Ed Perlmutter

Mr. PERLMUTTER

Mr. PERLMUTTER. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize Deputy Sheriff Kyle Christine VanOcker. Ms. VanOcker passed away August 19, 2010 after a heroic battle with lung cancer. Kyle's career in law enforcement began in 1986 as a police dispatcher for the Wheat Ridge Colorado Police Department. In 1989 Kyle joined the Jefferson County Sheriffs Department. During her years of service to the community, which spanned 24 years, Kyle received many awards and touched several lives by seeing the good in everyone. Kyle was a model for outstanding service to her community and in honor of her memory, her family sponsored a K-9 dog for the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department. The Department is naming the dog Kyle. Kyle had a very large support group from many walks of life which is a testament to the values she possessed. She will be remembered as a dedicated friend and committed to making her community better for all of us.

Mr. PERLMUTTER

Mr. PERLMUTTER. Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. PERLMUTTER. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. PERLMUTTER. Mr. Chair, I first want to commend Chairman Olver and Ranking Member Latham and the other members of the subcommittee for putting forth a good bill which makes wise investments in our Nation's transportation systems, our housing industry, and our urban development, investments which will go a long way toward helping America return to a prosperous future. But today I offer an amendment which saves the American people $50 million by cutting a Federal grant program which few States, if any, will participate in this year. It's a small step toward deficit reduction, but it is a wise step. I want to say at the onset I support every man, woman, and child using seatbelts. They save lives and reduce health care costs. Most States have done the right thing and passed laws which make it a traffic violation to not wear a seatbelt. This means if a law enforcement officer sees someone in a car not wearing a seatbelt, they can pull that person over just for that offense. The Safety Belt Performance Grant program this year will spend up to $124.5 million as incentives for States to pass such laws. Thirty-seven States and territories already have those laws. They've already received their one-time payments under the program. But for the remaining States, the incentive program generally does not seem to be attractive or workable. Rightly or wrongly, most States which don't have these primary seatbelt laws don't seem to want to pass these new laws. So why, after 5 years, do we continue to fully fund a program under which only a couple of States might get money? My amendment cuts this program by $50 million, leaving about $75 million. So if a few States do pass new enhanced seatbelt laws, NHTSA will provide them the grants as intended. But my amendment cuts the excess, which almost certainly won't be spent this year. I appreciate the hard work of the subcommittee, and urge my colleagues to adopt this amendment. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. PERLMUTTER

Mr. PERLMUTTER. Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 471. I was in a meeting and was unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea.''

Mr. PERLMUTTER

Mr. PERLMUTTER. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize and applaud Whitney Nelson who has received the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. Whitney Nelson is a 9th grader at Ralston Valley High School and received this award because her determination and hard work have allowed her to overcome adversities. The dedication demonstrated by Whitney Nelson is exemplary of the type of achievement that can be attained with hard work and perseverance. It is essential students at all levels strive to make the most of their education and develop a work ethic which will guide them for the rest of their lives. I extend my deepest congratulations once again to Whitney Nelson for winning the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. I have no doubt she will exhibit the same dedication and character to all her future accomplishments.

Mr. PERLMUTTER

Mr. PERLMUTTER. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize and applaud Christopher Brewer who has received the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. Christopher Brewer is a 10th grader at Ralston Valley High School and received this award because his determination and hard work have allowed him to overcome adversities. The dedication demonstrated by Christopher Brewer is exemplary of the type of achievement that can be attained with hard work and perseverance. It is essential students at all levels strive to make the most of their education and develop a work ethic which will guide them for the rest of their lives. I extend my deepest congratulations once again to Christopher Brewer for winning the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. I have no doubt he will exhibit the same dedication and character to all his future accomplishments.

Mr. PERLMUTTER

Mr. PERLMUTTER. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize and applaud Yaisani Namvong who has received the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. Yaisani Namvong is a 12th grader at Arvada High School and received this award because her determination and hard work have allowed her to overcome adversities. The dedication demonstrated by Yaisani Namvong is exemplary of the type of achievement that can be attained with hard work and perseverance. It is essential students at all levels that strive to make the most of their education and develop a work ethic which will guide them for the rest of their lives. I extend my deepest congratulations once again to Yaisani Namvong for winning the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. I have no doubt she will exhibit the same dedication and character to all her future accomplishments.

Mr. PERLMUTTER

Mr. PERLMUTTER. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize and applaud Viridiana Robles who has received the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. Viridiana Robles is a 12th grader at Jefferson High School and received this award because her determination and hard work have allowed her to overcome adversities. The dedication demonstrated by Viridiana Robles is exemplary of the type of achievement that can be attained with hard work and perseverance. It is essential students at all levels strive to make the most of their education and develop a work ethic which will guide them for the rest of their lives. I extend my deepest congratulations once again to Viridiaina Robles for winning the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. I have no doubt she will exhibit the same dedication and character to all her future accomplishments.

Mr. PERLMUTTER

Mr. PERLMUTTER. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize and applaud Zhenzi Qin who has received the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. Zhenzi Qin is a 12th grader at Arvada High School and received this award because her determination and hard work have allowed her to overcome adversities. The dedication demonstrated by Zhenzi Qin is exemplary of the type of achievement that can be attained with hard work and perseverance. It is essential students at all levels that strive to make the most of their education and develop a work ethic which will guide them for the rest of their lives. I extend my deepest congratulations once again to Zhenzi Qin for winning the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. I have no doubt she will exhibit the same dedication and character to all her future accomplishments.

Mr. PERLMUTTER

Mr. PERLMUTTER. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize and applaud Walter Peterson who has received the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. Walter Peterson is an 11th grader at Arvada West High School and received this award because his determination and hard work have allowed him to overcome adversities. The dedication demonstrated by Walter Peterson is exemplary of the type of achievement that can be attained with hard work and perseverance. It is essential students at all levels strive to make the most of their education and develop a work ethic which will guide them for the rest of their lives. I extend my deepest congratulations once again to Walter Peterson for winning the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. I have no doubt he will exhibit the same dedication and character to all his future accomplishments.

Mr. PERLMUTTER

Mr. PERLMUTTER. I thank the gentleman from California. And really we've got to kind of not forget what we've come through, because the better days are ahead. But you can't forget where you came from. And over the course of 2007 through 2008, at the end of the Bush administration this country was losing 780,000 jobs a month. And over the course of the next year, through a series of things that stopped the free fall of the economy, righted it, and dealt with some significant issues that have been really holding us back, holding this country back for a long time. Health care as it applies to business. Each car costs a ton of money. On top of that is the health care costs. A variety of things that have been holding us down from reaching our real potential as Americans and as America. But over the course of the last year-and-a-half, instead of losing 780,000 jobs, as we were under the Bush administration, we crossed the axis to positive job growth. And it's still kind of shaky, but we've gone from losing 780,000 jobs to gaining about 100,000 jobs a month. Now that's not good enough, and we can do a lot better. And we have a lot of work to do because in this trough, in this deep part of the recession, we lost 8 million jobs. We want good paying, good products coming out of that so that we can put people back to work. And that's the goal and the everyday job. Our first priority is putting people back to work to good jobs. And that's what we're doing. We've taken care of dealing with some long-standing problems, whether it's reeling in Wall Street, dealing with health care, making sure that women get equal pay for equal work. Those are the kinds of things that we've been focusing on, when the Republicans have been focusing on the George Bush agenda of cutting taxes for the wealthiest, prosecuting wars without paying for them, failing to police Wall Street, privatizing Social Security, and abolishing Medicare. That's not the contract that we want to have with this country, but that is their contract that they want to pursue, just as George Bush pursued it. Now, I would recommend to you, Mr. Garamendi and to the other speakers, an article that was published in the Denver Post this past Sunday by a gentleman named Andy Grove, who was the chief executive of Intel. And it describes manufacturing in the United States, and when it grew, and how it's waned, and what we can do to start building it again. My friend from Ohio (Ms. Sutton) talked about manufacturing jobs in that State. One of the places where we can have solid manufacturing jobs is in the green, clean technology arena. Now, it's manufacturing, whether it's solar panels or wind turbines or many things that are of huge size that we build in this country, we construct in this country, and it puts our people, Americans back to work. And that's the kind of thing, we are building a country by looking forward, by looking to that new day where we're going to have something better for the people of this country. One of the things you talked about, Mr. Garamendi, was this bill that we passed involving students and community colleges. Well, community colleges in that bill will really be a base for developing these new manufacturing positions so that we have well-educated, well-prepared people to go build the best products in the world. That's what we've done before, that's what we're going to do again, because that's what America is made of. And I am so proud to be part of a Democratic Caucus, and a Democratic Caucus that has dealt with a very difficult financial time, dealt with very substantial and difficult subjects like health care, and Wall Street, and getting this country back on its feet. And now we're going to move forward, just as America wants us to do, and we're going to start building this thing the way we know we can. I yield to my friend from California.

Mr. PERLMUTTER

Mr. PERLMUTTER. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize and applaud Tyler Salen who has received the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth Award. Tyler Salen is a 10th grader at Ralston Valley High School and received this award because his determination and hard work have allowed him to overcome adversities. The dedication demonstrated by Tyler Salen is exemplary of the type of achievement that can be attained with hard work and perseverance. It is essential students at all levels strive to make the most of their education and develop a work ethic which will guide them for the rest of their lives. I extend my deepest congratulations once again to Tyler Salen for winning the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth Award. I have no doubt he will exhibit the same dedication and character to all his future accomplishments.

Mr. PERLMUTTER

Mr. PERLMUTTER. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize and applaud Tera Proper who has received the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. Tera Proper is a 10th grader at Ralston Valley High School and received this award because her determination and hard work have allowed her to overcome adversities. The dedication demonstrated by Tera Proper is exemplary of the type of achievement that can be attained with hard work and perseverance. It is essential students at all levels strive to make the most of their education and develop a work ethic which will guide them for the rest of their lives. I extend my deepest congratulations once again to Tera Proper for winning the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. I have no doubt she will exhibit the same dedication and character to all her future accomplishments.

Mr. PERLMUTTER

Mr. PERLMUTTER. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize and applaud Stephanie Jordan who has received the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth Award. Stephanie Jordan is a 12th grader at Wheat Ridge High School and received this award because her determination and hard work have allowed her to overcome adversities. The dedication demonstrated by Stephanie Jordan is exemplary of the type of achievement that can be attained with hard work and perseverance. It is essential students at all levels strive to make the most of their education and develop a work ethic which will guide them for the rest of their lives. I extend my deepest congratulations once again to Stephanie Jordan for winning the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth Award. I have no doubt she will exhibit the same dedication and character to all her future accomplishments.

Mr. PERLMUTTER

Mr. PERLMUTTER. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize and applaud Valeria Sapunova who has received the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. Valeria Sapunova is a 12th grader at Arvada High School and received this award because her determination and hard work have allowed her to overcome adversities. The dedication demonstrated by Valeria Sapunova is exemplary of the type of achievement that can be attained with hard work and perseverance. It is essential students at all levels strive to make the most of their education and develop a work ethic which will guide them for the rest of their lives. I extend my deepest congratulations once again to Valeria Sapunova for winning the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. I have no doubt she will exhibit the same dedication and character in all her future accomplishments.

Mr. PERLMUTTER

Mr. PERLMUTTER. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize and applaud Tate Lindemann who has received the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. Tate Lindemann is a 7th grader at Oberon Middle School and received this award because his determination and hard work have allowed him to overcome adversities. The dedication demonstrated by Tate Lindemann is exemplary of the type of achievement that can be attained with hard work and perseverance. It is essential students at all levels strive to make the most of their education and develop a work ethic which will guide them for the rest of their lives. I extend my deepest congratulations once again to Tate Lindemann for winning the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. I have no doubt he will exhibit the same dedication and character to all his future accomplishments.

Mr. PERLMUTTER

Mr. PERLMUTTER. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize and applaud Vanessa Vasquez who has received the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. Vanessa Vasquez is a 12th grader at Pamona High School and received this award because her determination and hard work have allowed her to overcome adversities. The dedication demonstrated by Vanessa Vasquez is exemplary of the type of achievement that can be attained with hard work and perseverance. It is essential students at all levels strive to make the most of their education and develop a work ethic which will guide them for the rest of their lives. I extend my deepest congratulations once again to Vanessa Vasquez for winning the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. I have no doubt she will exhibit the same dedication and character to all her future accomplishments.

Mr. PERLMUTTER

Mr. PERLMUTTER. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize and applaud Savannah Garcia who has received the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. Savannah Garcia is an 8th grader at Drake Middle School and received this award because her determination and hard work have allowed her to overcome adversities. The dedication demonstrated by Savannah Garcia is exemplary of the type of achievement that can be attained with hard work and perseverance. It is essential students at all levels strive to make the most of their education and develop a work ethic which will guide them for the rest of their lives. I extend my deepest congratulations once again to Savannah Garcia for winning the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. I have no doubt she will exhibit the same dedication and character to all her future accomplishments.

Mr. PERLMUTTER

Mr. PERLMUTTER. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize and applaud Shawn Bruce who has received the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. Shawn Bruce is a 12th grader at Arvada School and received this award because his determination and hard work have allowed him to overcome adversities. The dedication demonstrated by Shawn Bruce is exemplary of the type of achievement that can be attained with hard work and perseverance. It is essential students at all levels strive to make the most of their education and develop a work ethic which will guide them for the rest of their lives. I extend my deepest congratulations once again to Shawn Bruce for winning the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. I have no doubt he will exhibit the same dedication and character to all his future accomplishments.

Mr. PERLMUTTER

Mr. PERLMUTTER. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize and applaud Skip Khmavongsa who has received the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. Skip Khmavongsa is a 7th grader at Mandalay Middle School and received this award because his determination and hard work have allowed him to overcome adversities. The dedication demonstrated by Skip Khmavongsa is exemplary of the type of achievement that can be attained with hard work and perseverance. It is essential students at all levels strive to make the most of their education and develop a work ethic which will guide them for the rest of their lives. I extend my deepest congratulations once again to Skip Khmavongsa for winning the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. I have no doubt he will exhibit the same dedication and character to all his future accomplishments.

Mr. PERLMUTTER

Mr. PERLMUTTER. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize and applaud Servaas Stokvis who has received the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth Award. Servaas Stokvis is an 8th grader at Arvada Middle School and received this award because his determination and hard work have allowed him to overcome adversities. The dedication demonstrated by Servaas Stokvis is exemplary of the type of achievement that can be attained with hard work and perseverance. It is essential students at all levels strive to make the most of their education and develop a work ethic which will guide them for the rest of their lives. I extend my deepest congratulations once again to Servaas Stokvis for winning the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth Award. I have no doubt he will exhibit the same dedication and character to all his future accomplishments.

Mr. PERLMUTTER

Mr. PERLMUTTER. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Himes).

Mr. PERLMUTTER. Madam Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I call up House Resolution 1490 and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. PERLMUTTER. Madam Speaker, for purposes of debate only, I yield the customary 30 minutes to my friend from Texas (Mr. Sessions), and I yield myself such time as I may consume. General Leave