Bobby Scott

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the Senate bill (S. 1749) to amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit the possession or use of cell phones and similar wireless devices by Federal prisoners, as amended.

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 1469) to amend the National Child Protection Act of 1993 to establish a permanent background check system, as amended.

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor Reverend Dr. Dwight S. Riddick, Pastor of Gethsemane Baptist Church in Newport News, Virginia. This is the 25th anniversary of Dr. Riddick's service to Gethsemane Baptist and the people of Newport News, and I would like to take this moment to recognize some of his numerous accomplishments during that time. A native of Chesapeake, Virginia, Dr. Riddick is a graduate of Norfolk State University. In 1991, he received his Master's Degree of Divinity from the Samuel Dewitt Proctor School of Theology at Virginia Union University in Richmond, and in 2005, he earned his Doctorate in Ministry from Regent University in Virginia Beach. Dr. Riddick previously served six years as pastor of First Baptist Church of Dendron, Virginia before coming to Gethsemane Baptist. In his position as Pastor of Gethsemane, Dr. Riddick has been an extraordinary shepherd over a vibrant and growing flock. Under his visionary leadership, Gethsemane Baptist has grown from a mission with 200 individuals to a church with well over 3,000 active members. I have attended Sunday services at Gethsemane Baptist and have seen his hand at work in his church and community. During his tenure, the Church established a learning and child development center, a Christian school and a Bible Institute. In addition, several community outreach programs and ministries have been created during Dr. Riddick's tenure. Dr. Riddick led a successful building program which resulted in the construction of the current church building at Chestnut Avenue and 36th Street, and he is currently leading another building program which will result in the Church's second location on a 16-acre campus in Newport News. Aside from his duties at Gethsemane, Dr. Riddick currently serves as the President of the Baptist General Convention of Virginia, a group with over 1000 member churches. He also serves as the Vice President of the Hampton University Minister's Conference, a member of the Board of Trustees at Virginia Union University, and an Advisory Committee member of Consolidated Bank and Trust. On the occasion of his 25th anniversary, it gives me great pleasure to recognize and commend Reverend Dr. Dwight S. Riddick for his service and dedication to the parishioners of Gethsemane Baptist Church, the people of Newport News, and the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Madam Speaker, just months ago, the President signed the historic health care reform law, and thanks to the Affordable Health Care Act, Americans are already seeing benefits from the reform. First, our seniors on Medicare part D have begun receiving $250 rebate checks when they fall into the doughnut hole so that they are receiving help when they most need it. Second, the new law requires that health care insurers offer dependent coverage to allow children, up to age 26, to remain on their parents' policies, and that plan has been implemented by most policies. Just today, the Department of Health and Human Services announced it would begin accepting applications for the Early Retiree Reinsurance Program to help early retirees get affordable coverage. Later this summer, Americans with preexisting conditions will be able to get insurance at affordable rates. Now, we know that there are some who want to repeal all of these provisions and who want to take these benefits away from American families, but we remain dedicated to health care reform, which has expanded coverage to all Americans, and we are going to make sure that the law remains in effect.

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Madam Speaker, I rise with great pride to call attention to a group of young students who have distinguished themselves, their school, their community, and the city of Portsmouth, Virginia. The I.C. Norcom Greyhounds boys' basketball team had a remarkable season and I believe the Greyhounds deserve formal recognition for their accomplishments. On March 12, 2010, the I.C. Norcom Greyhounds won the Group AAA boys' state basketball championship. The Greyhounds completed their 2010 season with an impressive 25-4 record. I.C. Norcom won the championship in memorable fashion. Down ten points with 7:48 left in the game, the team rallied back to trail 54-53 with a minute left to play. A buzzer-beating shot by Shelton Haskins with 1.5 seconds left sealed the 55-54 victory over a previously unbeaten team from Petersburg High School. I.C. Norcom made history throughout the tournament. They were the first Portsmouth team to ever reach a semifinal game. In a similar comeback victory against Chantilly High, Norcom advanced to the AAA Championship, again the first team from Portsmouth to do so. The win gives the school and the city of Portsmouth its first Group AAA state basketball title. I.C. Norcom was founded in 1913 as the High Street School, the first public high school for black students in Portsmouth. It was renamed in 1953 in honor of its first supervising principal, Israel Charles Norcom, a pioneering educator, civic leader and businessman. Now, more than 50 years and three locations later, I.C. Norcom High School is still an innovating and inspiring place for Portsmouth students. In addition to excelling on the basketball court, the Greyhounds are also doing great things in the classroom. I.C. Norcom houses a Center of Excellence in Math and Science, which provides students with additional classes in science, math, and technology. Fifty seniors this year will be receiving their Center of Excellence Diplomas which require five science course credits, one more than required under the advanced diploma. In addition 23 I.C. Norcom seniors have been participating in the First College program--attending Tidewater Community College this semester and taking up to 14 college credits before they graduate. I.C. Norcom is doing a great job cultivating excellence both on and off the athletic field. I would like to extend my enthusiastic congratulations to the I.C. Norcom players, their families, principal Lynn Briley, coach Leon Goolsby and the rest of his coaching staff, on the occasion of this historic Boy's basketball championship. On behalf of the people of the Third Congressional district of Virginia, I.C. Norcom alumni, and the entire city of Portsmouth, I commend them for this historic win and wish the program years of success in the future.

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank all of our colleagues who've made comments today, particularly the gentleman from Florida for his leadership on this legislation and the leadership of the Judiciary Committee. I thank them for their concern and leadership on the issue of missing children. I urge my colleagues to support the resolution, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 1325) recognizing National Missing Children's Day, as amended.

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, this resolution recognizes Tuesday, May 25, as National Missing Children's Day. We hope this resolution will continue to raise public awareness about the problem of missing and abducted children. I therefore thank the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Rooney) and his colleague from Florida (Mr. Hastings) for introducing this resolution. May 25, 1979, was the day that 6-year-old Etan Patz disappeared from New York City while he was on his way to school. The media attention and massive search efforts that followed his disappearance focused the Nation's attention on the problem of child abduction. Two years later, in July 1981, 6-year-old Adam Walsh disappeared from a Florida shopping mall. His parents, John and Reve Walsh, turned to law enforcement to find their son. They quickly realized that there was no coordinated effort between Federal, State, and local law enforcement agencies in the search for their son. And to make the situation even more difficult, in 1981, there were no organizations to assist them in their search. The momentum for a national movement to keep children safe from predators and coordinate efforts by law enforcement to search for missing children began with the disappearance of these two children. As a result of this movement, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children was established in 1984. Over the past 25 years, the National Center has assisted law enforcement with more than 165,000 missing child cases, resulting in the recovery of more than 151,000 children. Although the National Center has done a remarkable job in helping to find missing children and raising public awareness about the problem of child abduction and exploitation, the Department of Justice reports that far too many children still go missing every year. We hope that on May 25, the National Missing Children's Day, we hope that on that date everyone's thoughts will be with the families who have missing children and that we will rededicate our efforts to protecting our children from predators. I urge my colleagues to support this important resolution and reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the resolution under consideration.

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. I reserve my time.

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I continue to reserve.

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his support. I urge colleagues to support this bill. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, this bill reauthorizes the Juvenile Accountability Block Grant program for an additional 3 years. I worked with my Republican colleagues in 1997 to develop and pass the legislation that created this important initiative. This program directs the Department of Justice to make grants to States and units of local government to strengthen their juvenile justice systems. The program allows funds to be used for a broad range of purposes that help reduce juvenile crime, such as establishing programs to assess the needs of juvenile offenders in order to facilitate provision of comprehensive services; establishing programs to reduce recidivism amongst juveniles; hiring juvenile court judges, court-appointed defenders and advocates; and developing systems of graduated sanctions for juvenile offenders. The Juvenile Accountability Block Grant has been an important part of the Federal Government's funding of juvenile justice programs. When we worked together on a bipartisan basis to develop this program, Members recognized that success in preventing juvenile crime and reducing recidivism by juvenile offenders requires something other than tough- sounding slogans and sound bites. When it comes to dealing with issues of juvenile justice, we're fortunate that there is more and more information available showing that we need to make sure that we approach this problem based on evidence, and we know that that evidence shows what works and what doesn't work. Those studies show that comprehensive prevention and early intervention programs directed towards youth at risk of involvement, or those already involved in the juvenile justice system, will significantly reduce crime. For example, we've seen in this program that this program has funded a chemical dependency program in Idaho serving at-risk youth with mental health issues and substance abuse and related offenses. And in Ohio, the program funded a system of graduated sanctions that provided alternatives to secure detention for pre-adjudicated youth. These are just two examples of how the program successfully provides juvenile justice professionals with alternatives they need so that there is not a one-size-fits-all system of sanctions, regardless of the needs and situation of each juvenile. We extend and strengthen grants to ensure more accountability for juvenile crime, and so we need to make sure that these principles are kept in mind, and we do more to help communities prevent juvenile crime from occurring in the first place. I am pleased that this program continues to have bipartisan support. This bill is cosponsored by the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Conyers); the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Smith); and the Crime Subcommittee ranking member, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Gohmert). I urge my colleagues to support this important legislation. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 1514) to amend the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to reauthorize the juvenile accountability block grants program through fiscal year 2014.

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Madam Speaker, I rise today to congratulate an institution in my hometown of Newport News. On Friday, May 28, 2010, Second Baptist Church East End will celebrate its 100th anniversary, and I would like to highlight some moments from the history of the church and its contribution to our community. Second Baptist was organized during the first week of May, 1910, with Minnie Jones, A.B. Lucy, Rebecca Vaughan and Daniel Peters serving as charter members. The first worship service was held on the second Sunday in May 1910 at the Odd Fellows Hall in the 1100 block of 33rd Street, with Reverend J.E. Tynes serving as the guest speaker. The church chose Reverend H.H. McLean as its first pastor. Under his leadership the church membership increased rapidly--a new church building was built in less than a year with the first worship service being celebrated Easter Sunday, April 16, 1911. Under Rev. McLean's leadership, many church organizations were founded that are still alive today, including the Choir, the Deacon Board, the Board of Trustees, the Sunday School, the Baptist Young People's Union and the Willing Workers Club. Second Baptist has had eleven pastors throughout its history, including Rev. F.A. Brown, Rev. W.S. Sharp, Rev. A.A. Watts, Rev. O.B. Allen, Rev. John Tilley, Rev. L.A. Williams, Rev. E.D. Harrell, Rev. O.L. Simms, Rev. Preston T. Hayes, and Rev. Avery E. Miller. Under Rev. Sharp, the church was able to pay off its mortgage. Under Rev. Watts, multiple improvements were made to the church including the furnishing of stained glass windows, chandeliers and carpeting. The term of Rev. Allen saw the purchase of a parsonage. Rev. Harrell added a basement and annex to the church building. Under Rev. Simms a new parsonage was purchased and a new organ installed. The longest serving Pastor in the history of Second Baptist was Rev. Preston T. Hayes, who succeeded Rev. Simms in July 1956. Under Rev. Hayes' leadership, multiple organizations and ministries were formed, including: The Layman Fellowship; The Women's Prayer Breakfast; Youth Fellowship; Blind and Deaf Ministries; and the Wednesday Morning and Evening Bible Classes. While at Second Baptist, Rev. Hayes was elected President of the Virginia Baptist General Convention (1977-79). During his tenure as President, the Convention formed a Division of Men to provide an avenue through which the Men of the Convention could utilize their skills and talents in promoting Christian stewardship and support for their local congregations. Rev. Hayes passed away in 2001, and the church dedicated the Preston T. Hayes Center for Christian Education in his honor. In the period between permanent pastors, the church continued Rev. Hayes' tradition of establishing programs to serve the church and the community by starting a Mentoring Program and a Computer Lab. Rev. Hayes was succeeded by Second Baptist's current pastor, Rev. Avery E. Miller. Under Rev. Miller, Second Baptist has continued to flourish with the establishment of a Media Ministry, a Nursing Home Ministry, a Singles Ministry, and Mannah Inc., the Church's non-profit community service organization. Among Mannah's numerous efforts to serve the East End community are: one-on-one services for at-risk children in school; afterschool tutorial programs; summer day camps; and a weekly feeding program. As Second Baptist gathers to celebrate its centennial, the church can truly remember its past, celebrate its present, and focus on the future with great expectations. I would like to congratulate Pastor Miller and all of the members of Second Baptist Church East End on the occasion of their 100th anniversary. I wish them 100 more years of dedicated service to the community.

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the 20th anniversary of the Virginia Scholarship and Youth Development Foundation. The foundation was formed in 1990 when actors Tim and Daphne Reid formed the Tim Reid Scholarship Foundation. It has since helped many at-risk high school students in Hampton Roads, Virginia go to college. Education has always been society's great equalizer, and a college education is necessary today to ensure that youth reach their highest potential. The Foundation's mission and motto of ``Universal Understanding Through Education'' clearly reflects this. Financing a college education becomes more and more difficult each year. Tim and Daphne Reid have committed themselves to making this less of an obstacle for many families in Hampton Roads, Virginia. They are devoted to the belief that talented individuals should not be denied the opportunity to cultivate their minds and have the opportunity to create a better future for themselves, their families, their community and the world. For 20 years, Tim and Daphne have worked tirelessly to raise funds for this scholarship. One of their most successful fundraisers is the annual Tim Reid Celebrity Weekend. Tim and Daphne invite many of their friends to come to Hampton Roads to participate in a weekend of events. The Celebrity Weekend attracts over 5,000 people annually. Actors, musicians, comedians, and dignitaries are invited to donate their time to participate in 3 days of activities to raise funds for the Foundation. Past celebrity guests have included Will Smith, Kyla Pratt, Kelly Williams, Lark Voorhies, Percy Daggs, Marcus Paulk, Angela Bassett, Victoria Rowell, Alfonso Ribeiro, the O'Jays, Clifton Davis, Richard Roundtree, Tia and Tamera Mowry, Tatyana Ali, Blair Underwood, and many others. Next week, the Virginia Scholarship and Youth Development Foundation will host its 20th Annual Tim Reid Celebrity Weekend in Hampton Roads, which I am sure will be another huge success. Because of the efforts of Tim and Daphne Reid, there are currently twenty-four students attending eleven different colleges and universities with the support of the Virginia Scholarship and Youth Development Foundation. Many of these young people are the first in their families to obtain a college education. I congratulate the Virginia Scholarship and Youth Development Foundation on twenty successful years and, I commend Tim and Daphne Reid for their tireless efforts on behalf of the Foundation and students in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Their willingness to invest in our state and our students is a model of personal and corporate responsibility that I hope many will replicate across our great nation. Under the leadership of Tim and Daphne Reid, I am sure the Foundation will have many more years of success.

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Madam Speaker, our Nation mourns the loss of one of our most influential civil rights leaders, Dr. Dorothy I. Height, a native of Richmond, Virginia. Dr. Height spent the better part of her lifetime working to ensure that others would have the freedom to accomplish their dreams. As the only woman in the inner circle of leaders of the Civil Rights Movement, her presence provided the much needed female perspective on decisions made in the struggle to achieve equal rights for all Americans. Even though she was on the dais with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as he delivered his ``I Have a Dream'' Speech in 1963, her integral role in the movement was not always known to the general public. That role was finally recognized nationally when President Clinton awarded Dr. Height the Medal of Freedom in 1994 and Congress awarded her the Congressional Gold Medal in 2004. Dr. Height was an outspoken advocate for racial and gender equality both before and after the Civil Rights Movement. Her life of social activism spanned eight decades. From working as a caseworker with the New York City Welfare Department to her four decades as president of the National Council for Negro Women to serving as national president of Delta Sigma Theta, Dr. Height's life has touched countless Americans. Political leaders and heavyweights, such as Eleanor Roosevelt and Presidents Eisenhower and Johnson, regularly sought out her counsel and wisdom. Yesterday's loss is a heavy one. America owes Dr. Height a heavy debt of gratitude for her lifetime of selfless service to her fellow citizens. Our Nation is a better place because of her. She will be greatly missed.

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Thank you very much. And I want to thank you, Dr. Christensen, for your hard work and dedication. The Congressional Black Caucus is fortunate to have a leader in health care who is a physician and knows health care and, particularly, a physician with an expertise in public health. So we're very fortunate, and I want to thank you for bringing us together. You've worked long and hard on health issues, and particularly those issues in which there are health disparities, where African Americans suffer disproportionately in some diseases and knowing what we can do about it. Mr. Speaker, America has been debating health care for 100 years, and we've come to some agreements. We know, for example, and I think there's general agreement within this House, that the status quo is unsustainable; 14,000 Americans losing their health insurance every day. The costs are going up. Twenty years ago, the average American family spent about 7 percent of the family income on health care and now it's 17 percent, and it's going and continuing in that direction. Millions have no insurance at all, particularly those with preexisting conditions who are unable to get any insurance. So we know that one thing that, if we're going to deal with the problem, one thing that we have recognized is that any solution that's going to be meaningful has to be comprehensive. You cannot solve the problem of preexisting conditions, those with preexisting conditions not getting insurance unless everybody has insurance. If people can wait until they get sick before they buy insurance, many people will wait until they get sick before they buy insurance. And those in the insurance pool, on average, will be sicker and sicker; the cost, average costs will be higher; more people, healthy people will drop out; and the costs will spiral out of control. We know that. So we know if we're going to deal with preexisting conditions, it has to be in the context of a system where virtually everyone is buying insurance. We know that we have to make some comprehensive changes. We know we need to debate the issues. But, unfortunately, during the recent debate, we've heard complaints. We've heard some blames. We've heard a lot of misrepresentation. We've heard some slogans and even name calling. And yesterday, we finally took a huge step in guaranteeing quality and affordable health care for all Americans, and we have a bill that we can discuss. You can talk about what might be in the bill, what isn't. We have a bill. And let's talk about what's in the legislation. First, the bill will provide affordable health care insurance for over 30 million Americans who are uninsured today, including those with preexisting conditions. The gentleman from North Carolina has outlined how affordable it is. Those at the very low end of the spectrum will pay very little. Those much higher up in the spectrum will pay more, but it's still easily affordable, particularly when you compare it to what people are having to pay today. These bills will provide security for those who have insurance because 14,000 Americans will no longer lose their insurance every day. And those who have insurance will not have to watch the cost of their insurance skyrocket every year. And insurance companies would be no longer able to cancel policies right when you get sick by looking back and finding a little comma out of place or something so they can cancel your policies when you most need them. They also can't stop making payments in the middle of your illness, because we remove lifetime caps on benefits. Just because you have a very expensive and chronic disease, with the insurance that we're providing, you will get the medical care that you need. No longer will those with health insurance have to pay copays for preventive services. And those with insurance won't have to go bankrupt, because the bills provide affordable limits on copays and deductibles. Most of the people in bankruptcy court are there because of health expenses. And most of those there because of health expenses have insurance, but their copays and deductibles are such that they still have to lose everything in bankruptcy court. And because the legislation will provide affordable health insurance to virtually all Americans, families with insurance will no longer have to pay an extra $1,000 a year to offset the health care costs for those that show up in the hospitals without any insurance. Seniors will no longer have to fall into the doughnut hole where they're paying premiums and getting no benefits. Our youth will be able to stay on family policies until they're 26 years old. Small businesses will see significant savings in health insurance because they can purchase insurance with the same price advantages as big businesses do now with the large cost advantages of volume. And many small businesses will also receive tax credits, temporary tax credits to help them provide insurance for their employees. This plan is more than paid for. CBO projects significant savings during the first 10 years and huge savings in the next 10 years. The major funding for it is treatment of unearned income for those making more than $250,000, just like earned income. Whatever your earned income, you pay a Medicare tax on that income, if it's earned income. If it's unearned income, stocks and bonds and trading and dividends and interest, you don't pay a Medicare tax on that. The major funding in this provides that whatever your income, you will be paying a Medicare tax. So those making more than $250,000 will pay on their unearned income just like everybody else is paying on their earned income. The gentleman from North Carolina has indicated some of the provisions that go in fairly soon. Most won't go into effect until 2014 because it takes time to put all of the provisions together and get them active, but there are a lot of things that go into effect right away. Small business tax credits, for those small businesses to make employee coverage more affordable, tax credits up to 35 percent of the premiums will go into effect immediately. We will also begin to close the doughnut hole. For those seniors in the doughnut hole, we'll provide a $250 rebate to help them, and gradually we will eliminate the doughnut hole. Pre-preventive care under Medicare. Right after the bill becomes effective, we'll eliminate copayments for preventive services and exempt preventive services from deductibles under the Medicare program. So those who are getting preventive services won't have to pay copays and deductibles. There's help for early retirees. We'll create a system to help offset the costs for those businesses that are providing health care for early retirees, those 55 to 64. Before they get on Medicare, there will be a program to help those. Those are very expensive to cover, and many companies want to cover them but can't afford it. We will provide an affordable way for them to cover them. We will end rescissions. There will be a ban against insurance companies from dropping people when they get sick. There will be no discrimination against children with preexisting conditions. We will prohibit health insurance from denying coverage to children with preexisting conditions. There will be a ban on lifetime limits and coverage. We will prohibit health insurance companies from placing lifetime caps on coverage. So if your chronic illness is very expensive, they can't cut you off right in the middle of treatment. There will be a ban on annual limits on coverage. And there won't be a complete ban early on, but we will tightly restrict any new plan's use of annual limits to ensure that you can get all of the health coverage that you need. Eventually, there will be a total ban on lifetime benefits. Free preventive care under all new private plans. We will require all new private plans to cover preventive services with no copays and with preventive services being exempt from deductibles. We will provide a new independent appeals process to ensure that consumers in new plans have access to an effective internal and external appeals process so that, if you're not treated properly by your insurance company, you have an effective means to appeal. There'll be immediate help for those with preexisting conditions. Eventually, those with preexisting conditions will get insurance just like everybody else, won't be able to discriminate against those with preexisting conditions. But until the plan is fully implemented, those with preexisting conditions will be able to buy from a high-risk pool that will be subsidized because, obviously, the cost of that insurance will not be, should not be affordable, but we'll make it affordable with subsidies. So those with preexisting conditions can get relief right away. It extends coverage for young people up to their 26th birthday on the family policy. If young children aren't getting health insurance on their job or while they're in school, they can stay on their parents' policy up until their 26th birthday. We significantly increase funding for community health centers, and that starts right away. So within the next 5 years, we will absolutely double the number of patients being seen at community health centers. And we'll start making investments in training programs to increase the number of primary care physicians, nurses, and other public health professionals. All of that goes into effect right away. Now, some are criticizing the plan, and it's interesting to listen carefully to the criticism. With all of what this bill does, one of the criticism is, Well, the bill has too many pages. Another is, We don't like the order in which we're casting the votes. Look at all of this comprehensive health care, and all they can talk about is the order we're voting in and the number of pages. Now, some believe that the program is unconstitutional, and, when pressed, they'll also say that, Well, Medicare is unconstitutional, too, and they want to repeal Medicare. And when we talk about repealing Medicare, I'd like to refer everyone to the budget introduced by the lead Republican on the Budget Committee. The long-term budget on that committee offered by the Republican side does not include a Medicare program. It includes a little voucher program where the cost increases will not keep up with medical inflation, so gradually, year by year, the value of that voucher erodes to the point where, 50 years from now, it'll be worth about 25 percent of the costs of medical care for senior citizens. They will allow it wither on the vine. So when you talk about Medicare being unconstitutional, be careful, because they actually want to repeal Medicare as we know it. Others complain that it takes away their freedom to be uninsured. I was first elected to the Virginia House of Delegates in 1977. This is the first year I've heard anyone talk about their urgency of the need to enjoy the freedom to be uninsured. Now, I'd like to--they say, well, they're going to debate it during the campaign for reelection, and I can't wait, because what will the campaign be? Seniors, get back in that doughnut hole where you belong. We're going to repeal the law. Young adults, get off that family policy and get out there on your own. Small businesses, give those tax cuts back and start buying insurance at the retail rate rather than the wholesale rate. Pay 18 percent more like you're doing today. Those with preexisting conditions, give me that policy back. You weren't supposed to get the policy. That was in the legislation that we want to repeal. I can't wait for that debate because, as I said last night before we took that important vote, I said that future generations will look back at the votes we cast last night just as today we look back at the votes on Social Security and Medicare. And when they passed Social Security and Medicare, the votes were not unanimous. There were those that voted ``no.'' But future generations will look back and see that many of us proudly voted in favor of health care for all. And I hope they look back with the same pride on those votes we cast last night as we do to the votes cast in favor of Social Security and Medicare.

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, America has been debating health care for over 100 years, and during this debate we have heard complaints and blame and misrepresentations, slogans, even name- calling. But today, we finally get to discuss the bills. The bills will provide affordable health care insurance to over 30 million Americans who are uninsured today, including those with preexisting conditions. These bills will provide security for those who have insurance because 14,000 Americans will no longer lose their insurance every day, and others will no longer have to watch the cost of their insurance skyrocket every year. Insurance companies will no longer be able to cancel policies or stop making payments in the middle of an illness. No longer will those with health care have to make copayments for preventive services, or go bankrupt, because the bills provide affordable limits on copays and deductibles. And because the legislation will provide affordable insurance to virtually all Americans, families with insurance will not have to pay an extra thousand dollars a year to offset health care costs for those who show up at hospitals without insurance. Seniors will no longer fall into the doughnut hole. Our youth will be able to stay on their family policies until they are 26. And small businesses will see significant savings in health insurance costs because they will purchase insurance with the same price advantages as large businesses. And many small businesses will receive temporary tax credits. That's what is in the bill, and it is more than paid for. The CBO projects significant savings for the first 10 years, and huge savings for the next 10 years. Mr. Speaker, future generations will look back at the votes we cast today, just as today we look back at the votes on Social Security and Medicare. Those future generations will see that we proudly voted in favor of health care for all.

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. The Recovery Act was passed right down here, and since then we have been making progress. But losing fewer jobs is not good enough. We need to continue this chart. In short order, we will be creating hundreds of thousands of jobs, putting people back to work. Those who have lost their jobs need to be rehired. We need to create about 100,000 jobs a month just to keep up with the population growth. So this chart is just the beginning. By the middle of this year we hope to be well into the plus, creating jobs, hiring people, and bringing people back from the unemployment lines.

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from Ohio for his leadership in bringing us together to make sure that we can discuss the importance of creating jobs. As we discuss jobs, I think it is important that we put our job efforts in perspective, because a little over a year ago when this administration came into office, we were losing jobs at the rate of over 700,000 per month, every month; 700,000 jobs a month. And we reacted to it by passing the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and we have slowly made progress, losing fewer and fewer jobs every month. But that is obviously not sufficient. We have to do better than that. But we have to put this in perspective. We were losing all of those jobs, and we found ourselves not only in the ditch with the economy, but also in the ditch with the Federal budget. We had a huge deficit which limited our ability to respond to this challenge. We are also shooting at a moving target. Just this week, the Virginia Legislature, my home State of Virginia, will pass a budget that will cut approximately $4 billion out of the budget. Virginia is about 2 percent of the population, $4 billion. California is cutting $20 billion out of their budget, a little over 10 percent of the population. If you extrapolate that nationally, that is about $200 billion that the States will be cutting out of their budgets this year on top of about $300 billion to $350 billion that they cut last year. So that is $500 billion that would have been cut out of budgets in the last 2 years. So the first $500 billion of job creation that we do will do nothing but just hire the people who have been laid off on the State level. So as much we are doing on the Federal level, it is obvious that we are shooting at a moving target. States are laying off people as fast as they can, and our job is to make sure that we try to create jobs. Part of the Federal investment will help States retain some of their critical employees, particularly the public safety first responders and teachers. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act made significant reinvestments in funding States and helping with their health care and other critical needs so that they would not have to lay off as many as they were doing. But obviously some of the major investments I think that are doing the most good are those that were made in infrastructure and transportation. We still have a 10 percent unemployment rate, so obviously a lot has to be done. And it's those investments in infrastructure and transportation that can be the most effective in creating jobs. When responding to a recession, we use the shorthand of three Ts: We want the response to be timely, targeted, and temporary. Timely because sooner or later the recession is going to be over even if we don't do anything, so we want to make sure we take timely action. Targeted--you want to put the money where it's most needed, people that are out of work and people that will actually spend the money to help stimulate the economy. So it has to be targeted. And it is temporary. When we recover from the recession, we don't want to be stuck with ongoing programs and expenses that we will have to continue to fund. Transportation and infrastructure projects fulfill the three Ts for a successful stimulus plan; they are timely, targeted and temporary. They're timely. We are aiming at programs that are shovel ready, ready to go, no environmental needed, nothing else needed, no architectural anything, ready to go. We are targeted at industries that are most in need. The construction industry in many States has unemployment rates of 25 percent or more. And it's temporary. When you fund a project, when the project is completed, you stop spending the money. When you finish building the school, you don't have to spend any more money. It's not like you would set up a program where you would have to continue paying salaries on and on and on. The Recovery Act, for example, put money into transit systems. Throughout the Nation, transit systems are cutting back on employment. St. Louis, for example, eliminated 25 percent of its workforce and cut services by 17 percent. Chicago laid off 1,000 workers. And so investments in the transit systems are areas where we can make timely and targeted investments. Across the Nation these are necessary projects. Across the Nation, 78 metropolitan areas have identified over $240 billion in needed transit investments that need to be done. These jobs not only put people back to work, they complete needed projects. Now, these investments are also very effective in creating jobs. For every $1 billion the Federal Government puts in infrastructure the economic activity is about $6 billion and about 35,000 jobs are created. Now, we need these projects, and we found that a lot of them are ready to go now. The Public Transportation Association identified $15 billion worth of projects that are ready to go. As soon as we fund them they are ready to go. Highway associations across the country identified 7,000 ready-to-go highway projects and bridge projects, almost $50 billion ready to go. As soon as we come up with the money, they can go. And so not only are these projects needed, they can be timely and they can put people to work. We have found that when we fund a construction project, when it's ready to go, the contractors can hire the employees within a couple of weeks, and they're on the job right then. So we have timely projects that are ready to go. We have put money into it. Two-thirds of the projects that have been funded, the construction has already started. We have more work to do. We still have a 10 percent unemployment rate because the States are still laying people off, so we still have to keep creating jobs. I am happy to report that today the gentleman from California (Mr. Miller), the chairman of the Education and Labor Committee, has introduced a bill with significant new investments in infrastructure and transportation. These will make sure that we will have these workers on the job in very short order. The Miller jobs bill will create jobs quickly and efficiently. As States continue to lay people off, we need to make sure that we are creating as many jobs as we possibly can on the Federal level. We should give the Miller jobs bill quick consideration so that jobs can be created when they are needed, and that's right now. So I thank you. I would like to thank the gentleman from Ohio for bringing us together, for talking about jobs and encouraging us to continue doing what we need to do to create jobs and end the unemployment problems that we're having today.