Louise Slaughter

Ms. SLAUGHTER

Ms. SLAUGHTER. 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.

Ms. SLAUGHTER

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Florida for yielding me the customary 30 minutes and I yield myself such time as I may consume. (Ms. SLAUGHTER asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Ms. SLAUGHTER

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Jackson). (Mr. JACKSON of Illinois asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Lipinski).

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pascrell).

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Traficant). (Mr. TRAFICANT asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Maine (Mr. Baldacci).

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Lipinski), the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Aviation.

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Jones).

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for yielding me this 30 minutes and yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, this resolution waives all points of order against the conference report and its consideration. Mr. Speaker, I support the underlying bill and want to praise the chairman and the ranking member of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, as well as the chairman and the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Aviation, for the extraordinary work that they have done to ensure that America's aviation system will remain safe and competitive as we enter the 21st century. Generations of taxpayers have spent millions of dollars ensuring that our aviation system is the envy of the world, but that superiority is by no means certain unless we act. Many communities now find themselves cut off from the booming economy as a result of the inability to move their goods and services where they need to go. This problem has enormous economic implications for certain regions of the country, including my own. I have said it before and I will say it again, that economic development cannot occur without affordable, accessible air transportation. My district of Rochester, New York, and, of course, my great interest in Buffalo is the largest per capita exporting city in the United States and last year 1.2 million people flew out of our airport. My district, Rochester, contains Fortune 500 companies such as Eastman Kodak, Xerox Corporation, Johnson & Johnson, and Bausch and Lomb. Of equal importance are the hundreds of small and mid-sized high technology firms that have been growing in our region over the past several years. These companies are now critical to the lifeblood of our community, but many firms are either moving out or choosing to expand in other regions of the country due to exorbitant airfares and the inability to get a decent flight schedule. A relatively young and growing Rochester-based firm recently wrote to me that high airfares to and from Rochester are the primary reason that it froze professional positions in its local office and opted instead to expand its mid-Atlantic offices. Trends like this can and do enormous damage to any community. Rochester is like many mid-sized communities that somehow got left out of the benefits promised by deregulation. To be blunt, deregulation failed us. During the 1960s, 13 air carriers served our region, affording consumers choices and creating a competitive environment and produced reasonable fares. Now there is one dominant carrier, four additional carriers and a few very small ones that effectively serve our region, and my constituents pay some of the highest air fares in the country. Major airline carriers have clipped the wings of any start-up carrier, and while more than one carrier may service our region, they do not compete among themselves on most routes. The result has been the creation of a de facto monopoly on individual routes that are gouging business people and consumers when they fly. For example, Mr. Speaker, one can fly from Rochester to Chicago round trip for $1,200 to the penny on any airline serving Rochester that will take you there. Congress can and must level the playing field for start-up carriers so that they can compete with the major carriers. Low-cost airlines formed after deregulation are the primary source of price competition in other areas of the country, and Rochester is a prime example of what happens without this pressure. Two years ago I pledged to my constituents to confront this problem head on in the Congress. I authored legislation and called on the Department of Transportation and the Department of Justice to get tough on the predatory behavior of major carriers. I have testified numerous times before my House and Senate colleagues and conducted hearings in Rochester with Secretary of Transportation Rodney Slater. As we are here today, the Department of Justice has launched a full- blown antitrust investigation into the behavior of the major carriers. The Department of Transportation for the first time in 20 years is looking at measures to prevent anticompetitive behavior. Thirty-six States' Attorneys General are pressing their State courts into action, and comprehensive legislation before us today will provide additional airport capacity and help to improve large and small airports to ensure that we have fair competition. Moreover, a new start-up airline, JetBlue, will be serving Rochester in the coming year. I was pleased to be in Buffalo for their inaugural flight to New York City, and I was also pleased to help ensure JetBlue's access to the slot-controlled John F. Kennedy Airport in New York City and look forward to the relief their flights will provide in our community. Let me speak a moment about the slot issue, although this has been alleviated in this report. Slots refer to the landing and take-off rights for each flight. The slot provisions included in the underlying bill are critical to this debate, and I am delighted that the measure begins to undo the damage created by the current system. Currently, major carriers have a stranglehold on these slots, effectively preventing low-cost carriers from entering the market. In the 18 years since airline deregulation, major airlines have increased their grip on access to slots at major airports. The four slot- controlled airports in the country, LaGuardia and Kennedy Airports in New York, O'Hare in Chicago and National Airport near Washington, the dominant airlines use their control of slots to squeeze out the smaller carriers and consumers are being crushed in the process. When these slots were first distributed, DOT made clear to the airlines the slots were government property owned by the American people. The government reserved the right to reclaim them at a future date to promote fair competition. With the growing move by large airlines to consolidate slots, this action is long overdue, and I am delighted to see it in this bill. Mr. Speaker, again, I want to commend the chairman and ranking member of both the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and the Subcommittee on Aviation for their extraordinary work and for standing firm in the conference on our behalf. I will not call for a recorded vote. I urge my colleagues to support the legislation that the resolution makes in order. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia (Ms. Norton).

Ms. SLAUGHTER

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, oil prices have tripled since the end of 1998 and are higher than they have been in nearly a decade. Today in response, I am cosponsoring legislation that is an aggressive response to the reduction in oil produced by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) nations. This legislation would direct the Administration to file a case with the World Trade Organization (WTO) against oil-producing countries. Article XI of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) prohibits members of the WTO from setting quantitative restrictions on imports or exports. I believe oil- producing countries' production limits fall within this Article, therefore these countries have violated the rules of the WTO. With the majority of oil-producing nations already members of the WTO or in the process of applying for membership, a complaint filed by the United States would have an immediate impact on the current and future behavior of these countries. This particular crisis has to be investigated. I consider these actions a shameful display of ingratitude on the part of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, after Americans put their lives on the line to safeguard the stability and oil fields of these nations in the Gulf War. I was pleased with Secretary Richardson's efforts to meet with oil industry representatives and OPEC members, but I frankly think that the cautious approach that the White House is taking is still too little and too late. We know that actions will speak louder than words. The people that I represent in Monroe County, New York, have the dubious distinction this year of having had more snow than any place else in the United States. My constituents were then especially hard hit by the high heating oil and diesel fuel costs this winter. Now, the rest of the country is being affected by the soaring cost of gasoline. These enormous oil price increases pose a significant threat to our nation's continued economic growth by increasing the likelihood of inflation and the costs of doing business. So, on behalf of all my constituents today who are still shoveling snow, paying their heating oil bills and now paying these high gas prices, I want to say to my colleagues and to everyone in this Congress that quick action is needed now. Mother Nature waits on no one.

Ms. SLAUGHTER

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this open rule, and I urge my colleagues to pass it so that all germane alternatives and potential improvements to this legislation may be considered. The underlying bill, H.R. 1827, the Government Waste Corrections Act of 1999, is designed to address the problem of overpaying vendors that provide goods and services to Federal agencies. Rooting out this problem is a worthy goal and one I wholeheartedly support. Our government has paid through the nose so often it has developed a bad cold that has resisted a cure. These overpayments waste money of the taxpayers and divert the Federal resources from their intended use. Overpayments can occur for a variety of reasons, including duplicate payments, pricing errors, missed cash discounts, rebates, or other allowances. But with this bill, we take the first step toward a cure. The identification and recovery of such overpayments, commonly referred to as recovery auditing and activity, is an established business practice with demonstrated large financial returns. Recovery auditing has already been employed successfully in limited areas of Federal activity. It has great potential for expansion to many other Federal agencies and activities, thereby resulting in the recovery of substantial amounts of overpayments annually. Congress must ensure that overpayments made by the Federal Government that would otherwise remain undetected are identified and recovered. I understand from Committee on Rules testimony last week that the underlying bill would not apply to excess Medicare payments. I think this is a shame, because Medicare is a system that needs looking into. A measure that I have authored, H.R. 418, the Medicare Universal Product Number Act of 1999, which I have cosponsored with the gentleman from New York (Mr. Houghton) would go a long way towards cracking down on improper federal reimbursements. I would urge the Committee of Government Reform and Oversight to continue this effort to crack down on excessive payments and take a hard look at Medicare in the process. The taxpayers need to know that Congress means business when it comes to handling their money. Mr. Speaker, I support this open rule to allow full debate and all perfecting amendments to this legislation. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Sessions) for yielding me the customary 30 minutes, and I yield myself such time as I may consume. (Ms. SLAUGHTER asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. SLAUGHTER

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I simply want to bring to the attention of Congress the situation of the people that I represent in Monroe County, New York. Some of them are up there now trying to shovel snow off their roofs. We have the dubious distinction this year of having had more snow than anyplace in the United States, a distinction that we really prefer go to Buffalo or Oswego. I have an extraordinary number of retired persons as well. In addition to the high cost of prescription drugs, they are now being forced to decide whether they will eat or pay the soaring home heating costs. The families have seen the price of home heating oil rise on an hourly basis. There has been no way to understand it, to plan for it, or to budget for it. They are upset, and those who are on low and fixed incomes are having to choose again between everything else that they do and heating their homes, which really is not a choice. With the temperatures that we have had this January and February, we have had over 21 days of straight snow this year. There is no option but not to freeze to death. We have had numbers of truckers who have called us and told us that the extraordinary high rise in diesel fuel, over $2 a gallon an increase, has made it impossible for many of them even to continue to run their rigs and they have put them aside until, as Washington says, help is on the way. I understand what the President said that once this cold snap is over, that we hope that the prices will go down, but in the meantime, I have people who are in severe crisis. I am happy that there is going to be a summit tomorrow on this, but I frankly think that the cautious approach that the White House is taking is too little and too late. We know that actions will speak louder than words. It is really critical that this year, because this is a debate, as my colleagues have pointed out, that we have year after year, that we do something about it to take care of these permanent needs that the Northeast has for heating assistance. I have joined on to legislation that I hope will do just that this year. We hate to come every year and talk about how our people again are freezing to death, although I think we are really quite generous in helping when other Members of Congress come to the floor with problems in their district that nature has given to them. But it is really important that we do something about this this time. Mr. Speaker, I am not sure why the prices have risen. I agree with the gentleman from New York (Mr. Crowley) who spoke previously that it needs a good investigation to make sure that at this time when temperatures are low that these costs are not deliberate. It is very important that we look at that. In the meantime, I would like to urge the President and the Secretary of Energy to really include the action right now of releasing some oil from the strategic petroleum reserve. We must, as I said before, start a home-heating oil reserve in the Northeast so that we can have a long- term solution to this crisis. One solution may be, as many speakers before me have pointed out, and I know that the President had brought up one year, is that why should LIHEAP money, which is really used for low-income heating, be sent throughout the 50 States and the territories. Might it not be more important that we send it to places where it is needed, and I would like to have that looked into as well. But action and not delay is needed now. So, on behalf of all of my constituents today who are out trying to shovel off the roof, to make sure that the pipes are not frozen, keeping the heat in the house as low as they can so that they can afford to eat, I want to say to my colleagues and to everyone in this Congress that Mother Nature waits on no one and that quick action is needed for the people of the Northeast.

Ms. SLAUGHTER

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. (Ms. SLAUGHTER asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Pryce) for yielding to me the customary 30 minutes. Mr. Speaker, I am a cosponsor of the underlying bill, the Workplace Goods Job Growth and Competitiveness Act, H.R. 2005. This bill establishes a uniform nationwide 18-year time limit on the civil liability of manufacturers of durable goods, such as machine tools. Under the measure, civil suits for damages against durable goods manufacturers could be brought only within 18 years after the product enters the stream of commerce. This is a common sense reform proposal that would promote the competitiveness of American manufacturers while simultaneously protecting U.S. workers. My district in Rochester, New York, is a large manufacturing district. We are the proud birthplace of a number of Fortune 500 companies, such as Eastman Kodak, Xerox Corporation, Bausch & Lomb, and Johnson & Johnson. Indeed, we are the largest per capita exporting city in the United States. This region exports more than all but nine States. We are among the top 10 exporting areas in the entire country. But the durable goods manufacturing industry is subject to frequent product liability lawsuits targeted against products that are often decades old and have been resold or modified without the original manufacturer's knowledge or control. The potential liability in these products is literally endless. Wasting money on everyone but the injured parties in these lawsuits is inefficient and does little good. In fact, it hurts American workers, businesses, and consumers. And our foreign competitors do not have the same risks and costs as the United States manufacturers. The European Union and Japan both have a 10-year statute of repose, so they maintain a distinct cost advantage from pricing products. And implementing the 18-year limit would help to even the playing field. Moreover, the measure would not harm workers on the ability to be justly compensated in the event of injury. In fact, the measure guarantees the worker would be eligible for Worker's Compensation. The worker could also have a cause of action for negligent maintenance of the machine. The bill provides a valid solution to a problem facing durable goods manufacturers while ensuring the injured claimants will recourse to benefits in the Worker's Compensation system. It is a modest, targeted bill that deserve Congress' support. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. SLAUGHTER

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume, and I thank the gentleman from Florida for yielding me the customary 30 minutes. (Ms. SLAUGHTER asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, the underlying bill, the Taiwan Security Enhancement Act, H.R. 1838, is a bill designed to reaffirm the Nation's commitment to Taiwan's security. It is my understanding that the bill was substantially modified in the Committee on International Relations and demonstrates a bipartisan effort to show some congressional support for maintaining Taiwan's ability to defend itself. I have received numerous letters and petitions from Taiwanese Americans in my district urging passage of the bill. As Professor Ken Hsu of Pittsford, New York, notes, ``This act will help maintain the peace and security of the Taiwan Strait.'' Over the past decade, Taiwan has become a full-fledged, multiparty democracy. Presidential elections are scheduled for March of this year. Taiwan fully respects human rights and civil liberties and is often touted as a model for democracy in East Asia. Meanwhile, the People's Republic of China continues to jail citizens who simply want to express their views and represses the people of Tibet and other regions who long for freedom. Most importantly, China has spent the past few years actively building up its military capabilities. This buildup has included further development of advanced ballistic and cruise missiles and a significant increase in the size of China's missile force. That is a worry. Mr. Speaker, this is a closed rule, with the possibility of a substitute amendment. And while I support a more open amendment process, in this case I am not aware of any amendments on our side and will not call for a recorded vote. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos).

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Guam (Mr. Underwood). (Mr. UNDERWOOD asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, if I could take 30 seconds out of order, I would like to wish a happy birthday on behalf of the House to the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos). Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Deutsch).