Tom Price

Mr. PRICE of Georgia

Mr. PRICE of Georgia. It really is a privilege for me to come to the floor tonight and work with you, Mr. Kirk, for a few moments and to explain to our colleagues here in the House and to the Speaker about the suburban agenda, a very important area. I appreciate your leadership in this area. You have been steadfast in making certain that these issues, and they may not be top-tier issues, they may not be headlines in all of our newspapers, but your district, like my district, I have a suburban district outside of Atlanta, and folks there are concerned about what folks all across this Nation are concerned about.

Mr. PRICE of Georgia. That really is true. When I talk with groups at home, and once we get past the hot button, the headline issues of Iraq and immigration and the like, people are concerned about education for their kids and they are concerned about health care for themselves and their parents. They are concerned about security and quality of life issues in their community to make certain that there is going to be green space and there are places where can take their kids. I was sitting in my office and I had to come down and join you. These are not Republican issues or Democrat issues, these are American issues. They're issues that I think all of the House can rally around. And you mentioned the health care issue, and as a physician, I understand as well as anybody I suspect about the importance of being able to provide health insurance for families. We live in a world now where jobs aren't constant. It used to be that your dad and my dad and other folks, they'd get a job and they'd be with that same company 25, 30, 35 years, and they'd get a gold watch and they'd move on and they'd take that health care with them. Now, that's not the case. Our children will have 7, 8, 9, 10 different jobs, 10 different employers and oftentimes having themselves as being self- employed.

Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Exactly. And that hits the nail right on the head. People want to know that their health care is going to be consistent and they have the ability, along with their physicians, to make health care decisions, which is why the Health Insurance Portability Act that Congressman Dent is reintroducing is so important. It makes it so, as I understand, that if an individual changes jobs, that they're able to provide that COBRA insurance for as long as needed. So it makes it so they can continue that COBRA insurance for a much longer period of time, to tide them over until they're with another employer or they can be able to provide for individual insurance on their own. It's not the be-all-and-end-all, but it is a particularly important piece of the puzzle that makes it so that people can maintain their own health insurance, and I know that you agree with that.

Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Exactly, and that gets to the number of uninsured that we have in this Nation. There are 45, 46, 47 million individuals who at some point during this calendar year will be without health insurance. Those aren't the folks that are on Medicaid. Those aren't the folks that are on Medicare. Those are the folks that are between jobs oftentimes, who are unable to continue the COBRA insurance that they ought to be able to, and this is what this bill would do. It would really, really solve one of the major problems that we have with working Americans who do indeed want to provide health insurance for families. So I commend you for your leadership on this issue and so many others. The Senior Safety Indignity Act is extremely important. I served in the State legislature, as I know many folks in this chamber did, and every single year we would hear horror stories about problems of health care workers in the nursing home or extended care facility arena. And in Georgia what we tried to do was a similar kind of thing to make certain that background checks were available, and this would provide that kind of security and that kind of important information for individuals in the senior centers so that we know that the folks who were going to be assisting seniors and caring for seniors have the appropriate skills and the appropriate background in order to do that.

Mr. PRICE of Georgia. I appreciate that, and the point that you're making is so vital for all of us in this chamber to appreciate, and that is, that we've now been in session 5\1/2\ months, and we've passed and sent to the President about 28 to 30 pieces of legislation. Almost the majority of those are naming a building or naming a post office or renaming a building or renaming a post office. And these issues here, if you look down the list of those seven issues, from the gang elimination to teacher and student safety, to other education issues with 401 Kids Family Savings Act or the Health Insurance Act that we talked about, the Deleting Online Predators Act, open space, Senior Safety Act, these are the issues that are of vital importance to the American people all across this Nation. These are issues that, frankly, ought to get the vast majority of Members of this chamber on both sides of the aisle's support so that we could move forward with real legislation for real people.

Mr. PRICE of Georgia. And you're right. The incident at Virginia Tech was so astounding and so horrific for all of us to witness, and our hearts and our prayers still go out to those families. But I understand, as I know you do, that there were individuals who were reticent to bring that out into the open before it happened, bring that individual who apparently committed that awful, awful tragedy out into the open for fear of potential liability. That's no way for a Nation to live. That's no way for a responsible people to have to operate, to have to think in the back of their mind, well, can I do what's right or do I have to worry about an attorney, do I have to worry about a lawsuit. This is the kind of legislation that we, as a Congress, if we adopted these seven items, I suspect that the American people would say this is a Congress that has acted appropriately, and we would all be able to stand proud and with that poster and present it to our constituents and say this is a responsible agenda for the American people. My concern right now over the next three weeks, as you well know, we're entering appropriations time. It is very likely that none of these things, none of them, will be even brought to the floor during this period of time and that we'll get bound up in the process of spending hard-earned taxpayer money, trying to be responsible in that endeavor. But these issues that are supported by 60, 70, 80 percent of the American people, we ought to be able to take those off the table right away.

Mr. PRICE of Georgia. We have similar experiences in the city of Atlanta and then in the surrounding area. I don't represent any of the city of Atlanta itself. My district abuts the city of Atlanta, but I have small cities, some as small as 8- to 12,000 residents. I have some as large as 80- to 100,000, and then some unincorporated county areas. But the resources that they have with which to fight gangs aren't the kind of resources that large metropolitan cities have, large urban areas have, and this bill, introduced by Representative Dave Weichert who himself is a hero in the law enforcement arena, having been the sheriff out in Washington State.

Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Apprehended the Green River killer, and such a hero he is, and we ought to as a House of Representatives and as a Nation recognize that this Act, this would allow police departments and law enforcement officials all across this Nation to know that there are resources being brought to bear to identify, like MS-13, to identify those gangs that are the greatest threat to our communities, the greatest threat to our constituents all across this Nation, that there is a unified strategy that is going to be brought to bear in order to make it so that we prevail in this war.

Mr. PRICE of Georgia. This immigration bill that was just in the Senate last week, many of us had great concerns over, but are you telling me that there was a portion of the bill that it would allow gang members who had been convicted of a felony, that if they were found to be illegal, that they couldn't be deported; is that what you are saying?

Mr. PRICE of Georgia. I couldn't agree more, and there was such great promise for this new Congress, this new majority, not of which we're a part of, but this new majority that was swept in and began in January and all sorts of wonderful promises about great legislation and being responsive to the concerns of Americans all across the Nation. And what we've had is a legislative agenda that hasn't done that. And so you and I stand here tonight inviting our colleagues on both sides of the aisle to embrace this suburban agenda, embrace an agenda that 70, 80 percent of the American people would support with common- sense pieces of legislation that address security, that address health care, that address education, that address caring for our seniors, that address green space. It just astounds me that we can't get that kind of support on both sides.

Mr. PRICE of Georgia. No, absolutely.

Mr. PRICE of Georgia. I appreciate that. It's not that the Internet is bad, it's just that this is a different world, and the Internet is now like Main Street of 20 or 30 years ago, where you would have to be wary of strangers, and our parents told us about strangers on Main Street and how to deal with them. It's much more difficult when those strangers are able to come literally into your own home and entice young people who may not have their guard up as much. We have story after story, time after time you will hear law enforcement officers talk about the challenges that they have in even getting young people to admit that, in fact, they have been susceptible or been approached by this kind of behavior. But it is rampant out there. It's absolutely rampant. There is not any reason that we ought not to be able to pass some commonsense legislation like the Deleting Online Predators Act like you have introduced in this House of Representatives, which is something that ought to be supported by 70, 80, 90 percent of our colleagues here, something that ought to go, frankly, in front of the appropriations battles we are about to wage over the next 3 to 6 weeks as we work as diligently as we can to responsibly spend hard-earned taxpayer money. But this is something that we ought to be able to coalesce behind.

Mr. PRICE of Georgia. That's the kind of perpetuation of business as usual here in Washington, that the folks at home just say what on earth are you doing when an individual can be convicted of a felony, and continue to get their pension, they just shake their head. They throw their hands up in the air, and they say, what are you doing? Why can't you do something responsible, which is why this positive agenda, suburban agenda, which is all things again that the vast majority of Members of this House ought to be supporting, which is why we ought to be pushing that forward. I, for the life of me, I can't answer why we ought not to be able to deal with these things before we launch into the battles over the appropriations bills. Do you have any sense as to why the majority party won't allow these kinds of bills to come to the floor?

Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Not only fallen short, but I would suggest to my good friend from Illinois that the majority party has seemed to raise hiding and decreasing transparency and accountability in a very important area to a huge degree, and that is the area of earmarks, the area of special projects, pork projects, special projects for Members. What we have just learned in the past week or so is that the Appropriations chair has said well, we won't be debating any of these earmarks, these special projects on the floor of the House. We won't be debating them. What we will do is parachute them in, air drop them in a conference committee so that there can be no light, no sunshine on these earmarks. That's the kind of priority that concerns me about this majority party, that they have a priority for decreasing transparency and decreasing accountability for spending, but they also, by the same token, will not address the concerns of the vast majority of Americans all across our Nation. In the area of security, in the area of education, in the area of health care, in the area of senior security, in the area of green space in our communities, a wonderful, positive agenda that we have put before this Congress and, in fact, it's getting no visibility here on floor of the House.

Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Exactly.

Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Wouldn't that be wonderful. What a grand legacy. The bill you are referring to is H.R. 87, primary sponsorship by Judy Biggert. It's something that's near and dear to our hearts in Georgia. As you may recall, Senator Paul Coverdale, the late Paul Coverdale, served in the United States Senate. One of his goals was to make certain that there was an ability by all families to be able to afford a college education for their children. He fought as hard as he could during his tenure in the United States Senate to make certain that happened. This is an extension of that. This is a wonderful, would provide a wonderful opportunity for families to put aside a little money in a tax-free mechanism to be able to cover college education for their children.

Mr. PRICE of Georgia. We have the HOPE Scholarship savings plan in Georgia, which is remarkably successful. But there is no reason we ought not extend it because what we provide in Georgia is you can't use that money out of state.

Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Absolutely. What a great template to use. What a wonderful model with the 401(k) program, which is familiar to millions, tens of millions, if not over 100 million Americans, who have some type of 401(k) program. They understand how simple it is, how easy it is, how almost painless it is to be able to plan for the future to put that money aside, and to have a vehicle that models itself off of that, after that, as the 401Kids program would do, to allow moms and dads all across this Nation to be able to put a little money aside on a regular basis. When Junior grows up, they will recognize at the age of 15 or 16 that he or she indeed will be able to have the ability to go to the college of his or her choice and realize their his or her potential and their dreams.

Mr. PRICE of Georgia. What a wonderful vision and what a wonderful dream. We've all heard the stories of the entrepreneur individual with a significant amount of resources who went into a community and said to a high school or a middle school class that normally wouldn't necessarily have the resources to go to college, any of you that complete your high school education in a way that would allow you to enter a college, I'll fund that college education. This would transfer that, and those kids then do extremely well, so much better than their peers in other classes who haven't been given that assurance. This is the kind of program that would give that assurance to every young child all across this Nation, to allow their parents to be able to put aside a little bit of money, a little resources over the lifetime of their child so that they can then afford the college education and open the dreams for each and every child.

Mr. PRICE of Georgia. I know that our time is short, but I just want to commend you once again for your you leadership in this area. These are issues that concern all Americans, issues of education, issues of safety, issues of security, issues of health care, and they are issues that the vast majority of us ought to support. So I challenge our friends on both sides of the aisle to step forward and support a positive agenda for the American people. It's outlined right here. I want to commend you for your leadership, and I appreciate the opportunity to join you tonight.

Mr. PRICE of Georgia

Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 1051, which is a bill to establish a public Web site through which individuals may find a database of available scholarships and fellowships and other programs of financial assistance for the study of science and technology and engineering and math. Before I begin, I just want to commend the gentleman from New Jersey for introducing this piece of legislation and for his leadership in this area. I also want to commend the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Ehlers) for his leadership, as well as Mrs. McMorris Rodgers, Mrs. Biggert and others for their support of this bill itself. I am a strong proponent, strong proponent of STEM education programs. Anything that Congress can do to strengthen interest in these fields is wholeheartedly welcome. As a physician, I understand and appreciate the challenge that our Nation has in maintaining its preeminence in these fields. Encouraging our best and brightest and interested young people to choose this field of study is a positive step, and I believe this bill is a step in that direction. As we continue to discuss new ideas for the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, it's important that we develop proposals that will ensure students are informed about their options for financial aid, both from the Federal Government and from the private sector. In fact, the House has already taken one step in that direction, included in H.R. 890, the Student Loan Sunshine Act, which passed last month, was a proposal that was offered by Representative Keller, that would make it easier for students to get information on their options for Federal financial aid. This proposal would launch a single Web site for opportunities for financial aid in fellowships and scholarships being offered by any agency within the Federal Government. This bill simply takes this idea one step further by making sure that information about scholarships and fellowships and other forms of private financial aid is readily available to students interested in pursuing their opportunities in education and science, technology, engineering and math. As we continue to examine proposals to increase America's competitiveness, it's helpful for us to equip students interested in pursuing careers in these fields with the information that they need that might assist them in financing their education. For these reasons and others, I respectfully ask my colleagues to support H.R. 1051. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, at this time I'd like to yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Michigan, who has been pivotal in this area, in this field, Mr. Ehlers.

Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I'm now pleased to yield 2 minutes to my good friend from Illinois (Mr. Manzullo) who's been a leader in this field as well.

Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I simply want to close and commend once again my good friend Mr. Holt for introducing this legislation and for moving this forward. I think the discussion that we have had has been good. I think that the breadth of individuals that have signed on as cosponsors to this legislation, as well as the diversity of the background of those Members who have come to the floor today to speak on behalf of this legislation, give testimony to the importance of moving forward and having this kind of information available. So I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 1051. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. PRICE of Georgia

Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 2559, which is a measure to extend programs under the Higher Education Act that are set to expire at the end of this month. I want to thank my committee colleagues, Chairman Miller, Chairman Hinojosa, Mr. McKeon and Mr. Keller for their work on this bill, as well as their consistent efforts on behalf of our Nation's college students and their families. Bolstering our higher education and student aid programs has long been a priority for Congress, regardless of which party was in the majority. In the last Congress, for example, under Republican leadership, we passed a measure that reduced lender subsidies, increased loan limits for students, and provided additional resources for students studying math, science and critical foreign languages in college. Unfortunately, the Senate didn't act on the higher education reauthorization in the last Congress, so we were forced to extend programs under the law last September. In that extension, we included a number of important benefits for college students and institutions of higher education as well. For example, we reduced red tape and provided loan forgiveness to spouses and parents of those who died or became disabled on September 11. Mr. Speaker, just last month, the House continued our work to strengthen the student aid system by passing the Student Loan Sunshine Act, bipartisan legislation that will restore confidence in the relationships between student lenders and colleges and universities. Now, as we prepare anew to reauthorize programs under the Higher Education Act, we are again faced with the need to pass an extension of these programs to bridge this gap. Now, make no mistake, the measure before us today is worthy of our support, but, at the same time, I am hopeful that our friends on the other side of the Capitol will renew their commitment to a full reauthorization. These extensions, now five of which we've had in the last Congress alone, ought to become a thing of the past. Mr. Speaker, I look forward to working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle and on both sides of the Capitol in completing our reauthorization work in the 110th Congress. Just as importantly, I also look forward to working toward reforms that recognize the contributions of market-based programs that have been made on behalf of millions of students for the last several decades. In the meantime, I urge my colleagues to support this resolution. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.