Lynn Westmoreland

Mr. WESTMORELAND

Mr. WESTMORELAND. Then I will save this for later. Let me just say that the Federal Reserve, think about this for a minute. Under the TARP program, the Federal Reserve got $700 billion. We gave them $787 billion in the Obama stimulus package. As you mentioned, that's over $1 trillion. Judge, a lot of people don't realize how much $1 trillion is. If you took $1 trillion and converted it into seconds, 1 million seconds is 11 days, 1 billion seconds is 32 years, 1 trillion seconds is 32,000 years, 32,000 years is 1 trillion seconds. And so we've given them over $1 trillion, and they don't want to be audited. I think that this is something that I hope that Chairman Frank, I'm assuming this is going through Financial Services on a hearing that they're going to have Friday, 290 cosponsors, that is enough to pass a piece of legislation here under suspension. So I certainly hope that the Speaker and the Democratic leadership will once again kind of honor her statement here: ``We will create the most honest, most open and most ethical Congress in history'' by letting us have a vote on auditing the Federal Reserve. The American public deserves the same independent audit accountability from the Fed that they expect from their local bank. The Feds are going out and auditing our local banks every day, Judge, putting a lot of them out of business, putting them on notice that they need to change the way that they're doing business. If they're going to go out and audit our local banks, we certainly need to audit them to make sure that they're doing things by the rule of law and in a commonsense way and in the way that the American people expect them to do with their hard-earned taxpayer dollars. With that, I yield back to the gentleman.

Mr. WESTMORELAND. So if the gentleman would yield for just a second.

Mr. WESTMORELAND. Are we going to introduce a new legislation called the Geithner rule?

Mr. WESTMORELAND. We've got the Rangel rule, and I wonder how many people have, when they returned their money to the IRS and said, I'm claiming the Rangel rule, the Geithner rule is one that definitely people should be concerned about. Today in my office I had two of my dear friends, I had Coach Mike Pickett who came in and coached me in high school and another guy that I went to school with, Mike Sorrow that Coach Pickett coached, and they came in to talk to me just about some of the issues that we were facing up here. One of the things that Coach Pickett said was he said, I'm mad as heck. He said, they're cutting my Social Security, and they've got a plan to cut $500 billion out of the Medicare, he said, and we've got people in Congress that is not even paying their taxes. And of course he was talking about Chairman Rangel. We didn't bring up Secretary Geithner, but I'm sure that would have made him double mad. That would have made his blood pressure even worse to think that the Secretary of the Treasury has got this kind of tax concerns. I go back to this, what Speaker Pelosi said, you got to remember that the U.S. Senate approved this gentleman, confirmed him to be a member of the Cabinet. This is the thing, Judge, that the American people are tired of. And I had one lady tell me the other day at a town hall meeting, she said, I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired. And I think the American people as a whole are sick and tired of being sick and tired of seeing how people in politics, in elected office feel that they're better than the average hardworking American person out there that is paying his taxes. Now, I've had penalties assessed on me before. I think that probably most Americans have had penalties and interest assessed to them for some reason or another. This is unbelievable. In fact, we should be above even the least bit of doubt of what we're doing. He should have paid the penalties anyway. If he had been late, he should have paid the penalties and the interest. Many people may not know this, that when they hear this name on TV, they don't understand that he is the Secretary of the Treasury. He is somebody that is over IRS. And with these findings and the fact that he has not been able to have to pay some of the penalties and the interests that most Americans would have to pay if they were delinquent on their taxes, and especially using your child's time at an overnight camp in three different years, surely he was made aware of that in 2001, but he did it again in 2004 and again in 2005. Surely somebody from the IRS must have told him in that 4-year period that that was not a legal deduction or either he didn't file his taxes. So, Judge, I appreciate you bringing this back up, and I look forward to being a cosponsor, as I was with the Rangel rule, on the Geithner rule.

Mr. WESTMORELAND. Well, I thank you and my congratulations go to Mr. Baird and to the Chair, Mr. Minnick, for pushing this, along with Greg Walden, the gentleman from Oregon, and the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Culberson). In full disclosure, my friend from Texas and Iowa, in full disclosure, when the Republicans were in charge, we did the same thing. We rushed things through, and Mr. Baird, the gentleman from Washington, I think has had this 72-hour resolution in before when we were in charge, and so my hat's off to him for continuing to do this. I think he now has about 178 signatures. Mr. Walden who has a discharge petition has got signatures. We need 218. So if anyone were watching this, if anyone were watching this and if we could speak to them from this floor, I would say make sure your Congressperson has signed this, because I think this is very important that not only the people voting on this have 72 hours to look at it but the people that it's going to affect. I think sometimes we lose sight in this body that when we pass a law, it doesn't just affect the Members in this Chamber. It affects all 300 million people in this country, and so we need to make sure that the people that are going to be affected by the legislation that we're passing has an opportunity to read it. Is everybody going to read it? I doubt it very seriously. Are all the Members of this body going to read it? I doubt it very seriously, but at least they can be held accountable and we can be held accountable for our votes, and people saying, Well, you had 3 days to read it, don't tell me it was something you would rush through. They've got 3 days to read it, and so I commend the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Culberson). I commend Mr. Walden for trying to do the discharge petition, and I think we have about five people from the minority party that has signed that discharge petition, and I want to commend them because that's a courageous act on their part because, as we know from being in the majority at one time, leadership does not like you signing those discharge petitions. But this is something that needs to be brought to the floor. This is something that I think the American people are entitled to have some accountability for from their Members of Congress, and so this goes back to that I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired. And so we need to do this, and again, I hope that this is something that we can get the discharge petition through or, if not, that Speaker Pelosi would just bring this bill to the floor and let us vote on it.

Mr. WESTMORELAND. A.m., a.m.

Mr. WESTMORELAND. No, you said p.m.

Mr. WESTMORELAND. I thank my friend from Texas for yielding. A czar is something that I've been getting a lot of questions about lately. Everywhere I've been in Georgia's Third Congressional District, I'm starting to get questions about the czars. People are wondering who these 34 or 35 czars are. We have already had one exposed to the extent that he eventually resigned. People are starting to understand more and more that these czars are being appointed by the President with no confirmation by the Senate. And they're beginning to say, hey, how is this happening? What's going on here? How long are they going to serve? Do they work directly for the President? Who are they accountable to? What if they have some type of job that's under Mrs. Napolitano or under Geithner, or whatever? Who do they report to? What's the deal? They would report directly to the President. And so we need, really, sunshine on all the appointments, but especially, as the gentleman from Louisiana, H.R. 3569, at least a sunset on all these czars. This is something that the American people are very inquisitive about. I think that because of the number of these czars and because of some of the really Communist views and really ultra left-wing views that some of these czars have that are being exposed is just bringing more and more attention to it. And I think the American people want some accountability. I'll go back to the statement, they're sick and tired of being sick and tired of more government being stacked on. We've got 10 percent unemployment nationwide. We've got some areas with 15, 16, 17, 20 percent unemployment. The only jobs that are growing right now are in the Federal Government. That's the only thing that's growing. With that, Judge, I hope that anybody who could be watching might encourage their Representative to look at H.R. 3569.

Mr. WESTMORELAND

Mr. WESTMORELAND. Madam Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to a fallen American patriot. Thousands of my constituents lined the streets of Peachtree City, Georgia, this week, waving American flags to honor the late Sergeant First Class Shawn Patrick McCloskey. The sergeant, returning home to his final resting place, died while serving in the U.S. Army in Afghanistan. Before joining the service, Sergeant McCloskey worked for a construction company in Fayette County. Like many of his fellow soldiers, he was a regular American, going to work every day and providing for his family, when he decided to join the military in 2002. At a great time of anguish for our Nation, he heard the call to duty and answered it. Sergeant McCloskey became a Green Beret in 2004, and his valor won him many medals and awards, including the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart and the National Defense Service Medal. Our Nation mourns the loss of each soldier sacrificed on the battlefield. Today, we remember and grieve this great American hero, Sergeant First Class Shawn McCloskey. He died so that we and his fellow Americans could continue to live in freedom. We thank the McCloskey family for their gift to us. May God bless them during this hour of grief.

Mr. WESTMORELAND

Mr. WESTMORELAND. Madam Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to a fallen American patriot. Thousands of my constituents in Georgia's 3rd Congressional District lined the streets of Peachtree City, GA, this week, waving American flags, to honor the late SFC Shawn Patrick McCloskey. The sergeant, returning home to his final resting place, died while serving in the U.S. Army in Afghanistan. Sergeant McCloskey, 33, suffered fatal injuries after he was hit by a roadside bomb Sept. 15 while on patrol in Ghur Ghuri. SFC Bradley Bohle of Maryland and SSG Joshua Mills of Texas also died in the attack. Before joining the service, Sergeant McCloskey worked for a construction company in Fayette County. Like many of his fellow soldiers, he was a regular American, going to work every day and providing for his family when he decided to join the military in 2002. At a time of great anguish for our Nation, he heard the call to duty and he answered it. After Special Forces training, Sergeant McCloskey became a Green Beret and performed intelligence work in Colombia. When he died, he was serving his third tour in the Global War on Terror. His meritorious service won him many medals and awards, including the Bronze Star, Purple Heart and the National Defense Service Medal. Our Nation mourns the loss of each soldier sacrificed on the battlefield. But there is no tribute we can give that eases the pain of the Gold Star families. Sergeant McCloskey is survived by his wife Jessica and two children, Katie and Collin, and also his parents Patrick and Kathryn McCloskey of Fayetteville. Today, we remember and grieve this great American hero, SFC Shawn McCloskey. He died so that we, his fellow Americans, could continue to live in freedom. We thank the McCloskey family for their gift to us. May God bless them during their hour of greatest need.

Mr. WESTMORELAND

Mr. WESTMORELAND. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that my name be removed as a cosponsor of H. Res. 648.

Mr. WESTMORELAND

Mr. WESTMORELAND. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to our guest chaplain for the day here in the House, the Reverend Dr. Benny Tate. Dr. Tate has served the members of Rock Springs Congregational Methodist Church in Milner, Georgia, for 20 years, and I'm honored to count him as a friend. Dr. Tate is a leader among God's followers. He's well known in Georgia for delivering powerful, informative, and even life-changing messages from the pulpit of his church and from behind the microphone of his radio show, Apples of Gold, which is broadcast statewide on 15 stations. Rock Springs Congregational Methodist Church has thrived during Dr. Tate's tenure. The church has grown from 35 members when he took the helm 20 years ago to more than 4,600 worshippers today. The church has put those resources into the service of God's people and the church's community. Every day, Rock Springs teaches the next generation to live by biblical principles at Rock Springs Christian Academy. Dr. Tate's church also conducts a prison ministry and a nursing home ministry, and it sponsors a medical clinic for the uninsured. Georgia's Third District is privileged to have wise and selfless religious leaders such as Dr. Tate. It's a great honor to have him with us here today.

Mr. WESTMORELAND

Mr. WESTMORELAND. I want to thank my friend from Texas in the spirit that you are doing this. And I think you are doing this in the right spirit, that it is nothing personal against anybody. All we are saying is that we feel like what the President said back in February of this year should be lived up to by the Members of his party that are in control of this House. It is interesting that you brought up the Caribbean trip and the fact that the chairman of the investigation of this Caribbean trip to my friend from Texas was a participant in one of these Caribbean trips. That seems to be a little bit of a conflict of interest in itself. And then, as you mentioned, some of these are in the hands of the House Ethics Committee; they are being investigated. But Mr. Rangel has given political contributions to three of the five Democrats that are on this panel that are investigating him. And so there seems to be some conflict of interest. And as the gentleman stated and my friend from North Carolina stated, I think the American people want to be free from any sort of insinuation that there could be some corruption, not only from his filings or his reporting of his assets and liabilities as we are required by the House rules, but in this investigation. And I think it's very interesting that, and I am sure the gentleman from Texas will get into it later, but I would like to bring up that under H.R. 3200, when this bill, the health care bill, went through Mr. Rangel's committee, the Ways and Means Committee, who was looking for revenue to pay for this, that it was interesting that they came up with some new tax laws that would actually punish those who failed to alert the IRS to potentially questionable tax exemptions, those people who are willing to come clean and kind of tell them yourself if they find out that something has been in error, bar the IRS from waiving penalties against taxpayers who clearly erred in good faith. And I think this goes back to what my friend from Texas was talking about and the fact that Mr. Rangel has acknowledged that this was a mistake, and that he paid his taxes, but there was no penalty and interest. Yet, it seems unbelievable that in this legislation that came out of his committee that he wants to almost double the fines in those instances. In fact, one provision of the measure would double the fine against the taxpayer from 20 percent of the underpayment to 40 percent. And this goes back to what the President's statement said, you know, we don't need to have one set of standards for those people who are powerful. And nobody can deny the power of the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee in this House versus that of the ordinary person, the guy that works every day and is paying his taxes and that may have made some type of mistake. We all make mistakes. That brings us back to the House rules. And we are talking about being a country of laws. And this body certainly should live by the laws that it sets for itself in the reporting. And I am sure that many of us in here have had to amend these things or think of something and will amend it. But when you amend it for twice of what it was of things that you forgot, and there is a whole list of the things that Chairman Rangel said that he had just forgot to list, but some of those were pretty eye-opening things that he had forgotten. And it not only goes to him, but his staff that help him write legislation. And certainly one of them, I think, is his legal staff, one is his chief, that have gone back and actually filed amendments back since 2002. And so I think that just under the cloud of this suspicion, that the right thing for Chairman Rangel to do would be to step down until this investigation is complete. And I don't think that's too much to ask. And there is a lady that writes for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that I have not agreed with a lot. But in this case, I do agree with her. Her name is Cynthia Tucker. I would like to read for the Record the comment that she made on September 4 of this year. ``Rangel ought to do the honorable thing and step down. Just last week, he amended financial disclosure forms to report hundreds of thousands of dollars in income he earned between 2002 and 2006. He forgot a Merrill Lynch account valued between $250,000 and $500,000.'' I don't know about my friend from Texas, but if I had that much money, I don't know that I would forget about it. ``He neglected to mention tens of thousands in rent from a New York brownstone he once owned, and his ownership of tens of thousands of dollars in municipal bonds also slipped his mind.'' This comes from a very liberal writer for the AJC, and there are many more from the Buffalo News, the Washington Post and so on and so on, of people that see this for what it is and the fact that under this cloud of suspicion, the right thing for the chairman to do would be to step aside until the air can be cleared and this investigation can be completed. Again, I want to thank my friend from Texas for bringing this up and the spirit in which he is bringing it up. I have had a lot of constituents ask me if they could claim the ``Rangel rule'' on their tax. So my friend from Texas has certainly got that message out. We don't know what the outcome of this will be, but I think the eyes of this country are on this one particular interest, to see how we handle it and how we handle ourselves. With that, I yield back.

Mr. WESTMORELAND

Mr. WESTMORELAND. Mr. Speaker, Democrats have a 70-vote majority in this House. They have a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. They have a President with high personal popularity ratings. They don't need Republicans to pass their agenda. They remind us of this often, changing the House rules whenever we manage to score a tactical victory. Yet, Democrat leaders would have Americans believe that Republicans are obstructing passage of their health care legislation for political purposes. If we had the power to stop the health care legislation, why didn't we Republicans stop the stimulus bill that has run up debt without creating jobs? Why didn't we stop the cap-and-trade bill that killed hundreds of thousands of good-paying jobs and tax every American that owns a light switch? Why not? Because Democrats have the votes to pass whatever they like. The health care agenda has hit the rocks not because of Republican politics, but because of Democratic policy. Americans know a government takeover of health care won't bring down costs; it will simply raise taxes, kill jobs, and lower quality of care. The killer of this bill is not politics but policy.

Mr. WESTMORELAND

Mr. WESTMORELAND. Madam Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Eddie Ball, who retired as the director of the Emergency Management Agency of Coweta County, GA, in September 2008 after nearly 20 years of service. Mr. Ball shepherded the county's emergency response agency through an important time of growth and progress. He oversaw implementation of the county's 911 operating system, and he managed the day-to-day emergency response network. During his tenure, 911 calls in the county increased from less than 33,000 per year to more than 100,000 per year. As leader of the agency, Mr. Ball served on the front lines of saving lives and treasure. His agency provided the most basic and most important government service: keeping people safe. On occasion, the call to service would border on the bizarre. According to a 2006 article in the Newnan Times-Herald, Mr. Ball sometimes had to respond to Bigfoot sightings. He's even credited with coining the name ``Belt Road Booger'' after residents deluged county officials with reports of a large, hairy, two-legged critter roaming the Belt Road area on the west side of Newnan. (Mr. Ball theorized the ``Booger'' was actually a local, eccentric, now-deceased man who roamed the roadside.) For his dedication to solving problems that ranged from the normal to the paranormal, Mr. Ball was recognized this year by the Georgia General Assembly, which noted his ``significant organizational and leadership talents, his remarkable patience and diplomacy, his keen sense of vision, and his sensitivity to the needs of the citizens.'' I ask my colleagues in the House to join me in saluting Eddie Ball, the longest serving Emergency Management Agency director in the history of Coweta County. On behalf of the people of Georgia's Third Congressional District, I thank him for his service and I wish him health and happiness in his retirement.

Mr. WESTMORELAND

Mr. WESTMORELAND. Mr. Speaker, when this administration took over on January 20, the unemployment was at about 7.2 percent, and they made a promise that this new stimulus of $787 billion would create or would save 600,000 jobs. Since that point, we've lost 2 million jobs. Where are the jobs? The President's top economic adviser pictured here, Mr. Larry Summers, has made us all feel better in this country by telling us: Of all the statistics pouring into the White House every day, top economic adviser Larry Summers highlighted one Friday to make his case that the economic free-fall has ended. The number of people searching for the term ``economic depression'' on Google is down to normal levels, Summers said. Searches for the term were up fourfold when the recession deepened in the earlier part of the year, and the recent shift goes to show consumer confidence is higher, Summers told Peterson Institute for International Economics. Mr. Speaker, where are the jobs? I'm telling you that somebody in this administration is asleep at the wheel.

Mr. WESTMORELAND

Mr. WESTMORELAND. Madam Speaker, due to a family member's medical condition on July 17, 2009, I missed a number of votes. Had I been present, I would have voted the following: ``No'' on table Appeal of the Ruling of the Chair, rollcall No. 573; ``No'' on ordering the Previous Question, rollcall No. 574; ``No'' on agreeing to the Resolution Rule providing for the consideration of H.R. 1018, the Restore Our American Mustangs Act, rollcall No. 575; ``No'' on agreeing to the Hastings of Washington Part B Substitute Amendment, rollcall No. 576; ``No'' on passage the Restore Our American Mustangs Act, rollcall No. 577; ``Aye'' on agreeing to the Heinrich amendment, rollcall No. 578; ``Aye'' on agreeing to the Cao amendment, rollcall No. 579; ``Aye'' on agreeing to the Blackburn amendment, rollcall No. 580; ``Aye'' on agreeing to the Campbell amendment, rollcall No. 581; ``Aye'' on agreeing to the Flake amendment, rollcall No. 582; ``Aye'' on agreeing to the Flake amendment, rollcall No. 583; ``Aye'' on agreeing to the Flake amendment, rollcall No. 584; ``Aye'' on agreeing to the Flake amendment, rollcall No. 585; ``Aye'' on agreeing to the Flake amendment, rollcall No. 586; ``Aye'' on agreeing to the Flake amendment, rollcall No. 587; ``Aye'' on agreeing to the Hensarling amendment, rollcall No. 588; ``Aye'' on agreeing to the Hensarling amendment, rollcall No. 589; ``Aye'' on agreeing to the Hensarling amendment, rollcall No. 590; ``No'' on motion to recommit with instructions, rollcall No. 591; and ``No'' on passage making appropriations for energy and water development and related agencies, FY 2010, rollcall No. 592.

Mr. WESTMORELAND

Mr. WESTMORELAND. Madam Speaker, due to a personal medical condition on July 7, 2009 I missed two votes. Had I been present, I would have voted the following: ``Aye'' on Directing the Architect of the Capitol to place a marker in Emancipation Hall in the Capitol Visitor Center which acknowledges the role that slave labor played in the construction of the United States Capitol, and for other purposes. (rollcall No. 478) ``No'' to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to provide an annual grant to facilitate an iron working training program for Native Americans. (rollcall No. 479)

Mr. WESTMORELAND

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

Mr. WESTMORELAND. Was the last vote held open to change the outcome of the vote?

Mr. WESTMORELAND. I'm sorry, the House was not in order, and I did not hear your answer. I'm sorry.

Mr. WESTMORELAND. Further parliamentary inquiry.

Mr. WESTMORELAND. Madam Speaker, I know that at times we hold the vote open to make sure that everyone has a chance to vote. In the last vote, approximately 24 more people voted than had voted in the previous vote 5 minutes earlier. So what was the reason for leaving the vote open when clearly the outcome was changed by the vote being held open and people changing their vote?

Mr. WESTMORELAND. What is that minimum time?

Mr. WESTMORELAND. That was a minimum 5-minute vote? Further parliamentary inquiry, what is the max time?