Fred Upton

Mr. UPTON

Mr. UPTON. Well, to me, we use ``shall'' a number of different times.

Mr. UPTON. Mr. Speaker, at this point, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Cole), a member of the Appropriations Committee and a cosponsor of the bill.

Mr. UPTON. Well, that is what we do. We take money.

Mr. UPTON. The money comes from the political conventions. I mean, that is the direct offset that is used. All of us cry for these families that lose these beautiful little kids. This bill, if it passes and gets enacted, will provide money to help families like Gabriella's, who lost a beautiful little girl, who really used the last year of her life to promote a fund like this and work with the NIH. That is what this should be all about, and I commend Mr. Cantor and others. The rule that we hear is you have to find an offset when you increase spending. That is what this bill does. And it finds an offset that I think many of us could accept to actually fund the program and direct the dollars to a fund within the NIH to make sure that it works. That is what we want to have happen. I would urge my colleagues to vote for this bill. Yes, it is under suspension, no amendments. We need a two-thirds vote, so I ask my colleagues to support this bill. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. UPTON. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 2019) to eliminate taxpayer financing of presidential campaigns and party conventions and reprogram savings to provide for a 10-year pediatric research initiative through the Common Fund administered by the National Institutes of Health, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. UPTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 3 minutes. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the Gabriella Miller Kids First Research Act of 2013. H.R. 2019, authored by my colleague, Gregg Harper, is a bill that will help countless kids and families across the country. The Gabriella Miller Kids First Research Act would prioritize funding for the research of pediatric diseases and disorders such as cancer, autism, and Fragile X. It would eliminate taxpayer financings of party conventions, political money, and use these funds instead to expand pediatric research at the NIH Common Fund through their common fund. This bill certainly does put kids first. You know, Gabriella Miller was a little warrior in the battle against childhood cancer. At only 10 years of age, she had the courage miles beyond her years. A frying pan and a walnut is all you need to understand her brave outlook on life. When she was diagnosed with brain cancer, she was told that the size of that tumor was about like a walnut; and from then on, Gabriella traveled with her trusty frying pan squashing countless walnuts along the way all over the world. That is the kind of courage and outlook on life that she had. Advancing health research for millions of young patients who suffer from rare and genetic diseases has got to be a priority. While we have made great strides in the country in finding cures and treatments, we certainly have a great amount of work to do. Included in the work is pushing for research that is going to help uncover cures for pediatric diseases. In order for clinical trials and other advancements to meet their full potential, adequate resources have got to be directed for pediatric research. The legislation is an example of how much can be accomplished by ending wasteful spending and redirecting those funds towards national priorities like pediatric research. This effort is going to help families like the Kennedys in Mattawan, Michigan, my constituents. Eric and Sarah have two wonderful little girls, Brooke and Brielle, who have the rare disease called spinal muscular atrophy. Those two little angels, who are fighting SMA with the same vigor and sunny outlook exhibited by Gabriella, are decorated little generals in the effort to boost research for rare diseases and serve as inspiration for every one of us. The sad reality is that it is often difficult to conduct research into rare diseases due to the small number of individuals with those diseases; but we are working to change that--yes, we are--and provide families with greater hope for a cure and in advances of treatment. This bill has over 150 cosponsors and is supported by a long list of patient advocacy groups including Autism Speaks, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, and FightSMA. I wholeheartedly agree with the bill's Democrat sponsor, Peter Welch from Vermont, who recently said last night on CNN: Can we just put the battle axes down for a while and take a step forward? He thinks we can. We need to. With all of us today with so many diseases, we need to pass this bill. I reserve the balance of my time. Angelman Syndrome Foundation, Aurora, IL, July 5, 2013. Hon. Eric Cantor, Majority Leader, House of Representatives,United States Capitol, Washington, DC. Hon. Gregg Harper, House of Representatives, Cannon House Office Building, Washington, DC. Dear Leader Cantor and Congressman Harper: On behalf of the Angelman Syndrome Foundation, ASF, I write in strong support for H.R. 2019, the Kids First Research Act. This important legislation will expand pediatric medical research activities at the National Institutes of Health, NIH, by approximately $130 million. Pediatric research should be a national priority, and ASF applauds Congressman Harper for his leadership on this issue. This legislation has the potential to develop treatments and unlock the cure for thousands of impacted children, including those with Angelman Syndrome. Angelman syndrome is a single-gene neurodevelopmental disorder that is related to autism. Continued research for pediatric neurodevelopmental disorders, such as Angelman syndrome, will lead to effective treatments that will help combat the autism epidemic in the U.S. The Angelman Syndrome Foundation's mission is to advance the awareness and treatment of Angelman syndrome through education and information, research, and support for individuals with Angelman syndrome, their families and other concerned parties. We exist to give all of them a reason to smile, with the ultimate goal of finding a cure. On behalf of ASF, thank you again for your leadership and for supporting the Kids First Research Act. Sincerely, Eileen Braun, Executive Director.

Mr. UPTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to my friend from Virginia (Mr. Wolf), a member of the Appropriations Committee.

Mr. UPTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 30 seconds. Mr. Speaker, I just want to remind my friends that this is bipartisan legislation. I congratulate Mr. Welch for being the lead Democratic sponsor. I just want to say, too, in terms of looking at the money, the bill itself says: All amounts in each account maintained for the national committee of a major party or minor party under this section shall be transferred to a fund in the Treasury to be known as the ``10-Year Pediatric Research Initiative Fund,'' which shall be available only for the purpose provided in section 402A(a)2 of the Public Health Service Act, and only to the extent and in such amounts as are provided in advance in appropriations Acts. Tell me how to write it tougher. We did it. I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California, (Mr. McCarthy), the majority whip.

Mr. UPTON. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous materials in the Record on the bill.

Mr. UPTON

Mr. UPTON. Mr. Speaker, it is with great pleasure that I rise today to honor Amo Houghton for his 16 years of service on the board of directors of The Faith & Politics Institute. Amo, my good friend and our former colleague, a tireless advocate for civil rights, is stepping down as cochair of the board of Faith & Politics, just this week. He and our esteemed colleague, Congressman John Lewis, started the bipartisan Congressional Civil Rights Pilgrimage to Alabama, which in March of next year will celebrate its 14th year. This important trip brings to life the values The Faith & Politics Institute is determined to instill, as it indeed shows the attendees how to ``rise above narrow partisanship and respond to the quiet call of conscience.'' My wife, Amey, and I traveled to Selma on this pilgrimage, and we feel that it was one of the most moving and humbling experiences of our lives. Amo was also responsible for organizing a Faith & Politics congressional visit to South Africa, which resulted in a relationship that has lasted for over a decade and is still strong. As said by the great Nelson Mandela: A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination. My friend Amo Houghton is a formidable force. Although The Faith & Politics Institute will miss his spirit and wisdom that he brought to the board of directors, his legacy and inspiration will always live on, as the Honorable Amory Houghton, Jr.'s status is now elevated to cochair emeritus for life.

Mr. UPTON

Mr. UPTON. Setting enforceable deadlines to improve natural gas pipeline projects will build upon the bipartisan reforms that we made with our Energy Policy Act of 2005 while preserving critical environmental review. If other nations, including Canada, Australia, and many other EU member nations, can hold their agencies to real, accountable deadlines, it is not unreasonable to ask ours to do the same. Congress should be doing everything possible to reduce red tape and delays in building safe and efficient natural gas pipelines to bring our infrastructure up to modern times to reflect that energy abundance. This bill is a very important step in the right direction, and I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes.''

Mr. UPTON. Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of H.R. 1900, a commonsense, bipartisan bill that is going to help build the architecture of abundance that we need to fully realize the benefits of our American energy boom. Until a few years ago, our Nation was facing a very critical shortage of natural gas, and I will remind us that policymakers in the seventies, eighties, and nineties never envisioned shale gas. Today, technological innovations like horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing have made the U.S. the number one gas-producing nation in the world. Our overall energy landscape has changed dramatically in just a short period of time. It is not only rewriting the economic outlook that we have as a Nation but also beginning to change the geopolitical nature of global energy, as we have heard from nations around the world seeking access to United States supplies to help wean them off of regions like Russia and the Middle East. Today, we face a new challenge: how to overcome government-imposed roadblocks to building the infrastructure and unleashing the innovation necessary to harness our new energy abundance. As energy production grows across the U.S., building the infrastructure to move these supplies to consumers is emerging as the real challenge of this century. With all of our abundance in natural gas, it is simply unacceptable that there are still regions in the country where lower prices are being constrained by a lack of pipelines because of regulatory delays. America's rich natural gas resources should continue fueling both job creation and economic growth, but we cannot fulfill that potential unless we ensure businesses and manufacturers have access to this affordable and reliable clean energy. I commend Representative Pompeo for introducing H.R. 1900 as a remedy for this problem.

Mr. UPTON

Mr. UPTON. Mr. Speaker, I submit the following for the Record. House of Representatives, Committee on Energy and Commerce, Washington, DC, November 14, 2013. Hon. Dave Camp, Chairman, Committee on Ways and Means, Washington, DC. Dear Chairman Camp: Thank you for your letter regarding H.R. 3350, the ``Keep Your Health Plan Act of 2013.'' As you noted, there are provisions of the bill that fall within the Committee on Ways and Means' Rule X jurisdiction. I appreciate your willingness to forgo action on H.R. 3350, and I agree that your decision does not in any way prejudice the Committee on Ways and Means with respect to the appointment of conferees or its jurisdictional prerogatives on this or similar legislation. I will include a copy of your letter and this response in the Congressional Record during consideration of H.R. 3350 on the House floor. Sincerely, Fred Upton, Chairman.

Mr. UPTON

Mr. UPTON. Mr. Speaker, the debate today on whether to support this bill comes down to a very simple question: Why not? If millions of Americans want the choice of keeping the insurance that they have, why not? If you believe Congress acting together, not the President acting unilaterally, should try to help people who have lost their coverage, why not? If you believe that ordinary Americans, not the Federal Government, should decide what their insurance plans look like, why not? We have a chance today to provide hope to millions of Americans who got that cancelation notice, hope that they can keep the insurance that they like, hope that they are going to have even more choices, and hope that they, not the Federal Government, can pick what their insurance plans actually look like. So let me be clear. Our bill, H.R. 3350, does not fix ObamaCare, the President's health care bill. It is only an attempt to help people harmed by this law. But if we can provide some relief to people from this disaster, why not? Let's defeat the motion to recommit and pass the underlying bill. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. UPTON. Mr. Speaker, I withdraw my point of order and seek time in opposition to the motion to recommit.

Mr. UPTON. Mr. Speaker, I move to table the appeal of the ruling of the Chair.

Mr. UPTON. Mr. Speaker, I reserve a point of order.

Mr. UPTON. Mr. Speaker, I object.

Mr. UPTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. I say to my friend from Pennsylvania, we would have liked to have had some amendments when the Affordable Care Act passed. The rule denied us any amendments. Why are we here this afternoon? Most observers of the legislative process would say that the President's health care act would never have passed back in 2010 without the assurance that the President gave, even many times this year, that you could keep your health care if you liked it. If you liked it, you didn't have to do anything, period. I don't think it would have passed in this Chamber or in this Senate without that promise that the President gave. Then, millions of Americans in the last couple of months have gotten mail. In that mail, there are the cancelation notices. They are seeing their rates go up 200 percent, 300 percent, even 400 percent. Deductibles are going up in the thousands of dollars. People were coming to us all last week when we were home for our veterans events and parades and all the things that we did. They were bringing those letters to us and saying, Hey, what is going on? I thought I could keep this? Until yesterday afternoon, when it looked like we were going to get as many as 300 votes, including perhaps Mr. Doyle's and others, when it looked like we were going to get 300 votes for a bill that we introduced only a week and a half ago, all of a sudden the President felt that he needed to act. It wasn't until this bill that he came to the mic and said, You know what? I made a mistake. I am sorry. Maybe this thing will fix it. But until then, he was going to sit on his hands and just watch us, watch millions of Americans literally watch their health care, watch maybe their economic lives, just go over the cliff. He was prepared to do that, until we showed that we had some bipartisan zip around here to try and, in fact, enforce, make whole his promise that he has said over and over and over again. That is what this bill does. Read it. It is not too long, a couple of sentences long. I commend our leadership for bringing this bill to the floor as fast as they can. Man, 5 or 6 legislative days from when it was introduced, that is pretty good. More importantly, it got a wake-up call to someone down the street on Pennsylvania Avenue, saying, hey, something is wrong. Let's restore what we might have said. I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on the bill. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. UPTON. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. UPTON. May I ask the gentleman from California how many speakers he has left?

Mr. UPTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Kelly).

Mr. UPTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Terry), a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee.

Mr. UPTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Guthrie).

Mr. UPTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Roe).