and for our housing, just to name a few, and even for our veterans affairs. Even with regard to our veterans programs, which provided services while we had two different wars going on around the world--all of them over in Asia--our discretionary expenditures were under very severe constraint, and the level of discretionary expenditure during that 6- year period before fiscal year 2007 was under constraint. So the budgets that we have passed in the last three sessions when we have been in the majority have had an increase in discretionary expenditure to provide a catch-up expenditure for things going on in this country. We hear among our constituents all the time, Why are we spending so much money in other places around the world when we should be spending it here?

Mr. OLVER. I yield myself 1 additional minute. Why are we spending so much money there if we cannot find a way of expending for those things that I've mentioned--the housing, the transportation, the health services, and education? Why can't we spend some of that here? So, yes, our expenditure has been up, but we make no apology for that kind of expenditure given the very reason for why it has occurred. So I will leave it at that. We make no apology for increasing discretionary expenditures on our own people and on the needs of our own people, and that should continue in fact. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. OLVER. How much time remains on both sides?

Mr. OLVER. I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Price), who is also a member of the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Subcommittee.

Mr. OLVER. I yield the gentleman 1 additional minute.

Mr. OLVER. I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey).

Mr. OLVER. Mr. Speaker, how much time does each side now have?

Mr. OLVER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey).

Mr. OLVER. I yield myself the remainder of the time.

Mr. OLVER. Mr. Speaker, my counterpart, the ranking member from Iowa, has graciously thanked the people on both sides who have done all of the work that our subcommittee dealt with. Actually, since there's six different bills here, I would like to extend that thanks to the people on the staffs of each of the six subcommittees on each side of the aisle who put countless hours into the work that has brought this bill to the floor at this time. But particularly, let me just personalize it one more step. On our side, my clerk, Kate Hallahan, and on the Republican side, their clerk, Dena Baron, and the people who work under them, for them and with them, and for us and for the people of the country. They have done an exemplary job in the THUD committee, as I think each of the other groups have done for their own particular subcommittee. We should all be very grateful for that. With the passage of this bill--and I'm going to urge passage as I close--we will on our side have completed the work on 11 of the 12 bills, and thereby we will be a very large step closer to the finish of the budgetary process necessary to provide for the year 2010. And so I am very optimistic today, in fact, a great load rises from the shoulders of all the chairs and ranking members of the subcommittees. With that, let me just urge a ``yes'' vote on this budget bill in order to be able to reach that point very close to the completion of our work.