Thomas Perriello

Mr. PERRIELLO

Mr. PERRIELLO. Thank you so much for bringing this group together to talk about jobs. As the gentleman from Connecticut mentioned, we can build things, make things, and grow things better than anyone else in the world if we give the American people a chance. For too many years, the other side has had a strategy of saying if we just nickel-and-dime the middle class enough, maybe we can win a race to the bottom with China. If we just cut into our environment enough, maybe we can win a race to the bottom with China. That's been the Republican strategy. We will not win a race to the bottom with China. Our side wants to win a race to the top with China. We can outcompete China and India as well as Europe and Japan if we unleash the innovation, entrepreneurship of the American people that comes from our small businesses, if we understand that instead of bailing out the biggest companies for their failures we start to give just a little bit of support to our small business owners, our entrepreneurs, our scientists, our innovators. We made a down payment last year on rebuilding America's competitive advantage. We made a down payment to unleash the research and development, the technology and the innovation in our small businesses. And we also understand that to win that race to the top against China, we have to have a 21st century workforce, so we have made college a little more affordable. But it is not just kids headed to college. We also want to invest in those who want to learn a trade or career in technical training. That can be the difference between making minimum wage and 20 bucks an hour. Sometimes in this city or on Wall Street the difference between minimum wage and 20 bucks an hour doesn't seem like a whole lot, but to people back home it is the difference between being able to support your family or not, being able to pay those bills or not. And we have tried to go after those who are nickle and diming the working class and the middle class in this country, the utilities, the credit card companies, the health insurance companies and others that have been bankrupting our small business owners and our working class and middle-class folks. We can still build it here. We are already seeing this in the energy sector. As many of the people here tonight have talked about, our farmers can be on the front line of that struggle for America's energy independence. Our manufacturing in our district is actually exporting to Asia on high quality efficiency technologies. But it is not going to happen by pulling in our shell. It is not going to happen by thinking small. It is not going to happen by doubting the resolve of the American spirit, the American individual, the American entrepreneur. It is going to be doing it by giving that support. Right now we can be doing more to rebuild this Nation's infrastructure; the infrastructure of yesterday, our sewage, our water, our roads; and of tomorrow, our broadband technology, our electric grid technology, so that we have the most efficient system. That is how we outcompete the world. We can still do this better than anyone else. We must call all of us to that best self right now to outcompete, and we are not going to do it by taking our foot off the pedal right now. We are in tough economic times. Our American families feel it. Just this last week I did a tour of over a dozen Main Streets in my district in central and southern Virginia, talking to small business owners who spent a lifetime building up their business, their clientele, their reputation, to one day sell that business in order to be able to retire securely. Times are tough. That is not where we live right now in terms of Main Street. But we have to start putting Main Street ahead of Wall Street, and I mean the kind of values we have on Main Street, of basic decency and accountability. That is what we need in terms of real Wall Street reform. That is what we mean in terms of transparency, like the DISCLOSE Act. Where I come from, if you want to say something, you stand by it. You put your name by it. That is the simple rule of the DISCLOSE Act. To Wall Street, we are just saying if you don't have the money, you shouldn't be able to lend out the money. I think we need to do more to put a hard cap on these leverage restrictions. And I mean Main Street jobs, and thinking we still need those jobs for people that they can support a family with. The people here tonight are dedicated to that working and middle- class American who has been struggling in these tough economic times, to make it a little easier to get that business started, a little easier to get through the tough times, a little easier to get that child off to college or to trade school, and a little easier to make sure that you are going to have a secure retirement. I look forward to this month, because we are in an urgent time. This is not a time for political games by either side. This is a time where we shouldn't leave until we have launched a manufacturing strategy and an agricultural strategy for the 21st century, where we have helped to put our construction crews back to work making this country more efficient. We can do these things, I have no doubt that we can, and I believe that we will continue to fight the people here to make sure that that happens and that we will see that economic growth and recovery back on Main Street.

Mr. PERRIELLO

Mr. PERRIELLO. Madam Speaker, I rise today in honor of a legend, a lion, and a leader, Mrs. Ruby Batts Archie, who died on Saturday, June 26. Born February 9, 1934, in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, Ruby Batts was the only daughter of Helen Louise Batts. She married Cephus N. Archie on November 23, 1961, and they enjoyed forty-eight years of marriage. She was a graduate of Booker T. Washington High School in Rocky Mount, North Carolina and Virginia State University in Petersburg, Virginia, where she received both her bachelors and masters degrees in English. She also received an honorary Doctorate of Literary Letters from Virginia University of Lynchburg (VA). Mrs. Archie was a retired educator who served for 37 years in the Danville Public School System, including time as the Head of the English Departments at both Langston High School and George Washington High School. These decades of hands-on experience and leadership in the schools made her an invaluable advocate for education throughout her career in local government. She was a former Mayor for the City of Danville from 1998 to 2000, had previously served as Vice Mayor from 1996-1998, and at the time of her death was a member of the Danville City Council with 16 years of service. Mrs. Archie worked extensively as a member of community and national organizations, not only on educational issues, but also mental health, business development, and community service. Her memberships are too many to list, but one especially close to her heart was Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, where she was a sitting member of its international board of directors and held numerous positions in her chapter, Alpha Phi Omega, including president and treasurer, and in regional and national sorority committees. Additionally, she was a presiding officer of the Order of the Eastern Star; a member of the board of directors of both the Boys and Girls Club and the Salvation Army; and a faithful member of Loyal Baptist Church where she served as a former chairman of the Board of Education and Sunday School teacher and currently served as the chairman of the Deaconess Board. Mrs. Archie was deeply concerned for Southside Virginia's economic future, having watched too many of her finest students leave the region never to return, and worked to create jobs beyond Southside's traditional textiles and tobacco. Her expertise was recognized by Governors George Allen and James Gilmore, who appointed her to serve on the Southside Business and Education Commission from 1995 to 2003. Those who worked closely with Mrs. Archie throughout the years have expressed deep sorrow for her loss and gratitude for her innumerable contributions to the community. She was endlessly dedicated, dependable, and generous of her time and talents, and she held others to her high standards of hard work, integrity, and citizenship. Students and colleagues recall her warm smile, her style and graceful carriage, and her zeal for proper usage of the English language. In her work in the City Council, she was calmly bipartisan, always striving to build bridges. She was an effective representative of her constituents, a tireless educator, and an inspiration to countless individuals whose lives she touched. Mrs. Archie was just days away from retirement when she died last weekend, and had hoped to devote her time to two of her greatest passions, travel and enjoying the company of her grandchildren. Because her passing was far too soon, she was unable to savor this well-earned retirement--a truth emblematic of a woman whose life was full of future projects and plans, and who believed her work was never done. Ruby is survived by her mother, Helen; her devoted husband, Cephus; her children Keith, Trina, and Carla; her grandsons Cedric, Deondre, and Milek; and her cousins Charles and Barbara. On behalf of Virginia's 5th District, I honor the passing of one of our finest public servants, and ask that her legacy be remembered for years to come.

Mr. PERRIELLO

Mr. PERRIELLO. Madam Speaker, this morning I rose to honor the passing of Ruby Archie, a great hero to all of those in southern Virginia; an educator, a civic leader, and a tireless advocate for fairness. Tonight, I rise for the passing of another individual, Manute Bol, who was laid to rest at the National Cathedral earlier today. Many know Mr. Bol as the tallest player ever to have played in the NBA. But to those of us who followed issues in Sudan and in Africa, he is a giant for other reasons. He is a giant for his humanitarian work. He is a giant for having stood up for justice and fairness, particularly in Africa's longest-running civil war against the southern Sudanese, where so many Christians and traditionalists have been suffering for so many years. Too many in our country fight to become famous as an end in itself. Here was an individual of such tremendous character that he used fame as a means to help those less fortunate. After growing up in Sudan and having a chance to remove himself to the United States, where he could have lived a comfortable life of riches, he chose instead to give everything he had, his money, his time, and his energy, to protect those suffering back in his homeland. Manute Bol became a hero, not just on the basketball court, but he became a hero to many evangelical Christians, to people of all faiths, to lost boys back in Sudan, and to people all over the world for being a shining example of someone who chose to always stand for justice, a word engraved in the dais behind me, and understanding that as feared as he was as a shot-blocker, he was even more fearless in his own life in standing up. And not just doing the easy work of writing a check, but always being willing to go back and spend time on the ground, often at great personal risk to his security and to his health, and was even willing to speak out against regimes that were not only enemies of the people of that country, but often of our own. He was a hero to many of us who looked at the fact that many will look back through history and say, how did we allow 30,000 of God's children to die every day of hunger and preventable disease? Here was a man who not only made this town of Washington proud when he was with the then-Bullets, but all over the country inspired many to say, what can I give, what can I sacrifice, for those who are suffering or not having the blessings that we have? And he did it all with a tremendous sense of humor. Mr. Bol spent his last few days in my district in Charlottesville, Virginia, at the University of Virginia, and we were honored to have him and so many of his loved ones in for the unfortunate and far too early passing of this great hero. I hope today people will take a moment not only to say a prayer for him and his family and for all of those in Sudan who continue to suffer, but will take some inspiration from his legacy, of someone who came from very rough circumstances, got to the top of the world, and did nothing but look back to how he could help those less fortunate. He is an inspiration to all of those. He is a giant of a humanitarian. He has been a warrior for justice and fairness, and we honor him today.

Mr. PERRIELLO

Mr. PERRIELLO. Madam Speaker, on Saturday, southern Virginia lost a legend, a lion, and a beloved leader. Ruby Batts Archie, at the age of 76, passed away. She had been an educator in our community for 37 years. She had been the mayor of Danville from 1998 to 2000, and served on the city council for 16 years. She was just a few days from finally retiring from the council to spend more time with her grandchildren. She was a tireless educator; she was a fearless leader. She always put the interests of the people in her community ahead, being willing to work with people from all parties, my predecessor, Mr. Goode, myself, people in the city, people in the county. For her, this was a matter of faith; it was a matter of fairness. She will be deeply missed. We pray for her, for her family, and for all of those who served with her. It was an honor to have a chance to work with her to make Danville and southern Virginia a better place. And we look forward to what Mayor Sherman Saunders has called her everlasting legacy.

Mr. PERRIELLO

Mr. PERRIELLO. Madam Speaker, today I am joined by my colleague, the gentleman from Michigan, Mr. Schauer, to introduce the ``Surface Transportation Savings Act of 2010.'' This bill will reduce the Nation's deficit by $106.8 million by rescinding contract authority made available to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) that the agencies cannot use in fiscal year (FY) 2010. At this time of rising budget deficits and reduced revenues caused by the worst economic recession since the Great Depression, it is imperative that we take every step we can to efficiently and effectively manage taxpayer dollars. By eliminating funds that these agencies cannot use, this legislation will take steps--small as they may appear--toward reducing the Federal budget deficit, which reached $1.4 trillion in FY 2009. Eliminating excess funding that agencies cannot use is a common sense and practical step toward improving the nation's fiscal foundation while efforts to repair our ailing economy continue to take place across the nation. NHTSA's safety belt performance grants program received $124.5 million in FY 2010 to carry out this important incentive grant program. NHTSA has informed us that only three states are expected to qualify to receive an incentive grant under this program this year. Therefore, NHTSA requires no more than $28.5 million in FY 2010 to carry out the authorized activities of this program. Since NHTSA does not have the ability to redistribute the unallocated funds in FY 2010, H.R. 5604 would rescind $81.0 million of contract authority from this program. The Surface Transportation Savings Act also rescinds $8.5 million of contract authority from NHTSA's administrative expenses, National Driver Register and research and development programs. This excess contract authority was made available under the extension of current surface transportation programs passed as part of the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act (HIRE Act). Because the amounts provided for these programs is greater than the funding levels provided by the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010, NHTSA cannot use these fund in FY 2010. Specifically, H.R. 5604 would rescind $6.4 million of contract authority authorized for NHTSA's administrative expenses; $1.8 million of contract authority authorized for NHTSA's highway safety research and development program; and $78,000 of amounts authorized for NHTSA to carry out the National Driver Register. Finally, H.R. 5604 rescinds $17.4 million of contract authority from FTA's formula and bus grant programs. The HIRE Act provides $8.361 billion in FY 2010 to carry out FTA's formula and bus grant programs. This funding level is $17.4 million greater than the funding level provided by the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010, and thus FTA cannot use these funds. Madam Speaker, reducing the nation's growing budget deficit is crucial to our long-term financial health and economic prosperity. In these difficult economic times, we must look particularly hard for each and every opportunity to address the deficits and debt we are leaving for future generations. The legislation Mr. Schauer and I are introducing today is a common sense step in that direction.

Mr. PERRIELLO

Mr. PERRIELLO. Mr. Chairman, where I come from, people stand by their word. If they have something to say, they stand up and say it and they're not afraid to say this is who I am. We do it in our own campaign ads. The Bible says, ``You shall not hide your light under a bushel.'' Why should the same not apply? If one is going to choose to be part of our sacred democratic process, why on Earth would it not be part of that to say this is who I am? The DISCLOSE Act simply does that. It says I'm willing to stand up and speak and I'm willing to tell you who I am. Back on Main Street, back in rural communities, that's just a basic sense of decency and accountability, and it's a Main Street value that does well in Washington as well. It's also important that we make sure that ``We the People'' is not ``We the foreign corporations.'' This is an important amendment to make sure that foreign corporations are not allowed to come in and unduly affect our elections. China already owns too much of our debt. Don't let them buy our democracy as well. It's important that no country and no company be able to come in and own this democracy.

Mr. PERRIELLO

Mr. PERRIELLO. Madam Speaker, today I wish to recognize Dr. Rosa Atkins, who was named Virginia's Superintendent of the Year on May 20, 2010. Last October, U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan attended a roundtable discussion at Greenbrier Elementary--our Blue Ribbon school--with area school superintendents. In that meeting, Secretary Duncan saw in Rosa Atkins what we see every day, and what the Virginia Association of School Superintendents recognized with this award--an educator fiercely determined to lift all of her students. It is a task worthy of Hercules, but she accomplishes it with grace and seemingly with ease. But we know closing the achievement gap is not easy. It is especially difficult in tough economic times. But Dr. Atkins has tenaciously persevered and the results are remarkable--and ongoing. You would be hard pressed to identify a single job more important to a community than school superintendent, and you would be hard pressed to identify a single individual better suited to that job than Dr. Rosa Atkins. On behalf of Virginia's 5th District, I offer my deepest appreciation for her service to our students.

Mr. PERRIELLO

Mr. PERRIELLO. Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of the Section 45G Short Line Railroad Tax Credit, which expired on December 31, 2009, so that we can support our nation's railway industry and the jobs that it creates. Section 45G was enacted in 2004 to help America's lighter-density freight rail lines invest in their infrastructure. Because this credit has not been extended for 2010, the Buckingham Branch Railroad in the 5th district of Virginia has been unable to make track repairs and much needed upgrades, thereby affecting Amtrak schedules and long term planning. Fifty cents of every dollar that the Buckingham Branch Railroad spends on improving its rail infrastructure is directed to labor costs, keeping Virginians employed. The Short Line Railroad Tax Credit generates 6,890,000 rail track worker-hours each year and 3,305 full-time jobs nationwide. These numbers do not include the tens of thousands of jobs in the American steel, timber, and aggregate industries that make steel rail, railroad ties, and other railway equipment. Section 45G is vital to enabling railway companies to pay their track employees and invest in tracks that serve local businesses. Short line rail tracks connect many of America's small businesses to the national freight rail network and promote economic development in areas that need it most. I respectfully encourage the conference committee to ensure that the Short Line Railroad Tax Credit is successfully maintained.

Mr. PERRIELLO

Mr. PERRIELLO. Madam Speaker, today I wish to commemorate the Memorial Dedication Service in honor of Henrietta Pleasant-Lacks, which will take place this weekend at St. Matthews Baptist Church in Clover, Virginia. At this ceremony, the descendents of Henrietta Lacks will at last be able to dedicate a headstone for a woman who has for too long been buried in an unmarked grave. Henrietta Lacks was born Loretta Pleasant on August 1, 1920, in Roanoke Virginia. The granddaughter of slaves, she was raised by her grandfather on a tobacco farm. She married David Lacks in Halifax County, Virginia in 1941, and moved to Baltimore County, Maryland, in search of work. Henrietta and David had five children: Lawrence, Elsie, David, Deborah and Joseph. In February of 1951, Henrietta was diagnosed with cervical cancer. Despite the treatments Henrietta received, she died just eight months later, on October 4, 1951, at the age of thirty- one. She was buried without a tombstone in a family cemetery in Clover, Virginia. However, the story of Henrietta Lacks was far from over. Without the permission of Lacks, her husband, or any family members, doctors at Johns Hopkins had collected and saved samples of tissue from her cancerous tumor during her hospital stay. These tissue samples were given to George Gey, who had for decades had unsuccessfully attempted to grow cancer cells outside of the body in hopes of studying the causes of and cures for cancer. Lacks's cells finally provided the breakthrough he had been searching for: they doubled in number every 24 hours, and would continue to divide and replenish themselves indefinitely, providing an immortal line of human cells. The line was named ``HeLa,'' and cells were distributed to researchers around the world. These cells are still in use today, and have provided invaluable advances in not only cancer, but also fertility, genetics, and AIDS research. They also contributed to the invention of the polio vaccine--a fitting end for the cells of a woman who had been a vocal advocate for polio eradication. To date, some twenty tons of these cells have been grown. The achievements these cells have made possible are undeniably thrilling, but we cannot forget the dark side of this story: that the cells were taken without Henrietta Lacks's consent, that her family was not told for many years what had been done, and that such practices were not uncommon. Lacks was just one of many individuals of that era whose right to consent to procedures performed on her own body was taken away in the name of scientific advancement. Had her cells not been so unusual, her story would likely not be known. Today we not only honor Henrietta Lacks and her legacy, but we also remember every forgotten individual who because of racial discrimination or poverty was subject to some form of medical injustice. Her story contains at once the greatest heights and most shameful depths of which medicine is capable, and only in acknowledging both can we hope to pursue a world for our future generations that strives for both knowledge and justice. This more just world requires that we work for access to health care for all, regardless of socioeconomic status. One of the greatest outrages of Henrietta Lacks's story has been that while the medical industry makes millions from advances she made possible, members of her own family have struggled to afford care, and have never been able to benefit from the medical discoveries made. As we fight for solutions to these injustices, I pledge to remember Henrietta's family's words, ``We are asking each of you to be her voice.'' On behalf of the 5th District of Virginia, I thank Dr. Ronald Pattillo of the Morehouse School of Medicine for his support for the tombstone dedication and the Lacks family for their dedicated efforts to telling her story and ensuring that future generations will know that we have Henrietta's immortal cells to thank for countless discoveries made and lives saved.

Mr. PERRIELLO

Mr. PERRIELLO. Mr. Speaker, Americans are sick of it. They are sick and tired of hearing excuses and finger-pointing. They are sick and tired of other people not having to play by basic rules of decency and fairness. They are sick of it, and they should be. They want Wall Street to play by the rules. They want Washington to play by the rules. One of the most important moves we can make right now is for the Senate to see through to completion their efforts to clean up the financial system so that those who work hard and play by the rules, save up a little, put it into their home values, put it into their 401(k), know that other people aren't able to gamble away their retirement security and their future. Basic rules of decency and fairness. We need those similar rules in Washington. That is why many of us have fought hard to make sure that we reinstate PAYGO legislation that the other side of the aisle let die a few years ago that simply says, anything you do, you've got to pay for it. These are the rules of everyday Americans back home on Main Street, and it is time for those Main Street values to apply to Washington and to Wall Street. But Americans are also sick and tired of those who put slogans ahead of solutions. They want us to solve problems, and none is greater than that of the jobs crisis we face in this country. On Wall Street, and maybe with our friends in the Senate, there is a sense that this recession has passed and the urgency is gone. But every weekend we go home and we talk to business owners who can't get credit. We talk to people who have been looking for job after job after job just so that they have the dignity of knowing that they can support their family; hardworking people who are willing to go back and get that additional degree or certificate but need to know that there is going to be a job on the other side. What they ask us to do is to come here, play by rules of decency and fairness, and focus on solving problems. We have an opportunity here before Memorial Day to make the most of the summer construction season, to make this an opportunity to rebuild America, but specifically, to rebuild America's competitive advantage in the world. This crisis didn't begin a couple of years ago. It began a couple of decades ago, as we saw more and more borrowing from the financial institutions, overleveraging, and the consumer market with consumer credit to cover for falling wage rates, and in the government sector. That cannot go on forever. But at its core was an issue of whether we can continue to compete in the world with a living wage and middle class incomes and jobs. The answer is to reward innovation and stop bailing out failure. This solution that both parties have had at times of bailing out failure will not succeed. We must begin again to reward innovation, research and development, and creativity so that we can be building the jobs of the future here in the United States. Many of us have worked hard day and night here to focus on pragmatic solutions, like the HOME STAR program that will help thousands, hundreds of thousands of people renovate their homes and their offices. It will help reduce pressure on an electric grid that is way out of date, and it helps put people back to work in construction and in manufacturing, the insulation, the double-paned glass, the window films that are manufactured right here in the United States. But we also know that the key of this new job creation, this new competitiveness revolution that we must have in this country, is an understanding that two out of every three new jobs created in this country are created by small business. Small business is the engine of job growth even as big business is too often the engine of our politics. We must make sure that we are getting those Main Street values and those Main Street businesses back into the equation that have too often been choked out, rolled out by big business for photo ops and by politicians for photo ops, but forgotten when it gets down to policy. Well, we have been hard at work on programs to get direct lending to small business, get support to our community banks that still tend to support those small businesses, the homegrown businesses that stay in our community, where the CEO still knows the name of every worker, the name of their spouse and their kids, wants to give them a decent wage and help them be able to support their family. These are concrete solutions that make sense back on Main Street instead of the kind of bomb-throwing that goes on here. And one of the great freshmen in our class who is also focused on the solutions-oriented approach, this pragmatic approach, what I would call a postpartisan approach that doesn't focus on how we can bring everyone together by watering things down but how we can leave our partisan divisions behind by getting better ideas that help create that competitiveness revolution, Jared Polis, who has been successful in the private sector, in the nonprofit sector, as well as the government, to talk some about these solutions-oriented approaches that we have.

Mr. PERRIELLO. Thank you so much for your work in this area. We do understand that small business is a lifeline for our communities, a huge job creator, huge engine of that, but it's also an area where we have not seen the kind of behavior that got us into this mess. Our community banks, our credit unions, have often been more solvent through these situations. Didn't see the huge upside, but also continued the old-fashioned tradition of looking someone in the eye and doing their due diligence. In fact, if you look at the people who saw the crash coming within the markets, it was actually people who went out and did old-fashioned due diligence. Going and looking at where these subprime mortgages actually were. Sometimes there's no replacement for old-fashioned hard work, due diligence. And we know that community banks do this. So a program like this tries to get private-sector solutions to this problem. Help incent that investment in our community banks. Our community banks in turn can invest in our small businesses and our small businesses in turn invest in our families--our working families-- and in our communities. This is the sort of thing that can move us forward, as has another thing that we worked on in the House, which was a 1-year freeze on capital gains taxes for small business. Again, something that doesn't say we're giving you free money. It just says we are going to encourage this kind of small business innovation. We know this tends to lead to job creation. It's a good thing. So these pragmatic, private-public partnerships like the Home Star program, like Rural Star, where we're helping to make our country safer, more efficient, and rebuild manufacturing. The gentlemen on the other side were talking about all the post offices we've renamed today. And we did some of that. They failed to mention that we also had the America COMPETES Act up today, which is actually to support research and development and rebuilding some of the manufacturing base and investment in efficiency technologies and job creation that, too often, they've tried to take down with poison pills about child pornography and this sort of thing. And the American people look at that and say, You've got to be kidding me. We're in the worst job crisis in two generations, and you're up there scoring cheap political points when you have an opportunity to do something both sides of the aisle know we need to do, which is figure out how to reinvent America's competitive advantage. When we can do that, particularly with these public-private partnerships, like your efforts with the community banks, like the capital gains, these are engines not just of short-term job growth, but of rebuilding America's competitiveness and getting us back to work. With that, I want to yield to one of our newest Members from California.

Mr. PERRIELLO. Thank you so much for those remarks and bringing back to the kitchen table those individuals that are involved in this. With that, I will yield to Mr. Polis of Colorado.

Mr. PERRIELLO. Thank you. The gentleman talked some about the next Yahoo! or the next Google. I just want to talk for a minute about something that's a little more old fashioned than that--construction. We actually do still need to build things in this country. We need to put down asphalt and concrete. We need to build roads and bridges. The infrastructure of the last century needs to be rebuilt. But we also need to be thinking in terms of leapfrogs in infrastructure. We need to be laying the broadband that is the highway system of the future. We need to be looking at a modern electric grid because our current one is not only so vulnerable to attack, but it's full of inefficiencies. The amount of energy we lose between where we produce the energy and where we consume it is astronomical. It is incredible how inefficient. So here we have businesses that are trying to compete against very low-cost countries around the world who are still using an electric grid essentially from the 1930s. This is a moment where we need to have the boldness to rebuild our competitive advantage by doing some building again. And construction should certainly not be a Republican or a Democratic issue. We all have construction needs in our districts. We have construction companies in our districts. Ninety percent of construction companies are small businesses, and we are already into the summer building season for many parts of this country. But from Memorial Day to Thanksgiving, it's going to be an important moment. We've lost 1.6 million construction jobs since this recession began. We have a 25 percent unemployment rate among skilled construction workers, 1.6 million in losses in construction jobs, 25 percent unemployment, yet we cannot get bipartisan support for the investments in our 21st century infrastructure that could put people back to work in construction, so that instead of receiving an unemployment benefit, they're receiving a paycheck; and we are getting a more efficient, modern infrastructure system. This is common sense. This makes sense back on Main Street. It just doesn't make sense in Washington, where we score points by preventing the other side from doing something smart instead of by solving the problem. We know we need these construction jobs. We know it's where some of the biggest losses have been. We know it's something that exists in every one of our communities, and we know we are well nigh at the beginning of that construction season. We passed in December through this House a plus-up of some of the infrastructure that's needed. It's desperately needed here in this area. Just try to drive from D.C. to Richmond sometime and see whether we have an infrastructure worthy of the year 2010, worthy of the kind of growth and competitiveness of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Head out 66 and down 29. We need it on the roads and the bridges; we need it on the freight; we need it on the passenger rail, the energy and electric grid as well as the broadband technology. These are important leaps, and we have made some leaps. We are going to be able to wire every public school in central and southern Virginia through some of the stimulus grants. That's going to put people to work now, putting that in place; but it's also going to be creating businesses of the future that people can run out of their homes, out of a small business hub, making sure that the children going to through our school system have the education to be able to compete in the 21st century. Construction. It may not be the most dramatic thing to talk about, but it is vital. It's where an enormous amount of the job losses have been, and many of us have been trying to get that construction going again in time for the summer building season. We have bills sitting in the Senate, ready to move as soon as they're done with this Wall Street reform. I hope they will pick up the job initiatives that we have passed here because they are pragmatic; they are powerful; they are effective; and they can put people back to work in areas like construction where we have had some of the biggest losses. I mentioned the Home Star program where we can put people to work immediately, retrofitting and renovating the building stock of this country. The payback, 12 months, 18 months before you're immediately saving money for decades to come, increasing the home value and value of that commercial building stock, putting Americans to work manufacturing the insulation, the double-paned glass, the wiring and other things that are part of that. It's just common sense. It saves the consumer money. It makes the business more efficient. It's being manufactured here. It's something that makes us more competitive. It protects our environment, and it makes our country safer because we're less dependent on foreign oil--and even domestic oil, as we've seen the costs of that recently. The Home Star program could put 168,000 people to work. Even before home construction starts to pick back up again, which will vary regionally around the country, we know we can renovate the building stock that we have. Concrete, pragmatic ideas, public-private partnerships. We have the Rural Star program which is going to help rural electric co-ops to forward-fund those sorts of renovations in some of our hardest hit rural communities that are much more likely to have inefficient housing stock, where people are paying a much higher percentage of their very low income sometimes on that electric bill because that housing stock is so inefficient. But it's also costing our electric co-ops and others because there's so much power on our electric grid that we can't even meet that challenge. This is a moment where we need to look not just at what got us into this mess for the last 2 years but the last two decades. How do we rebuild America's competitiveness? And we must do it by joining forces across the aisle. We must do it by looking for ideas that are pragmatic but bold. The answer can't be to water it down to be so small that it has no chance of making a difference. When you go to Main Street in this country, they're furious at us, they're furious at Wall Street because no one's playing by the same rules they have to play by. We have to get that sense of decency and fairness back into play. We need to play by those rules. That's why we've put PAYGO back into place. That's why we're increasing transparency. But they also want us to focus on pragmatic solutions, Home Star, Rural Star, efforts to get equity and investment going into our community banks. Why would we put all this emphasis into the five or six huge banks that helped get us into this mess in the first place? It makes no sense. We have to stop bailing out failure and start rewarding innovation, research and development. That's how we get out of this. We can still out-innovate and, therefore, out-compete any country in the world. But we can't do it by looking backwards, and we can't do it by rewarding and bailing out failure. We have to do it based on innovation. We have concrete, pragmatic things right now that the Senate can move on and, in some cases, that we need to move on here. Home Star, Rural Star, green energy jobs, getting that capital gains tax cut to our small businesses, getting the incentive to invest in our community banks. If two out of every three jobs come out of small business, this is an area where we can and must put more emphasis, and construction is part of that. Here people may not think it's a big deal to go out and have a small construction company working a couple of crews. Here maybe too many people are focused on the Goldman Sachs of the world. But for those construction companies, for those crews, going out and working is rebuilding America, and it's putting food on the table and knowing they can support their family. And all of us benefit from the efficiencies and quality of that infrastructure investment. We have a building season right now. This town is way too insulated from the urgency of this job crisis back home. We, just last week, had the announcement of over 500 jobs lost in the town of Martinsville at the Stanley Furniture factory. Tens of thousands of furniture and textile jobs have been lost in southern Virginia over the last 20 years. This was really one of the last, down to a few jobs that have been kept. The unemployment rate in the city already I think is at 22 percent. It could pop up to 25 percent or above. And each one of I think 535 jobs lost represents not just an individual and not just an income but a family and its economic security. At this time when millions have lost their jobs, when millions feel that they might be next, the American people are sick and tired of us playing games up here. We have concrete solutions on the table that will create real jobs in the construction sector, the manufacturing sector, and the agriculture and forestry sectors. These are things we can still do and do better than anyone in the world, but we are being choked off by the kinds of games being played in Washington and on Wall Street. It is long past time for people in this town to understand the urgency of this job crisis for working-class and middle-class Americans who not only live in fear of losing that job but are getting nickeled and dimed by the credit card companies, the electric utilities and others as they try to make ends meet day after day, week after week. We have to be bold right now in rethinking America's competitive advantage. There is no quick fix. We must in the immediate term not miss the summer construction season. I see too many trucks parked in the driveways, in the parking lots of our construction companies at a time that we need to be rebuilding. Not overbuilding in some of the housing and speculative areas that helped get us into this mess, but building in the areas that reinvent and reinforce America's competitive advantage. Whether that's on the high-end R&D and intellectual property of those areas or whether it's old-fashioned infrastructure, these are areas that mean real business for real working families. Part of how we do that is by putting a solutions-oriented approach over a slogans- oriented approach, and the way we do that is to come together. In this town, too often bipartisanship means cutting a good idea into half to the point that it means nothing at all, or simply adding one side's support to the other side's support. What Americans want is post-partisanship. They want us to answer the question, What solves the problem, and not, What is the halfway point between the Democrats and the Republicans? Start with the question, What solves America's energy independence? What rebuilds America's middle class? What makes sure that we have basic stability in our financial institutions so that people who have worked their whole lives, saving up money in the value of their home, in their 401(k), know that someone isn't off gambling with that money in ways that are unthinkable and unimaginable. There is 25 percent unemployment in our skilled construction. Americans are ready to build. They are ready to go to work rebuilding, whether that's housing or infrastructure or building stock, whether it's renovating, whether it's manufacturing here in America the materials that go into that. We need to put that sense, the urgency of the American economy first. We need to remember that small business is the engine. We need to understand that our community banks played by the rules through this crisis, stayed solvent, and still continue to get that lending out to so many of those in our communities. I look forward to continuing to fight for a jobs agenda and an agenda of decency and accountability. I hope that those in the Senate on the other side of this building will complete a solid reform in the financial sector and turn to these jobs bills we've produced. There are five, six of them now, pragmatic, often private-public partnerships to reward innovation, to get us building again, to get the lending going through our community banks again, through a smart combination of investments and tax credits. I hope the Senate will turn to that and understand that back home, people are desperate for jobs, for economic security, for growth and that they will get some taste of that urgency and move from restoring those basic rules of decency and accountability to Washington and Wall Street and get these jobs bills passed so that we can get America working again, rebuilding America's competitive advantage again, and that is a fight I look forward to.

Mr. PERRIELLO

Mr. PERRIELLO. Madam Speaker, the time for backroom deals is over. The time for the Washington-Wall Street collusion that has put Main Street at risk and risked the pension funds and hard-earned retirement accounts of so many Americans, it is time for this to end. How many loopholes is enough for the Republican Caucus in the Senate? We've had the entire Republican Senate Caucus join with the king of the Corn Husker Kickback to say, no, not enough loopholes, we need to water it down more, we need less accountability for Wall Street. That's not what the American people are saying. The American people are saying it's time to bring Main Street values of accountability, decency, and transparency to Washington and to Wall Street. People want the banks to bank and let those who want to use risky, speculative gambling schemes to keep their hands off of the hard-earned retirement of those who have worked their entire lives to be able to settle in their later years. People have worked hard to do this, and yet we now see from the e-mail streams and the memos from Wall Street that they were all too giddy to risk all that people had earned to make a few more bucks on these schemes. It's time to get back to an economic system built on building things and growing things that create jobs back on Main Street, living wage jobs that help people move from the working class up to the middle class at the core of the American dream. Yet standing in the way is a set of rules that seem to encourage the riskiest of behavior by the richest among us at the expense of those who are just trying to make it. People aren't asking for punitive damages--except where people broke the law, in which case we need more, not less, of the kind of investigations that we've seen from the SEC. People are just saying, Why shouldn't Wall Street and Washington have to play by the same rules that all of us do back on Main Street? Yet that basic principle seems to be too much to ask of those on the other side of this building who will stop at nothing, stop at no mechanism to ensure that they continue to protect the backroom deals and the carve-outs and the loopholes for Wall Street. We have a system that is based on the idea that if you work hard and play by the rules, you will be able to make it in this country. Well, people who worked hard and played by the rules had everything that they had saved for put at risk by tactics that never should have been allowed, but in the tight relationship between this town and Wall Street, we see too often that those basic principles, those Main Street values of decency, accountability, and fairness, are apparently too much to ask of too many in this town. But we have a chance this week, we have a chance in the weeks ahead to finally draw a line in the sand and say, no, we've had too much of that erosion of values, we've had too much of that culture of instant gratification--I want it for me right now, regardless of the consequences to my country or the economy. It's time for that to end. We have basic rules being offered that simply say decency, fairness, accountability say that you shouldn't be able to sell a product to people based on one thing and then bet against it so that you're taking their money through the back door, that the most powerful among us are able to exploit and take advantage of the everyday folks who have just worked hard and played by the rules to try to secure retirement. How many loopholes is enough for Republicans and the king of the Corn Husker Kickback at the other side of this building? How many loopholes do they need before they're ready to proceed with debate? It is far past time to end the Wall Street-Washington collusion. It is far past time to bring those Main Street values back to the way we do business in this country because we can still build things and grow things in this country. We can build and grow our energy future. We can build and grow the great universities of broadband technology, the electric grid of the future. We can still out-innovate any country in the world. But we need a system that rewards innovation and rewards following the rules instead of bailing out failure and collusion. That's the line in the sand we're trying to draw now. Those days are over of rewarding failure, of rewarding the backroom deals. It is time to reward innovation. It's time to reward that hard work of the farmer and the small business owner, where two out of every three new jobs in America will come from that small business owner. So, instead of a system that's tilted entirely towards the biggest players, what about giving everyday Americans a chance, working class, middle class Americans, small business owners who have great ideas and understand the principle of following the rules? We have for too long had a system that has rewarded all the worst behaviors in Washington and Wall Street together. Now we have a chance. We have a moment to say rules of decency, accountability, and fairness. But there are those in this building who say they will stop at nothing and use all means necessary to make sure that that debate never happens because they know that the more the American people understand about the derivative schemes and mortgage-backed securities and exotic mechanisms they came up with, the more they realize that it was just simply rich and powerful people gambling with their money and their retirement security. That time is done. It is time for Main Street values to come to Washington.

Mr. PERRIELLO

Mr. PERRIELLO. Mr. Speaker, today is a good day for America's veterans and their families. I rise in support of S. 1963, the Caregivers and Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act of 2009, landmark legislation that makes good on our national commitment to our veterans and their families, including those in our rural communities. I also want to thank the chairs and the ranking members for putting our veterans ahead of our partisan divides. Taking care of our veterans includes taking care of those who care for them when they are unable to care for themselves. Today, more than ever, revolutionary advances in military medicine have significantly increased servicemembers' chances of surviving a catastrophic injury sustained in combat, but in many cases surviving a catastrophic injury is only the first step in the battle. Recovering from such injuries requires a long-term commitment not only from the veteran, but also from those who love and care for them. Once an injured veteran returns home from treatment at a DOD or VA facility, it is often a spouse, mother, father, or other loving family member who steps up to the challenge of providing ongoing care. And while this care is provided out of a sense of love, compassion, and devotion, it oftentimes shifts into a full-time commitment requiring the caregiver to make significant personal decisions regarding professional goals, commitments, and obligations. To help better support family caregivers, I introduced H.R. 2734, the Health Care for Family Caregivers Act of 2009, a bill that will help provide much-needed assistance to those family caregivers facing the difficult decisions related to caring for a veteran confronting a catastrophic injury. I am pleased that this bill has included this, and I encourage its support.

Mr. PERRIELLO

Mr. PERRIELLO. Madam Speaker, I am proud to stand in support of H.R. 3976, the Helping Heroes Keep Their Homes Act, a bill that I introduced to help ensure that our veterans have the resources they need to confront the myriad of challenges in today's economic environment. Homeownership is the touchstone of the American dream. H.R. 3976, the Helping Heroes Keep Their Homes Act, will reauthorize home foreclosure protections to prevent lenders from foreclosing on veterans' homes within 9 months after the end of military service. Unfortunately, some of the protections established in Public Law 110-289 are scheduled to expire at the end of this year. This bill will ensure that these critical protections remain available to our veterans. H.R. 3976 is a commonsense bill that has been supported by the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the American Legion, and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. I appreciate the bipartisan support on this bill, the chairman's leadership and others', and I urge all members of this body to join me in supporting our military families by voting in favor of this bill.

Mr. PERRIELLO

Mr. PERRIELLO. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and Madam Speaker. Today I rise in support of H.R. 4667, the Veterans' Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act of 2010, a bill that I was proud to introduce in support of America's veterans. Over 140 years ago, President Lincoln called upon our Nation ``to care for him, who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan.'' This charge is as compelling today as it was in 1865. It underscores the important role that our veterans play in defending our freedoms and the obligation we all have as a Nation to provide our brave veterans the care they need once returning home. H.R. 4667, the Veterans Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act of 2010, will provide an increase to the rates of basic compensation for disabled veterans and the rates of dependency and indemnity compensation to their survivors and dependents, along with other benefits, in order to keep pace with the rising cost of living. The disability COLA would become effective December 1, 2010, and will be equal to that provided on an annual basis to Social Security recipients. In these challenging economic times, our disabled veterans depend upon these tax-free payments not only to provide for their own basic needs, but for those of their spouses, children, and parents as well. Without an annual COLA increase, these veterans and their families would see the value of their hard-earned benefits slowly erode. We would be derelict in our duty if we failed to guarantee that those who sacrificed so much for this country receive benefits and services that fail to keep pace with their needs. Doing right by veterans must always be a top priority for Congress. I believe that passage of this bill will send a clear message of support to those who wear the uniform of the United States military, a message that says we will never forget your service and sacrifice and that a grateful Nation will take care of you when you return from the front lines of freedom. I urge my colleagues to support this bill on behalf of this Nation's veterans and continue the bipartisan support that we showed in the committee.

Mr. PERRIELLO

Mr. PERRIELLO. Madam Speaker, today, I want to celebrate a vision of the future that is deeply rooted in our past. It is fitting that the vision is being realized in Pittsylvania County, Virginia, which for centuries served as an economic engine for the Commonwealth of Virginia. That economic engine was fueled by farmers. Agriculture remains the largest industry in Pittsylvania County and the largest industry in the commonwealth. And today, we break ground on the Olde Dominion Agricultural Complex, located just outside Chatham, Virginia. What will be built on this broken ground, however, will not just be the facilities, but a future for agriculture in this region. It will be a future built on innovation and education, recreation and community connection. The Olde Dominion Agricultural Complex will house a number of professional agricultural leadership organizations and will offer the local agricultural industry a centralized location in which to learn best practices in operations, equipment, crops, soils, animals, forestry, and renewable systems. The complex will also serve as an opportunity for local producers to enter and grow new markets. These anticipated areas of growth include aquaculture, bioenergy production, and cattle markets. I am particularly bullish on the opportunities our farmers can seize in the area of domestic energy production. Until now, this region has been locked out of the energy market. Farmers were forced simply to be consumers of energy. We are coming to understand, however, that farmers can be producers of energy--that agricultural regions can be energy regions. Crops we grow above ground can be just as valuable as fuel buried below. In Gretna, Virginia, Piedmont BioProducts has built a refinery that turns crops into oil. And in Chatham, the Van Der Hydes are turning waste into electricity, turning a liability into an income stream that may help them survive low dairy prices. The complex will not only serve agriculturalists, but will engage the entire local and regional community. The resources and information offered through programs will be designed to meet a variety of interests ranging from those of homeowners to backyard gardeners to children interested in attending 4-H camp. Its arena will ensure that the complex becomes a regular gathering place for the community where citizens can enjoy a vast array of shows and concerts. Whether showcasing farm equipment and livestock or entertaining with country music, the Olde Dominion Agricultural Complex will be a unique asset in Pittsylvania County. It will offer the local community endless opportunities to prosper the local economy through advances in its agriculture industry and increased tourism to the region. Of course, the complex is not just sprouting from the earth uncultivated. It is the carefully tended fruit of the labor and vision of the Olde Dominion Agricultural Foundation. The foundation deserves great credit for making this a reality. The facility will allow the foundation to further its goal ``to provide extensive educational opportunities to area agricultural producers and individuals involved in agricultural-related activities'' and will help the foundation realize its vision ``in establishing an environment of excellence in the integration of agricultural, economic, and social systems.'' It is only fitting that this complex be built in the county that ranked first in Virginia for flue-cured tobacco sales. However, the county's agricultural contributions do not stop there. Pittsylvania County has also been ranked fifth in Virginia for both corn silage and all hay production. Cattle, beef cows, and milk cows have placed Pittsylvania County in the top six producers in the commonwealth. Equine, swine, sheep, goats, horticulture, and viticulture groups are also growing industries. Additionally, Pittsylvania County benefits from the support of the surrounding counties of Bedford, Henry, Franklin, Halifax, and Campbell, which also have a high percentage of land invested in agriculture. The Commonwealth of Virginia and Pittsylvania County first prospered because of tobacco farming. Agriculture continues to play a vital role by contributing billions of dollars to our local economy, providing fresh and wholesome products that are part of a healthy diet, and ensuring continued protection of our open spaces. I take great pride in the farming traditions of southern Virginia and believe that our farmers, supported by the community and invested with the latest innovations, can and will take a leading role in a new economic revival. Within our community we have the entrepreneurs, the innovators, the farmers. This complex will harness each of these components to open new markets and spur economic growth. This economic revival will not only keep wealth in our community, but more importantly may help keep our children in our community. Southern Virginia is fortunate to have the vision of the Olde Dominion Agricultural Foundation and the future promise of the Olde Dominion Agricultural Complex. Let me close by quoting from one of Virginia's most famous farmers, Thomas Jefferson: ``Cultivators of the earth are the most valuable citizens. They are the most vigorous, the most independent, the most virtuous, and they are tied to their country and wedded to its liberty and interests by the most lasting bands.'' The Olde Dominion Agricultural Complex will help strengthen those bands.

Mr. PERRIELLO

Mr. PERRIELLO. Grazie to my paisan from Ohio. I appreciate that, and I appreciate your remarks on where we are with this economy, both with where we have come and with where we have to go. I think both the present statistics in the history books will make clear that we have prevented a depression, which is no small feat; but I am not satisfied until we see robust economic growth that reemploys America. We should be willing to look back and say, Here is an opportunity, when we were going off a cliff into a depression, where we said, No, we will not allow that, not on our watch. We will make sure that that depression is prevented. Yet I'm not satisfied until we see the kind of job creation we need to see back on Main Street. We need to shift our focus from that speculation on Wall Street to that job creation on Main Street. These ideas are not Republican ideas or Democrat ideas. These are ideas about putting people back to work. You know, in Ohio and I know in Virginia that we are right on the cusp of the summer construction season. We have an opportunity to start building again. Americans are ready to do it. Small businesses are ready to do it. Unfortunately, we are not going to see the housing starts pick up which many would like to see, but we know we can still build things. We can build our infrastructure, and we can retrofit our existing building stock. We have had a tool belt recession, and it is time to see growth in the tool belt sector. These may not be the sexiest jobs to talk about in Washington or on Wall Street, but the fact is we must rebuild America's competitive advantage, and we must rebuild it one community at a time, one commonwealth at a time, one country, together, rebuilding our competitive advantage and putting people back to work. We have a chance to do that. Now, most of the gentlemen on the other side of this building, down in the Senate, may be through this recession. The media elites may be through this recession, but working class America and middle class America are not through it. We have prevented the worst from happening, but we will not be satisfied until we see the kind of robust economic growth that will bring us back together. We will rebuild that competitive advantage, and we will need to do it in time for the summer construction season. I appreciate all that you have done to keep that focus on jobs, jobs, jobs in Ohio, in Virginia, and around this country. We must be deadly focused on jobs, and we must do it with the urgency that does not miss the construction season ahead.

Mr. PERRIELLO. This is an opportunity. What we have made is the down payment on America's future. We know that jobs of the future are going to come in the energy sector and that they are going to come in research and development. We need the strong universities, and we need the strong infrastructure. A year ago, we made a down payment, which is starting to pay off now in the kind of rebound that we are starting to see; but we cannot be satisfied, and we cannot take that foot off the gas. This is the time. Americans are ready to build. Again, this should not be a partisan idea. We all have construction companies in our districts. We all have roads and bridges and water and sewer systems in our districts. We all have small businesses that help supply that construction sector. We must see that this can be a chance to come together and to understand the urgency of this moment. We have made that down payment. Now it is time to start seeing that growth. We are going to do that, not by saying ``no'' to everything but by saying ``yes'' to America's future, by saying ``yes'' to America's competitive advantage. There are many in the top echelon of this country who have stopped believing that America can manufacture, that it can grow things, that it can be strong again. Those include elites on the left and elites on the right. Well, they are wrong. America's working and middle class is still strong. If we invest in them, they will outcompete every country on Earth. We can outcompete the rest the world, but only if we invest in education and workforce development, if we get a 21st century infrastructure, and we understand that two out of three new jobs in this country come from small businesses. Instead of bailing out the biggest businesses, it is time to reward and support the small businesses. They are the engine of innovation and growth. They are the civic leaders in our community. That is what our agenda needs to be about. It is what we started on. It is what we must push forward, regardless of party line, and get America growing again.

Mr. PERRIELLO

Mr. PERRIELLO. Madam Speaker, within weeks in my district, we will be upon the summer construction season. Construction is not a Democrat idea or a Republican idea. It's just something we need to do to rebuild America. In fact, we'd be well on our way if it weren't for the gigantic snowstorms having set back the building season. We have a chance across the aisle, in a short period of time, to address the issue of construction. For my nieces and nephews, summer may just mean time off from school, but for many of our small businesses around the country, it means a time to gear up. Many have taken losses year after year, quarter after quarter, in the hopes that this year will be the time we can get back on top. If housing starts are not going to pick up in time, we know we can build other things. We can build infrastructure. We can retrofit existing building stock. These are good jobs that rebuild the competitive advantage of this country. This town is too paralyzed by partisanship. We have an opportunity to rise above that and to say, We will meet this summer construction season. We will not flirt with a double-dip recession just as we are starting to pull out of it. These are good commonsense ideas that make sense back on Main Street. That's what we need to be fighting for here.

Mr. PERRIELLO

Mr. PERRIELLO. Well, thank you very much for that news and for the news from our friends in the house of lords--I mean the Senate--that has just come this way. It's very, very exciting because we, as a caucus, have been fighting so hard to shift the focus from speculation on Wall Street to job creation on Main Street. We understand that two out of every three new jobs in this country are coming from small business. Now, they may not make the headlines. It may mean you have lots and lots of small businesses, but that's the engine of our growth. One thing we still do better than any other country in the world is innovate. We are better entrepreneurs. We are really good at this. It's within our small businesses that we see this innovation taking place, and we need to make sure that we are giving the kind of support that small businesses need, whether that's through direct lending, whether that's through the suspension of capital gains tax for small business to bring nontraditional lenders in, or whether that's providing the infrastructure and the workforce development that allows those small businesses to flourish. We also need to understand that the phrase ``buy American'' should not be seen as bad language. I think it's timely that we look at this extension because, while there are many policies out there which may seem fancy, sometimes we have to get back to the basics. We are within weeks of the new building season's beginning, the spring building season leading into the summer building season. There are thousands of small businesses around this country that have held on and have taken losses for 2 years, whether it has been the construction firms, the engineering firms, the supply stores that have supplied those guys, or whether it has been the diners where folks have gone to eat. If we are not building anything in this country, we will not continue this path of recovery that we have worked so hard to lay out. This is a chance, and we need to act here in Washington with the same urgency that the previous Congress did when Wall Street was in trouble. Well, Main Street is in crisis, and we need to understand that we can rebuild this country. We may not see housing start to pick up this summer in the way that some would like, but we can rebuild our infrastructure, and we can reinvest in the existing building stock, whether that's municipal, commercial, or residential, through major retrofit programs. It puts people to work in rebuilding America's competitive advantage, because what you understand, Mr. Braley, from your experience in Iowa and around this country is that we have to reinvent America's competitive advantage. We will outcompete the world, but we cannot do it solely through supporting the financial sector. We have to start building things, making things, and growing things again. We can still do that better than anyone in the world, but we need a trade policy, and we need a workforce development strategy. We need an economic development strategy that understands that those are things we can still do. There are sectors, like the energy sector, in which we can outcompete the world, but everyone else is not playing for second place. They are looking to do the same thing we are trying to do, but we can do it better. This is our time. This recession right here, that we are starting to crawl out of, is an opportunity for us to reinvest, to rebuild that competitive advantage and to reemploy America in the work that so many in this room have worked so hard to do. There are families out there right now who are proud, hardworking people who are looking for jobs. We can work together across the aisle to make this happen, but we must have that commitment to basic commonsense things, like making sure we don't miss this summer's building season. We have that time, and we must have a deep sense of urgency because I know people out on Main Street do.

Mr. PERRIELLO

Mr. PERRIELLO. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, thank you to Chairwoman Slaughter, as well, for their great leadership on this bill. This is a great day. It's a great day for consumers, it's a great day for competition, and it's a great day for common sense. I am new to Washington, and I know this is a town full of grays, but sometimes things are as simple as black and white. This is a chance for people to decide whether they stand for patients or whether they stand for the profiteering of health insurance monopolies, whether they stand for competition or for collusion. This is a victory for common sense in the midst of the health care reform debate. Only inside the beltway would those people argue that the best way to protect competition is to protect monopolies. Only inside the beltway would people try to argue that the best way to help the little guy is to make sure that we protect monopolies. The status quo is not working for the small insurers. There are those with very good intentions who want to talk about safe harbors, but I have not had constituents come up to me and say, Congress, please have more carve-outs. Congress, please have more exemptions and exceptions, please make the bills even longer. Here we have a two-page bill, 24 lines long--one that is supported by conservatives and liberals alike in my district--that makes a simple rule that health insurance companies should have to play by the same rules as everyone else. If two plumbers in my district get together and start to collude and set prices, they will go to jail. Why should the biggest health insurance companies in the country not have to play by the same rules? People say to us, How about a shorter bill? Two pages. People say to us, What about bipartisanship? Well, in 2007, all of the attorneys general across the country, without a single dissenting vote across party lines, said we want this bill. We want more Federal power for us to be able to go after these monopolies that are sticking it to consumers. This will not solve every problem in the health care debate, but if we can't come together and agree on something this simple--pro- competition, pro-consumer, two pages long--how will we ever come together on anything? It is estimated to save consumers $10 billion. In States that have removed such protections before, premiums have risen at one-fifth the rate of other folks. This means real money in the pockets of working and middle class Americans. Voters say, who is standing up for us-- working and middle class Americans who play by the rules--instead of for the interest groups? Here is a chance for a victory for common sense and for consumers. If you are a health insurance company and you are not engaged in monopolistic practices, you're not colluding, you have nothing to worry about. But if you are, be afraid, be very afraid, because you are no longer going to enjoy the monopoly protections you have enjoyed for 65 years. We are going to stand up for patients today with no loopholes and no monopolies to ensure a basic sense of accountability, competition, and Main Street values, and maybe take one step forward towards bipartisanship and common sense in this health care reform debate.

Mr. PERRIELLO

Mr. PERRIELLO. Thank you, Mr. Speaker, for giving us this time tonight to talk about the important issue of health care reform and, specifically, about a simple idea on which we believe folks across the political spectrum should be able to agree, which is that the health insurance companies should have to compete like every business in my district and like every business around the country. So we come together on a two-page bill--front and back, only 24-lines' long--that does something very simple: It removes the monopoly protections that our health insurance companies have enjoyed for 65 years. Enjoyed because of free market principles? No. Enjoyed because of the amount of money spent lobbying both political parties to protect that insurance monopoly. One thing we should be able to agree on, which costs the government nothing, is that health insurance companies should not be protected as monopolies. The Consumer Federation of America estimates that this could save consumers $10 billion. This is a simple American principle of competition, of the ending of health insurance monopolies. I have been joined by several of my freshman colleagues tonight, who have not been stuck in Washington where the logic of protecting monopolies may make sense. We are coming from Main Street where people still believe in competition and accountability and in the kind of principles that will ensure consumers get a better deal. When they are forced to compete, prices come down, and quality goes up. It is a very simple principle. My coauthor on this bill, Betsy Markey from Colorado, has been a great champion of good, commonsense, pragmatic solutions to our Nation's problems. With that, I recognize the gentlelady from Colorado.

Mr. PERRIELLO. Before I turn it over to the gentleman from California, I just want to say I'm new to Washington and I understand that it's a city where a lot of things are gray rather than black and white, but this is a bill that really seems to me like it's a clear situation of black and white. A two-page bill, 24 lines long that does one thing: removes the monopoly protection of the health insurance companies. There are no carve-outs. There are no exceptions. There are no loopholes. It is a clean bill. And it's interesting to go back as voters have rightly been frustrated at all of the special deals that have been cut on the other side of this building to understand this is not a new thing. Sixty-five years ago the reason we were stuck with this problem was the insurance lobby came in in 1945 and was able to get this carve-out of monopoly protections that no other industry enjoyed. And it was supposed to be a 3-year phaseout. And what happened at the last second? A special deal was cut that removed that 3-year phaseout. Since then, the insurance industry has spent billions and billions of dollars buying their monopoly protection in this town of Washington. They spent $400 million last year while they were jacking up rates, premium rates, and out-of- pocket expenses for consumers, for patients around this country. They spent $400 million lobbying to protect their monopoly protections. Sometimes there's a very clear choice. Do you stand with patients or do you stand with the profiteering of the health insurance companies? This is that clear choice. Do you stand for competition and accountability or do you stand for protecting special interest groups? We have a chance tomorrow, hopefully on a bipartisan basis, to come together and do this one thing. While we can agree or disagree on the overall health care approach, can't we agree that removing the monopoly protections that make no sense to ensure competition and accountability is a good thing we can all agree on, we can all read over a single cup of coffee, and we can all move forward with the American sense of competition and accountability? With that, I yield to a gentleman who spent much of his career understanding the insurance industry in his State and around the country. I yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. Garamendi).