John Sarbanes

Mr. SARBANES

Mr. SARBANES. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Martin ``Chip'' Doordan for his nearly forty years of outstanding service to the people of Anne Arundel County, Maryland, culminating in his leadership role as President and Chief Executive Officer of Anne Arundel Health System. Chip first joined Anne Arundel Medical Center (AAMC) in 1972 as a graduate student, became President of AAMC in 1988 and, in 1994, the Board of Trustees named him president and CEO of the Health System. Under Chip's leadership, this downtown Annapolis hospital was transformed into a regional medical center on a 100-acre campus. The center boasts a highly qualified staff and has grown to include a diagnostics and imaging company, a foundation, a research institute, a freestanding substance abuse inpatient treatment center and many other centers of excellence. Chip also positioned AAMC as a leader in Maryland on joint replacement and started an affiliation with Johns Hopkins for cancer services. In April 2011, Chip opened a new patient tower that expands the emergency department, adds more private beds and has a dedicated pediatric emergency department. All of these achievements are the culmination of many years of hard work and Chip's strong dedication and commitment to the people of Maryland and improving our health care system. Throughout his career, Chip has been recognized as a quiet and thoughtful leader who strives to find new and creative ways to give back to his community. You can often find Chip walking the halls of AAMC day and night, ensuring that patients are getting the care that they need and staff have the tools to carry out their critical mission. Chip has made an enormous impact on Anne Arundel County and has changed the lives of countless families in the State of Maryland and beyond. I am proud to call him a friend and I thank him for his vision, leadership and commitment to public service.

Mr. SARBANES

Mr. SARBANES. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in recognition of Israeli Independence Day. Sixty-three years ago this week, the dream of so many Jewish people around the world became a reality. From desert and swampland emerged a nation that is now a leader in technology, medical advances and environmental research; and from the ashes of the Holocaust, a people was reborn. Israel remains an important strategic ally and the only true democracy in a very unstable part of the world. In the wake of World War II and its tragic legacy for the Jewish people, the United States has considered the existence of Israel a profound moral and spiritual imperative and was the first nation to recognize the state of Israel in 1948. Even sixty-three years later, however, there are ongoing threats to Israel's stability. It is critical that all parties in the region recognize Israel's right to exist as well as Israel's right to insist on the basic security of its citizenry. Mr. Speaker, I stand here today to honor the men and women who have fought to defend Israel's independence year after year, to those who keep the hope for peace in the forefront of our minds, and with a strong commitment to seeing that dream become a reality.

Mr. SARBANES

Mr. SARBANES. I thank the gentleman for yielding. I oppose the legislation, which would really open in a wholesale fashion very sensitive areas to offshore drilling. We have to take a lot of care when it comes to doing this offshore drilling, and I don't think that this bill exercises that care. During the committee's consideration of the bill, I put forward an amendment that would strike that section of the bill that authorizes drilling off the coast of Virginia. I did this because of my concern of the potential impact of a spill in the Chesapeake Bay, which, of course, is a treasure for Marylanders and for all those who live in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. The Chesapeake Bay is really the soul of my State of Maryland. It's a national treasure in so many ways. As for the Virginia parcel, which is called Lease Sale 220 and is a lease parcel that the Republicans would like to put back into play with their bill, when you look at it, about 78 percent of that parcel you have to immediately take off the table because it would occur in areas where military operations would be impeded. I want to thank my colleague, Gerry Connolly from Virginia, for putting forward an amendment on this bill which would shift the burden and say the Department of Defense has to affirmatively conclude that you will not impede these kinds of military operations in order to drill. So you take that out of the equation. Then when you take another chunk of it out because you need to keep commercial shipping lanes open, what you're left with is about 10 percent of the parcel that you could actually drill on, and what you could get from that would only supply the demand of the country for one day. So you'd be putting at risk this valuable, sensitive Chesapeake Bay and all of the surrounding areas for getting one day's worth of energy production. That just doesn't make sense, and I think it undermines the bill on a wholesale basis. It shows that this is not put forward in a way that is sensible. For that reason, I oppose the legislation.

Mr. SARBANES

Mr. SARBANES. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce several pieces of legislation to help restore the Chesapeake Bay. Marylanders have a strong tradition of environmental advocacy rooted in a passion for the Chesapeake Bay. The Chesapeake Bay is our Nation's largest estuary and, in many ways, the soul of my home state. It is a national environmental treasure and an economic catalyst for Maryland's tourism and seafood industries. Unfortunately, the Bay's health has been negatively impacted by multiple factors, most notably nutrient runoff from our neighborhoods, farms and roadways. The legislation I am introducing today will help restore the Bay by enhancing outdoor recreation, improving access to the Bay, expanding environmental education, rehabilitating vital wetlands and providing incentives for citizens to make their homes more ``Bay friendly.'' The first bill would reauthorize the Chesapeake Bay Gateways Network (CBGN), a program that connects those who live in the Bay watershed to the natural, cultural and historic resources of the Bay and thereby encourages individual stewardship of these resources. This legislation is identical to the bill that passed the House of Representatives by an overwhelming and bipartisan vote during the 110th and 111th Congresses. Since 2000, Gateways has grown to include more than 150 sites and over 1500 miles of established and developing water trails in six states and the District of Columbia. Through grants to parks, volunteer groups, wildlife refuges, historic sites, museums, and water trails, the Network ties these sites together to provide meaningful experiences and foster citizen stewardship of the Chesapeake Bay. For a very modest investment, the Gateways program helps promote citizen stewardship that will be necessary to advance Bay cleanup and maintain the gains we hope to make in the coming years. I am also introducing the Chesapeake Bay Science, Education and Ecosystem Enhancement Act of 2011, which reauthorizes the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Chesapeake Bay Office that provides much of the scientific expertise to support Bay restoration. This legislation also authorizes NOAA's Chesapeake Bay Watershed Education and Training (BWET) program which provides environmental education grants in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Finally, the bill enhances the Chesapeake Bay Interpretative Buoy System (CBIBS), which provides vital scientific and historical information to boaters, scientists and teachers about conditions in the Chesapeake Bay. The Chesapeake Bay Science, Education and Ecosystem Enhancement Act also passed the House of Representatives during the 111th Congress by a bipartisan vote. The third bill would strengthen and expand the Army Corps of Engineers' role in Chesapeake Bay restoration--a mission they first began in 1996. It would provide the Corps with continuing authority to engage in this work; expand the Corps' work to all six states in the Bay watershed and the District of Columbia; and provide flexibility for the Corps to work with other federal agencies, state and local governments, and not-for-profit groups engaged in Bay cleanup. The Chesapeake Bay Environmental Restoration and Protection Program, which was established in section 510 of the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) in 1996, authorizes the Army Corps of Engineers to provide design and construction assistance to state and local authorities in the environmental restoration of the Chesapeake Bay. These projects range from shoreline buffers to oyster reef construction. The final piece of legislation is the Save the Bay Homeowner Act of 2011. This legislation would allow the 17 million citizens of the Chesapeake Bay watershed to become citizen stewards of the Bay and give them an active role in restoring it. The bill directs the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to develop a ``Save the Chesapeake Bay Home'' designation program that identifies various steps homeowners could voluntarily take around their property to reduce nutrient and sediment runoff and improve water quality in local streams and rivers that feed into the Bay. If a participating home meets certain standards, such as installing rain barrels or reducing fertilizer on their lawns, that home could be designated a ``Save the Chesapeake Bay Home.'' The legislation further directs the EPA to give credit to states and local jurisdictions for nutrient and sediment level reduction based upon the number of homeowners that achieve the ``Save the Chesapeake Bay Home'' designation. To truly save the Chesapeake Bay, we need the 17 million people who live in the Bay's watershed to become citizen stewards of the streams and rivers in their community. If each individual within the watershed were to contribute to clean-up efforts, even in small ways, the aggregate would yield significant results in moving Bay restoration forward. Mr. Speaker, these four pieces of legislation will help improve the federal government's role in restoring the Chesapeake Bay. I hope my colleagues will join me in supporting each of these pieces of legislation.

Mr. SARBANES

Mr. SARBANES. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to re-introduce the Federal Firefighter Flexibility and Fairness Act which passed the House of Representatives by voice vote in the 111th Congress. This legislation would correct a longstanding disparity between professional firefighters who are employed by States, counties, or municipalities and Federal firefighters. In 1985, Congress amended the Fair Labor Standards Act so that firefighters around the country could engage in a practice called ``trade time.'' Trade time allows two firefighters, solely at their option and with the approval of their supervisor, to trade shifts without affecting the pay of either firefighter. The Congress made this change because firefighters work uncommon schedules involving 24-hour shifts and 72-hour workweeks, followed by a period of time away from the firehouse. Trade time enables firefighters to meet personal obligations such as attending a child's birthday or assisting a sick family member without exhausting their annual leave. It also ensures that firehouses across the country can maintain staffing requirements and keep our communities safe. Federal firefighters are not covered under the Fair Labor Standards Act and therefore have been ineligible for trade time. I am reintroducing this legislation to amend Federal employee labor law to fix this problem. Federal firefighters work side-by-side with their non-federal colleagues, so this is an issue of equity. Correcting this inequity will help Federal agencies recruit and retain firefighters. Just like other firefighters, Federal firefighters risk their lives on a daily basis. They also accept the irregular hours that their jobs require. This legislation merely gives them some modest flexibility to balance that irregularity and meet their family obligations. I hope my colleagues will support this bipartisan commonsense legislation.

Mr. SARBANES

Mr. SARBANES. Mr. Speaker, today I rise in recognition of the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day. Created in 1911 to demand equality, today's International Women's Day is a reminder of all of the glass ceilings that have been broken in the past century. But it is also a day to remember how far we have left to go. Nowhere is this more evident than in the maternal mortality rates in some parts of the world. As many as one in eight women die because of childbirth related complications in some parts of Afghanistan. A full third of women in the developing world deliver without a skilled attendant present. And we lose approximately half a million women every year in childbirth, or one woman every minute. Pregnancy should not be a death sentence, and on this International Women's Day I recommit to meeting the challenges laid out in the 5th Millennium Development Goal (MDG). The 5th MDG states that the global community is committed to reducing maternal mortality rates by 75 percent by 2015; today we are only a third of the way there, and it will take action from us all in order to succeed. We know how to prevent maternal deaths. Women need a skilled birth attendant present when they deliver. They need access to life-saving and inexpensive medications in case something goes wrong. And they need sanitary conditions to prevent the spread of infection. One organization in my district is committed to making sure that every woman has access to these services when they deliver. For nearly 40 years and in more than 150 countries, Jhpiego, an international health nonprofit affiliated with Johns Hopkins University, has worked to prevent the needless deaths of women and families. Working with health ministries, community organizations, and USAID, Jhpiego prepares local health care workers with the latest in maternal and newborn health skills, building sustainable local capacity that will stay on the ground long after they leave. Together with partner organizations, Jhpiego helped develop the national midwifery education program in Afghanistan that has educated and graduated more than 2,000 skilled midwives. When the 2010 earthquake devastated Haiti, Jhpiego was on the ground to ensure that pregnant women had access to the care they needed. And, Jhpiego is leading the way in finding innovative solutions for the developing world's most pressing medical problems--like an inexpensive way to diagnose cervical cancer in places that lack electricity and access to lab tests. I commend the work of Jhpiego and others who are working day and night to end the dangers of childbirth. Childbirth is one of life's great moments, and together we can ensure that more women survive that day and live to see the 101st anniversary of International Women's Day.

Mr. SARBANES

Mr. SARBANES. Madam Chair, I move to strike the last word.

Mr. SARBANES. I wanted to speak to the underlying CR, H.R. 1. Madam Chair, in particular I want to speak to the fact that the American people have been very clear in their understanding that what we need to do is rebuild the country and that we need to rebuild America. Yet everything that is being proposed by the Republicans in this continuing resolution undermines that goal. Rebuilding America means rebuilding our infrastructure, and we can talk about that infrastructure in a number of different ways. We can talk about rebuilding and investing in our physical infrastructure. That's roads, bridges, tunnels, highways, and building up the strength of our physical infrastructure, which we all know we have to do. All you have to do is look at the newspaper or watch television, and you will see examples every day of the crumbling infrastructure out there. So we have got to commit to that, but the Republican budget would undermine that objective. We have to rebuild the civic infrastructure of this country and keep it strong. What do I mean by the ``civic infrastructure''? I am talking about service programs like AmeriCorps and the Corporation for National and Community Service, which creates an infrastructure that says to those people who want to volunteer and serve their country--1,000 points of light--we are here to partner with you in doing that. Yet the Republican proposal would zero out that civic infrastructure. It's about investing in human infrastructure and building up human capital. That's education and health care and job training and innovation and technology. That's what human capital and human infrastructure is about. Yet we can look through this budget and find examples of cutting those priorities as well. How does that build up America? That tears America down. It doesn't build it up. As for the last piece of this, if you're going to make America strong and keep it strong, you've got to preserve the natural resources of this country. I looked at a couple of the numbers here in terms of what's being done that would hurt our environment under the proposal. I'll just mention a couple of them. Cutting the Environmental Protection Agency by 29 percent, a $3 billion proposed cut. Now, how are you going to protect the environment if you cut by almost a third the agency whose mission it is to do that? That's essentially giving a free license to the polluters of America. That's an unconscionable proposal. I come from Maryland. We care about the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. It has been a national commitment to preserve this national treasure, the Chesapeake Bay. Last year, through an executive order, the President made it a priority. There are partnerships at the Federal, State and local levels and with the private sector to try to save and protect the Chesapeake Bay, but these proposals would undermine that. Cutting over $1.7 billion from the Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds. In Maryland, that would cost 1,000 jobs. This is an important source of financing for people to implement best practices to clean up the Chesapeake Bay. Why would we undermine that? There are other elements with respect to our natural resources. We've got to enforce pollution standards. The EPA is in a position to do that, but not if we cut their funding. This would endanger rivers and streams that feed the Chesapeake Bay. The last observation I would make, and this is sort of the overarching concern that I have, is that I really believe in the idea of citizen stewardship, in the idea that ordinary citizens step forward every day and decide they're going to commit themselves to cleaning up the environment. Our young people are committed to that, the next generation; but they want to see that the Federal Government is going to be a real partner in that effort. If we abdicate that responsibility, then there are going to be a lot of young people, a lot of ordinary citizens, who are going to get disillusioned in terms of their own commitment to cleaning up the environment. We need to step forward. We need to stay strong and be a partner in protecting our environment; but what the Republicans have proposed in this continuing resolution would completely undermine that. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. SARBANES

Mr. SARBANES. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of National Telework Week. Beginning on Monday, February 14, thousands of Americans will perform at least one full day of work from their homes or alternate work spaces rather than their traditional offices. It is estimated that about one- third of carbon emissions in the United States are transportation- related, yet the U.S. embraces workforce management practices that encourage long commutes and excessive travel. This pragmatic, commonsense workforce management strategy will provide meaningful relief to workers in the national capital region and across the country. Late last year, Congress made the United States Government a leader in the movement toward flexible workplaces--significantly expanding telework opportunities for most Federal workers. On December 9, President Obama signed into law the Sarbanes-Wolf-Connolly Telework Enhancement Act of 2010. The product of over three years of bipartisan, bicameral cooperation, the new law requires all Federal agencies to establish a uniform telework policy, ensuring that most employees who wish to telework are able to do so. The Telework Enhancement Act requires Federal agencies to develop training programs for teleworkers and managers, to include telework in continuity of operations plans, and to designate a Telework Managing Officer to lead the telework program at each agency. This new law will not only increase efficiency in the Federal Government, it will strengthen our national security. By including telework in continuity of operations plans, we can ensure vital services continue in the event of an emergency. The best evidence of this was last year, when a snowstorm shut down the Government for nearly a week. During that period, Federal employees with the ability to telework were able to continue to operate. According to John Berry, the Director of Office of Personnel Management, the Federal Government saved approximately $30 million per day that would have been otherwise lost. Telework provides numerous benefits to strengthen our economy and enhance employee work-life balance. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office features a robust telework program and has seen substantial increases in employee productivity and morale since its inception. By implementing an agency-wide telework program, the Patent and Trademark Office has avoided securing $11 million in additional office space and has developed a more competitive recruitment process. Telework now enables the agency to draw from a talent pool of qualified candidates living anywhere in the country. In 2009, then-Governor Tim Kaine instituted Telework Day in the Commonwealth of Virginia. For one day, more than 4,000 pledged to telework. Pledges collectively removed more than 82 tons of pollutants from harming our environment, saved more than $124,000, and avoided driving 140,000 miles--all in just one day. As of February 11, 2011, more than 34,800 people have already pledged to telework at least one day across the Nation. These pledges will collectively save more than $2.3 million in commuting costs and remove more than 1,595 tons of pollutants from the environment. In his State of the Union address, the President challenged us to reinvigorate America's competitiveness. He set the goal of ``connecting every part of America to the digital age.'' Telework allows us to leverage today's technological advances, developed by America's pioneering companies, to enhance our Nation's efficiency, improve the environment, ensure our safety, and elevate our quality of life. As we struggle through another winter marked by agency closures, unprecedented traffic jams and millions of dollars in lost productivity, National Telework Week should serve as a clarion call to the administration to expeditiously implement the new Telework law and as a demonstration of the incredible benefits of a robust Federal telework policy.

Mr. SARBANES

Mr. SARBANES. I thank the gentleman for yielding. In the last few days, I have run into scores of people of my district, the Third District of Maryland, who have expressed their shock and their sadness at the events that occurred in Tucson last weekend. On their behalf and for myself, I want to express our deep condolences to the families of all those who were victimized by this tragedy. A word about Gabby Giffords, our colleague. She and I came in together in the same class. We began in January of 2007. She is everything that a Representative in this body should be. She is thoughtful. She is hardworking. She is compassionate and, to a fault, she is attentive to the concerns of her constituents. That is why she was there at that supermarket last Saturday. We pray for her speedy recovery. We pray for the recovery of all those who survived this terrible event. We mourn the loss of those who perished, and we send our thoughts and prayers to their families.

Mr. SARBANES

Mr. SARBANES. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. I rise in strong support. It's a privilege to rise today in support of S. 1275 and its companion, H.R. 4322, which is an act to create the National Foundation on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition, which is designed to support the President's Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition. I want to thank the many cosponsors of this legislation. It's a bipartisan bill. We have strong support from both Republicans and Democrats and have done so all the way through this process. I want to thank Congressman George Miller for his efforts in moving this from the Education and Labor Committee, and I want to salute his staff for working so closely with us. And of course Senator Mark Warner, who is the sponsor on the Senate side of this legislation. I, too, want to salute former Congressman Tom McMillen who has been just a tireless advocate for establishing this foundation which can support the mission of the President's Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition. This council was first established, as has been indicated a couple of times, by President Eisenhower back in 1956, who understood that we needed to create a focus here at the Federal level on the issue of healthy lifestyles, on fitness, on physical activity, and getting people outside into regular activity. And today we have the council with the same mission, a very important mission, more important I think than ever before. You have heard the discussion about the increasing incidence of obesity among the next generation, the importance of encouraging regular physical activity, of paying attention to nutrition. I, myself, am very focused on research that shows that the average young person today spends about 7\1/2\ hours a day on television, video games, Internet, and handheld electronic devices, and about 4 minutes a day-- that's minutes a day--outside in unstructured physical recreation. That's a real changeover from the way things used to be, and it means that we really have to focus our young people on engaging in regular physical activity. And there is a lot of attention on that, and that's what the President's Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition is all about. Now, as was mentioned, the Federal dollars that are available to support the President's council are relatively limited, and I think we can expect that that is going to be the case going forward. Luckily, though, there are many people in the private sector, private citizens, others, who are ready to step forward and contribute to this effort because they understand how critically important the mission of the President's council is. So they are ready to do that. They are, in fact, very excited about the newly appointed commissioner to the President's council and I think the outpouring of support that that is going to generate. And they are ready to step forward and help. Unfortunately, up until now, up until the creation of this act, of this foundation, there hasn't really been a mechanism by which private parties could step forward and support the mission of the council. And that's exactly what this legislation is designed to do. The foundation that is created by this bill makes it possible for the foundation, upon behalf of the President's council, to solicit, receive, and administer private contributions. So this is going to give people a chance to step forward and say, This mission is a critical one, and we want to support it with our private dollars. This is a very accepted model. We have seen it work with the National Park Service, with the National Institutes of Health, with the Centers for Disease Control. And I think it's a wonderful opportunity to strengthen the council's mission going forward. For that reason, I urge support of this bill.

Mr. SARBANES

Mr. SARBANES. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 6398, which I was proud to cosponsor with my colleague, Congressman Doggett. This important measure will ensure that lawyer trust accounts, the interest income from which goes to support legal services programs across this country, will be fully insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, therefore providing to the providers of these programs an important assurance that going forward this source of funding will be protected. For almost 20 years before I came to this body, I had the privilege of working with some of the finest legal services providers in the State of Maryland. And I want to thank them for the work they do every day to provide assistance to those underserved in our community. Every opportunity we get to support their work we should seize upon. And that's what we do with this measure. I thank my colleagues for their support of H.R. 6398.

Mr. SARBANES

Mr. SARBANES. Madam Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman for yielding. I want to thank Chairman Towns, Chairman Lynch, Chairman Davis, who I worked with previously on this bill, cosponsors Gerry Connolly, Jim Moran, Dutch Ruppersberger, and others who have collaborated with us on bringing this bill forward. I also want to take a moment to salute Frank Wolf, our colleague on the other side of the aisle. He has worked on this issue for two decades, and he has been a tremendous advocate for telework, and I appreciate all of his support and collaboration as we develop these ideas going forward. I was listening to the end of that statement that was just made, calling for efficiency and effectiveness in government, ways to address the bureaucracy and so forth. I can't think of a piece of legislation that does more to meet those objectives than this does. It creates a nimbleness on the part of the Federal Government with respect to how the workforce operates. And if you look at the goals that it seeks to promote, they all make perfect sense. They are common sense. First of all, the benefits include that you can improve productivity among the workforce. All the studies show that morale goes up, productivity goes up. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, as it was referenced, can demonstrate huge increases in productivity among the workforce. So that is a benefit. It increases competitiveness. When the Federal Government goes into the marketplace, goes into the workplace to try to recruit good people, its ability to show that the telework opportunity is there is something that makes it more competitive in getting the best quality people to become part of our Federal Government. When it comes to continuing operations in some kind of a crisis situation, if you have the telework capacity, you've got some recourse. The best evidence of this most recently was last year when we had the snowstorm shut down the government essentially for 3 days. But during those 3 days, those who had the ability to telework were able to continue to operate. And the estimate by John Berry, heading the Office of Personnel Management, was that it saved the Federal Government $30 million per day in terms of productivity that otherwise would have been lost. And that just gets to the cost question. Again, we've heard this objection based on the costs. The savings that will be generated when our Federal agencies adopt these telework policies will far outweigh any of the costs of implementing this program. So it's a very commonsense approach. And what the bill does is very straightforward. It requires the agencies to have a telework policy in place to encourage it, to promote it, not to impose it on people who because of their particular job shouldn't be teleworking or don't want to do this, but to make sure that they have the opportunity to do it and to know that the agency encourages that kind of thing. It appoints telework managing officers so there's a person designated within each agency who takes responsibility for this, so that they can actually help to implement it over time. It has good evaluation components. The GAO and the Office of Personnel Management will conduct evaluations on a periodic basis to determine the progress that this is making and come up with suggestions and recommendations going forward. And then it also encourages, as I indicated before, that these agencies develop plans for continuing operations under difficult circumstances, taking advantage of telework. So, for all these reasons, for the benefits that it bestows, for the objectives that it meets, for the commonsense aspect of it, I heartily urge my colleagues to support this legislation.

Mr. SARBANES

Mr. SARBANES. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize the 75th anniversary of the American Legion, Post 116, located in my district in Reisterstown, Maryland. The American Legion is the largest wartime veterans' service organization in Maryland with 147 active Legion Posts serving virtually every community throughout the state. The Reisterstown American Legion Post 116 was formed in 1935 by a group of 13 charter members. The original members met at each others' homes, the local Masonic Temple and the firehouse to conduct the American Legion business before finding a permanent location at the Garrison Forest School in Owings Mills. In the early fifties, the Post was able to purchase their first home on Route 140 in Reisterstown, giving members their own facility for conducting Legion business. The Post remained there until 1986 when construction of Interstate 795 forced relocation to the present site about two miles from the first Post Home. The present location houses nearly 400 members and includes a Sons of the American Legion Squadron of about 75 members, an American Legion Auxiliary of about 100 members and an active Legion Riders organization. Over the years, the Reisterstown American Legion Post 116 family has been active in many community endeavors. Some of the Post's many community activities include giving assistance to the Reisterstown Recreation Council, awarding scholarships to students at Franklin High School, participating in the American Legion Boys State and the Auxiliary's Girls State programs, as well as taking part in the American Legion Oratorical Contest for high school students. In addition, the Post compiled a list of all known local veterans and donated this to the Baltimore County Library. The Reisterstown American Legion Post 116 has contributed time and treasure to help many charitable organizations including, the Maryland Special Olympics, the Epilepsy Foundation, the United Cerebral Palsy Association, the Muscular Dystrophy Association, and organizations combating Multiple Sclerosis. In 2010, the Reisterstown American Legion Post 116 was the winner of the Outstanding Newsletter Award, produced by editor and Past Post Commander Doug Lawrence. I would also like to congratulate the Post Officers for the 2010-2011 term as they celebrate the 75th Anniversary: Commander Glenn ``Thumper'' Krout 1st Vice Commander Diane Hackney 2nd Vice Commander Bill Finch Adjutant Len Gmeiner, Past Post Commander Finance Officer Maurice ``Moe'' Morton, Past Detachment Commander, Sons of the American Legion Sergeant at Arms Keith Hughes, Past Post Commander Chaplain Bill Finch Judge Advocate Mark H. Olanoff Service Officer Diane Hackney Historian Keith Hughes, Past Post Commander Madam Speaker, I strongly commend the Reisterstown American Legion Post 116 as they celebrate their 75th Anniversary on November 6, 2010.

Mr. SARBANES

Mr. SARBANES. Madam Speaker, I rise today to introduce the Save the Bay Homeowner Act of 2010. This legislation would allow the 17 million citizens of the Chesapeake Bay watershed to become citizen stewards of the Bay and give them an active role in restoring it. The bill directs the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to develop a ``Save the Chesapeake Bay Home'' designation program that identifies various steps homeowners could voluntarily take around their property to reduce nutrient and sediment runoff and improve water quality in local streams and rivers that feed into the Bay. If a participating home meets certain standards, such as installing rain barrels or reducing fertilizer on their lawns, that home could be designated a ``Save the Chesapeake Bay Home.'' The legislation further directs the EPA to give credit to states and local jurisdictions for nutrient and sediment level reduction based upon the number of homeowners that achieve the ``Save the Chesapeake Bay Home'' designation. Under the Clean Water Act, the EPA must develop a Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) because the Bay has failed to meet water quality goals and segments of the Bay are classified as ``impaired'' water ways. The TMDL will limit the amount of nitrogen, phosphorous and sediment that may enter the Chesapeake Bay and its tidal tributaries based on what is required to restore the Bay. Each state within the watershed will be required to meet pollution limits and water quality goals under this new framework. There are different ways that state and local governments can meet these standards but many require relatively expensive infrastructure upgrades or storm water runoff retrofits. This bill gives those state and local jurisdictions a voluntary tool to meet TMDL standards while engaging the 17 million citizens of the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Furthermore, if states and local jurisdictions receive credit towards their TMDL limit for ``Save the Chesapeake Bay Homes,'' they can pass along those saving to homeowners who choose to participate in the program through reductions in their water and sewer bills or their property taxes--a meaningful incentive for citizens who do right by the Bay. Madam Speaker, to truly Save the Chesapeake Bay, we need the 17 million people who live in the Bay's watershed to become citizen stewards of the streams and rivers in their community. If each individual within the watershed were to contribute to clean-up efforts, even in small ways, the aggregate would yield significant results in moving Bay restoration forward. I hope my colleagues will join me in supporting this legislation.

Mr. SARBANES

Mr. SARBANES. I thank the gentleman for yielding. I rise in strong support of this bill, and I salute Congresswoman Harman for her excellent work on this and perceiving where there was a need and how that need could be met. There are plenty of studies out there, and there's also a lot of anecdotal evidence that there are really severe shortages across our health workforce, and this is an area to which I brought particular attention, looking at where these shortages are, in trying to think not just how we look at the traditional pipelines to bring people into these positions, but how we think outside of the box at some of the nontraditional sources where we can find the expertise and the experience to bring that through the pipeline and to fill these shortages. H.R. 3199 proposes a very innovative way to meet the needs that we have across the country for emergency medical technicians. It recognizes that military medics who are returning have acquired very valuable experience during their service, which positions them extremely well to meet those needs and to fill those positions. It also recognizes that there's obstacles, that there's significant costs sometimes associated with the training that goes with certification, that it can be difficult in terms of getting that done in a timely fashion. What this bill does is address those issues. It would award grants to States to begin to streamline the licensing process, provide some resources to assist with the costs of training, and do other things to basically expedite this process of getting these experienced people into these jobs where we need them. It makes a lot of common sense. I think that's why it's garnered bipartisan support, and I certainly urge my colleagues to support it.

Mr. SARBANES

Mr. SARBANES. Madam Speaker, I rise to introduce the Making Home Affordable Improvements Act of 2010. For the last eighteen months, the Obama Administration has tried very hard to make mortgage modifications available to struggling homeowners but the program has largely failed to have the impact we had hoped. Average homeowners around the country are paying the price for an inflated housing market and a bursting real estate bubble--this is being felt acutely throughout Central Maryland. For every borrower who defaults, there are many others on the brink of default who are looking for a way forward. And this isn't a problem that will go away quickly--an estimated 10 to 15 million Americans own homes that are worth less than they owe on their mortgages. These are homeowners with a strong financial incentive to default on their mortgages, irrespective of their ability to pay. In a market in which the values of homes have fallen out of step with mortgage debt, I strongly believe that the best solution for homeowners is a structured bankruptcy process, including a judicial mortgage modification or ``cramdown.'' This is the process by which a bankruptcy judge reduces the value of a mortgage attached to a home, thereby reducing the monthly payment owed by the homeowner and allowing families to stay in their homes. This would be only available to homeowners who elect to file bankruptcy, a lengthy and costly process with long-term consequences for individuals and their families--an avenue of last resort for struggling homeowners, not a new means for speculators to ``game the system.'' The House of Representatives passed legislation to provide bankruptcy judges with this authority, only to watch it die in the Senate. The political reality today is such that judicial mortgage modification may never become an available option for struggling homeowners, leading policy makers to search for an alternative. Absent judicial modification, I believe that voluntary mortgage modification holds the promise of a better way forward for homeowners, but, as it stands today, it has failed to offer real relief to the millions of homeowners who are in desperate need of assistance. This can be attributed to a widespread unwillingness by banks to do right by their borrowers--the same borrowers who are acting against their financial self-interest by continuing to pay their mortgages each month. The effort is also hampered, in part, by a bureaucratic and unwieldy modification process--one that is often overwhelming and unmanageable for the average homeowner. But working within the voluntary mortgage modification structure created by the White House as part of the Making Home Affordable Initiative, there are thousands of experts across the country who are counseling homeowners on how to navigate this process. These expert counselors are too often the last line of defense between a struggling homeowner and a lender seeking to foreclose and cast families out of their homes. Sadly, they do not have the resources they need to help the staggering number homeowners in crisis--a number projected to rise significantly in the coming months. That is why I am introducing the Making Home Affordable Improvements Act--legislation that will direct funding designated for the big banks, as part of the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), to the National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling Program. Federal foreclosure mitigation funding has enabled housing and mortgage experts to work with homeowners to avoid foreclosure, offering counsel on budgeting and planning as well as offering assistance in negotiating mortgage modifications with servicers. With this new funding, comes more stringent demands on banks, financial servicers and counselors. The Making Home Affordable Improvements Act seeks to achieve two goals. First, for counselors working with borrowers struggling to stay in their homes, this legislation provides a small, lump-sum payment for each temporary trial modification arranged. But the ultimate goal must be either a permanent modification of the terms of their mortgage or an orderly, foreclosure-free exit from their homes. Unfortunately, there has been a substantial disconnect between the number of temporary agreements made between borrowers and servicers and the number of homeowners that ultimately receive permanent relief. That is why this legislation places a priority on permanent modification by providing counselors with a greater incentive to see these borrowers through to the end. Because we have struggled to get access to meaningful data on the mortgage modifications performed by financial servicers, this legislation also requires regular, public disclosures by participating servicers. Madam Speaker, this is not a perfect solution and I hope we will continue to look for ways to restore the authority for judges to modify mortgages through the bankruptcy process. But, in the meantime, lenders and servicers can and must do more to help struggling homeowners stay in their homes. By providing additional resources for mortgage modification counselors, we can provide expert assistance to struggling homeowners who are seeking an equitable agreement with their lender.

Mr. SARBANES

Mr. SARBANES. Mr. Chairman, I want to thank Chairman Rahall for his leadership on this critical legislation. I was pleased to work with the chairman to ensure that CEOs of oil companies are held accountable for the safety of their company's drilling operations. We developed language included in the legislation that requires oil company CEOs to certify their drilling and spill response plan capabilities before receiving a permit to proceed. That language has been further strengthened by adding a provision to impose civil penalties on any CEO that files a false certification. Penalties of consequence will force CEOs to take this process seriously and make it significantly less likely that companies submit inferior or faulty plans. The best CEOs will take this requirement in stride, recognizing it is a fair expectation of them. This provision will ensure accountability and make it less likely that a spill of this consequence will happen in the first place. I rise today in strong support of the Consolidated Land, Energy and Aquatic Resources Act (H.R. 3534). The legislation includes significant and wide-ranging reforms to ensure that oil and gas development on federal lands and waters is only done when it can be transparent and safe. The BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill has reinforced my very serious concerns about the effect of offshore drilling on coastal communities and maritime ecosystems. The tragedy in the Gulf of Mexico, which claimed the life of 11 people and released millions of gallons of crude oil into a fragile marine ecosystem, is a sad reminder of the inherent safety, environmental, and economic risks associated with offshore drilling. Oil drilling operations, no matter how expensive or technologically advanced, can never completely eliminate the risk of a major disaster. Like other accidents in the past, the long-term impact of this spill on the Gulf coast's fragile wetlands and local fishing communities will be devastating and long lasting. BP actually had a response plan to deal with the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Unfortunately, it was a farce. The plan listed a wildlife expert that had been deceased since 2005 and said that sensitive biological resources in the Gulf included walruses, sea otters, sea lions and seals, none of which actually live there. BP also stated that it could handle a worst case oil discharge scenario 10 times the size of the Deepwater Horizon disaster. They clearly did not take this important responsibility seriously. Even when these glaring inaccuracies were made public, no single official at BP was responsible for the plan. As this legislation was considered in the Committee on Natural Resources, I worked with Chairman Rahall to include language making the CEO at each oil company directly responsible for certifying the safety and adequacy of their drilling and spill response plans. I also offered an amendment today, included in the manager's amendment, which would subject the CEO to civil penalties if he or she files a false certification or their company fails to develop or maintain the capabilities included in their response plans. This requirement and the potential penalties should result in self-correcting behavior, forcing CEOs to take this process seriously and making it significantly less likely that companies submit inferior or faulty plans. It is imperative that there be clear consequences for substandard response plans or we could have a repeat of the disaster that unfolded in the Gulf of Mexico this summer. Adding this amendment ensures there is accountability when a CEO certifies a faulty plan and makes it much more likely that companies will appropriately scrutinize those plans. I believe that responsible CEOs will recognize this new requirement for what it is--a very basic standard that should be a best practice for responsible companies anyway. But for those who try to cut corners, this framework will certainly give them pause because there are real consequences for irresponsible behavior. I also strongly support the funding included in this bill for conservation of natural, historic and cultural sites around the Nation. The legislation allocates a small portion of offshore drilling fees to the Land and Water Conservation Fund for the preservation of vital land and water resources throughout the Nation. First envisioned by President Eisenhower, we have neglected this fund for far too long. Today this legislation delivers on past promises and supports the conservation of environmentally sensitive lands and critical habitat, especially shoreline areas such as those on the Chesapeake Bay. It also allows for conservation of rivers, lakes, recreational areas, and trails, as well as state and local parks for biking, hunting, fishing, and wildlife watching. Finally, the legislation provides resources for the Historic Preservation Fund to maintain our national historic sites that add so much to the character and culture of our Nation. I strongly support this much needed legislation and I would encourage my fellow Members to support this bill.

Mr. SARBANES

Mr. SARBANES. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise today in support of H.R. 1796, the Residential Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Prevention Act, sponsored by Representative Jim Matheson of Utah. Carbon monoxide poisoning kills more than 400 people each year and sends more than 20,000 people to hospital emergency rooms for treatment. Carbon monoxide can build up in your home in a furnace or some other fuel-burning appliance if it isn't functioning properly. What makes this gas particularly dangerous is that you can't see it or smell it. At least with a fire, you can see the flames, smell the smoke, or feel the heat. With carbon monoxide, in many cases, all you start to feel is flu-like symptoms. You have no idea you are facing something even more dangerous. But there is a simple and effective way to combat carbon monoxide poisoning: installing a carbon monoxide alarm in your home. H.R. 1796 takes two important steps to promote the use of carbon monoxide alarms in homes and other places: First, this legislation makes the voluntary industry standards for carbon monoxide alarms mandatory consumer product safety standards. This means these lifesaving devices will be required to meet these performance standards rather than allowing compliance to just be voluntary. If we are going to encourage the use of a safety device, then we must be sure that it meets and will continue to meet industry performance standards. Putting in place mandatory standards means that if a carbon monoxide alarm doesn't meet the relevant performance standard, then it cannot be sold in the United States and it will be subject to action by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Secondly, this legislation authorizes a grant program to encourage States to adopt laws to expand the use of carbon monoxide alarms in all homes with fuel-burning appliances or attached garages. The authorization for their program is very modest, just $2 million in each of fiscal years 2011 through 2015. The funds will help States and local governments with strong carbon monoxide alarm laws to carry out training for enforcement of those laws, educate the public about the dangers of carbon monoxide, and, most importantly, to purchase alarms for low-income and elderly households and other places serving vulnerable populations. I want to thank my colleagues in the minority for working with us on this legislation. I want to salute my colleague, Representative Matheson. I would also like to thank the industry and other stakeholders for offering their advice to help improve this legislation and for their support of this measure. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. SARBANES. Madam Speaker, our colleague from Georgia's story really puts a punctuation mark on why this legislation is so critical. I am pleased to yield such time as he may consume to the sponsor of the legislation, Representative Matheson from Utah.

Mr. SARBANES. Madam Speaker, again, we can't emphasize enough the importance of this legislation. You've heard recounted here the tragic stories of what happens when you don't have these kinds of mechanisms in place and you don't have the education to support people in terms of bringing this into their homes. And so I want to again congratulate Representative Matheson for his efforts, thank my colleagues for the bipartisan support of this measure, and urge its passage today. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. SARBANES. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material in the Record.

Mr. SARBANES. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 1796) to amend the Consumer Product Safety Act to require residential carbon monoxide detectors to meet the applicable ANSI/UL standard by treating that standard as a consumer product safety rule, to encourage States to require the installation of such detectors in homes, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. SARBANES

Mr. SARBANES. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 2480) to improve the accuracy of fur product labeling, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. SARBANES. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material in the Record.