Denny Rehberg

Mr. REHBERG

Mr. REHBERG. Mr. Speaker, it has been a tough week. But as we wind down this congressional session, I come to this floor to make one more plea on behalf of our Nation's farmers and ranchers. Producers in this country have suffered through multiple years of drought, causing many to go out of business and others to cut severely into the equity they have built for generations. My message today is simple: Before we leave town, we must do the right thing for farmers. It is not too late. Members of this House, let us agree that this farm country drought is a natural disaster. And let us also agree to compensate those hard-working farmers for their economic losses in the same way we would compensate producers who suffer from the devastation of a Florida hurricane or the ravages of a Mississippi flood. There is no difference. Let us address this crisis before we adjourn by passing a meaningful agriculture disaster assistance package for 2001 and 2002.

Mr. REHBERG

Mr. REHBERG. Mr. Speaker, I want to talk today about a word called ``irony.'' Webster's dictionary says irony is when there is an incongruity between the actual and the expected result of events. Unfortunately, Mr. Speaker, we have a prime case of this in my State. The people who have produced food for all of us in this country for our whole lives, farmers and ranchers, are now having a hard time affording food themselves. The very hard-working people who made this country the breadbasket of the world now cannot afford bread themselves. That is a pretty good example of an irony; is it not? It is also a good example of a cruel irony. Mr. Speaker, I implore the Members of this House to finally hear our plea for assistance for drought-stricken farmers and ranchers, and quickly pass an agriculture disaster assistance package for crop years 2001 and 2002.

Mr. REHBERG

Mr. REHBERG. Mr. Speaker, another week has passed without a comprehensive and balanced energy plan. In the first 6 months of this year, we paid terrorists an average of $13 million a day for their oil. This must end. Because America does not have a comprehensive energy plan, we continue to purchase oil from the Middle East; but there is a balanced plan, and it does include increasing domestic oil production. More domestic oil will give us a stable supply and allow us to diminish our dependence on foreign oil. From January to June, we paid $2.3 billion to the countries that give suicide bombers thousands of dollars to threaten the very existence of democracy. Total reliance on energy resources from nations that harbor animosity towards America and our allies must become a thing of the past. Mr. Speaker, we need to unify as Americans and pass a comprehensive and balanced energy plan. The security of our Nation depends on eliminating our dependence on foreign oil.

Mr. REHBERG

Mr. REHBERG. Mr. Speaker, Americans should be proud of how they've handled the past 12 months. Yes, September 11th changed America forever, but not in the way the terrorists anticipated. Those who committed this horrible act of war were intent on destroying America and our way of life--but they failed miserably. They tried to make us question our dedication to democracy but they only increased our resolve in preserving the greatest form of government the world has ever known. They tried to destroy our economy--but the whole world knows America is still open for business, for farming, for travel. And they tried to extinguish the flame of liberty and hope in our country, but they only made it burn brighter. Yes, America has changed--we're stronger than ever.

Mr. REHBERG

Mr. REHBERG. Madam Speaker, time is of the essence. With national security on the minds of many Americans, I urge my colleagues to seize the opportunity and pass legislation to create the Department of Homeland Security. Each day that passes without this coordinating effort is a day that America is vulnerable to the very people who attacked this country on September 11. Creating the Department of Homeland Security will send a resounding message to the world: America is stronger and safer than it was 12 months ago. I applaud those who have put partisan agendas aside to do what is right for this country. An entire year has passed. Let us get our work done. Let us put an end to the politics and provide Americans with the safety they deserve.

Mr. REHBERG

Mr. REHBERG. Mr. Speaker, America is already at war. We are at war against terrorists and those that support evil. Today we have an important decision to make: Will we continue to finance Saddam Hussein's war machine by buying his oil, or will we support energy independence? I stand here today in support of America and for using America's untapped energy resources. While our sons and daughters bravely fight terrorism, there are those in this Chamber that would have America continue to import almost 60 percent of our oil from terrorist-sponsoring regimes. I urge my colleagues to support a balanced energy plan to secure a terrorist-free America for our future.

Mr. REHBERG

Mr. REHBERG. Mr. Speaker, America is at war against terrorists; yet, we buy our oil from nations that harbor the very same terrorists our sons and daughters bravely fight. In the first 6 months of this year, America gave Saddam Hussein a staggering $2.3 billion for Iraqi oil. I do not want to send my 18- year-old son or the sons and daughters of the people of Montana to the Middle East to fight for terrorist oil, especially when we have oil available here at home. Mr. Speaker, we need to unify as Americans, pass a comprehensive and balanced energy plan that reduces our dependence on oil sold by terrorists. We must stop bankrolling the very terrorists that our men and women are fighting currently. We have bought enough Iraqi oil. No more.

Mr. REHBERG

Mr. REHBERG. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to urge my colleagues to shine a bright light into the darkness that has prevailed in some of America's largest corporate boardrooms. Last week, President Bush went to New York to put America's corporate leaders on notice: the United States Government will not sit back and allow greed and dishonesty to bring down our economy. President Bush was right when he said that at this moment in time America's greatest economic need is higher ethical standards. Today, we have an opportunity to answer the President's call by returning stability to the American economy and accountability to the corporate board room. The Corporate Fraud Accountability Act of 2002 is a strong bill that closes corporate loopholes, increases penalties for fraud, and bans for life any CEO or other company officer found to abuse power from ever serving in a corporate leadership position again. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to shine the light of responsibility into the corporate boardrooms of America by supporting H.R. 5118.

Mr. REHBERG

Mr. REHBERG. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 4635, and my thanks go out to the gentleman from Alaska (Mr. Young), the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Oberstar), and the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Mica) for the fine work they have done in doing the work that we need to do in this Congress, and that is remain focused on benefits, not on policy. As a father, a husband, a grandson, a brother, I can say that this Congress has remained fixed on doing everything they possibly can to make air traffic safety paramount for this country. I know after I leave this Congress some day, I will be able to look back and thank these gentlemen and this Congress for doing everything that they can to make my family safer when they fly. Putting qualified, armed pilots onto planes is not a new idea. It was done successfully as recently as 1984. Today we have an opportunity to increase passenger safety, and the American people demand it. Through passage of this legislation, Congress will put future terrorists around the globe on notice that American air passengers are off limits. America's pilots will no longer be unarmed targets for terrorist aggression. Those wishing to interfere with the safe operation of U.S. passenger airlines are on notice that they will not succeed, and their evil efforts will be met with lethal force.

Mr. REHBERG

Mr. REHBERG. Mr. Speaker, one Nation under God. These four solemn words form the very backbone of our great democracy. In one short breath these patriotic words in the Pledge of Allegiance from which they are proudly spoken have guided the American experiment in democracy for generations. Yesterday, through a gross example of misguided judicial activism, two Federal judges stripped these words from the American vocabulary. It is bizarre decisions like this that have given the Ninth Circuit the dubious distinction of being the most overturned court in the Nation. In one year alone, 26 of the Ninth Circuit's 27 rulings were thrown out. This decision further brings the light the desperate need for the other body to quick blocking President Bush's judicial nominees and supply our courts with qualified judges that will interpret, not rewrite, the Constitution. I hope the Senate is listening. Mr. Speaker, I do pledge allegiance to the flag; and I am proud to say that, despite the beliefs of the Ninth Circuit, this is still one Nation under God.

Mr. REHBERG

Mr. REHBERG. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to urge those across the aisle to once and for all end their negative rhetoric and support a comprehensive energy plan for America's future. I understand that there are those that would have the United States continue to import almost 60 percent of our oil from many of the very same terrorist-sponsoring regimes our sons and daughters are bravely fighting today. I, however, will not. Mr. Speaker, I have an 18-year-old son; and I will do everything I can to not allow this Congress to place him and thousands of other young boys and girls in harm's way simply to appease a few extremist groups here in Washington. The President's energy plan balances the needs of our environment while recognizing that America must develop our domestic sources of energy if we are to truly be an independent nation. I urge my colleagues to support American independence through the passage of H.R. 4.

Mr. REHBERG

Mr. REHBERG. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague very much for yielding me time. Mr. Speaker, I want to stand today in favor of the rule, I think it is a fair rule, but definitely in opposition to the Oberstar amendment. Let me lay out a scenario for you. I do not know about the other 25 airports that are under consideration, but I can tell you about one in the State of Montana. Over the course of the years, and we can debate whether it is because of mismanagement of our forests or whatever you want, we have more forest fires than we ever had before. Starting in 1988, we have had practically a forest fire every single year, and, in fact, in the year 2000, we got up to 1 million acres of Montana burned. This last year Glacier Park was on fire. We have an airport called the Glacier International Airport near Glacier Park, it is in Kalispell, Montana, that has 100 airplanes that fly every day. We are not talking about small planes, we are talking about large planes, because it is a destination point. Unfortunately, during the fire season that increases to 200 a day. And what are the other 100? They are bombers, they are tankers, they are helicopters. Now, envision for a minute, you are in the mountains, you are at 10,000 feet, you are flying around as a private pilot, and you have got helicopters and bombers going around dropping their retardant, going back to the airport, going up in the air, going back to the airport, going up in the air, and you are a traveler in the middle of all of this. And do you know what happened? They did not have a tower. The Federal Government would not help them build a tower. So this last year, finally, after all these years of fires, this small community came to the conclusion, for the safety of the air traveler and because the Federal Government was not helping them, they would go ahead and tax themselves to build this tower. Now, what were they using for a tower before? Every time these fires started, the Forest Service and the FAA would bring in a trailer, and the FAA would charge the Forest Service for this trailer. So this community not only made the decision to increase their own safety aspects, but they also saved the Federal Government the charges of having to bring that trailer in every year, displace workers, try and deal with the safety aspects of fighting those fires. It is only fair that we recognize the construction costs of the safety aspect of this small community, because it is something that the Federal Government did not do and they did for themselves. So, if nothing else, if you are looking at it from a fiscal standpoint. If you are trying to save the Federal Government some dollars, this small community, by having built this control tower, did, in fact, save the money. They should be reimbursed for it, and then they ought to be patted on the back for taking the initiative to save lives, rather than slapped in the face by the amendment that is a one- size-fits-all, and it might fit the other 25, but it certainly does not fit the case that I have laid out today. I thank the gentlewoman for this opportunity. I hope we will pass the bill, I hope we will pass the bill offered by the gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Wicker), and I hope we will defeat the Oberstar amendment.

Mr. REHBERG. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the requisite number of words. I rise in opposition to the amendment. Mr. Chairman, when I listened to the sponsor of the amendment talk about benefits, tremendous benefits, significant benefits, benefit benefits, I did not count them all. The only real benefit here is safety. These people in places like Kalispell, Montana, made the determination that they wanted to do something about the organized mayhem that was created by the Forest Service and their forest fire adding, doubling, the number of airplanes, tankers, helicopters, in the air per day for months on end. I do not know how many pilots are on the floor today, but I can tell the Members that pilots sometimes need help. They certainly need help when the number of traffic count in one day doubles because of a forest fire. Now, couple that with smoke and mountains and activity, and when I talk about organized mayhem, sometimes the people in the tower are the only safety valve for those people. So what is the benefit here? The benefit is to save lives. Is that not what this Congress is all about? Is this, the bill of the gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Wicker) that we are talking about, creating the safety? No. The safety is created by the individuals in the communities that make a determination that they have a need. Now, the logic is lost on me that somehow the airports that did not build their towers did not need it or are somehow at a loss for this. No, they made the determination that for safety reasons they did not need to have a tower, but our airport did make that determination. So rather than punish our communities for doing that, we ought to reward them. The $30 million figure, again, I will give an example of why that is not true. I am the only Congressman in this body who has two of those airports in their district, Bozeman, Montana, and Kalispell, Montana. Kalispell, Montana, will ask for a reimbursement from their account. It is their money into the future. They have made that a top priority. Bozeman, Montana, will not. They have announced that they have made the prioritization, and they have the ability under their taxpayer funding in their local community to withstand that cost, and they will do that. They will not ask for a reimbursement. So it is not $30 million, it must be something less, because Bozeman, Montana, is not coming in for the money. So I thank the gentleman from Florida (Chairman Mica) for specifically pointing out the difference between ``may'' and ``shall,'' because in our particular case, it is ``may.'' So I ask the Members, my friends in the legislative body, to please oppose this amendment. It does not make sense. It is one-size-fits-all, and that is the wrongheadedness that so often occurs in the United States Congress. We need the flexibility. We need to understand it is not about money, it is about safety and saving lives. Let us reward the airports for having done the right thing. I hope Members will kill this amendment and support the Wicker bill.

Mr. REHBERG

Mr. REHBERG. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the call of the Private Calendar be dispensed with today.

Mr. REHBERG

Mr. REHBERG. Mr. Speaker, America is at war. We are at war against terrorists and those who would support their hate-filled actions. Unfortunately, there are those in this Chamber that would have the United States continue to import almost 60 percent of our oil from many of the very same terrorist-sponsoring regimes our sons and daughters are bravely fighting today. Conservative estimates state that ANWR alone holds enough energy to power all of Montana's needs for the next 300 years and would provide more than 2,000 desperately needed jobs in my home State. It is ridiculous to depend on unstable nations, riddled with terrorists, for our oil, not when America has untapped resources at home. The security of our Nation depends on eliminating our dependence on foreign oil. I urge my colleagues to support our balanced energy plan for America's future.

Mr. REHBERG

Mr. REHBERG. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the proceedings had during the recess be printed in the Record.

Mr. REHBERG

Mr. REHBERG. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to urge my colleagues to stand in strong support of the American family by once and for all permanently eliminating the multibillion-dollar tax on the sanctity of marriage. If we fail to act, married couples in my home State of Montana will be hit with more than $150 million in increased taxes every year. Mr. Speaker, the words ``I do'' that are exchanged between married couples should be a pledge to build a strong family and achieve their own slice of the American pie. It should not be a forced commitment to paying higher taxes to the Federal Government. I urge my colleagues to send a clear message that this Congress stands with the American family by voting for the permanent repeal of the marriage penalty.

Mr. REHBERG

Mr. REHBERG. Mr. Speaker, I am here today to urge this Congress to set right a terrible wrong in the Tax Code. There is a basic principle in the American criminal justice system that protects our citizens from being charged with the same crime twice. It is unfortunate that our Tax Code does not provide the same protections for families trying to leave a better future for their children and their grandchildren. The real tragedy of this debate today is that it has been waged between lawyers and professors, and I stand before my colleagues today as a small businessman; and I say to my colleagues, when is enough enough? They get us on the income tax; they get us on the capital gains tax. Do they have to get us again on the death of a loved one? As a fifth-generation Montana rancher on the same ranch, my own family was forced to deal with the terrible unfairness of the death tax. I had to sell my home that was built by my great grandfather and sell a third of my ranch just to pay the down payment on my colleagues' beloved estate tax; and after selling my home, I spent the next 18 years paying off the rest of the estate tax burden, and let me tell my colleagues, this is not some academic or some legal debate today. Eliminating the death tax is about fairness. It is about equality. It is about preserving a lifetime of work. This bill is too late to give me back my home. I just do not want to see it happen to one more American family. It is unfortunate, but our opponents, the opponents of permanently eliminating the death tax, are back to their old tricks of class warfare. This is not a time for political games or false innuendo designed to pit one American taxpayer against another. The death tax is nothing more than a final desperate grab by the United States Government to get into the pockets of American taxpayers. During the last 10 years, the death tax has cost Montana families $200 million in lost opportunity. This money should have been spent to upgrade family farms, to expand small businesses, to plan for retirement, or pay for my child's college education. Instead, it was sent to Washington, D.C., to feed the Federal bureaucracy. Do the right thing, kill this amendment.

Mr. REHBERG

Mr. REHBERG. Madam Speaker, 2 decades ago Ronald Reagan reminded America that government does not tax to get money it needs, but will always find a need for the money it gets. The death tax is an unfair burden designed to punish families that work to leave a better future for the next generation, and it is a tax the government can do without. Despite the class warfare being waged by some in this Chamber, eliminating the estate tax is not a tax cut for the rich; it is a desperately needed reform to save thousands of family businesses, farms and homes. Madam Speaker, death should not be a taxable event. I urge my colleagues to abandon the gains of class warfare and send the Grim Reaper home empty handed this year by eliminating the death tax.

Mr. REHBERG

Mr. REHBERG. Mr. Speaker, I again come to the well of this great Chamber to implore my colleagues to extend immediate and desperately needed disaster relief to tens of thousands of American farmers and ranchers now suffering from years of drought. If Congress is to keep alive the American family farmer, we must act this year to provide immediate and necessary disaster assistance. Help is necessary for more than a dozen States crippled by the devastating one-two punch of adverse weather conditions and depressed commodity prices. I ask my colleagues from ag-producing States and from ag-consuming States to join our fight to secure disaster assistance this year for our farm families before it is too late.

Mr. REHBERG

Mr. REHBERG. Mr. Speaker, in 1996 Congress acted to fundamentally reform America's welfare system from the broken entitlement program it had become into the streamlined temporary assistance program we now have today. Since the historic Republican-led reforms of 1996, more than 3 million children have been lifted out of the depths of poverty and given the opportunity to achieve their fullest potential. Welfare rolls have been reduced by more than 60 percent nationally, and by more than 50 percent in my home State of Montana. There are those who argued 7 years ago that reforming welfare would put children out on the street. History has proven them wrong, and they are wrong now to use the same negative rhetoric. Welfare reform is about reawakening the spirit of the American family that has only known the disappointment of a government handout. Congress must act to keep the American entrepreneurial spirit alive, to invest in our children's future, and to secure the social and economic backbone of the great American experiment in democracy. I urge Members to vote yes on welfare reform.

Mr. REHBERG

Mr. REHBERG. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to clause 1, rule I, I demand a vote on agreeing to the Speaker's approval of the Journal.

Mr. REHBERG. Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not present.

Mr. REHBERG

Mr. REHBERG. Mr. Speaker, I rise on behalf of American farmers and ranchers to ask this Congress to support disaster relief assistance this year. Montana's farmers and ranchers are entering their fifth, and some cases their sixth, straight year of devastating drought conditions. When floods ravage the Southwest or when hurricanes touch down along the coastal regions of the United States, this Congress has acted forcefully and rightly to offer immediate and substantial financial assistance to those families and businesses most in need. On behalf of producers of food in more than a dozen States suffering from the most severe disaster conditions in more than a generation, I ask this Congress to act with equal diligence to offer immediate assistance before it is finally too late.

Mr. REHBERG

Mr. REHBERG. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from the State of Washington for yielding time to me. While I am a freshman, I hope I never get to the point on this House floor in my time as a United States Congressman to belittle the opportunity or attempt of any other Member in the United States Congress to do something for their constituency. Within the State of Montana, this is an important issue. Fish and game can be debated for many hours and many days in Montana because of not only the hunting experience, but the economic benefit that it provides to my residents. On my own ranch we have dove hunting. Unfortunately, because of the dates that are included here, sometimes it can only last 3 days because, as the light hours change in the day and the temperature changes, these migratory birds move south. This is an opportunity to create some economic development for my State, a State that has been gripped for 3, 4, 5, and sometimes 6 years by drought, now. We have a new term in Montana. It is called ``continuing drought.'' So I will not belittle their opportunity or attempt to do something for their constituency, and I hope they will not continue to do that in this particular case, because this is an important piece of legislation for my constituency.