Reid Ribble

Mr. RIBBLE

Mr. RIBBLE. I thank the gentleman. It is now a privilege of mine to yield to my friend from Georgia (Mr. Barrow).

Mr. RIBBLE. Mr. Speaker, with that, I would like to yield to the gentleman from Rhode Island (Mr. Cicilline).

Mr. RIBBLE. I thank the gentleman for his comments. Mr. Speaker, with that, I would like to yield to the gentleman from Maine (Mr. Michaud).

Mr. RIBBLE. I remember very clearly, Mr. Speaker, I had been in Congress only a few days--the President of the United States came into this Chamber for the State of the Union address--and my good friend from Maine invited me to sit with him. We began a relationship there and continued to work together throughout these last few years. Thank you very much for coming to the floor tonight. With that, I would like to yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. Valadao).

Mr. RIBBLE. I thank the gentleman for his comments. Mr. Speaker, with that, I would like to yield to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Owens).

Mr. RIBBLE. I thank the gentleman for his comments. With that, I'd like to yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. Bera).

Mr. RIBBLE. I thank the gentleman. I would now like to yield to the gentlelady from Hawaii (Ms. Gabbard).

Mr. RIBBLE. I thank the gentlelady, and I thank her for mentioning our veterans. My own father left the mainland in 1945, and the first place he went was to Pearl Harbor on the Island of Oahu, in your home State, before he went into the Pacific Theater. I can't help but think that he would have wanted this very thing to have happened here in that we would actually come here and spend our time honoring the sacrifices that those men and women made and finding solutions for the American people, making the American Nation a better place to live and work, to study and grow up and excel, and to become the type of people we can become. So thank you very much for your comments today. Now I would like to yield to a good friend of mine from Illinois, a Chicago Bears fan himself, Mr. Lipinski.

Mr. RIBBLE. I thank the gentleman for his comments. And I just have to say if a Green Bay Packer fan like myself, Mr. Speaker, and a Chicago Bear fan like Representative Lipinski can get together and talk about things--if we can talk about that, we can talk about anything. In fact, around Christmastime 2009, is when I became convinced about possibly running for Congress for the first time. I'm in my second term, Mr. Speaker. I came here to this Chamber not just to represent the citizens of northeast Wisconsin, but I came here because I believe that the fabric of trust between the American people and this government has been torn. But fabric torn can be mended. It can be mended by common thread that binds us together not as Republicans and Democrats, men and women, but common thread that binds us together as Americans. Common thread can only be used if it's found; common thread can only be found if you seek it. One of the reasons that I feel we sometimes can't repair this torn fabric is because it's so difficult to find the common ground. But common ground, indeed, can be found when representatives are willing to seek it out. Mr. Speaker, our Founders established a representative Republic and instructed us. They said that if we can find agreement, do those things. But if we couldn't find agreement, they warned us as well. They said, Where you can't find agreement, it might be best for you not to do those things until you can, in fact, find agreement. So we have to go out and we have to look for it, and I could talk to my Republican colleagues every single day. In many respects, it's like preaching to the choir, and I think that preaching to the choir is a fine thing. I mean, you often preach to the choir because you want them to sing. The fact of the matter is I have agreement with my Republican colleagues on most things--not everything, but most things. So therefore I must go and talk to my colleagues on the other side of the aisle. The fastest way to mend that torn fabric is by meeting people, by building trust, by taking the time to understand them and then seeking the areas of common ground, to find the common thread that binds us together, and when we find that, we can begin to repair the torn fabric between the American people and its government. It's really what we've been sent here to do. We've been sent here to find and solve problems, not to fight about them. Disagreement will happen. In fact, you can look historically into this Chamber, and there's been a lot of disagreement. It dates back to the beginning of our Nation's founding. There's also been a lot of agreement. Think about the differences from 1787 to today. Think about the America that exists today. Much of it exists because the men and women who were sent by the citizens of their districts to lead came here, and through statesman-like qualities, were willing to lead. They had the courage to make tough decisions and then lead this country to the place that it is today. I am filled with hope about America. I'm filled with hope because of the colleagues that I work with here. I'm filled with hope, Mr. Speaker, because of men like you. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleagues for their time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. RIBBLE

Mr. RIBBLE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to give the American people some truth telling about what is going on with the FAA and flight delays. We have been told this is all the result of the sequester. And yet in 2001, there were about 30,000 takeoffs per day in the United States, and they did that with about $6 billion worth of funding. Today, takeoffs are only 20,000 a day, and they have $10 billion of funding. In 2001, there were 14,000 air traffic operators, and today there are 14,000 air traffic operators. So if it's not a demand problem because demand went down, if it's not a people problem because they have the same people, and it's not a resource problem because they have about 100 percent more money, what is the problem? I contend to you, Mr. Speaker, it's a political problem. It's time to tell the administration to stop playing politics with the American people.

Mr. RIBBLE

Mr. RIBBLE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the efforts of 14- year-old Amber Van Den Heuvel. Ms. Van Den Heuvel committed two years to developing the ``Ride Oconto History'' bike tour of Oconto County, Wisconsin. This project was the result of her involvement in another program called ``Oconto Promise,'' a group dedicated to getting young people more invested in their communities. Ms. Van Den Heuvel's research and planning led to the creation of 5 different bike routes through the county that highlight 46 unique and historic stops along the way. Those stops include a National Landmark and 28 locations found on the National Register of Historic Places. This project is not only a tribute to her hard work, but also the support of her mother who encouraged her daughter and helped secure sponsors to assist in developing pamphlets, posters and signs for these bike trails. This project has already earned Ms. Van Den Heuvel the George E. Hall Award from the Oconto County Historical Society. I commend Ms. Van Den Heuvel for this project, and I know that the residents of Northeast Wisconsin, and the many tourists that visit Oconto County each year, will enjoy the fruit of Ms. Van Den Heuvel's labor for many years to come.

Mr. RIBBLE

Mr. RIBBLE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize March as National Frozen Food Month and to honor one of my home state's own frozen food companies, Seneca Foods Corporation. Founded in 1949, Seneca Foods is one of our nation's largest processors of fruits and vegetables. In fact, Seneca Foods produces more than 2 billion cans and bags of frozen fruit and vegetable products every year, which equates to over 5 billion servings. I had the pleasure of visiting Seneca's Gillett, Wisconsin plant last August. There has been an active canning factory on this site since 1909 and Seneca took over the site in 2003. Seneca Foods believes in providing the community with jobs and continually improving its facilities. At Gillett, this included a 2007 warehouse expansion that tripled the storage space. There are 37 full-time employees at this facility. But in season, it grows to employ over 210 seasonal employees and has an annual payroll of $4.3 million. Much of what I know about Seneca Foods I learned from Executive Vice President and COO Paul Palmby, who serves on the Board of the American Frozen Food Institute and is the chairman of the Produce for Better Health Foundation, PBH, which promote increased consumption of fruits and vegetables for better health. Both Seneca Foods and the American Frozen Food Institute were recognized recently as PBH Fruits & Veggies--More Matters' Role Models. Working together, these entities regularly promote the nutritional benefits of fruit and vegetable consumption as part of an important effort to encourage healthy eating. Mr. Speaker, in celebration of National Frozen Food Month, I wish to applaud Seneca Foods and the entire frozen food industry for their hard work and contributions to the health of our nation and its citizens.

Mr. RIBBLE

Mr. RIBBLE. I thank the chairman for yielding. It has been quite an afternoon already: slash, cut, tone deaf, burn, plunder, shred, eviscerate, end Medicare as we know it, balance the budget on the backs of our seniors, and then my favorite, austerity Kool-Aid. There has been enough hyperbole in this room today, I should have brought my boots. Let's talk about austerity. We talk a lot about the least fortunate about us, the concern for seniors and for veterans and the most needy. This is what the budget actually does. These are the real numbers. I have read the real budget--not somebody's report on the budget, but the real budget. This is what we do for veterans. We increase from $145 billion to $187 billion. That's a 20 percent increase, a 20 percent increase over a decade. That is a $1.675 trillion commitment to our veterans. Then I heard we are going to end Medicare as we know it. Well, $509 billion to $864 billion in Medicare over a decade, if this is austerity Kool-Aid, I don't know how you can define $6.656 trillion as austerity Kool-Aid. I have heard a lot of people say I'm concerned about my mom. My colleagues have said it on both sides of the aisle. I want you to know, moms, we have got your back to the tune of $6.656 trillion. We are here for you. Let's look at Social Security. We hear that Social Security is going to be in trouble. Well, this budget goes from $854 billion to $1.423 trillion. So what does that come out to? Well, it is just a meager $11.15 trillion over the next decade on Social Security alone. So what does that do for these three programs? Three programs, Mr. Chairman, this is our austerity Kool-Aid: $19,481,692,000,000 on three programs, nearly $3 billion more than the accumulated national debt in the last two centuries. If this is leaving our seniors behind, if this is leaving the most fortunate behind, I don't even know what we can do to make it right other than this. Mr. Chairman, I am proud of the budget you have put together, and you achieve balance, including meeting these demands for the least fortunate in our society.

Mr. RIBBLE

Mr. RIBBLE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor a fallen hero who has finally come home. Our experience is different than it would have been had Second Lieutenant James Des Jardin been found in 1944. James' parents had already buried one son, and now would have been burying another. Grief and sadness was the companion for this family on that December day in 1944. Just three days after Christmas, the family was told of James missing in action with a letter. And I think you should know that similar letters were sent to over 73,000 families during the war saying that their loved one was missing. Our nation paid a heavy price to bring freedom to the world. I cannot imagine the horror of hearing that news. More than that, I cannot fathom the uncertainty of a family not knowing. James' brother Earl, a bomber pilot, had already been killed in service to our country, in France just two months before, and now another son was missing. Was James a POW? Was he hiding in Germany and working his way home? Did he perish that day? Or later? These are the questions that no parent, no brother or sister or son or daughter ever wants to ask. But these questions had to be asked. They provided hope. They provided encouragement. . . . but they also provide doubt and despair. The questions certainly lingered. The sacrifice of the family, quietly held in their hearts and thoughts, and the yearning to know. December 28, 1944, and the years that followed, certainly brought heartache, that unless you have experienced it personally must have been difficult to understand. So finally today brings closure. We get to lay to rest Second Lieutenant James Des Jardin--An American hero. Today we get thank a family for their sacrifice. Today we get to, and I know this is a bit odd to say and maybe a bit odd for you to hear, but today we get to celebrate a hero and a hero's family. We as a community join with this family to share not just in grief but in joy of knowing our hero is finally home. It's certainly different today than it would have been for the Des Jardin family in 1944. Today instead our mourning a fallen hero we celebrate his homecoming. Today the family's questions have been answered and so have ours. Today an American hero is welcomed home and laid to rest. May God Bless the family and in His time provide the same closure for our Nation's other MIA families. Thank you to the Des Jardin family for your sacrifice and thank you for including me today.

Mr. RIBBLE

Mr. RIBBLE. Madam Chair, I rise today in support of this legislation which includes the Midnight Rule Relief Act that I authored earlier this year. I would like to take just a moment as a former small business owner to talk a little bit about the impact of regulations because we will hear from our colleagues on the other side that there is no evidence that regulations affect hiring, it doesn't affect start-ups, that if we do these things that the whole environment is going to go down the hill, the whole country is going to end here because of the fact that the Federal Government can't control every minutia of our lives. Now I would say this, Madam Chair, that I believe rather than a big government, I believe in a big, free individual. I think a little bit, as I tell my story today about my father who started our roofing company in 1958, there were fewer rules of the road then. There were rules of the road, for sure. There were certainly rules put in place. Since that time, there have been thousands and thousands and thousands. There has been a lot of discussion in this Chamber about the gap between the rich and the poor and how the middle class is getting squeezed. I just wonder if we ever think that the middle class is getting squeezed, but they're getting squeezed by their government. They're not getting squeezed by rich people; they're not getting squeezed out of it by opportunity. They're getting squeezed out of it by a government that no longer lets them pursue the American Dream. Sometimes I feel that the other side wants them to pursue their dream, that our government wants to dictate what the dream ought to be for American citizens. My father had his own dream. He was a milkman in the 1950s after he came home from World War II as a U.S. marine. He had six sons and later adopted two girls. I'm the youngest of eight. There were many, many times in my life, when my father, as he tried to not just make a better dream for himself, not just to live out his hopes and dreams and aspirations, but to build a better future for me and my family, for my children and for my grandchildren as he started our family business. I wonder if today he could even do it. He had no money. He was delivering milk at the time, one of the lowest paid jobs out there at the time in 1956. He put an ad in the paper and tried to find work, and he decided that he would go into the roofing business. And through pure grit and determination and hard work, he started his own company. He was able to do that because all of the barriers that had been put in place by this overreaching government weren't there. He had a customer of ours--his, actually, because I was just a child--tell him he ought to name the company Security Roofing because they felt secure in his hands. That customer was well aware of the fact that my father was providing a service for them that they were willing to transact money for. And it was a fair transaction of goods. And if my father had cheated them, his reputation would have went down, and he wouldn't have been able to sustain himself. He built his company on fairness. He built his company on honesty and integrity, and the government wasn't in the way. And now today, imagine some unemployed worker thinking about starting his own landscaping business, his own roofing company, a young college graduate, a young woman who wants to be a beautician and start her own beauty shop. We have this complex maze of rules and regulations and licensures and all these things that we think have made life better, but have taken freedom and have crossed the American Dream. That's what this bill is about. It's about for a moment in time, it's about incentivizing this government to remove the barriers and obstacles, to get them out of the way and say to the American people, there will be no more for a period of time until unemployment reaches this level, 6 percent. We're not taking away rules. We're just saying you can rely that there won't be new ones for a time. Also, this bill will stop the President of the United States, both Republicans and Democrats, from doing a lame duck session, whether they have been fired or extended in their careers, to not promulgate a bunch of rules and regulations during a lame duck session. We've seen a massive increase of rules and regulations during that period of time-- 17 percent in the 3 months following an election where parties change hands. The number of major rules issued during Bill Clinton's midnight period totaled 3\1/2\ times more than the average number issued during the same calendar period in the other years in President Clinton's second term. President Bush wasn't much better. His was 2\1/2\ times more. So to solve this problem, this bill would simply say to the President of the United States, for 90 days you can't do it. I support this bill, Madam Chairman.

Mr. RIBBLE

Mr. RIBBLE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize America's log cabin industry as a quintessential symbol of the American pioneering spirit, embodying America's strength and ingenuity. Log cabins, whether used for recreation or as primary residences, are economically sustainable, reducing waste and employing materials that put Mother Nature's beauty at center stage. The industry is experiencing renewed growth, exporting this American icon to nations from Germany to China. Log cabin production directly supports thousands of jobs from builders to sales professionals, as well as the housing market, lending institutions, and many others. The people of this industry are hard- working, charitable, and deserving of recognition for their centuries of accomplishment.

Mr. RIBBLE

Mr. RIBBLE. I am struck here this afternoon. I've heard my good friends on the other side of the aisle and their concerns. I think it's legitimate that they would like to see long-term certainty in our infrastructure system. Yet, when the highway bill ended in 2009, they controlled the White House, the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. While in the majority of all three levels of government, they chose to extend the transportation authorization six times. So here we are, once again, with another delay tactic, letting the American people wait some more. They know that this motion to instruct is not going to go anywhere because there are important reforms that the American people have told us they want. One of those reforms is my amendment, which is part of our bill that streamlines the redtape. Why in the world should we take 15 years to get a highway project finished? It's because we're waiting two-thirds of the time to get approvals done. It's nonsensical, yet we keep on promulgating the same problem over and over and over again. It's like Groundhog Day here. I have to tell you, Madam Speaker, it gets frustrating after a while. We need to get on with this and move forward with something. Let's get this into conference so that we can go ahead and make our reforms. The American people have spoken. They spoke in the last election. They decided that they wanted a split government, that they wanted the majority over here in the House and a different majority in the Senate. That was their choice. The way a bill becomes law is that the Senate does its thing and then we do our thing, and then we come together and negotiate in between to find the best common ground for all Americans. That's what we plan on doing here. I very strongly urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on this motion to instruct. Let us get to conference with our reforms and with the House- passed legislation, the bipartisan House-passed legislation. Let's get on with it so that we can get some certainty put back into this.

Mr. RIBBLE

Mr. RIBBLE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to acknowledge the great work of the Ellis family of Rhinelander, Wisconsin, who worked to benefit the Ronald McDonald House of Marshfield, Wisconsin and are the 2012 Make a Difference Day winners. Make a Difference Day is a celebration of the power of neighbors helping neighbors. Created by USA Weekend, this annual day of service mobilizes more than three million volunteers to create change in their community. The Ellis family has made a substantial impact on their community by collecting aluminum cans for the local Ronald McDonald House. Rick and Kela Ellis were heartbroken when they lost 2-year-old daughter Ashley to brain cancer in 1989. But within a year they'd found a way to honor her memory: by recycling aluminum cans to benefit the Ronald McDonald House of Marshfield, Wisconsin, their ``home'' while Ashley was hospitalized. Since giving their Cans for Cancer collection a ``huge boost'' by tying it to Make A Difference Day in 1998, the Ellises have recycled 6,000 pounds of aluminum, raising more than $2,500. I want to congratulate the Ellis family for this honor and thank them for their service to our community.

Mr. RIBBLE

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

Mr. RIBBLE. I can say this to you, that I have full confidence in your State's environmental protection. I have full confidence in the leaders in the State of Wisconsin.

Mr. RIBBLE. Mr. Chairman, the folders that I am holding here represent our dysfunctional Federal bureaucracy. They provide a stark example of the burdensome red tape that a Wisconsin business must go through just to get approval of a single project. Mr. Chairman, in this folder is when the county controls a project. This folder is when the State controls the project. Mr. Chairman, this folder is when the Federal Government controls the project. Well, these examples aren't specifically for a highway project. They are emblematic of the bureaucracy our Federal Government imposes in northeastern Wisconsin and across the Nation. My amendment today will smooth the road for our infrastructure projects by reducing the redundant permitting requirements that prevent us from rebuilding our roads and bridges across this country. My amendment includes many of the practical reforms that I and my colleagues on the Transportation Committee have championed under Chairman Mica's leadership. Today, the average life span of a construction project is 15 years, but only 5 of those years involve actual on-the-ground construction. Let me say that again. At least 10 years of a project are not spent building anything, but instead are spent filling thousands of folders just like these with millions of pages of paperwork. My amendment expedites this process. In some cases we can cut this timeline in half merely by allowing the Federal and State agencies to work together. How about that for an idea, to work together on the review and permitting process. My amendment sets hard deadlines for Federal agencies to approve infrastructure projects, no longer leaving them in limbo. There has been a lot of talk about shovel-ready projects in recent years. Well, my amendment will help States, municipalities, and contractors to put their pencils down and, Mr. Chairman, pick the shovels up. It's exactly what we need in a time when our economy is struggling. The Federal Government needs to stop putting up roadblocks to job creation and figure out ways to make things easier and less costly. My amendment would do just that. It also exempts certain unplanned emergencies from some of the review processes. When a State or city is hit by damaging storms or unexpected flooding, our top priority should be to get our roads and bridges repaired, not subjecting our communities to an endless permitting process that may further harm their quality of life. Mr. Chairman, the bill before us today is not perfect, but then again no bill ever is. However, my amendment will put us on the road to reforming how we build and maintain our infrastructure throughout this country, and I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting it. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. RIBBLE. Will the gentleman yield? Our amendment takes that----

Mr. RIBBLE. If the gentleman will yield, it's just in the right-of- way, though.

Mr. RIBBLE. Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. RIBBLE. I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Shuster).