Charles Wilson

Mr. WILSON of Ohio

Mr. WILSON of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to urge my colleagues to support the revised Affordable American Health Care Act. We need comprehensive health care reform for people like Mary in my district. When her husband retired from his job, they both lost their health insurance. They had COBRA for 18 months, but it ran out. Mary had to look for alternative coverage. Unfortunately, she has a preexisting condition. Mary, Mr. Speaker, has rheumatoid arthritis. She suffers and has had countless rejections from one insurance company to another and it has been very difficult for her. Under the revised Affordable Health Care for America Act, Mary and other Americans would not suffer from preexisting conditions. Finally, as early as next year, they would receive fair health care that they deserve. I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 3962.

Mr. WILSON of Ohio

Mr. WILSON of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of liability reform. I have heard from people all across my district in Ohio about how much they need health insurance reform. I have heard from Dawn, a small business owner who has a story that is truly heartbreaking. Due to a doctor's mistake when her son was 23 days old, Dawn's son was left with lifelong brain damage. For the past 10 years, she and her husband have struggled to find insurance for her son. When no insurance would cover him, they were forced to pay out of pocket for all of his doctors' appointments, physical therapy, and they are currently living at the poverty level. Between the two of them, they have held as many as five jobs to try to cover their son's medical expenses. Last year, in my district in Ohio, there were 1,270 health care- related bankruptcies. Without comprehensive health care insurance reform, Dawn's family could be the next one. We are at a breaking point. We must come together and bring security and stability to our health care system for families like Dawn's and for everyone else in this country.

Mr. WILSON of Ohio

Mr. WILSON of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to give a positive update on the progress of the recovery package. When the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act came before Congress earlier this year, I had to make a tough decision on how I would vote. I am happy that I voted for the recovery. We have had recovery funds go towards improving infrastructure, funding our medical research, and improving our schools for our children. Just last week, my district received over $20 million in stimulus funds to improve water quality and almost $2 million in medical research funding. The positive impacts of this legislation are being seen across the State of Ohio and the country. A report recently shows that the Recovery Act has saved or created about 1 million jobs. In fact, in the last month, unemployment has dropped in each the 12 counties that I represent in Ohio. With almost three-fourths of the stimulus funds still set to be released, I expect to see additional jobs saved and created across the country and in my district. I am excited to see the progress that we are making and will continue to make.

Mr. WILSON of Ohio

Mr. WILSON of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I come to the floor this morning to dispel a misleading rumor I recently heard about small business and health care reform. Some are saying that, by requiring employers to offer health insurance for their employees or to opt out, we are going to crush small business. As a small business owner for over 40 years, I can assure you, Mr. Speaker, that this reform will not cost us jobs in small business. Under our current system, there is no requirement for employers to offer insurance. Yet 99 percent of large firms do offer and nearly 65 percent of small firms offer insurance to their employees. For the firms already offering coverage, health care reform will bring much- needed competition and affordability to the insurance market. In addition, the smallest firms will be exempt. Finally, a 50 percent credit will be available to help pay premiums for the small businesses' insurance expenses. In Ohio's Sixth Congressional District, which I serve, over 11,000 small businesses will receive credits to help cover their employees. As we continue to work on health care reform, I am committed to making sure small business continues to thrive and expand.

Mr. WILSON of Ohio

Mr. WILSON of Ohio. Madam Speaker, I rise today to give my support to the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act, a bill which will make historic investments in our Nation's higher education. This legislation covers a broad array of initiatives to make college more affordable and accessible for everyone, and I am particularly glad to see that it does much to strengthen community colleges. In this challenging economy, community colleges offer a crucial opportunity for students to fully prepare for the workforce. In 2007, there were over 156,000 students enrolled in Ohio's community colleges. I was pleased to see that this legislation provided the attention and funding that community colleges deserve. This bill creates a new grant program that improves the resources and instruction at community colleges and emphasizes the partnerships between the colleges and local employers. In addition, it invests in the renovation and modernization of aging facilities. In areas where many students can't afford a 4-year university, these community colleges provide a quality education and the training needed to succeed. These students deserve the increase in funding this legislation proposes. I urge all my colleagues to support this bill.

Mr. WILSON of Ohio

Mr. WILSON of Ohio. I rise today in strong support of statutory pay- as-you-go legislation, which will be taken up this week by the House. This bill demonstrates our commitment to fiscal responsibility and will restore the policy that led us from deficit spending to debt to surpluses. We have to reduce our deficit spending. If we don't, we will not be able to invest in vitally important priorities like health care, education, and clean energy. PAYGO is very simple: All the policies that cut taxes or reduce revenues must be paid for or offset over 5 and 10 years. All policies that expand entitlement spending must be paid for over 5 and 10 years. Discretionary spending is not subject to PAYGO, and exceptions could be made for emergencies. This makes common sense and families live by it every day. If you spend more in one area of the family budget, you have got to cut back in other areas. It's about time that our government start living by the same rule.

Mr. WILSON of Ohio

Mr. WILSON of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, last night I introduced the Investment in American Steel Act of 2009. My bill will ensure that as our Nation moves toward an energy- efficient, green economy that we continue to invest both in American- made steel and our Nation's steel workers. The production of wind turbines in the United States offers an exciting opportunity for thousands of American steelworkers and manufacturers nationwide. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act included an important provision, providing manufacturers with a tax credit for investing in clean, renewable energy, and one of them being wind energy. While I fully support the initiative, I believe if a company receives a tax credit for building windmills here in the United States, they should use American-made steel to build those windmills. My bill will encourage the use of American steel in windmills by giving the full tax credit to companies using U.S. steel. The less U.S. steel they use, the lower the tax credit would go. During this difficult economic time, it is more important than ever that we make an investment in both our Nation's workers and in the U.S. steel market. My bill will accomplish just that.

Mr. WILSON of Ohio

Mr. WILSON of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, last week I introduced the Rural Career and Technical Education Expansion Act, a bill that would provide student loan forgiveness to career and technical teachers at rural high schools. Just last month I visited Jefferson County Vocational School where several teachers would be able to qualify for loan forgiveness. My hope is that more career and tech teachers will choose to stay in rural areas with the help of my legislation. More and more students in regions like mine are pursuing a technical education. My legislation would help provide these students with the best and the brightest vocational educators. When the bill becomes law, eligible vocational teachers could receive up to $17,500 in student loan forgiveness. I urge all my colleagues to support the benefits these teachers deserve.

Mr. WILSON of Ohio

Mr. WILSON of Ohio. Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 1728, the Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending Act. My State of Ohio is one of the hardest hit States by foreclosures, so I know how important it is for us to pass this bill. Ohio is projected to lose 87,000 homes to foreclosure just this year. That means that more than 291,000 homes over the next 4 years will be lost. Ohio's economy will be affected by over $10.7 billion. H.R. 1728 will help Ohio and America begin to heal. This legislation has been a long time coming. The bill will provide much-needed relief to hardworking families. It will stop bad subprime loans from being made in the first place by making sure that consumers get mortgages that they can repay. It will strengthen consumer protection against reckless and abusive lending practices. I would like to thank Congressmen Frank and Kanjorski and also Congresswoman Waters for their hard work and perseverance on this issue.

Mr. WILSON of Ohio

Mr. WILSON of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I come to the floor today to congratulate the Mahoning Valley on a much-deserved honor. It recently ranked seventh in the Nation among mid-sized metropolitan areas for business attraction and expansion, according to Site Selection magazine. This is the first time the Valley has been chosen since the survey began 30 years ago. Amidst all the bad economic news, this announcement was a bright spot that demonstrates all the hard work our businesses, workforce, and elected officials have put into making our community a great place to live and work and expand. The Mahoning Valley is ripe for economic development, and I am so pleased to see it receive such positive recognition. The magazine recognizes the local metropolitan area, which includes Mahoning, Trumbull, and Columbiana Counties in Ohio. Congratulations, Mahoning Valley. I am so proud to represent you, and look forward to continuing to help foster economic development in Ohio's Sixth District.

Mr. WILSON of Ohio

Mr. WILSON of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I am proud to have supported the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. It is one of the first steps we look in our journey to strengthen and improve our country's health care system. We can't fix our economy without fixing health care. The recovery plan will provide $20 billion to speed the adoption of health information technology systems by doctors and hospitals. This will modernize our health care system, reduce medical errors, save billions of dollars and create jobs. Recently, I visited Holzer Medical Center in my district in Gallipolis, Ohio. Doctors there showed me how health IT helps them to speed medical records from doctor to doctor and cut down on extra medical tests. That saves time and money. Mr. Speaker, in fact, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that health IT investments will generate up to $40 billion in savings for Medicare and private health insurance companies. Those savings can be passed along to American families. I look forward to watching continued improvements at hospitals back home, like Holzer. And I look forward to continuing our work to further improve health care.

Mr. WILSON of Ohio

Mr. WILSON of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce the Give Our Teachers a Head Start Act, a bill which makes strong investments in today's Head Start teachers and teachers' aides. In this challenging economy, Head Start programs around the Nation are feeling the consequences. And when budget shortfalls hit these programs, it is the children who suffer. Many teachers and teachers' aides attempt to fill the gap and make personal financial sacrifices to provide their students with classroom supplies. The average Head Start teacher with a B.A. degree earns almost half of the average Kindergarten teacher, but is excluded from the current law permitting K-12 teachers an income tax deduction. This legislation would permit Head Start teachers and teachers' aides the ability to subtract from their gross income up to $250 in expenses that would be associated with the purchase of classroom supplies. When funding falls short and teachers sacrifice to fill the gap, it seems only fair that they should at least get a tax deduction. I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

Mr. WILSON of Ohio

Mr. WILSON of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, tonight the American people will hear the truth about the fiscal situation that President Obama inherited. There won't be any sugarcoating in the form of accounting gimmicks that hide the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, natural disasters and some Medicare payments. President Obama believes that government should be honest, and he is doing the right thing by eliminating accounting gimmicks. Such tricks gave the false impression that the government was actually addressing our Nation's fiscal mess when it really wasn't. Mr. Speaker, tonight President Obama will level with the American people about the $1.3 trillion deficit that he inherited from President Bush. In the days ahead, we will work with President Obama to make the hard choices necessary to put us back on a fiscally responsible path.

Mr. WILSON of Ohio

Mr. WILSON of Ohio. Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong support of the State Children's Health Insurance Program, a program also known as SCHIP. With both Ohio and our Nation's unemployment level above 7 percent-- with job losses expected to continue to rise--it's more important than ever that American families have access to affordable health care. Reauthorizing SCHIP will serve as the first step toward providing hardworking Americans with the help they need to take care of their families during these difficult times. Children in rural areas, like my district, Ohio's Sixth District, depends on Medicaid or SCHIP for health insurance. Reauthorizing this vital program will ensure that more than 230,000 children in my home State of Ohio can continue to receive quality health care coverage. At a time when our Nation is facing unprecedented job losses and increased economic strain, it's critical that Congress work together to pass this legislation.

Mr. WILSON of Ohio

Mr. WILSON of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, for far too long our country has suffered from the effects of this administration's lack of an energy plan. This New Direction Congress has worked hard to set new standards for energy efficiency and independence. We enacted into law the first new vehicle efficiency standards in 32 years. These standards will actually save the average family $1,000 a year. We created a diverse portfolio of alternative fuel standards that, when combined with traditional energy sources, puts us on the right track to becoming less dependent on foreign oil. And we helped lower prices at the pump by pressuring the administration to suspend the deposit into the government reserve. With these efforts we have made important steps. Much more needs to be done. We must come up with a more responsible energy policy that will provide relief for working families. I believe that the solution to this problem requires Congress to focus on the Nation's efforts of encouraging innovation, while still using the abundant resources we have, like coal. I look forward to working on a comprehensive energy program this week and to make real progress for our Nation.

Mr. WILSON of Ohio

Mr. WILSON of Ohio. Thank you, Congressman Ross. Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight in support of the Congress' efforts to construct a new energy policy that will increase our renewable energy, our portfolio and the resources that we already have here at home. And that's one of the things that I'm really proud to be here this evening to speak with my fellow Blue Dogs and, certainly Congressmen Costa and Ross both who have gone before me. And the thing they stress that is so important, Mr. Speaker, they keep saying that we are so concerned that we use common sense in what we're doing. And I know myself, I have been supportive of drilling all along. I believe it's the right thing to do. We need to have our resources to help people who are feeling severe pain in our country right now. I'm concerned, though, that the oil that we drill here be oil that we keep here. And so I believe it's American oil, and we should use it for America's needs. I feel the same way about natural gas. I believe it's one of the other issues that we're going to have to deal with in a very near time frame. It concerns me that I can see buses running around Washington, D.C. right now, and they are run on gas. Why can't we do more of that? Why can't we use that natural resource that we have to lessen our dependence on foreign oil? I believe that's one of the significant efforts that we need to make. Mr. Speaker, I represent a part of Ohio that has had a long proud period of steel and coal. We use coal in our area in many ways. And as a matter of fact, if we're fortunate enough, very soon to get our coal- to-liquid plan in my district in Columbiana County, Ohio. I will be very, very proud because we will be able to introduce a process that is safe, that we can sequester the carbon, we can grind the coal, we can use it to make fuel oil for airplanes. It's a new type of diesel project that can be done that actually burns cleaner than what our Air Force and what our airplanes are using now. So it's a great opportunity for us to find an alternative way to develop our own fuel. And the amount of fuel that our airplanes use, people don't realize, but it's huge. And so this plant of ours in Ohio will produce 50,000 barrels a day. And that's just a small dent, but I think it could be a prototype for the kinds of thing that can happen with our natural resources of coal and being able to use it clean to produce the kind of fuel that will help us with alternative fuel. As you drive up and down the Ohio River, you can see along my district of southeastern Ohio what amount of energy plants we have that use coal to produce electricity and also now to be using diesel fuel. You can see that this liquid fuel will help us more and more to reduce our dependency. And as someone said earlier, I believe it was Congressman Ross, that we are going to have a shortage of electricity now in the not-too-distant future. This shortage of electricity, it is very important that we understand that we start gearing up for it now. We have the technology to burn coal clean to produce electricity. We can provide the coal with safe mining techniques that we have today, the technology that will make a difference in how we can get our coal out. I believe that coal is another part of our energy plan that we need to look at, and especially from my area where we have an abundance of it, some say 200 to 300 years. So we can mine this coal and use it for an opportunity to help our workforce. So I think as we drill and we have in mind that we're going to create a campus, or as Congressman Costa said, a toolbox, if you will, of different kinds of alternative energy. And I believe if we could start doing that, we will be in better shape. I yield back to our leader, Congressman Ross.

Mr. WILSON of Ohio

Mr. WILSON of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I'm sad to be here this evening, but I'm also proud that we can rise on this occasion to join my colleagues in paying tribute to the honor of Stephanie Tubbs Jones. It's right that we express the condolences of the House of Representatives. I feel like she was a dear friend to all of us, and I know that I loved her and that so many of my colleagues did. It came as a terrible shock a week ago Tuesday when we found out that Stephanie died, but it's appropriate that we have this resolution we're doing this evening to appropriately honor a devoted American, and Stephanie was a devoted American. Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones was a champion for the residents in the Greater Cleveland area. She was a tireless voice for our State of Ohio. She always greeted me with a big smile and, many times, with a hug. It was just the way she did and the way she treated people. A colleague of hers recently said that he felt that Stephanie treated people that way because it was almost as if God were watching. She was taken from us way too soon. Mr. Speaker, her work was not finished. She is counting on us to carry on. My deepest sympathy goes out to her son, Mervyn, to her sister, Barbara, and to her extended family. She will be sorely missed by the Ohio congressional delegation, by all of Congress, and I will miss working with her.

Mr. WILSON of Ohio

Mr. WILSON of Ohio. Madam Speaker, last week this House passed comprehensive legislation that will assist homeowners facing foreclosure and help strengthen the housing market and our overall economy. This bill will help significant numbers of hardworking American families in danger of losing their home refinance into lower cost government-insured mortgages, and we can do this at no cost to the American taxpayer. The bill also helps neighborhoods hardest hit by the foreclosure crisis by providing resources to allow cities and States to buy up and rehabilitate foreclosed properties. Today, these properties are driving down home prices, reducing State and local revenues, and destabilizing neighborhoods. Madam Speaker, we simply cannot revitalize the economy without addressing our Nation's housing crisis. Last week, the Democratic Congress once again acted on the real challenges facing the American people.

Mr. WILSON of Ohio

Mr. WILSON of Ohio. Madam Speaker, the House will be voting later to make sure a military sole survivor is allowed every benefit as if they had stayed in the military for their entire service. A military sole survivor is a courageous member of our armed services who is pulled out of service because all of their siblings have died while also serving our country. Military sole survivors deserve the full benefits as if they had served and stayed their complete tour of duty. We're paying for this important benefit by repealing the limit placed on funeral trusts. As a funeral director and a Congressman, I come to the floor today to talk about how important qualified funeral trusts are for the American people. The cost of a funeral in the United States is rapidly increasing. That's why, several years ago, qualified funeral trust plans were created within the tax code to allow people to plan and prepay for their funeral costs, lifting the financial burden from the families after their death. Current law limits a funeral trust to $9,000. This is often no longer sufficient to cover the family's funeral expenses. With this contribution limit, even those who preplan their own funerals often leave their family with substantial debt. I know how families hurt during these times, I've seen it every day. The last thing they need to worry about is making sure that they have enough to cover their arrangements. This bill eliminates that limitation and even creates an income stream for the American taxpayer. That's a win-win situation. Complying with PAYGO, helping our soldiers, and allowing families to plan ahead, all are getting a win today. I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of this important bill.

Mr. WILSON of Ohio

Mr. WILSON of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 467, had I been present, I would have voted ``yea.''

Mr. WILSON of Ohio

Mr. WILSON of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, with gas prices reaching $4 a gallon and rising, the American people are searching for real relief at the pump. While Washington Republicans continue to advocate for the same failed energy policies that got us where we are today, Democrats are providing American consumers with real solutions. We must increase drilling. I support a new piece of legislation that says to oil companies: Use it or lose it. Use the leases you have on land where we know there is oil or lose those leases to an oil company that is willing to drill. Oil companies that are raking in record profits are currently sitting on 68 million acres of leased oil-rich Federal land that they are not drilling. The amount of oil which could be produced from these reserves would nearly double the total U.S. production. If oil companies drilled those 68 million acres, the U.S. could produce an additional 4.8 million barrels a day. Mr. Speaker, this week, we will have the opportunity to tell Big Oil to either use the leases they have or to lose them.

Mr. WILSON of Ohio

Mr. WILSON of Ohio. Madam Speaker, there are two people to blame for the extremely high increase in gas prices, President Bush and Vice President Cheney, two men who came to the White House from the executive suites of Big Oil. This week, the President proposed a proposal that was literally written by the oil industry: Give more public resources to the very same oil companies that are raking in record profits and are sitting on 68 million acres of Federal lands they already have leased. The President called for opening the Outer Continental Shelf to drilling, even though more than 80 percent of that is already under lease at this time. The President reported the same old rhetoric about drilling in ANWR, even though his own Energy Department has concluded that will bring no solution for the next 20 years. This type of rhetoric is what is hurting us and will continue to hurt our country. Madam Speaker, America cannot afford any more failed Bush-Cheney energy policies.

Mr. WILSON of Ohio

Mr. WILSON of Ohio. Madam Chairman, I rise today in support of H.R. 6063, the NASA Authorization Act of 2008. Since the beginning of flight, my home State of Ohio has played a critical role in the aerospace industry. From Wilbur and Orville Wright and the invention of the airplane, to the first American-manned orbital mission by Senator John Glenn, to Neil Armstrong's famous walk on the Moon--Ohioans have been instrumental in maintaining the United States leadership in space. Fifty years after the creation of NASA, Ohio continues to play an important role in the aerospace industry. Ohio's NASA Glenn facility pioneered the use of liquid hydrogen as a rocket fuel--enabling astronauts to reach the Moon. And today, NASA Glenn is working to build cutting-edge vehicles that will one day send a new generation of explorers to the Moon and Mars. NASA's economic impact in Ohio is deep and far-reaching. Today, Ohio's aerospace industry includes 600 companies and employs more than 66,000 Ohioans each year. It is clear that NASA provides significant benefits to the American people. That's why I am proud to support H.R. 6063. It is a fiscally responsible bill that works to ensure that NASA has the resources it needs to successfully conduct a balanced set of missions in human spaceflight, science, and aeronautics. This bill recognizes that NASA is an important contributor to the Nation's innovation agenda and builds on the provisions included in last year's ``America COMPETES Act.'' H.R. 6063 includes provisions that will provide our Nation's next generation of engineers and scientists with the hands-on training and education they need to advance our space program. Madam Chairman, on the 50th anniversary of the U.S. space program and the establishment of NASA, I urge my colleagues in joining with me in supporting this important bill. Mr. CALVERT, Madam Chairman, I commend Subcommittee Chairman Udall, Chairman Gordon and Ranking Members Hall and Feeney and their staff for their work on this bipartisan bill. It is most appropriate that we recommit our Federal support and investment to our Nation's civilian space and aeronautics agency during this 50 anniversary year. NASA has been the Nation's leading catalyst for innovation and technology based on 50 years of broad public support and strong bipartisan political leadership. The agency's work is linked to larger issues like national security, global warming, and American competitiveness. This valuable research is also the genesis of tens of thousands of high-tech jobs in America and millions of dollars into our economy. H.R. 6063 largely follows in the tradition of the NASA Authorization Act of 2005, the first authorization bill to endorse the Vision for Space Exploration which chartered the agency to move beyond low-Earth orbit. I enthusiastically support most measures in this reauthorization including: the reasonable increase in authorization levels which allows the agency to maintain a balanced and robust portfolio of exploration, science and aeronautics activities; the accelerated development of the Orion and Ares launch systems in order to minimize U.S. reliance on Russia for access to the International Space Station; and the full authorization of the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program, as well as the funding to develop a commercial crew capability under this program. I am somewhat concerned about language that may inappropriately tie the administrator's hands by requiring three shuttle flights; two contingency and one for the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, before the fleet's final retirement. I understand why the committee has included the language but I also encourage the Science Committee leadership to work with the NASA administrator to alleviate the outstanding concerns about NASA's ability to properly manage the shuttle fleet and the remaining flight manifest without the mandated flexibility; especially if under unexpected budget and safety constraints. Overall, I am happy to lend my strong support to this reauthorization. I believe it does a comprehensive job of providing NASA the rules and tools to succeed in this Second Space Age. There is not a NASA center in the 44th Congressional District of California, but I understand the criticality of the agency's success and its impact on our Nation's prosperity. I encourage all my colleagues to rediscover the many ways our constituents benefit from the agency's important work. We do not consider this legislation in a vacuum. Other nations are actively pursuing human spaceflight and exploration. China and India are out-producing us in engineering graduates each year many times over. NASA, with its excellent reputation in exploration, science and aeronautics is the one national agency which can focus and inspire America's youth to take up the challenging work of math and science careers. Again, I want to thank the Science Committee leadership and their hard-working staff for their efforts in putting together this bill. I understand it will be important to have a solid civilian space and aeronautics blueprint for the next Administration to follow. I encourage my colleagues to support H.R. 6063.

Mr. WILSON of Ohio

Mr. WILSON of Ohio. Madam Chairman, I rise today in support of the Stupak-Visclosky amendment, calling for all iron and steel used under this act to be produced here in our United States. Since 1892, my home State of Ohio has been a leading steel producer, and today remains among the top three steel producing States in our country. In April, I had the opportunity to attend a hearing held by the Congressional Steel Caucus examining the dangers of standardized substandard Chinese steel. What I learned was that these products are not being inspected in China and the products are not being inspected at our ports when they enter our country. And again, today, the steel is not inspected as it is used to build some of our Nation's most critical infrastructure, like our children's schools. In the last year we have seen China's iron and steel production increase by more than 50 percent. Today, Chinese steel is being used to make everything from our schools to our hospitals to our bridges, and I have serious concerns about whether or not this Chinese steel is strong enough to keep our families and our Nation safe. This amendment will ensure that the steel used is from American companies that will follow the proper safety and quality standards in our products. Our children deserve safe schools. A strong and viable U.S. steel industry is critical to America's infrastructure and the national economic security and homeland security. In conclusion, I urge my colleagues to join me and to support the Stupak-Visclosky amendment, and encourage my fellow Members to vote for final passage of this important bill.

Mr. WILSON of Ohio

Mr. WILSON of Ohio. Madam Chairman, I rise today in support of H.R. 5818. As a Member from Ohio, one of the States that has been hardest hit by foreclosures, I know how important it is for us to pass this bill. Thirty-six percent of all the homeowners in Ohio will feel the effects of what's going on in the subprime crisis. The pain isn't limited to just the families losing their homes, but also the neighbors and the neighborhood around. What happens is homeowners are projected to each lose as much as $2,000 in property value during this crisis. And because of that, the State of Ohio will lose approximately $3 billion in tax base. These are truly scary numbers. H.R. 5818 will help Ohio and America begin to heal. The flexible bill will give loans and grants directly to the States. States will then be able to clean up the blight, help families stay in their homes, and rehabilitate long vacant and decrepit homes. States will be able to stabilize their entire neighborhoods that are hurting from foreclosures.