Greg Walden

Mr. WALDEN

Mr. WALDEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I thank the gentlewoman from Michigan for her kind comments and her leadership on this legislation. Mr. Speaker, can I inquire how much time is remaining?

Mr. WALDEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Griffith), an extraordinary leader on the Energy and Commerce Committee, a gentleman I refer to as our counsel on the committee. He is an extraordinary lawyer and incredible public policy initiator.

Mr. WALDEN

Mr. WALDEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I thank my dear friend and colleague from the Energy and Commerce Committee and the whip, the Republican whip of the House, for his overly generous comments, his fine leadership, and the fun we have had on the Energy and Commerce Committee. We do have a lot of fun there on both sides of the aisle, and then we do wrestle and tumble and we work things out, too. But Mr. Scalise has always been a real warrior on the committee, an incredible fighter for what he believes in, an effective legislator, a terrific spokesperson. He has fallen down a little bit, though, I must stipulate, in that he has failed to get me coffee in recent years. He has been otherwise consumed with other duties, and that will be noted in the historical record, I am sure. Mr. Speaker, I inquire how much time I have remaining.

Mr. WALDEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Bucshon), whom we are glad to have back on the floor and looking well.

Mr. WALDEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise in support of H.R. 5541, the Tribal Power Act. This legislation was introduced by my colleagues on the Energy and Commerce Committee, Representatives O'Halleran and Mullin, and it does strengthen the Department of Energy's Tribal Energy Program, which is really important to do. This bill went through regular order in the committee and passed out of the full committee by a voice vote. H.R. 5541 updates and reauthorizes programs at the Department of Energy to provide funding and technical assistance to Tribal Governments and organizations so that they can carry out projects that would expand access to energy and provide jobs and economic development on Indian lands. American Indian and Alaska Native communities continue to struggle with energy affordability and access in many cases. Households on some Tribal lands also have higher rates of unemployment and lower incomes, meaning it may not be feasible to increase electricity rates to energize homes that are not currently connected to the electric grid. As a result, communities often rely on relatively expensive diesel microgrids and generators to power homes and businesses. H.R. 5541 would help improve energy security and affordability on Indian lands by reauthorizing important government programs, and it would remove some barriers to providing access to electric service and recommends ways to improve energy education, planning, and management. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 5541, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. WALDEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Mullin). It is a great honor and privilege to recognize Mr. Mullin, a Tribal member, an incredibly important member of our committee who has given great voice to people who need help, and a cosponsor of this legislation.

Mr. WALDEN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Mullin), my friend, for his very generous, over-the-top words. We have had a great working relationship. He is a fierce fighter for the causes he believes in and has been a terrific legislator and will continue to blossom and grow on the Energy and Commerce Committee, I have no doubt. The country will be better served. Indian Country has few stronger voices than his, and none stronger on the Energy and Commerce Committee, I would say. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Scalise), my good friend, the distinguished Republican whip of the House and an incredibly important member of the Energy and Commerce Committee who always came prepared, always did great work, and always presented us with his brick phone.

Mr. WALDEN

Mr. WALDEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. To my friends in this assembly, thank you for your friendship. To the chairman of the committee, we have developed a wonderful relationship. Sometimes your staff and our staff spar, but we are a family, and families do disagree from time to time. But generally speaking, we are headed in the same direction, and that direction is making America a better place for everyone and solving problems. So I am very thankful for your very generous and kind comments, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Speaker, I will say it has been a real delight and joy to work with the chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee. I would have to admit it was a more delight and joy to work with the ranking member of the Energy and Commerce Committee when I was chairman, but that is the way of the world, and that is democracy. We switched roles and handed off the gavel in peace, and we began to approach issues from a different angle but with the same mission. Mr. Speaker, as 2020 comes to a thankful close--I think we are all ready to get it behind us--so does my 22 years of public service in this incredible crucible of democracy, the United States House of Representatives. I want to start by thanking my wife of 38 years, and our son, who is 30, Mylene and Anthony. They have always supported me during my three decades of State and Federal service, all the campaigns, all the meetings, and all the times away. I know my colleagues will understand this when I say I will never fully understand all that they sacrificed so that I could fulfill my duty in office, but I do know it was a lot. I also want to thank my terrific staff over the years, and especially those who helped me build and lead such successful organizations, including my two personal office chiefs of staff of over 22 years, Brian MacDonald and Lorissa Bounds, terrific leaders both; my executive directors at the NRCC when I ran the Republican campaign organization, Liesl Hickey and Rob Simms; and my staff directors at the Energy and Commerce Committee. You have heard of the late great Ray Baum, my colleague dating clear back to the late eighties in the Oregon Legislature and then all the way through just a couple years ago when he passed away of cancer. Mike Bloomquist and Ryan Long also did such terrific work heading up the best committee in Congress. I want to thank the professional staff, many of whom have been on the floor today, my personal staff in Oregon and Washington, D.C. We rely so much on these very smart and talented people, and the country is well-served by their work. I want to thank the thousands of volunteers and supporters of my campaigns over the years. We did it together, and I would like to believe we did it for the right reasons: to leave our State and to leave our country better places than we found them. I also want to thank some important mentors in my life. Of course, I would have to start with my parents, who grew up with nothing during the Great Depression. They taught me the importance of giving back to the community, of working hard, and of always being honest and seldom being judgmental. I want to thank those along the way who gave me some interesting career opportunities. My freshman year in college was spent at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. I want to thank the folks at KTVF and the old KFRB Mighty Ninety in Fairbanks who put a 17-year-old kid in charge of producing and directing the 11 o'clock TV news. I had never been in a TV studio before, and suddenly, as a freshman in college, I was working every night doing that. To Roger Martin, Vic Atiyeh, Gary Wilhelms, and Denny Smith, I learned so much from working for each of you. To former Oregon Speaker Larry Campbell, time and again you showed Oregon how principled leadership produces good results. So it was great sport serving alongside you in the Oregon House. Of course, I want to thank the church, school, and scout leaders who influenced my life in such a positive way. I would give a shout-out to the late Earl Fowler. He was my high school vice principal and student body officer adviser whose counsel, when I was student body president at Hood River Valley High School, was as valuable then as it is now. I remember one of the things he told us as student leaders was: ``When there is a leadership vacuum, fill it.'' He expected us to step up, to lead, and to take on challenges. I am indeed thankful for the opportunity the people of Oregon have given me to represent them in the United States House of Representatives. It is a responsibility I have always taken seriously as I faithfully tried to do my best to represent them. After all, this is their office, not mine. I was simply entrusted to use the powers bestowed upon it for their benefit, something I never forgot. It is part of why I have returned home nearly every weekend and will soon--whenever we wrap up business here--complete my 644th round trip back home. My team and I put special emphasis on taking care of the men and women who wear or have worn our Nation's uniform and defended America's freedom: We helped thousands of Oregon veterans and families receive the benefits they earned and deserved. We worked to strengthen the mission at Kingsley Air Field and open veterans clinics throughout the community and the district. We helped save the veterans facility in White City. America is blessed to have those brave men and women who risk their lives so that we can enjoy ours in peace. America owes them a debt we can never fully repay. Having grown up on a cherry orchard outside of The Dalles, Oregon, I always had great admiration for those who farm and ranch and feed us. I worked hard to protect their way of life, defending farmers and ranchers from bad policy proposals. I stood up for their water rights. I protected their land and ranching way of life. I am especially proud of the Steens Mountain Cooperative Management and Protection Act and the collaborative approach that it envisioned. Moreover, I supported ag research and water conservation efforts throughout the district. And while we made much progress on both fronts, my one regret is that we could never find the key to unlocking a durable and fair solution to the water crisis in the Klamath Basin that could also pass in the Congress. We did make progress to improve forest management, even though I am disappointed Congress has dragged its feet in enacting much-needed reforms to make our Federal forests healthier and more resilient to climate change. It was 17 years ago last week that President Bush signed the Healthy Forest Restoration Act into law. Hopefully, in the next Congress, you all will heed the guidance of our Yale forestry graduate and colleague, Bruce Westerman, to modernize how we manage this great American resource before the rest of it goes up in smoke. Having spent 6 years as chair of the Telecommunications Subcommittee, I am really proud of the bipartisan work we did together to open up spectrum for advanced communications; enact FirstNet, our first responders' new interoperable broadband network; and to expand access to high-speed internet, although much work still remains to fully connect all Americans to high-speed broadband. With the RAY BAUM'S Act, we even reauthorized and modernized the FCC, and, as you heard, that hadn't been done in a couple of decades. When I had the great privilege and honor to chair the Energy and Commerce Committee, we took on the deadly epidemic of drug overdose and combined more than 60 bipartisan pieces of legislation into the SUPPORT Act, which, while focused on the opioid crisis, actually was much bigger than that and provided support for our communities to help all with addiction. We modernized our mental health laws, stepped up medical research, and fully funded the Children's Health Insurance Program for a decade-- something that had never been done before. We modernized the FDA and its approval processes for medicines and medical devices, and thank goodness we did. Some of these changes have already proven their value during this pandemic. I am proud to have done my part to help enact Medicare part D, which finally brought more affordable medicines to America's seniors. While we need to update this law, it is a fact that Medicare part D has been a godsend to seniors who no longer have to board buses to foreign countries to get lifesaving medicines. We also unleashed a cleaner energy revolution in America that created thousands of new jobs and reduces America's carbon emissions, too. Energy innovation holds the opportunity for a strong economy and a healthier environment. Mr. Speaker, as you can tell, I am pretty passionate about good public policy, and I have really enjoyed this opportunity in serving with all of you. I think we can use our resources we have among ourselves in Congress to get good things done for the American people. It wasn't easy to decide to voluntarily leave this wonderful institution, but I had long ago decided I didn't want to get voted out--and I don't think that was going to happen--or carried out. I was confident I would win reelection, and my health is good, so I leave on my own terms, feeling good about that which I have helped improve in the lives of those who entrusted me election after election. I leave feeling positive about the ability to get good policy done right here in the U.S. House of Representatives. In fact, we just worked through a slate of bipartisan bills again today. I will miss this process, and I will miss you, my colleagues. Always remember how important the work you do here is and how much the fate of the American way of life rests in your hands every time you put that voting card in one of these machines. I am a big fan of Theodore Roosevelt. His writings have also had an impact on my life. Just as my high school adviser encouraged us to fill leadership vacuums, so did Roosevelt laud those who climbed into the arena. So I close with President Roosevelt's words: ``It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.'' God bless you, my colleagues, family, and friends, and may God bless the United States of America. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. WALDEN

Mr. WALDEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H. Res. 549. This is a resolution introduced by my colleague, Mrs. Demings, that reaffirms the commitment by Congress to work with media entities and diverse stakeholders to find common ground solutions to eliminate barriers to diversity in our media. As a former radio broadcaster myself, I understand the efforts that the broadcast industry, and the media industry as a whole, takes to ensure diversity of ownership, viewpoint, and employment. My wife and I had to make those hiring decisions for our five radio stations. I know firsthand the business imperative to serve your community with local news and local programming that reflects the makeup of your community. While today's resolution focuses specifically on broadcast stations, this problem is not unique to one segment of the media industry; it is also an issue for their cable and digital streaming competitors in the marketplace. I appreciate the many steps that the industry has taken, not only to recognize and take responsibility for this, but also to put in place the many programs and initiatives to promote opportunities for women, minorities, and veterans. But as the data show, we still have room for improvement. While the House is considering this resolution today, it is my hope that we can work together in a bipartisan manner to address the inequality identified in this resolution. Republicans on the Energy and Commerce Committee have put forward solutions to help uplift minority voices and promote media diversity, solutions that can actually become law, unlike this resolution before us today. Mr. Speaker, in September, the House passed H. Res. 5567, the MEDIA Diversity Act sponsored by Mr. Long, which would help us better understand the market and regulatory barriers for socially disadvantaged individuals to enter and compete in the marketplace. This bill would help us make informed policy decisions. I have also worked with advocates and industry alike to try to find consensus on legislation to establish the long-sought broadcaster incubator program. Now, this would help increase the number of minority-owned broadcast stations. The Broadcast Diversity in Leadership Act, H.R. 8154, would encourage large, established broadcasters to work with aspiring broadcasters to break down barriers to capital and provide mentorship and experience to new, minority entrants. That is how we can ensure their long-term success in serving their local communities. We must better understand the problem before us and how best to incentivize all media entities to create opportunities for and lift the voices of underrepresented individuals. Today, we can affirm our commitment to working toward common ground solutions, as this solution states; but Republicans stand ready to work across the aisle to turn these common ground solutions into law. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. WALDEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Latta), the top Republican on the Communications and Technology Subcommittee.

Mr. WALDEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Latta) an additional 1 minute.

Mr. WALDEN. Mr. Speaker, I believe we had two other speakers planning to come down and speak, but it does not appear they have been able to free themselves from their other business. Mr. Speaker, I encourage us all to support this very strong resolution that our colleague has offered up, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. WALDEN

Mr. WALDEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 3361. This is the Reliable Investment in Vital Energy Reauthorization Act. This legislation was introduced by my colleagues on the Energy and Commerce Committee, Mr. McKinley and Mr. Tonko, to reauthorize the Hydroelectric Production Incentive and hydropower efficiency improvement programs at the Department of Energy. This legislation went through regular order, and it passed the full committee, Energy and Commerce, by a voice vote. H.R. 3361 would authorize payments to support the development of hydropower production at existing dams and conduits. Literally, Mr. Speaker, there are thousands of existing dams in the United States that can support hydropower production while avoiding the costs and environmental effects associated with building new dams. In addition to affordable and renewable energy, hydropower also provides ancillary services to stabilize the electric grid, to provide storage, to maintain emergency black-start capability. I am proud to support H.R. 3361, which would reauthorize these really important Department of Energy programs and will ensure access to renewable, carbon-free, affordable hydropower for years to come. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in voting ``yes'' on H.R. 3361, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. WALDEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from West Virginia (Mr. McKinley), an engineer by trade, a terrific legislator, an important member of our committee, and the sponsor of this legislation.

Mr. WALDEN

Mr. WALDEN. Mr. Speaker, I thank all my colleagues who came down tonight to share these words. I want to assure the American people--it feels like a eulogy--I am actually still alive but deeply indebted for their generosity, their kindness, and their words tonight. It means a lot. I have told people I am not one of the grumpy, cranky Members leaving. This is a great institution with really good people who do good work here. We may not always agree, as my friend from Oregon or my friend from California said, but it doesn't mean we have to be disagreeable. We come here to solve problems. We approach them from different angles representing different Americans, but we come here to find solutions. I have been so blessed to work with people like Mrs. Brooks, Mr. Blumenauer, and my friend from Michigan, Mr. Upton, and the others who were down here. It is a team effort, and we live in a really, really great country. I have been so blessed to be a part of this institution for the last 22 years. Mr. Speaker, I had hair when I came here. Honest. I can show you photos. So it will take a lot out of you. But when I do return home, I will complete my 644th round trip between the Nation's Capitol and home. I did that because I really wanted to stay in touch, and my family is here, and yet it proves the point. On almost every flight, my friend from the Portland area, Mr. Blumenauer, has been right there with me, and our colleague, Mr. DeFazio, almost every trip. And it is what we do as Members here. We go home, we listen to our constituents, we come back, we try and find solutions, whether it is on opioids or internet connectivity, or all the things that have been referenced tonight. My success is attributed to the people I have been able to work with, my colleagues. And as Mr. Upton said, our terrific, brilliant staff in this institution, who work literally day and night. And I know because I get texts from them at midnight when they are reading through a bill or working on an agreement and negotiating at the staff-to-staff level. America is well-served by this institution, and I wish more Americans saw the kind of camaraderie that we have here, the comity we have here, and the accomplishment that we do here. Mr. Speaker, this place still works, and I just wish well the incoming class of new Members who bring new energy and new ideas to this process. I know they, too, come here to represent their people back home. Mr. Speaker, to my friends, thank you. This was most generous, over the top, and a big surprise. I thought I was just headed off as a homeless Member of Congress with no office to find something to eat, but instead, Mrs. McMorris Rodgers said I needed to come with her over here. Thank you to my friends. Mr. Upton, my dear friend--he and Amey and my wife and I are very close--thank you for your kindness and your words. I will have a more formal farewell speech I will give later this week on the House floor, so I will reserve any further comments to that time. Mr. Speaker, I just would, again, thank my friend from Michigan, Mr. Upton.

Mr. WALDEN

Mr. WALDEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commemorate and honor the life and legacy of former Congressman Bob Smith. An Oregon native--born in Portland and raised in Burns--he had a deep understanding of what it meant to be an Oregonian and he knew the needs of the surrounding communities, especially the rural part of our State. He went to Willamette University in Salem and received a degree in agriculture. He would go on to put that degree to work on his own ranch. In 1960, Bob's career as a public servant began when he was elected to the Oregon House of Representatives. He served in the State house until 1972. He was speaker of the Oregon House during the 1969 and 1971 sessions. I remember as a 13-year-old youngster going with my father, whom they were recruiting to run for the legislature, down to Salem to see Bob Smith and the speaker of the house. I was about this tall. I looked up, and here was this giant of a man. He was a giant of a man in Oregon politics, but a very kind soul. He then served in the State senate from 1973 to 1982. When Oregon got its fifth congressional seat, he ran for that and was elected. He actually ran 31 different times for election and never lost a single one. In the State house, Bob passed a number of pieces of legislation. He always stood up for farmers and ranchers in eastern Oregon and for lower taxes. He led the effort in the Congress to pass a balanced budget amendment. In the State senate, he actually helped pass the kicker law, which said when Oregon collects more tax revenue than anticipated, that goes back to the taxpayer. That went into the constitution eventually. Bob went on to serve here, as I said, for 14 years, from 1983 to 1995, and then came back to chair the Agriculture Committee when he returned from 1997 to 1999. I am joined here on the floor today by a colleague from Oklahoma (Mr. Lucas), who served with Chairman Smith on the Agriculture Committee. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Lucas).

Mr. WALDEN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Oklahoma. Mr. Speaker, Bob did live life to the fullest in every measure. And when he and Kaye and Matt and Tiffany and Chris all lived back here, they had a farm outside in Virginia, and then he would commute to Oregon. But on weekends when he was here, he and then-Commerce Secretary Mac Baldrige would rodeo. They would go out and rope and participate in rodeos around, and here you had a sitting Member of Congress and the Secretary of Commerce out in the rodeo grounds. Mr. Speaker, Bob lived a life big and bold. And ``free man,'' like his middle name, he believed in freedom. He believed in freedom in America. He stood up for eastern Oregon and for our farmers and ranchers and our communities. Those of us who fly in and out of central Oregon owe a big thank-you to him as well since he used his ability in this body to get us a tower there so we could have real flights in and out of central Oregon, and improved, certainly, the interchange of I-5 and Highway 62. Mr. Speaker, Bob did so much for our State. He stood strong for our country. He believed in freedom. He was a dear friend. And to Kaye and to Matt and Chris and Tiffany and the whole Smith family, we extend our deepest condolences. What a life well-lived, a public service career that will be tough for anybody to ever top.

Mr. WALDEN

Mr. WALDEN. Madam Speaker, I rise today to introduce a bill that will combat bad actors taking advantage of Medicare by requiring an accreditation process for electrodiagnostic studies or EDX testing. EDX testing is used to diagnose and guide treatment for neuromuscular conditions that range from the uncomfortable, such as carpal tunnel syndrome, to the life threatening, such as ALS and muscular dystrophy. Current Procedural Terminology requires that a clinician trained in EDX testing personally perform invasive needle electromyography and either perform or directly supervise nerve conduction studies. These requirements ensure proper testing is guided in real time based on biofeedback from active study and a knowledge of health history and potential diagnoses. An ongoing challenge for EDX testing has been an increase of fraud and abuse when mobile labs send ``technicians'' to provide an excessive number of tests that are often not medically necessary and tend to be performed poorly, providing inaccurate results that are not clinically relevant. A 2014 report by the HHS OIG entitled ``Questionable Billing for Medicare Electrodiagnostic Tests'' found $139 million in annual suspicious spending in this area. This bill will require that professionals performing EDX testing first demonstrate that they have the proper equipment to conduct the test. Second, professionals must demonstrate that they have the proper training to interpret the results by going through an accreditation process managed by government entities and professional societies. Accreditation has been successful in combating fraud in other patient areas such as mammography and sleep labs. This bill will protect patients seeking treatment by ensuring they receive the most accurate results possible and I strongly urge my colleagues support for its passage.

Mr. WALDEN

Mr. WALDEN. Mr. Speaker, no, I do not. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. WALDEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Guthrie), one of our terrific leaders on the Energy and Commerce Committee on the Republican side and someone who put a lot of time and effort into this bipartisan legislation.

Mr. WALDEN

Mr. WALDEN. Mr. Speaker, we have no speakers left on our side, so I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. WALDEN

Mr. WALDEN. Madam Speaker, I thank my friend from Maryland for his good work on this legislation. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Kinzinger), who is a very talented legislator. He has put a lot into this bill.

Mr. WALDEN. Madam Speaker, I have no more speakers on our side of the aisle. I urge passage of the bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. WALDEN

Mr. WALDEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I want my friend from Maryland to know that we all are sympathetic to what his family has gone through and the loss that he has suffered. That is a very difficult story to tell. When we were working on all the legislation in the last Congress, I met with a lot of families who had suffered similar fates, and it is just a tragedy. So I commend him for his work in a bipartisan way on this issue. And our friend from Virginia, Mr. Riggleman, who I am going to yield to, he has been a terrific legislator during his term in Congress and a good friend. I know how deeply he cares about this issue, and his willingness to work in a bipartisan way should be recognized by all of us. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Riggleman).

Mr. WALDEN

Mr. WALDEN. Madam Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Bilirakis), a State that has dealt with a lot of disasters over the years and will in the future, to talk about this important legislation.