Chellie Pingree

Ms. PINGREE of Maine

Ms. PINGREE of Maine. Madam Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I call up House Resolution 280 and ask for its immediate consideration.

Ms. PINGREE of Maine. Thank you, Madam Speaker. For the purpose of debate only, I yield the customary 30 minutes to the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Ms. Foxx). All time yielded during consideration of the rule is for debate only. I yield myself such time as I may consume. General Leave

Ms. PINGREE of Maine. I also ask unanimous consent that all Members be given 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks on House Resolution 280.

Ms. PINGREE of Maine. Madam Speaker, House Resolution 280 provides for consideration of the Senate amendments to H.R. 146, the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009. The rule makes in order a motion by the chairman of the Committee on Natural Resources to concur in the Senate amendments to H.R. 146, the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009. The rule provides 1 hour of debate on the motion controlled by the Committee on Natural Resources. Madam Speaker, today, people across the country are looking to this body to pass this important bill. We have an historic opportunity to protect and preserve land across the country for future generations. Our grandchildren and their grandchildren will be able to enjoy national parks around the country. In Maine, my district, like so many other areas around the country, we cherish the natural beauty that surrounds us, and we have worked hard to preserve it. When I was the Senate majority leader in the State of Maine, I sponsored the biggest land bond bill in State history to preserve our open spaces for the public. Time and again, the people of my State have voted to invest in public land that will be protected for generations to come, and we value the full variety of uses of that land, whether it be hiking, camping, kayaking, hunting, or fishing. We are here today to consider the Senate amendments to H.R. 146, the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009. These amendments provide us with the opportunity to strengthen our National Park System, improve forest health, facilitate better management of our public lands, and increase the quantity and quality of the water supply in numerous local communities. This is not the first time this body has voted on this legislation. On March 11, a bipartisan majority of the House voted in favor of the Omnibus Lands Management Act. Unfortunately, it narrowly failed to obtain the two-thirds vote to pass the House. Last year, the majority of the bills that make up this package were passed out of the House but were held up in the Senate by a threatened filibuster. Finally, this year the Senate voted twice--each time overwhelmingly in favor of this package. Our time to send this legislation to the President's desk is long overdue. This package will provide protection to historic and cultural resources that include the sacred ground of American battlefields. In addition, it will protect our forests, our water, our network of trails. It will add to our National Park System and provide land that we can all enjoy. By finally passing this legislation today, we will designate over 2 million acres of land as wilderness. This means that when our grandchildren want to take their families to see what America looked like in its wild state, they will be able to. And they will be able to explore these lands because we are not closing off or preventing access to land. Instead, the wilderness designation helps manage the various uses, and this legislation recognizes that some areas are better suited for some kinds of recreation than others. This act also provides protection to historic sites like the Harriet Beecher Stowe House in my State of Maine, where this courageous abolitionist wrote ``Uncle Tom's Cabin.'' Future generations will be able to see and use this site and others protected by this legislation. This legislation before us is a product of bipartisan efforts that recognize how critical it is to conserve our land and ensure that the American people have access to that land. Land is one of our most precious resources and we must do our part, not only for our use but for future generations. This legislation protects areas for outdoor recreation. It preserves land for hunting, fishing, and other recreational activities. Not only does this package protect some of the most environmentally significant and scenic land in the country, it also provides protection for our Nation's water resources and keeps our Wild and Scenic Rivers undammed and free flowing. Taken as a whole, this package is truly landmark legislation. The amendments incorporate bipartisan bills introduced by the last Congress--39 by Democrats and 36 by Republican Members of the House. Finally, as good a piece of legislation as I think this is, the debate before us is simply on the rule to debate the underlying bill. My colleagues on the other side of the aisle may argue that this did not go through regular order, or this limits second amendment rights, or that it somehow excludes our honored returning vets from accessing public lands, but all of those arguments are simply untrue.

Ms. PINGREE of Maine. No, I won't. I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support this very important public lands bill. I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. PINGREE of Maine. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer).

Ms. PINGREE of Maine. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Polis).

Ms. PINGREE of Maine. I yield the gentleman 15 additional seconds.

Ms. PINGREE of Maine

Ms. PINGREE of Maine. Mr. Speaker, I am the last speaker for this side. I will reserve my time until the gentleman has closed for his side and yielded back his time.

Ms. PINGREE of Maine. For the purposes of debate only, I yield the customary 30 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Lincoln Diaz- Balart). All time yielded during consideration of the rule is for debate only. General Leave

Ms. PINGREE of Maine. Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I call up House Resolution 257 and ask for its immediate consideration.

Ms. PINGREE of Maine. Mr. Speaker, I can be very brief in my close, and I thank all of the eloquent speakers from our side who have come to the floor to talk about this important issue and the importance of voting on it today. Let me be clear, a ``no'' vote, a ``no'' vote on this, is to allow the executives at AIG to keep their bonuses. Now, how many people have come before us today to say it is unconscionable to think that they would take taxpayers' dollars to fund a misguided scheme, and then be given bonuses by the taxpayers? It is unthinkable. A ``no'' vote here is unthinkable. We have talked about a whole variety of things from each other's voting records to the constitutionality, to a whole range of issues that do and don't apply to what we are talking about right now, and that is to allow a rule to allow us to proceed with doing something about the executive bonuses at AIG. How many people have come before us? How many constituents have we heard from who have said: You have got to do something about these bonuses. I am struggling. I am struggling to keep my business going. I am struggling to keep my home going. Numerous things we have all heard from all of our constituents that have said to us, do something, do it right now. That is what people are asking us, in this extreme difficult economy where people are struggling every day, where businesses are struggling, where in my district we are hearing a layoff notice almost every day. People are saying to us, it is time to do something. That is why we are here. I urge a ``yes'' vote of my colleagues on the previous question and on the rule. The material previously referred to by Mr. Lincoln Diaz-Balart of Florida is as follows: Amendment to H. Res. 257, as Reported Offered by Mr. Lincoln Diaz- Balart of Florida At the end of the resolution, insert the following new section: Sec. 2. Immediately upon adoption of this resolution, without intervention of any motion or recess, the Speaker shall entertain a motion offered by the Minority Leader or his designee, that the House suspend the rules relating to the bill (H.R. 1577) to require the Secretary of the Treasury to pursue every legal means to stay or recoup certain incentive bonus payments and retention payments made by American International Group, Inc. to its executives and employees, and to require the Secretary's approval of such payments by any financial institution who receives funds under title I of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008. Clause 8(a) of rule XX shall not apply to such motion. A motion to adjourn shall not be in order during consideration of such motion.

Ms. PINGREE of Maine. I yield back the balance of my time and move the previous question on the resolution.

Ms. PINGREE of Maine. I yield the gentleman 1 more minute.

Ms. PINGREE of Maine. I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. PINGREE of Maine. I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. PINGREE of Maine. I yield another 30 seconds.

Ms. PINGREE of Maine. Mr. Speaker, I do want to thank the gentlelady from North Carolina (Ms. Foxx) for bringing in my voting record and remind her that I was very proud to vote for the stimulus or recovery package, whichever we choose to call it, and have already stated that on the record. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Sherman).

Ms. PINGREE of Maine. I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and to insert extraneous materials into the Record.

Ms. PINGREE of Maine. Mr. Speaker, I yield as much time to myself as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, people across the country are rightly outraged by the egregious nature of the AIG bonuses. It is unconscionable for AIG to pay out $165 million in bonuses to the same top executives who mismanaged the company to the point of failure. It is fundamentally wrong to be rewarding the very same people who ran AIG while it was losing billions and billions of dollars with risky schemes that directly led to the staggering $170 billion bailout last year. It is a stunning example of greed and shamelessness, and it is gross mismanagement and misuse of taxpayer funds that borders on criminal. People in Maine, my district, and around the country are angry. I have heard from hundreds of my constituents sharing their outrage. One resident of Wells, Maine, in the straightforward way that my constituents do, wrote to me in this manner. He said, ``Let AIG fail. Let those greedy, blood-sucking executives find out what it means to lose their life savings. You need to tell those that want our tax dollars, these are the conditions, clear and simple. And if you don't want to use it for what we want, you will get nothing.'' He went on to say, ``It has become a sad day in our history when we have to lose our retirements, and then have to give billions to those that have caused the problems, and then, in turn, they give it to themselves as bonuses.'' Another Mainer wrote, ``I am writing to you because I am absolutely appalled that we, as citizens and taxpayers, have given billions of dollars to AIG, only to have that company give us all the proverbial finger and pay out $165 million in bonus money to their staff. AIG's conduct, given their own monetary losses that are in the billions of dollars, is criminal.'' The small businesses in my State of Maine are doing what businesses around the country are doing; they are diversifying, they are freezing wages. They are using their own resources, adopting cost-saving measures, whatever it takes to stay in business and keep people in their jobs. Like so many businesses around the country, a businessman in Portland recently chose to dig into his own pocket and use his own money so he wouldn't have to lay off his employees. And just last week, I met with the owners of a small machine shop that had been growing. They came to me with questions about how they could better use the money in the recovery package to stay in business just to stay afloat. They weren't looking to line their own pockets, they were asking for help to keep people employed and keep their business afloat. These are the types of people who are stung the hardest by the AIG bonuses. Families and businesses in Maine and across the country are struggling to make ends meet and stay in their homes. And they are helping each other out of a shared sense of responsibility. Meanwhile, on Wall Street, we see executives who seem to think they live by a different set of rules and who refuse to take responsibility for the damage they have caused. It is a perfect example of why we have, and will continue to have, a commitment to transparency and oversight in government. When the House passed TARP last year before I was here, this type of abuse is exactly what the American people were afraid of. We knew there was a chance of waste, fraud or abuse, and now it has come to light. We are here today to fix it. We will continue to forge ahead to fix our struggling economy. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. PINGREE of Maine. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Maloney).

Ms. PINGREE of Maine. I yield the gentleman an additional 30 seconds.

Ms. PINGREE of Maine. Mr. Speaker I yield 2 minutes to a member of the Ways and Means Committee, the gentleman from North Dakota (Mr. Pomeroy).

Ms. PINGREE of Maine. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas, a Member of the Ways and Means Committee, Mr. Doggett.

Ms. PINGREE of Maine. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts and my colleague on the Rules Committee, Mr. McGovern.