Scott Peters

Mr. PETERS

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

Mr. PETERS. Mr. Chairman, I rise today to offer an amendment for my friend, Ms. Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico. As of 2014, there were over 130,000 veterans living in shelters and transitional housing in the United States. About 56 percent of these veterans have a disability. I think we agree that that is unacceptable. Since 2009, the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Veterans Affairs have made significant progress to reduce the number of homeless veterans. But more must be done to get veterans off the streets and into permanent housing. This can be seen in my home district where we have one of the largest homeless populations in the country, and also perhaps the largest populations of homeless veterans. The underlying bill improves housing services for veterans by creating a new special assistant for veterans within the Department of Housing and Urban Development. This new position will coordinate veterans' housing efforts within HUD, serve as a liaison with the VA, and ensure veterans have fair access to housing programs. The amendment builds upon those improvements to further coordination between the VA and HUD, both of which provide a range of veteran homeless services and support. The amendment requires the Special Assistant to work with the VA and provide recommendations to each department and to Congress on how to improve coordination and housing services for our Nation's veterans. We can do much more to not only keep veterans off the streets, but to provide them with the resources and support they need to have a safe, stable place to live and build a life after completing their service. In San Diego, organizations like zero8hundred and the Veterans Village of San Diego offer the kind of comprehensive transition support to help veterans be successful. These are also the collective goals of many HUD and VA programs, including the VA's Independent Living Program, which assists veterans to become more independent in their homes so they never become homeless in the first place. Mr. Chairman, I urge my colleagues to support this amendment to ensure that HUD and VA coordinate their efforts on addressing the many different issues and aspects associated with veteran homelessness. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. PETERS. Mr. Chairman, I thank the chairman for his gracious support and for his work on behalf of veterans. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. PETERS. Mr. Chairman, each Member of this body represents a district that is affected to some degree by homelessness. We all work diligently to grow the economy, create high-quality jobs, and create opportunity so that no one has to live on the streets. But for many in our districts, ending the scourge of homelessness is an ongoing battle that take resources and coordination from our communities. All of our districts are supported by the Continuum of Care program, which assists local leaders working diligently to distribute funding to public and nonprofit institutions that shelter the homeless, set up transitional housing, and provide support programs. In San Diego we recently completed our Point in Time count. My office and other public servants counted the homeless living on the street and in shelters to determine how better to serve them as we work to end homelessness. In 2014, this count found that San Diego had the fifth largest homeless population in our country. But in that same year, our Continuum of Care program received the 23rd highest level of Federal anti-homelessness funds. San Diego is not the only city that is disadvantaged by the formula that is used to determine how Federal anti-homelessness funds are distributed. Other western cities like Houston, Las Vegas, Seattle, San Jose, and Denver also receive a disproportionately low amount of Federal resources. My amendment would require the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to reopen the public comment period on the Continuum of Care formula. This would allow service organizations, housing providers, community faith leaders, and elected officials the opportunity to provide input on how HUD's limited and valuable resources can be most equitably and effectively used to end homelessness in our country. The amendment would not change the formula, and it would not unfairly disadvantage the district of any Member of this body. Since coming to Congress, I have been fighting to ensure that every city receives its fair share of Federal funding to help the homeless. I have corresponded with both Secretary Donovan and now-Secretary Castro to advocate for changes to the Continuum of Care formula and ask for a public comment period. The people working on the ground to end homelessness deserve the opportunity to weigh in on how this formula is affecting them and the work they are doing. Mr. Chairman, I urge all my colleagues to support this amendment to ensure we are doing all we can to end the scourge of homelessness in this country. Mr. Chairman, I reserve balance of my time.

Mr. PETERS. Mr. Chairman, I am well aware of what success looks like in this body, and I am finished offering amendments. I want to thank all the people, including the ranking member and Chairman Hensarling, for their hard work on this bill. This is a good piece of work. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. PETERS

Mr. PETERS. Mr. Chairman, veterans are disproportionately affected by diseases caused by asbestos, and although veterans represent only 8 percent of the Nation's population, they comprise almost one-third of all known mesothelioma deaths that have occurred in this country. Mesothelioma has an uncommonly long period of latency of 20 to 30 years, which means that veterans exposed to asbestos who retired from Active Duty decades ago are getting sick today. Hundreds of Navy ships and military installations dating back to World War II were constructed with asbestos flooring, flooring tiles, ceiling tiles, and wall insulation. That means that hundreds of thousands of workers and sailors were unknowingly exposed to dangerous asbestos levels, and as a result many of those men and women contracted asbestos-related diseases. J. Patrick Little, the national commander of the Military Order of the Purple Heart, wrote to House leadership in direct opposition of this bill. He said: ``The FACT Act adds insult to injury for veterans and their families at a time when they are suffering from the devastating effects of asbestos exposure.'' The FACT Act must be amended to protect veterans who were exposed to those dangerous minerals while serving their country. I tried to amend this bill twice to exempt asbestos trusts from having to file onerous reports to the bankruptcy courts if the claimant is a member of the Armed Forces, a civilian employee of the Department of Defense, and their families to avoid any potential delay in these individuals receiving their desired benefits in a timely manner; but the majority did not make this commonsense amendment in order because they are not prepared to defend this bill against the serious concerns raised by veterans, including the Military Order of the Purple Heart, who say that the bill is unnecessary, unfair, and only benefits the asbestos industry rather than our veterans who proudly served their country and were unknowingly exposed to this deadly substance. In the absence of this amendment, Mr. Chairman, I urge a ``no'' vote on the bill.

Mr. PETERS

Mr. PETERS. Souderton, Pennsylvania, December 15, 2014: Patricia Hill, 75 years old. Joanna Koder Hill, 57. Aaron Flick, 39. Patricia Flick, 36. Nicole Hill, 33. Nina Flick, 14 years old. Rice, Texas, September 20, 2013: Israel Alvarez, 33 years old. Misael Alvarez, 10. Cain Alvarez, 8. Israel Junior Alvarez, 4. Tulsa, Oklahoma, January 7, 2013: Julie Jackson, 55 years old. Misty Nunley, 33. Rebeika Powell, 23. Kayetie Melchor, 23 years old. Colorado Springs, Colorado, November 27, 2015: Officer Garrett Swasey, 44 years old. Jennifer Markovsky, 35. Ke'Arre Stewart, 29. Cadiz, Kentucky, October 26, 2014: Lindsey Champion, 62 years old. Joy Champion, 60. Emily Champion, 32. Vito Riservato, 22. Palestine, Texas, November, 14, 2014: Carl Johnson, 77 years old. Thomas Camp, 46. Hannah Johnson, 40. Nathan Camp, 23. Austin Camp, 21. Kade Johnson, 6.

Mr. PETERS

Mr. PETERS. I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Chairman, the Harvard Business School's United States Competitiveness Project has outlined eight actions it recommends that Congress take to make America the most economically competitive place in the world to do business, not just to increase corporate profits, but to increase wages for working people across America. Among those eight steps, which include immigration reform, responsible Federal budgeting, tax reform, and investing in infrastructure and research, is simplifying Federal regulation. The idea is not to lower standards but to regulate more intelligently, keeping in mind costs and benefits, and focusing on outcomes rather than compliance methods. I am in lockstep agreement with the Harvard Business School and with House Republican leadership and with many of my Democratic colleagues on the objective of simplifying and streamlining Federal regulation. But what frustrates me today is that the House Republican leadership's so-called SCRUB Act has no chance of passage, and they know it. Because it requires costs to be arbitrarily cut, with no policy goal, and makes it hard to do even good rulemaking in the future, it has virtually no support among Democrats, including, most notably, the President of the United States, who would have to sign the bill for it to become law. If we want to be serious about regulatory reform, we should bring up a bill that has bipartisan support, will pass this Chamber, and has a chance at the President's approval as well. The amendment that will be offered later by the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Murphy), my colleague, that I cosponsored, is based on the Regulatory Improvement Act of 2015. The bill is strongly bipartisan, counting new Democrats, moderate Republicans, and even Freedom Caucus members among its cosponsors. It would empower, like the SCRUB Act, an independent, bipartisan commission to sift through the regulatory accumulation of the past decades to recommend changes and eliminations and to present those recommendations to Congress for an up-or-down vote. Now, we have heard the Republican leadership say that Congress, in 2016, will be about drawing contrasts. Apparently, that means that, rather than seeking to work together in areas on which we agree, we will have a series of these message bills, like the SCRUB Act, that are more about making a political point than making policy. So we will talk about the SCRUB Act instead of passing the Regulatory Improvement Act; and therefore, we will not provide the economy and our workers the regulatory relief that we all want to provide them and we agreed that they need. And that, drawing contrasts to win elections instead of working on solutions for our constituents in areas in which Republicans and Democrats agree, is what people hate about Congress. I urge my colleagues to support the bipartisan approach.

Mr. PETERS

Mr. PETERS. Albuquerque, New Mexico, January 19, 2013: Jael Griego, 5 years old. Angelina Griego, 2 years old. Greenwood, Minnesota, September 17, 2015: Karen Short, 48 years old. Cole Short, 17. Madison Short, 15. Brooklyn Short, 14. Bell, Florida, September 18, 2014: Sara Spirit, 28 years old. Kaleb Kuhlmann, 11 years old. Kylie Kuhlmann, 9 years old. Johnathon Kuhlmann, 8. Brandon Stewart, 4. Destiny Stewart, 5. Alanna Stewart, 3 months old. Federal Way, Washington, April 21, 2013: Roland Scobee, 62 years old. Bradley Fischer, 47. Justine Baez, 24. Ceasar A. Valdovinos, 23. Spanish Fork, Utah, January 16, 2014: Marie King, 55 years old. Kelly Boren, 32. Joshua Boren, 7. Haley Boren, 5.

Mr. PETERS

Mr. PETERS. Mr. Speaker, Mohawk Valley, New York, March 13, 2013: Michael Ransear, 57 years old; Michael Renshaw, 51. Santa Barbara, California, May 23, 2014: Katherine Cooper, 22 years old; Christopher Michaels-Martinez, 20; Cheng Yuan Hong, 20; Weihan Wang, 20; Veronika Weiss, 19; George Chen, 19 years old. Roseburg, Oregon, October 1, 2015: Lawrence Levine, 67 years old; Kim Saltmarsh Dietz, 59; Sarena Dawn Moore, 44; Jason Johnson, 33; Treven Taylor Anspach, 20 years old; Lucero Alcaraz, 19; Lucas Eibel, 18 years old; Quinn Cooper, 18 years old; Rebecka Carnes, 18. Albuquerque, New Mexico, January 19, 2013: Greg Griego, 51 years old; Sarah Griego, 40; Zephania Griego, 9.

Mr. PETERS

Mr. PETERS. Mr. Speaker, Manchester, Illinois, April 24, 2013: Brittney Lynn Luark, 23 years old; Nolan James Ralston, 5 years old; Brantley Jack Ralston, 1 year old. Fort Hood, Texas, April 2, 2014: Sergeant First Class Daniel M. Ferguson, 39 years old; Staff Sergeant Timothy Owens, 38 years old; Sergeant Carlos A. Lazaney-Rodriguez, 37 years old. Columbus, Ohio, June 14, 2015: Michael Ballour, 41 years old; Daniel Sharp, 36 years old; Angela Harrison, 35 years old; Tyajah Nelson, 18 years old. Hialeah, Florida, July 26, 2013: Italo Pisciotti, 79 years old; Samira Pisciotti, 69 years old; Patricio Simono, 64 years old; Merly Niebles, 51 years old; Carlos Javier Gavilanes, 33 years old; Priscilla Perez, 17 years old. Mohawk Valley, New York, March 13, 2013: Harry Montgomery, 68 years old; Thomas Stefka, 62 years old.

Mr. PETERS

Mr. PETERS. Navy Yard, Washington, D.C., September 16, 2013: Arthur Daniels, age 51. Kenneth Bernard Proctor, 46. Aaron Alexis, age 34. Santa Monica, California, June 7, 2013: Carlos Navarro Franco, 68 years old. Margarita Gomez, 68. Samir Zawahri, 55 years old. Marcelo Franco, 26 years old. Christopher Zawahri, 24. Chattanooga, Tennessee, July 16, 2015: Thomas Sullivan, 40 years old. David Wyatt, 35. Randall Smith, 26. Carson Holmquist, 25. Squire Wells, 21 years old. Houston, Texas, August 9, 2015: Dwayne Jackson, 50 years old. Valerie Jackson, 40. Nathaniel Jackson, 13. Honesty Jackson, 11. Dwayne Jackson, Jr., 10. Caleb Jackson, 9. Trinity Jackson, 7. Jonah Jackson, 6. Manchester, Illinois, April 24, 2013: Jo Ann Sinclair, 66 years old. James Roy Ralston, 29. Brittney Lynn Luark, 23.

Mr. PETERS

Mr. PETERS. Mr. Speaker, Marysville, Washington, October 24, 2015: Andrew Fryberg, 15 years old. Zoe Galasso, 14. Gia Soriano, 14. Shaylee Chuckulnaskit, 14. Charleston, South Carolina, June 17, 2015: Susie Jackson, 87 years old. Daniel Simmons, 74. Ethel Lance, 70. Myra Thompson, 59. Cynthia Hurd, 54. DePayne Middleton Doctor, 49. Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, 45. Clementa Pinckney, 41. Tywanza Sanders, 26. Navy Yard, Washington, D.C., September 16, 2013: John Roger Johnson, 73 years old. Kathleen Gaarde, 62. Vishnu Pandit, 61. Michael Arnold, 59. Gerald Read, 58. Martin Bodrog, 54. Sylvia Frasier, 53. Richard Michael Ridgell, 52. Frank Kohler, 51. Mary Frances DeLorenzo Knight, 51. Mr. Speaker, my time has expired, but I will be back.

Mr. PETERS

Mr. PETERS. Mr. Speaker, over a month ago, I stood in this Chamber and delivered a message from San Diegans who were calling on Congress to expand background checks for gun purchases. Since then, Congress has done nothing. Last week, a gunman attacked a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs. What did Congress do? Nothing. Yesterday, there were deadly shootings in Houston, Savannah, and, in San Bernardino, 14 people were killed at a social services center. Today, here we stand in the only building in the Nation that could do something to curb this awful violence, and we cannot even get the Speaker of this House to let Congress vote to let us act on one of the several proposed laws that many of my colleagues and I support. Thoughts and prayers are not enough. Moments of silence are not enough. Maybe, Mr. Speaker, instead of a moment of silence, the American people could get a moment of action--a moment of action that might keep their communities from being next. If we want to honor these victims and their families, then we should do our jobs, and we should act now.

Mr. PETERS

Mr. PETERS. Mr. Chairman, my amendment to the North American Energy Security and Infrastructure Act will directly enhance reliable energy security when our communities are most vulnerable during natural disasters. My amendment simply adds energy storage as a form of energy that the Department of Energy should consider to improve emergency preparedness. The bill in its current form only addresses the need to have resilient oil and natural gas infrastructure, which we certainly should all support. Energy storage encompasses technologies capable of storing previously generated electric energy and releasing that energy at a later time. It can include various types of batteries, capacitors, fuel cells, and more and has the potential to improve electric power grids, enable growth in renewable electricity generation, and provide alternatives to oil-based fuels in the Nation's transportation sector. Grid-level energy storage is on track to reach 40 gigawatts in capacity by 2022, a hundredfold increase from 2013. And natural disasters are becoming more and more common. Over the last 4 years, the Federal Government has spent more than $136 billion on relief for hurricanes, tornados, droughts, wildfires, and other weather-related events. We know that for every dollar we invest in preparedness and resiliency we save $4 in cleanup and restoration, not to mention the lives that would be saved--something we cannot put a dollar value on. Building up community resiliency by including energy storage in preparation plans will save lives and save money. In San Diego, our utilities, including SDG&E, are testing and developing energy storage to accommodate renewable energy, which makes up 33 percent of its power. Our school districts, including Poway Unified School District, are adding large-scale battery storage to their campuses that go beyond California's energy efficiency guidelines to save money as heat waves and temperatures continue to spike. And our companies and universities, including UCSD, are part of the California State public-private partnership, CalCharge, that is developing the next generation of energy storage. Ensuring that we are better able to withstand extreme weather events with added energy storage is just common sense. Including energy storage in this bill is a smart, forward-thinking step to equip States and localities with the tools they need both in advance and in the aftermath of natural disasters. I ask my colleagues to support the amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. PETERS. Mr. Chairman, I thank the chairman. Thank you for your very hard work on this bill. I appreciate your consideration on inclusion of my amendment. I yield back the balance of my time.

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

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

Mr. PETERS. Again, I thank the chairman very much for his hard work and for his willingness to support this amendment. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. PETERS. Mr. Chairman, my amendment to the North American Security and Infrastructure Act requires the Secretary of Energy to submit a report to Congress on the impact of captured methane converted for energy and power generation on Federal lands, buildings, and relevant municipalities. The report would include a summary of energy performance and savings from using this power generation source and an analysis of the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. In my district in San Diego, we are putting innovative solutions to work to reduce methane emissions and create energy at the same time. At the Point Loma Wastewater Treatment Plant, methane is collected and fuels two continuously running generators. Using the methane produced onsite, the wastewater treatment plant has not only become energy self- sufficient, but is also able to sell excess power that it generates to the local energy grid, enhancing grid reliability and energy efficiency. Another positive example of converting captured methane to energy is at landfills. In the United States, we have over 1,900 landfills, and they are the third largest source of methane emissions in the United States. This pollution threatens air quality and the public health of communities located close to the landfills themselves. In San Diego, the Miramar Landfill spans over 1,500 acres and has been operating since 1959. Some years ago, the city, the Navy, and the private sector worked together and installed a methane-capture and energy conversion plant to supply the neighboring Marine Corps Air Station Miramar with 13.4 megawatts of energy. This plant supplies half of the base's energy, allowing it to operate as a 911 base in case of an emergency or power outage. The technology also reduced the emission of pollutants from the Miramar Landfill by 75 percent. My amendment will simply assess how capturing methane and using it to generate energy reduces emissions, puts America on the path to a lower carbon, renewable energy future, and shares best practices among facilities that might be able to participate. So I ask my colleagues to support the amendment. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. PETERS

Mr. PETERS. Mr. Speaker, a few weeks ago, I stood in this Chamber and called on Congress to take action to improve our Nation's background check system for firearm purchases. Despite an overwhelming amount of support across the country for universal background checks and bipartisan legislation to implement them, this Congress has still done nothing. It is just the latest example of Congress failing to do the work of the American people. The debt ceiling and transportation funding are two others. Last week, I joined with our former police chief and Republican mayor and a group of moms and other San Diegans who now imagine the possibility of sending their children to school and never seeing them again, and we called on Congress to take action, to do something. In San Diego, keeping guns out of the hands of those who shouldn't have them is not a partisan issue. In fact, more than 90 percent of Americans support increasing background checks and closing loopholes. I have brought the signatures of those San Diegans with me here to Washington and have personally delivered their requests for action to the Speaker of the House. It is time to get to work. It is time to do something.

Mr. PETERS

Mr. PETERS. Mr. Speaker, this is the final amendment to the bill, which will not kill the bill or send it back to committee. If adopted, the bill will immediately proceed to final passage, as amended. I have been a clear proponent for reducing regulatory burdens and streamlining the environmental review process in ways that make sense. Before I entered public service, I practiced environmental law for 15 years in large firms, in a government office, and in my own firm. Through that experience, I learned firsthand of the frustration that many businesses and local governments face when they try to navigate a sometimes overly complex and underly responsive permit process. I also know from experience that time is money. Often a business seeking a permit is paying dearly to hold a property or service a loan while it waits for that permit to be issued, and that is why I have often said that, for applicants, no is the second- best answer. Tell us ``no'' or tell us how, but don't string us along. Unfortunately, the approach that the underlying bill takes is not to streamline the process for analyzing the significant impacts of hardrock mining, which I might support; it just eliminates the review process altogether. Mr. Speaker, my amendment would not solve that problem but would make an important clarification. As these critical mineral mining projects undergo environmental review, agencies should be able to assess how the project may contribute to climate change. Recently, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, reported that the first 7 months of this year had been the hottest such period on record. Globally, average surface temperatures have increased substantially in the last century, and nearly twice as fast in the last 50 years alone. We know that the vast majority of climate scientists, including numerous leading scientific and academic organizations across the world, agree that the planet is warming due to human activities. How many national academies reject the science of global warming? None. Between November 2012 and December 2013, there were 9,137 peer- reviewed papers written on climate change. Of those 9,137 papers, how many did not agree that climate change is happening because of human activity? One. That is right. Only 1 out of more than 9,000. So it seems to me that when scientific organizations, including the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Chemical Society, the American Geophysical Union, the American Meteorological Society, the American Physical Society, the Geological Society of America, the National Academy of Sciences, and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change all agree that climate change is happening because of human activity, we ought to be listening. If 99 doctors told you that you had diabetes and 1 said he wasn't sure, wouldn't you still do something? Now, for too long, we have heard that we have to choose between a prosperous economy and a clean environment. San Diegans and people around the country know that is a false choice. We can and we must provide economic opportunity and clean air and water for future generations. Given the high stakes associated with carbon emissions and climate change on coastal property, energy, defense, our food supply, and our quality of life, shouldn't we at least understand the long-term costs associated with a project? By allowing agencies to take a full environmental consideration of a project, including its potential contributions to climate change, my amendment rejects the false choice between a prosperous economy and a healthy climate. We can and we must have both. I urge my colleagues to support this amendment. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. PETERS. Mr. Speaker, I have a motion to recommit at the desk.

Mr. PETERS. I am in its current form.

Mr. PETERS. Mr. Speaker, I demand a recorded vote.