Steve Scalise

Mr. SCALISE

Mr. SCALISE. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 3125, the Radio Spectrum Inventory Act. The most pressing issue that we're facing right now in the mobile wireless and Internet industries is the availability and use of spectrum, especially given the dramatic increases we're seeing in the use of wireless services. As wireless technologies continue to advance and more Americans use mobile devices for data-intensive purposes, the demand for spectrum will grow rapidly. We're seeing every day with all of the new things that can be done just on a cell phone, not only running daily applications to help businesses, but we also can do more things in terms of downloading actual movies and getting direct access. You can look at things happening in real time, and, of course, this takes more spectrum. So additional spectrum will be needed, and that's why this Radio Spectrum Inventory Act will help promote and advance the effective and efficient use of the spectrum that's out there. The first step, of course, must be to identify what spectrum is available and how the current spectrum is being used in an efficient manner, and this inventory act will do just that. It will require NTIA and the FCC to undertake a comprehensive survey of the Nation's spectrum and develop a full inventory. Taking this inventory is the only way we'll be able to know what spectrum can be located and what spectrum can be shared and used in a more efficient manner. We will then be able to decide the best ways to utilize that spectrum. The convergence of mobile, wireless services, high-speed Internet access, and powerful handsets promise to transform almost all aspects of the way Americans work, learn, deliver services, and enhance our public safety. Congress should move expeditiously on this inventory legislation and avoid additional costs, and also unleash the potential and create more jobs in these industries that are out there innovating and helping people live in a better way of life. So I encourage support of this bill. I thank the gentleman for bringing it.

Mr. SCALISE

Mr. SCALISE. Mr. Speaker, President Obama will be speaking this week at the Kennedy Space Center. And while the President's budget cancels the Constellation program, it also jeopardizes NASA's Michoud facility, which is the premiere manufacturing facility with the unique capabilities and skilled workforce that can't just be rebuilt again once it's wound down. The United States should not retreat from the space race. It not only threatens our national security, but it also makes us beholden to foreign countries. In fact, just last week a Japanese newspaper said, ``Once the leader in space development, the United States' space exploration policies are now drifting aimlessly.'' And they later went on to note that the clear winner from this retreat will be Russia. Now, we should not cede our space exploration superiority to countries like Russia or anybody else. It jeopardizes our national security. It's a bad policy. The President needs to reconsider.

Mr. SCALISE

Mr. SCALISE. Madam Speaker, I rise against this health care bill.

Mr. SCALISE

Mr. SCALISE. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Utah for yielding. And it is very interesting that those of us who came here to clean up this process are watching as the liberals that are running this Congress try to ram through a 2,407-page government takeover of health care without even allowing a vote here on the House floor. And maybe they really think that the American people will be fooled, but the American people will not be fooled. And isn't it interesting that we are here right now debating this bill, H.R. 3644. It is a 15-page bill. We have a debate here on the House floor, and in a little while we are going to have a vote here on the House floor on this 15-page bill; yet Speaker Pelosi and her liberal attendants want to hide a vote on this 2,407-page bill. They are running around this building; they are running all around town saying how great this bill is. They are talking about all the wonderful things in this bill. Well, if it is so wonderful, why are they actually trying to hide a vote on the bill? What they are trying to hide, maybe, is all the sweetheart deals that are in this bill and the other subsequent language that they just filed a little while ago that people are still combing through and finding more sweetheart deals. Maybe another thing they are trying to hide in this bill are all the budget gimmicks, the fact that there is 10 years of taxes in this bill with only 6 years of spending, and yet they want to say that it is going to reduce the deficits. Anybody who thinks that this bill, this $1 trillion fiasco is going to reduce the deficit, obviously they didn't follow the Cash for Clunkers program that was supposed to last 6 months and ran out of money after about 2 weeks. So here we are debating this 15-page bill and we are going to have a vote on this 15-page bill, and American people across the country are wondering right now what they are hiding in this 2,407-page bill that they are trying to avoid a vote on. Again, maybe it is the $500 billion in new taxes in this bill that they are trying to hide, most of which would fall of the backs of middle class families and the job creators in this country. I will tell you one bill that the American people would like us to be debating; not this 2,407-page bill, not this 15-page bill. The American people would like us to be debating a bill to create jobs in this country to actually get our economy back on track. And those of us on the Republican side have put many ideas on the table that would actually create jobs in this country, and they have all been pushed to the side because they want to try to sneak this bill through without a vote on the House floor. So what other things are in here that they are trying to hide? What about the $500 billion in cuts to Medicare, including the virtual elimination of the Medicare Advantage program? And I guess that leads us to something else they are trying to hide is all the broken promises that are in this bill, because the President said on multiple occasions, If you like what you have, you can keep it. The problem is, as the American people are finding out, there are multiple places in this bill that they take away the health care you like, including Medicare Advantage, which hundreds of thousands of seniors in Louisiana and all across the Nation like that plan, and yet it is taken away from them. And many small businesses will tell you the good health care that they provide to their employees, that their employees like, will be taken away. And, even more importantly, doctors--and ask your family doctor. Many doctors across this country have said they are shutting down their practice if this 2,407-page monstrosity becomes law because they are not going to let a government bureaucrat interfere between the relationship of a doctor and patient. So what else are they trying to hide? Let's talk about the broken promises again. You know, the President said multiple times all of this is going to be on C-SPAN. Now, if you are watching C-SPAN today, you are watching the debate on this 15-page bill. It is a good debate we are having on the 15-page bill, but you are not allowed a debate on the 2,407-page bill because it is not on C-SPAN. In fact, right now while we are here on this House floor, Speaker Pelosi and her liberal attendants have been dispatched all throughout town to continue cutting sweetheart deals. Yes, they are actually still meeting right now cutting sweetheart deals. And what about that C-SPAN promise? Not one of those meetings is on C-SPAN, and yet it is going on right now and we don't see any of that. And so the American people are watching this, and the American people are sick of this process; yet all I hear on the other side is, Oh, George Bush and those Republicans. They are running everything now. President Obama is in the White House. They have got a 59-vote majority in the Senate. They have got over 250 votes here on this House floor and they only need 216, and yet they still think that they can get away with saying, Oh, it is those Republicans that are doing all of this. And yet they are trying to sneak through this 2,407-page bill while saying, Okay, it is okay to have a vote on 15 pages and it is okay to have a debate on 15 pages, but they want to hide a debate and hide a vote on 2,407 pages. The American people are not going to stand for this process, and they are watching.

Mr. SCALISE

Mr. SCALISE. I thank the gentlewoman. I will finish it up with this. Are you going to believe the people who have broken every other promise they have made about the bill or are you going to believe the Catholic bishops and National Right to Life who said this would be a career-defining pro-abortion vote? That was National Right to Life. Do you believe them or do you believe the folks who broke every other promise and are meeting behind closed doors right now, cutting more sweetheart deals that they don't want anybody to see? If their bill was so good, why are they trying to pass it without an actual vote? Because they know the American people are sick and tired of this proposal to have a government takeover of health care, and they don't want it. The public will be heard on this issue. We need to defeat this bill.

Mr. SCALISE. I thank the gentlewoman from North Carolina for yielding. You know, here we're talking, and this is about the only opportunity we're going to have for real debate on this because Speaker Pelosi and her liberal lieutenants have decided that they're going to try to ram this down the throats of the American people without even having an actual vote on the House floor, which, of course, violates Article I, section 7 of the Constitution. There are a tremendous number of constitutional questions about the bill, but they keep talking about how good their bill is. Let's just look at their credibility on this issue. Of course when Speaker Pelosi got the gavel in 2006 and became Speaker, she said, The Democrats intend to lead the most honest, most open, and most ethical Congress in history. Well, let's review the record. Of course, just a few weeks ago, Speaker Pelosi says, But we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it. They don't even know what's in the bill. They won't even release the CBO score. There are rumors flying around. There are all these backdoor secret negotiations. They said all of this would be on C-SPAN. The President said it eight times. They're meeting behind closed doors this very minute cutting more sweetheart deals, and no C-SPAN cameras. They threw the public out of those hearings. They broke that pledge multiple times. Now let's look at the latest on this Slaughter rule. Speaker Pelosi just said this the other day, But I like it because people don't have to vote on the Senate bill. Now, do they really think the people of this country are stupid? Of course the people know what's going on. The people are watching this closely, and the people will not be fooled by this abomination of the process. But if their bill really was so good, why are they doing all of this behind closed doors? They broke every promise they made along the way, but yet they want you to believe, Don't worry. It's still going to work out the way we want it. If you like what you have, you can keep it. We've seen multiple times where the President has said that, and that turned out not to be accurate. We know now--and it has been confirmed--that you will lose health care you have that you like under their bill. We have seen on abortion language, they keep saying even to this minute, Don't worry; no taxpayer funding for abortion. Now, are you going to believe folks that broke every promise or are you going to believe the Catholic bishops and National Right to Life who confirm there is taxpayer funding for abortion?

Mr. SCALISE

Mr. SCALISE. Madam Speaker, the American people continue to say in every opportunity that they can that they don't want a government takeover of health care. And all they get from the tone-deaf liberals that are running Congress is this latest attempt to ram the bill through. And now this latest proposal is the Slaughter solution where they're even going to try to run it through without an actual vote. Now, maybe some of them have been around so long that they forget what Article I, section 7 of the Constitution says, but it actually takes a vote here in this House for any bill to pass. And I hope their bill doesn't pass, because we need health care reform. We need to lower the cost of health care, which their bill doesn't do. We need to address preexisting conditions. But we don't want a government takeover of health care. If you listen to the American people, what they're saying very loudly and clearly is scrap this bill. Let's go back to the table and start over again. Now, Speaker Pelosi and her liberal lieutenants might run Congress, but the American people run this country, and their voices will be heard.

Mr. SCALISE

Mr. SCALISE. I thank the gentleman from Texas for yielding. I rise in support of the resolution to impeach U.S. District Judge Thomas Porteous, who is a judge representing the Eastern District of Louisiana. I want to thank Representatives Schiff of California, Goodlatte of Virginia, Chairman Conyers of Michigan, Ranking Member Smith of Texas, and the entire Judiciary Committee and task force for their diligent investigation and for keeping this a priority in your committee. After I read through all four Articles of Impeachment, it is clear that the task force's findings warrant Judge Porteous' removal from the Federal bench. In order to remove the cloud that exists, we need to pass this resolution so the Eastern District of Louisiana can once again provide the citizens a justice system free from corruption. It is important that we pass this resolution today and that the Senate takes this up in a time frame that doesn't allow Judge Porteous to return to the bench, as would be the case in September if no further action is taken. Passing this resolution will be yet another shot across the bow and a strong reminder to everyone in public office that we will not tolerate corruption and that we will maintain a zero tolerance policy against public corruption at every level of government. Since Katrina, we've been vigilant against corruption at all levels of government in south Louisiana. From Members of Congress to our local levee boards, Louisiana is rebuilding the way our government works, and we have made a commitment to upholding a zero tolerance policy against public corruption at every level. This resolution reiterates that our commitment is not just in word but in tough action. Following Hurricane Katrina, those of us who vowed to rebuild the New Orleans region both structurally and politically didn't just want to simply rebuild the same old broken system that existed before the storm. In fact, we committed to rebuild better. Part of that better New Orleans includes reforming the old, corrupt system of the past. Corruption might be a part of Louisiana's past, but it's no longer acceptable behavior for our future. I urge my colleagues to pass this resolution and also urge the Senate to move swiftly in carrying out justice. A number of times I have urged Judge Porteous to resign from the bench, and I would still encourage him to do that. But short of that, Senate action in a swift timeframe is necessary. Help us usher in a new day in Louisiana.

Mr. SCALISE

Mr. SCALISE. Well, I want to thank my colleague from Missouri for hosting this and my other colleagues who are expressing leadership and really trying to make this last stand because we are at the last stand for health care, as the President continues to try to ram down the throats of the American people this government takeover. And here we are on the House floor as Speaker Pelosi is trying in the next week, possibly, to have a vote here on the House floor on a bill that the American people have said in every way possible that they don't want. You had the elections, of course, in Virginia and New Jersey; and then you had the election in Massachusetts, of all places, where Scott Brown said, I'll be the 41st vote against health care, and he won. And even after that, this tone-deaf liberal leadership here in Congress is saying that they're going to continue to try to ram down this government takeover. What you're pointing out and my colleagues are pointing out are some incredibly important facts that I think the American people themselves have been seeing as they've been reading the bill, and this latest version is over 2,400 pages long. But there's a couple of points in there, and I want to touch on one of them, and I know you have touched on a few others. Clearly there is over $500 billion in new taxes in this bill. There is over $500 billion in cuts to Medicare in this bill, things that would devastate medical care in this country as people know and enjoy it. We want to reform health care. We want to fix real problems to lower costs, to address preconditions. They don't want to do that. They want a government takeover. But there are some other things in this bill that also show some of their real intentions. And the issue of abortion funding, taxpayer funding of abortion has been one of those at the core of, you know, who do you believe and what are the myths. And of course you've got Speaker Pelosi out there saying, Oh, don't worry. Abortion funding won't be in this bill. There are two pieces of information I want to point out, and I think a lot of people have started to see all of this, but it really clarifies what's going on. This first letter I want to read a few sentences from is from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Catholic bishops, they don't have a vested interest in whether the Republican approach or the Democratic approach is moving forward. But they have two real concerns. One is, they don't want abortion funding, and they want a conscience clause protection. So I'm going to read a few quick sentences. First on human life: ``Disappointingly, the Senate-passed bill in particular does not meet our moral criteria on life and conscience. Specifically, it violates the longstanding Federal policy against the use of Federal funds for elective abortions and health plans that include such abortions.'' It goes on to say: ``We believe legislation that fails to comply with this policy and precedent is not true health care reform and should be opposed until this fundamental problem is remedied.'' This is the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. And then one other I'm going to read for you is National Right to Life, a very respected organization, a bipartisan organization. National Right to Life also addresses the Senate language as it relates to taxpayer funding of abortion: ``Any House Member who votes for the Senate health bill is casting a career-defining pro-abortion vote.'' This is National Right to Life. And the final sentence I will read: ``The Senate health bill is a 2,407-page labyrinth strewn with the legislative equivalents of improvised explosive devices--disguised provisions that will result in Federal pro-abortion mandates and Federal subsidies for abortion.'' That's National Right to Life. So as the American people are contemplating all of this, they're going to have to ask themselves, who do they believe as this information and misinformation is out there? Do they believe Speaker Pelosi who says, Don't worry, taxpayer funding of abortion is not in this 2,400-page bill? Or do they believe the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and National Right to Life who both clearly state that the Senate bill does contain taxpayer funding of abortion? Yet one of just many big points of opposition we have to this government takeover of health care.

Mr. SCALISE

Mr. SCALISE. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Mr. Cao, my colleague from New Orleans, for bringing the resolution. It's really a special time. If you have been in and around the city of New Orleans--and of course so many people have been focused on New Orleans in looking at the bad things that happened to our city after Hurricane Katrina. But we've had such an outpouring over the years of people who have been rooting for and pulling for the city to come back. I think what's been the most special thing about this past year with the Saints in their success that they've had on the football field is that it's really galvanized the city, but it's also galvanized the rest of the country. I brought a football here, it has the Super Bowl logo, and it represents the fact that the Saints won the Super Bowl. And of course here we're today congratulating the Saints on winning the Super Bowl. But this victory was much more than a football game. Not only do I remember back during the years that my dad took me to Tulane Stadium when I was a little kid, and as my colleague, Congressman Cassidy, talked about some of those leaner years, I think it's the resilience of the team, but it really starts at the top. We would be remiss if we didn't emphasize the importance to our community that the owner, Tom Benson, has meant. The fact that he bought the team back in the 1980s, but then the fact that even through some of those tough years, he made a dedication to excellence, that he was going to build a team--and he said it many times--that would win a Super Bowl. And there were a lot of people that wondered if that would ever happen. There were a lot of people that were crying in the city of New Orleans not only when the Saints won the NFC championship game, but when the Saints went to the Super Bowl and won the Super Bowl, because there were so many who just thought it never would happen. But it did happen. I think the Times-Picayune, our local paper, said it best the morning after the Super Bowl victory. The headline was ``Amen'' because many people's prayers were answered. Of course, the Saints are named after the saints. I think we had a lot of prayers from above, but those prayers were answered. In a lot of ways, those prayers were answered by the organization that Tom Benson and his wife Gayle and his granddaughter Rita Benson LeBlanc and Dennis Lauscha and so many others with the Saints organization who made that commitment to build a world-class football team. And if you just go through and you look at some of the great talent that's been amassed now, you start with the coach, Sean Payton. He did one of the more unselfish acts of actually giving up some of his own salary to bring in a defensive coordinator who truly helped transform that defense into what so many people saw and admired on the field. But I think that as I talk about a few of the players that I really want to feature and commend, it's not so much the acts that they did on the field because we saw what they did on the field, and it inspired people in the city of New Orleans. It inspired people all across the Nation. And Drew Brees winning the MVP and putting up record numbers and 32 completions, a Super Bowl record. And Garrett Hartley with three-for-three field goal attempts and three over 40 yards, setting a Super Bowl record. And who can forget Tracy Porter's interception return for a touchdown? And of course the gutsy call that Sean Payton made to start the second half to do an onsides kick. All of those were great plays. But it's what the Saints have done off the field that has really formed a unique bond between the Saints and their fans, and it's something that we've seen after Katrina. You know, for those of us who were in the Super Bowl that night in 2006 for the Atlanta Falcons game when they reopened the dome, when people said the Superdome would never open again; when many people said New Orleans would never have an NFL team again, in fact, when many people said that New Orleans wasn't going to come back, that really was one of those watershed moments that galvanized the city, and it told so many other people that they could come back, they could rebuild because the Saints came back. Since then, they've served as great role models off the field, and that's something important because we don't see that enough in sports. But Sean Payton's got a Payton's Pay It Forward Foundation, and he has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to do great things in the community, giving money to other organizations that do great things in the community. We've seen Drew Brees. And of course Drew Brees, he has gotten so many accolades on the field. But off the field, he has gotten accolades as well. His Brees Dream Foundation has donated $4.5 million to various causes throughout the city, done wonderful things, helped young kids. He was the 2006 Walter Payton Man of the Year, just an incredibly high-quality person who has gotten involved in the community. I want to talk about Reggie Bush finally. Today, by the way, is Reggie Bush's birthday. Reggie Bush wears number 25 on the field, and today is his 25th birthday. So we want to say happy birthday to Reggie Bush. But through Reggie Bush's 619 Foundation, he has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to the community. And in fact, Tad Gormley Field, which is a field where many of the high schools in New Orleans play their football games, he donated $86,000 to rebuild that field after Katrina so that so many young people not only can look up to athletes as role models but also can have the opportunity to go and participate and learn about sports. So it's been an incredible opportunity. We appreciate what the Saints have done on the field, but we also appreciate what Tom Benson and his leadership and the team have done off the field too.

Mr. SCALISE

Mr. SCALISE. Mr. Speaker, earlier this week President Obama released his latest version of a government takeover of health care. And as you look at the details of his latest plan, it is not much different than the previous plans that the American people have continued to reject. And while the American people are saying where are the jobs, and they want Congress to be focused on creating jobs, all that they get from this tone deaf liberal leadership is more government takeover, more taxes, and more policies that are running millions of jobs out of this country. It is time that this liberal leadership start listening to the American people and work with those of us who have for months and months been saying we need to reduce the cost of health care, we need to address preexisting conditions, and we need to do common sense medical liability reform, and we need a focus on jobs instead of more taxes, more runaway spending, and more policies that are running jobs out of this country.

Mr. SCALISE

Mr. SCALISE. Madam Speaker, pursuant to the Republican Leadership standards on Congressionally directed project funding, I am submitting the following information regarding project funding I requested for Southeast Louisiana as part of the Fiscal Year 2010 Defense Appropriations bill. Requesting Member: Congressman Steve Scalise Bill Number: Fiscal Year 2010 Defense Appropriations Bill Account: Warfighter Sustainment Applied Research Legal Name of Requesting Entity: Tulane University Address of Requesting Entity: 6823 St. Charles Avenue, New Orleans, Louisiana 70118 Description of Request: I have secured $800,000 for Tulane University. It is my understanding that the funding is for Tulane University to work with Xavier University, ONR, and other Department of Defense partners on a biosensors and risk assessment technologies program. Biosensors developed through this program will provide real- time information about the threats from bioterrorism and environmental polluters, allowing DoD to respond more effectively and at less expense than other analytical methods. I certify that neither I nor my spouse has any financial interest in this project.

Mr. SCALISE

Mr. SCALISE. I want to thank the gentleman from Texas for yielding and for hosting this hour, because it is so important right now. As the American people are watching what is going on here in Washington, most people are saying they don't want a government takeover of health care. They want us to be focusing on creating jobs, which we should be doing, but instead you have got these meetings going on behind closed doors by Speaker Pelosi and her liberal lieutenants to try to have this government takeover of health care being forced down the people's throats. The President said multiple times during the campaign that he would insist that these meetings be held in public, they be on C-SPAN so the American people could see it. And yet the President has totally gone back on his word. These meetings are behind closed doors. You know, ironically the President goes out publicly and he bashes big insurance companies, and then he goes behind closed doors and he cuts special sweetheart deals with insurance companies. He goes behind closed doors and first says Republicans don't have a plan, and yet when we submit our plan to him, he refuses to meet with us. He throws us out of the room. The American people are tired of this. Because we should be doing the things that we have proposed to reduce the cost of health care. But instead, you have got these back room sweetheart deals, you have got these closed door meetings instead of the public transparency that we were promised. And it is very unfortunate, because we are talking about one-sixth of our economy. We are talking about a government takeover bill that would literally throw millions of Americans off their health care. So I appreciate what you are doing.

Mr. SCALISE

Mr. SCALISE. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor Malia Cali, the 2009 High School Heisman Award winner. Malia is a senior at St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Hammond, Louisiana, and is only the second winner in the history of the award from the State of Louisiana. She is a three-year All State selection in track and field, cross-country and soccer. Off the field, Malia founded ``Cleats for Kids,'' a non-profit organization that collects used cleats and distributes them to children in Nicaragua. As if her impressive athletic and community service achievements weren't enough, Malia also has the No. 1 academic ranking in her senior class. The High School Heisman has been awarded to one male and one female student each year since 1994. The High School Heisman recognizes the Nation's most esteemed high school senior men and women for excellence in academics, athletics and community service. Malia's success both on and off the field is a testament to what can be accomplished with hard work, dedication, and a commitment to others. It's easy to see why Malia Cali was selected over nearly 55,000 other entrants in this competition. Malia is truly deserving of this prestigious award. Her successes and achievements shine brightly on the State of Louisiana, and I am proud to highlight the accomplishments of Malia Cali here today.

Mr. SCALISE

Mr. SCALISE. I want to thank the gentleman from Nevada for yielding. Madam Speaker, this is my congressional voting card. Unfortunately, some of the liberals running this Congress think that this is a credit card that has an unlimited balance. Today, they stand before us, trying to add another $290 billion of limit onto their credit cards because they have maxed out the previous at $12 trillion. The American people are saying enough is enough. They want us to cap the debt, and we need to. We filed legislation that has over 70 cosponsors that would do just that--that would cap the debt and say now let's start paying it down. The first rule of hole says, when you find yourself in a hole, the first thing you do is stop digging. The American people are saying stop the massive spending. Stop adding to our debt. Stop throwing more and more spending and debt onto the backs of our children and our grandchildren. Let's rein in fiscal irresponsibility. That's why we are opposing this legislation. We proposed responsible alternatives like the CAP the DEBT Act. Of course, they don't want to bring it up because all they want to do is walk around here, thinking that they're Santa Claus at Christmastime, borrowing more money and spending more money that we don't have.

Mr. SCALISE

Mr. SCALISE. They went to lengths to manipulate the data, and then they went to lengths to actually delete, to try to destroy the evidence, in essence--some of that data--as you know as the ranking member of Energy and Commerce and when we were having that debate here in committee and on the House floor on the cap-and-trade energy tax. Many of the people who have been promoting that national energy tax-- Speaker Pelosi and her liberal attendants and others--are using that IPCC data to say, Look, we need to act quickly because the data shows. Of course, now we know that the data was corrupted. Then he goes on--and we are all familiar in this country with the freedom of information. This administration came in saying they were going to be the most transparent administration ever. Yet you look at these emails further, and he says--this is an email--The freedom of information line we are all using is this. So he is telling this to some of the other scientists who were involved in this corruption. He says, The IPCC is exempt from any country's Freedom of Information Act. The sceptics have been told this. Even though we possibly hold relevant info, the IPCC is not part--and then he goes on to say--therefore, we don't have an obligation to pass it on. So he is trying to lay out this groundwork so that he doesn't even have to turn over his data. This is, I think, before he destroyed it. Then he says, If the Royal Meteorological Society is going to require authors to make all data available--raw data plus results from all intermediate calculations--he says, I will not submit any further papers to the RMS Journal. This is Phil Jones--again, leading scientist--whose data is used by many of these people all throughout the world to try to pass Kyoto-type agreements in the cap-and-trade energy tax that's getting ready to be debated over in the Senate.

Mr. SCALISE. Exactly.

Mr. SCALISE. I want to thank the gentleman from Texas for yielding and the gentleman from Georgia for opening up this discussion. Of course, what we are talking about and the reason this is so important is that many of the different world leaders are getting ready to meet in Copenhagen, Denmark, to start discussing a Kyoto II-type treaty--a treaty for many countries, including the United States, to literally change the way our entire manufacturing base operates. Of course, here in Congress, we've been debating the proposal by Speaker Pelosi and others to codify that type of treaty in the form of the cap-and-trade national energy tax. They are trying to bring a national energy tax to our country to tax businesses, to tax not only businesses but also individuals in their household electricity use for using fossil fuels. It's all in the name of stopping manmade global warming. So what brings us to this debate that you are focusing on is the fact that we have found out recently through Climategate that the science that they are using is corrupt. In fact, behind much of the data that has been used to try to sell a cap-and-trade energy tax, that has been used to try to sell the Kyoto Treaty and now this new meeting in Copenhagen to have a Kyoto II-type agreement, all of it was based on corrupted data. If you go back to former Vice President Al Gore, who said, The debate is over, he was trying to imply that all of the scientists are in agreement. Of course, as my colleague from Georgia pointed out, the scientists are not in agreement. What is even worse is now we have found out and have uncovered this scandal where some of the scientists who have been collecting data through the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the IPCC, which is the respected body worldwide on all of this data--it turns out, as the clearinghouse, they were actually corrupting the data that is being used. In some of the examples through these emails, Phil Jones, who just resigned, said, I've just completed Mike's nature trick--he goes on--to hide the decline in temperatures. We go back to the infamous hockey stick graph that Al Gore used in his film, ``An Inconvenient Truth.'' I guess the most inconvenient truth for the former Vice President is that these emails have now come out and have exposed the scandal. If the gentleman from Texas will allow me, I want to read a few other of the emails. I know my colleague from Illinois earlier highlighted some of the other emails. Yet, just to show how deep this is, first, Phil Jones in an email last year said, Mike, can you delete any emails you may have had with Keith regarding the AR4 data set? Keith will do likewise. He says, Can you also email Gene and get him to do the same? I don't have his email address. We will be getting Caspar to do likewise. So here he is talking about deleting data, deleting the emails which show that some of this manipulation and corruption of the data was going on. This is the person who is the director of the University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit. He is a scientist who should not only understand the importance of following the facts, of following the data, but who should also understand that, as others try to verify this data, that is something that he should be openly and freely willing to share.

Mr. SCALISE. I yield back.

Mr. SCALISE. It is really frustrating because there are scientists who have different opinions, who have tried to present alternative data to this corrupt scientific data, and they have been blacklisted. In fact, I won't go into detail on this here, but that information will continue to come out. In some of the emails, they actually go on to describe how they are going to try to blacklist other scientists who try to propose data which shows something different than theirs--in fact, even saying that they are going to withhold some of their journal writings so that they won't even publish some of this information. I go on to say this because they are trying to use this corrupt data, this corrupt scientific data, to pass not only a cap-and-trade energy tax which will run millions of jobs out of this country, but they are also trying to use it now in conjunction with the EPA and their latest ruling to try to literally threaten Congress by saying, Well, okay. If you don't pass cap-and-trade here in Congress, then the EPA will in a de facto way try to pass its own cap-and-trade by using these radical environmentalists in the EPA, again using the corrupt scientific data, to try to pass it even if Congress won't pass it because the American people have realized this will run millions of jobs out of our country. Many groups, one being the National Association of Manufacturers, on the low end, says, We would lose 3 million jobs in our country if the cap-and-trade energy tax were passed, and every American family would pay over $1,000 more per year in higher electricity rates. All of this is based upon false scientific data that has been corrupted, and we know it from the Climategate emails.

Mr. SCALISE. Yes, I will yield to the gentleman.

Mr. SCALISE

Mr. SCALISE. And so of course, we decide to take President Obama up on his claims, and as Americans for months and months later, after they then came with a budget that doubled the national debt in 5 years, and then they turned around with another bill called the cap-and-trade energy tax, a national tax on energy. Then they came back with this government takeover of health care that they're still pursuing. All of this, running jobs out of our country at a time when Americans want us to be creating jobs. And so now that unemployment has exceeded 10 percent, people are not only asking where are the jobs, they're saying, What did you do with all of that money that you spent. And so we started digging in deeper, and what we found out is, as you were talking about, we found out in Louisiana, there were more jobs created in Louisiana's Eighth Congressional District, according to the White House, by the stimulus bill than were created in my First Congressional District that I represent.

Mr. SCALISE. I'm not really sure. And we did a little digging, and in fact, our local newspaper did some digging as well. They called the White House. First of all, they said, Okay, White House, you're claiming that you have got all of this transparency. Joe Biden is hunting out for every dime that's out there; how is it that you can have jobs being shown that you're creating in districts that don't exist? And the first thing the White House said is, We're not certifying the accuracy of the information. So first, in January, they were going to be the most transparent administration ever. Now, 10 months later, billions and billions of dollars of borrowed money is going out the door. Nobody knows what it was spent on. They claimed to have created jobs in districts that don't exist, and the best they can say is, We're not certifying the accuracy of the information.

Mr. SCALISE. We're going to get to that because I think we've got some enlightenment we're going to shine on it. So then they actually followed up, and they asked the White House, Well, how is it if you're not certifying the accuracy, how is it, though, that somebody can show a district that doesn't exist on your Web site as creating jobs? And the White House spokesperson's answer was, Who knows, man; who really knows. That is his direct quote. That is the best the White House could come up with as the American people are saying, Where are the jobs and what are you all doing with all of this money? And their answer is, Who knows, man; who really knows. So we go back to President Obama. Right here in February, February 24, on the House floor his quote, Because nobody messes with Joe. And then here we've got a picture of Vice President Joe Biden with these two folks that crashed the White House State dinner just a week or so ago, and you wonder why nobody is manning the store and nobody's taking any accountability now. These are the people that are manning the store, and the American people are saying enough is enough; this is not a joke because the joke is on us. And it's money that you're borrowing from China and our children and our grandchildren, and we're tired of it. We actually want to create jobs. That's why we're going to continue to try to create jobs. But this shows you just what's really going on with the taxpayers' money.

Mr. SCALISE. Robust.