Joseph Pitts

Mr. PITTS

Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. H.R. 1254 was introduced by my friend and colleague from Pennsylvania, Representative Charlie Dent, in response to a frightening trend of synthetic drug use in our communities. These synthetic drug substitutes, made from chemical compounds that are sold legally in most States, mimic the hallucinogenic and stimulant properties of drugs like marijuana, cocaine, and methamphetamines. While these synthetic drugs are just as dangerous as their traditional counterparts, they are not illegal. Many families and young people in our communities do not realize the destructiveness of these synthetic drugs because of their legal status and their wide availability and often harmless-sounding names such as ``Bath Salts'' and ``Plant Food,'' both cocaine substitutes. H.R. 1254 would, first, ban synthetic drugs that imitate marijuana, cocaine, and methamphetamines; and, second, allow the Drug Enforcement Administration to temporarily schedule a new substance for up to 3 years. Currently, DEA can only temporarily schedule a substance for up to 18 months. I would like to thank Congressman Dent for working with the DEA on this important issue, and I would urge my colleagues to support this commonsense and bipartisanly supported legislation. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. PITTS. I yield the gentleman an additional 30 seconds.

Mr. PITTS. I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Marino), a former prosecutor.

Mr. PITTS. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. PITTS. I am prepared to close; so I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlelady from Florida, Congresswoman Sandy Adams, who was formerly in law enforcement.

Mr. PITTS. I yield 5 minutes to the prime sponsor of the legislation, the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Dent).

Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania, a former prosecutor, Congressman Pat Meehan.

Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Iowa, Congressman Tom Latham.

Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, I yield the balance of my time to the prime sponsor of the bill, the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Dent).

Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous materials in the Record.

Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire how much time remains on each side?

Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 1254) to amend the Controlled Substances Act to place synthetic drugs in Schedule I, as amended.

Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not present.

Mr. PITTS

Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous materials into the Record.

Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Rogers), the prime sponsor of the legislation.

Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. H.R. 2405, introduced by my colleague Mike Rogers from Michigan, would reauthorize certain provisions of the Project Bioshield Act of 2004 and the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act of 2006. These two laws help protect the United States against attacks from chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear weapons. Project Bioshield authorized funds for the purchase of medical countermeasures through the Special Reserve Fund and enabled the Secretary of Health and Human Services to authorize the emergency use of medical products. PAHPA created the Biodefense Advanced Research and Development Authority within HHS to help with the development of medical countermeasures and to ensure the communication between HHS and the developers of the medical countermeasures. PAHPA also created a position at HHS to lead the government's efforts on the chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear weapons preparedness and response, the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response. Some of these key provisions expired at the end of FY 2011. Since the terrorist attacks of 9/11, we have become more aware of the dangers our country faces and of the lengths to which some may go to inflict harm on us. These provisions must be reauthorized, so I would urge all Members to support this critical piece of legislation. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 2405) to reauthorize certain provisions of the Public Health Service Act and the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act relating to public health preparedness and countermeasure development, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. PITTS. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, I would tell the gentleman from New Jersey that I have no other speakers.

Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, this is good, bipartisan legislation. I would like to thank Mr. Pallone, Mr. Green, Mr. Waxman, along with our side of the aisle, for developing and helping move this bipartisan legislation. I urge my colleagues to support it, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. PITTS

Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, I am deeply concerned about the international community's recent trust in assurances that Burma is opening up to the world and becoming a true democracy in which the rights of all people in Burma are protected. There have been some positive steps taken recently by the dictators, however, until we see permanency in these changes, we would all do well to remain deeply cautious. One important issue the Secretary of State addressed during her visit this week to Burma regarded the attacks by the dictatorship's troops against the ethnic minorities. It is vital, and I cannot emphasize this enough, that leaders of the various ethnic groups be included in any and all discussions, dialogue and decision about the future of Burma. I would call your attention to the call by the U.N. for a tri-partite dialogue--all three parties, the dictatorship, the democracy groups and the ethnic groups, must be included fully in all negotiations and agreements in order for true change to come to Burma. This is even more important when, during this visit and the recent ASEAN meetings, the dictatorship was violently attacking one or more ethnic groups. A few years ago, I submitted a Statement for this Record describing the Advanced Light Helicopters that India sold to Burma. The dictators of Burma used these, plus other military hardware sold to them by a variety of nations against the ethnic minority civilian populations. The brutality of Burma's Generals against the ethnic minorities has not stopped, even during this time when they are allegedly making democratic reforms. Therefore, we as a democratic, free nation must be extremely careful of what the Generals are really up to--they haven't proven themselves trustworthy in the past. I would like to submit for the Record, a short letter to the Secretary from Ms. Zipporah Sein, Secretary General of the Karen National Union. I urge the Secretary of State, when engaging in further dialogues with the Burmese government, to proceed with the utmost caution. Office of the Supreme Headquarters, Karen National Union, Kawthoolei, November 25, 2011. Hon. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Secretary of State, Washington, DC. Dear Madam Secretary: Thank you for your constant support and encouragement for the people of Burma. The leaders of the Karen National Union (KNU), welcome your engagement with the government of Burma and your leadership alongside Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to bring to the forefront the need to see an end to the ongoing conflicts in the ethnic states and an end to the oppression of all people inside Burma. We the KNU would like to ask you to take the lead to recognize the desires of all the ethnic groups, both armed and unarmed, to be treated as equals in the effort to establish a genuine federal union: A union that recognizes the rule of law and recognizes the equality of all. We invite you to meet with ethnic leaders from all of the ethnic organizations both armed and unarmed as we move forward to work toward a peaceful and stable nation where our citizens can truly be free from governmental oppression. We need your help and your engagement with all of us. Sincerely, Zipporah Sein, General Secretary, Karen National Union.

Mr. PITTS

Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, let's be perfectly clear: Our tax policy affects job growth. When the Federal Government raises taxes, raises rates, or creates new taxes, businesses make decisions regarding their workforce. When the government takes more, businesses have to make due with less. All told, last year's health care reform law will raise taxes by $800 billion over the next 10 years. One of the new taxes is a 2.3 percent tax on medical devices. Michigan-based manufacturer Stryker recently announced that they will reduce their work force by 5 percent so that they will be prepared to pay this new tax beginning in 2013. Stryker is just one of the first to announce reductions in the layoffs. In the next year, medical device companies will be faced with difficult decisions about where they will cut in order to pay this massive new tax bill. Many will have no choice but to reduce the workforce. We don't need a health reform law that destroys jobs; we need one that encourages the creation of good jobs with good benefits. We must repeal the so-called Affordable Care Act.

Mr. PITTS

Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, today we begin debate on H.J. Res. 2, the balanced budget amendment. This resolution is similar to the amendment that nearly passed the Congress over 15 years ago. I can only imagine how much improved our current fiscal situation would be today if the amendment would have passed then. In that time, we have seen the national debt increase from just over $5 trillion then to more than $15 trillion now. This rapid rise in public debt endangers our currency and creates deep economic uncertainty. For some of that time, we had a balanced budget; and we did it with a government divided between the political parties. It was not easy to negotiate, but we made it happen. We need to get back to balanced budgets and go further to pay down our debt. A balanced budget amendment will require us to take that action. We cannot endlessly pile up debt. That is a recipe for disaster, and we have to turn things around. To help us accomplish that, we need a constitutional amendment ratified by the American people.

Mr. PITTS

Mr. PITTS. Madam Speaker, this is a tale of two jobs programs. In the first, the government moves to put $500 million in loans in a private company. These loans are supposed to build a factory and create what the Vice President calls permanent jobs. The President tours their facilities, the Secretary of Energy lauds the company, top White House officials show an interest in the project, OMB worries are overruled, and the money is handed out. A year later, the company is bankrupt and all of the government money is lost. In the second tale, a private company wants to build a pipeline that would create 20,000 jobs directly and a hundred thousand jobs indirectly. They don't need a single dime of government money. In fact, they're paying the bill for significant government environmental reviews of the project. Even though their project is declared safe by the State Department, they're ordered to perform another year of environmental studies. Solyndra and Keystone XL--we have a White House that is eager to waste the public's money on one failing company but stands in the way of another company who doesn't need a dollar from the American taxpayer. Go figure.