Henry Waxman

Mr. WAXMAN

Mr. WAXMAN. Madam Speaker, I rise in opposition to this proposal.

Mr. WAXMAN. I yield myself such time as I might consume. This amendment is more of the same from the Republicans. After 8 years of failed energy policies, the Republican answer to our energy problems is to do more research and to provide people with prizes for good ideas. Well, during the last 8 years, the average American family has seen its energy cost increase by nearly $2,800 a year. Those are increases in gasoline prices, home heating, electricity bills. American families cannot afford the same failed policies. Now, I like the idea of having good, innovative approaches to our challenges. I don't mind giving people awards if they come up with good ideas, but I think good ideas come up with market incentives and competition and rewarding people for good ideas with something more than a good ribbon to pin on their chest. This amendment strikes the whole bill and substitutes this idea of giving prizes. Could you imagine, giving prizes. Why didn't you give out prizes in the last 8 years, and maybe our energy problems would have been solved if we had given out more prizes for good ideas. But the bill before us, the American Clean Energy and Security Act, is a comprehensive energy policy. It will create new clean-energy jobs, increase our energy independence and dramatically cut pollution. We are talking about 1.7 million new jobs. This bill will save 240 million barrels of oil each year. That's oil we don't have to import from the Middle East. And this bill is going to help consumers, because the energy efficiency provisions alone will save consumers $750 per year by 2020. This bill before us makes a landmark investment in the future of the country by providing $190 billion through 2025 to increase our efficiency and deploy cutting edge energy technologies. We provide for renewable energy, coal with carbon capture and storage, nuclear power and advance technologies, electric vehicles, smart grid transmission, energy efficiency. I could go on. This substitute amounts to a grant program and a competition with prizes for good ideas. There is no comparison between the two. The bill before us is a real solution to our very real energy challenges. The Republican amendment simply fails to rise to the challenge. I urge its defeat and reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. WAXMAN. Madam Speaker, I would yield 1 minute to my cosponsor of the legislation that's before us. My name came first, his second, because I am older and I am chairman of the full committee. He is chairman of the subcommittee. But the real author of the legislation, he has worked on this problem for many, many years, is Ed Markey.

Mr. WAXMAN. Madam Speaker, I would like to inquire of the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Forbes) who is controlling the time, how many speakers do you have? We have two on our side.

Mr. WAXMAN. We will reserve the balance of our time.

Mr. WAXMAN. Madam Speaker, I'm pleased at this time to yield 1 minute to the majority leader so that he may speak on this amendment and the legislation that's before us, the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer.)

Mr. WAXMAN. Madam Speaker, I understand that our side has the right to close.

Mr. WAXMAN. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. WAXMAN. Madam Speaker, I have a parliamentary inquiry.

Mr. WAXMAN. The Republican leader was yielded the balance of the time, which I think amounted to around 4 or 5 minutes. He has talked for around 20. I know we have this ``magic'' minute that gives leaders a lot of extra time to speak, but I'm just wondering if there is some limit under the rules on the time that a leader may take, even though the time yielded was not 20 or 30 minutes.

Mr. WAXMAN. Further parliamentary inquiry.

Mr. WAXMAN. I know it is the custom of the House to give a little extra latitude. Is there any outside limit to the amount of time a leader might take? And do we have historical records that might be broken tonight? Or is this an attempt to try to get some people to leave on a close vote?

Mr. WAXMAN. Madam Speaker, the minority leader was yielded 2\1/2\ minutes. Could you tell us how much time he consumed?

Mr. WAXMAN. Well, Madam Speaker, the 2\1/2\ minutes was extended to over an hour, and this is from the same party that had a 15-minute roll call extended into 3 hours while they tried to twist the arms of their own people. Madam Speaker, to close the debate, I wish to yield the balance of my time, and I presume it will not be an hour or two, to our distinguished Speaker because of whose leadership we have the attempt to do something that the Republicans neglected, and that's to help our country deal with our energy problems, Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Mr. WAXMAN. Madam Speaker, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. WAXMAN

Mr. WAXMAN. I would like to take a moment to thank the staff of the Office of Legislative Counsel and the Congressional Budget Office for their hard work on this bill. The efforts and dedication of Tim Brown, Warren Burke, Alison Bell, Pope Barrow and their colleagues in the Office of Legislative Counsel were indispensable in writing this wide- ranging and historic legislation. Similarly, Suzanne Mehlman, Dan Hoople and their colleagues at the Congressional Budget Office were essential in analyzing the complex financial and scoring issues associated with this bill. Both the staff of the Legislative Counsel and the CBO deserve to be thanked and congratulated for their outstanding work over the many late nights and weekends. We are very grateful for their service to the Nation. I would like to add my appreciation to the fantastic job that our committee, subcommittee and select committee staffs have done in getting this legislation before the Congress of the United States. Mr. Speaker, I would like to yield to my colleague on this legislation, Congressman Ed Markey.

Mr. WAXMAN. Reclaiming my time, I would like to read from page 333 of the manager's amendment and to indicate my gratitude to our staff director Phil Barnett; to the environmental staff on the committee, Greg Dotson, Lorie Schmidt, Alexandra Teitz, John Jimison, Jeff Baran, Alex Barron, Ben Hengst, Melissa Bez, and Rob Cobbs.

Mr. WAXMAN. Mr. Speaker, I also wanted to add our appreciation to Matt Wiener, our staff assistant on this legislation. I feel empowered because I only asked for 1 minute, and I have talked far more than 1 minute. I guess that's become a new tradition in the House, but I don't want to abuse it, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. WAXMAN

Mr. WAXMAN. Madam Speaker, it is my pleasure to recognize the extraordinary leadership of Fay Kanin, Chair of the Library of Congress National Film Preservation Board. On June 24, 2009 the Library of Congress will honor Fay for her leadership and assistance to Congress and the Library in their efforts to promote public awareness of the need to preserve America's unparalleled film heritage. Since 1989, Fay Kanin has served with distinction as the Chair of the National Film Preservation Board, a congressionally-mandated advisory body to the Librarian of Congress. The Board, under her leadership, has assisted the Librarian of Congress in educating Americans about the diversity of our nation's film heritage and highlighted the importance of preservation and the intensive efforts required to safeguard our irreplaceable movie heritage. During her illustrious career as a writer, playwright and producer on the Broadway stage, in television and in Hollywood, Fay Kanin has earned acclaim for works as diverse as Goodbye My Fancy, Teacher's Pet, Tell Me Where It Hurts, Friendly Fire, Heat of Anger, and Heartsounds. She has received an Academy Award nomination, two Emmy Awards, additional Emmy nominations, the Edmund H. North Award from the Writers Guild of America, a Golden Globe nomination, the Humanitas Prize Kieser Award, the Crystal Award of Women in Film, the Peabody Award, and a Tony nomination. Ms. Kanin has been a leader and a pioneer in the Hollywood community, serving four terms from 1979 to 1983 as the second female president in the history of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. She has given years of service to the Hollywood community as a member of the Academy's Board of Governors, President of the Academy Foundation, and President of the Screen Branch of the Writers Guild of America. I ask my colleagues to join me in recognizing Fay Kanin for her twenty years of service to the film preservation efforts of the Library of Congress, and her decades of contributions to the Hollywood community and the nation.

Mr. WAXMAN

Mr. WAXMAN. Madam Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 532, I call up from the Speaker's table the bill (H.R. 1256) to protect the public health by providing the Food and Drug Administration with certain authority to regulate tobacco products, to amend title 5, United States Code, to make certain modifications in the Thrift Savings Plan, the Civil Service Retirement System, and the Federal Employees' Retirement System, and for other purposes, with a Senate amendment thereto, and I have a motion at the desk.

Mr. WAXMAN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. It is hard to believe that we have finally reached this day. After more than a decade of effort and with countless delays and defeats along the way, at last we are about to enact truly historic legislation to protect the public health and to end the tobacco epidemic. I am proud that we have made it to this point, but it has taken us far too long. It has been more than 45 years since the landmark Surgeon General report that found that cigarette smoking was responsible for a 70 percent increase in the mortality rate of smokers over nonsmokers and a 10 to 20 times greater risk of developing lung cancer. Forty-five years. That delay is a tragic testament to the power and influence of Big Tobacco in our country and on Congress. But that power is fading. Times have changed. Public opinion has changed. And the tobacco industry's ability to block essential public health legislation has come to an end. Today is a day when strong and effective regulation finally is established as the crucial counterweight to the efforts and even deceptive practices of this industry. This is the day when Americans can begin to truly kick the habit with the full force of our laws marshaled to protect consumers, and especially our young people. Many of us remember vividly the milestones that have led us to this moment. In 1994, tobacco executives stood up before my subcommittee and swore under oath that nicotine was not addictive. In 1996, the FDA tried to regulate tobacco products, but the Supreme Court told them they needed Congress to give them that specific legal authority. And now, 13 years later, here we are finally giving FDA that authority to regulate the leading preventable cause of death in America. Regulating tobacco is the single most important thing that we can do right now to curb this deadly toll. And FDA is the only agency with the right combination of scientific expertise, regulatory experience, and public health mission to oversee these products effectively. I am pleased that the Senate acted quickly and sent us back legislation nearly identical to what we passed 2 months ago with overwhelming support in this House. This legislation will direct FDA to end marketing and sales of tobacco to kids, to stop manufacturers from calling cigarettes ``light'' or ``less dangerous'' when they're not, and to require changes to what is in a cigarette, like toxic ingredients such as formaldehyde, benzene, radioactive elements, and other deadly chemicals. Some have objected that this bill is too big a challenge for an already overburdened FDA. I disagree. It's clear to me that FDA's recent struggles are primarily a result of years of chronic underfunding and a failure of leadership in the last administration. This history does not mean that FDA, with the strong and committed leadership it now has, cannot take on this critical role of protecting the country against the harm from cigarettes and other tobacco products. It simply means that when we give the agency this new responsibility, we must also give it the resources necessary to do the job and to do it well. We have ensured that this will happen. The tobacco program will be fully funded through new user fees paid for by the industry. That money will go exclusively to the new tobacco center and will be enough for FDA to handle this task well. Furthermore, by setting up this system, we have ensured that the new tobacco program will have no impact on other vital programs at FDA. In fact, the agency's new commissioner, Dr. Margaret Hamburg, has expressed her enthusiastic support for the bill as a ``major advance in protecting the public health.'' In a recent letter to Senator Kennedy about this legislation, Commissioner Hamburg made clear that FDA is eager to begin carrying out its new responsibilities under this law. President Obama has also praised this legislation as both historic and common sense, describing it as an integral part of his plan to protect America's children and reform our health care system. It's clear that this administration and FDA itself are more than ready to take this on, and we just need to give them the law that will allow them to begin. In the bill, we have provided everything necessary to take this historic step: a comprehensive and flexible set of new authorities and full, certain funding. The final ingredient is the political will to do the right thing. For the first time in many years, we have finally got that, too. The breadth of support for this bill is remarkable; it includes over 1,000 medical, public health, faith and community groups from AARP to the American Academy of Pediatrics, from the Southern Baptist Convention to the Islamic Society of North America. It is supported by the American Lung Association, the American Heart Association, the American Cancer Society, the groups that are best situated to understand the damage caused by tobacco and to recognize that a renewed FDA can and must take on this new authority. The diversity of support for this bill shows just how critical it is to all Americans. Tobacco does not discriminate when it robs people of their health, their productivity, and their lives. That is why we must come together to rob tobacco of its influence over Americans. Finally, I want to note that this bill reflects a number of changes made throughout the process to respond to specific concerns that we've heard. In committee consideration of this bill over the past 2 years, we made changes to ensure fairness and flexibility for convenience stores, tobacco growers, and small manufacturers. We worked with Republican colleagues to incorporate their suggestions. We worked with members of the Congressional Black Caucus to ensure that menthol cigarettes will be an early focus of attention by the agency, and that the agency has the authority to deal with these and other products. I know that the Senate also has made changes to further strengthen the bill in response to input from both sides of the aisle. I want to thank my colleague, Representative Todd Platts, for his strong leadership on this legislation, as well as Representatives John Dingell and Frank Pallone for their diligent work in moving this bill forward over the years. I also want to thank Representatives Ed Towns, Stephen Lynch and Ike Skelton, all of whom were critical in getting us to this point. Each of these individuals made this possible and produced a great victory for public health. Today is a tremendous day. I am proud to be part of this historic moment when Congress finally stands up to Big Tobacco and stands up for the health of all Americans. That is the task before us as we send this bill on to the President of the United States. Madam Speaker, I wish to reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. WAXMAN. Madam Speaker, I want to inform my colleagues that there is a section in this bill that gives the FDA authority to develop harm- reduction strategies, and I think that's where it ought to be, in the hands of people who will follow the science in order to protect the public health. Madam Speaker, I yield, at this time, 2 minutes to the chairman of our Health Subcommittee of the Energy and Commerce Committee, who has been a staunch supporter of this legislation and has looked after all the health matters that come before the Congress, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone).

Mr. WAXMAN. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to my esteemed colleague from the State of Minnesota (Mr. Oberstar).

Mr. WAXMAN. Madam Speaker, I am pleased at this time to yield to one of the people without whom this bill would not even be possible, and that is the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, who has been such a strong leader for advancing the public health.

Mr. WAXMAN. Madam Speaker, I am pleased at this time to yield 3 minutes to the very distinguished chairman emeritus of the Energy and Commerce Committee, the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Dingell), who has played an essential role in fighting against tobacco and getting us to this day today. (Mr. DINGELL asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)