[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 154 (Friday, September 26, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2016-E2017]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      CONSOLIDATED SECURITY, DISASTER ASSISTANCE, AND CONTINUING 
                        APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2009

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                          HON. JOHN D. DINGELL

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                     Wednesday, September 24, 2008

  Mr. DINGELL. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my support for H.R. 
2638, the Continuing Resolution, or CR, and to thank Chairman Obey and 
the Democratic leadership for putting together a continuing resolution 
that includes a full year of funding for our troops, veterans, and 
first responders, while also guaranteeing continued funding for other 
essential Government programs.
  I am especially pleased that the CR includes a $7.5 billion 
appropriation to support $25 billion in direct loans to automakers to 
re-tool their manufacturing facilities to produce the next generation 
of advanced technology vehicles. The loans will help keep jobs in 
Michigan and other States, and create new green jobs building new, more 
fuel efficient vehicles. This package will help us move quickly towards 
vehicles that will reduce our dependence on foreign oil and reduce our 
greenhouse gas emissions, and I have every confidence that just like 
the loan guarantees to Chrysler in the 1980s these loans will be repaid 
to taxpayers at a profit. These loans would not be in the CR were it 
not for the tireless work of the entire Michigan delegation, or the 
strong leadership of Speaker Pelosi, Majority Leader Hoyer, Senate 
Leader Reid, Michigan Senators Levin and Stabenow and all the 
Democratic and Republican Leadership in the House and the Senate.
  I am pleased that we have also provided a full year of funding for 
the Department of Defense. This package includes important increases 
for training, addresses National Guard and Reserve equipment 
shortfalls, so that our troops are sent into battle well prepared and 
well equipped. It also contains increases for military health care, and 
for programs that support military families.
  In addition to providing for our troops overseas, this bill provides 
for our veterans once they have returned home by continuing to 
strengthen the Department of Veterans Affairs. The funding provided for 
the VA in this bill builds upon prior efforts of the 110th Congress to 
provide our veterans with the health care and other benefits they 
deserve. In the last 3 years, Congress has increased funding for 
veterans' health care by $11.8 billion. This year, Congress has 
provided $47.6 billion for the VA, which is $4.5 billion above the 2008 
funding level and $2.8 billion over the President's request. These 
increases will be used for improvements in veterans' medical care, 
including mental health treatment for veterans suffering from post 
traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. The increases will also be used to 
hire more claims processors, provide state-of-the-art prosthetics, and 
make important facility improvements.
  This bill also provides critical homeland security funding to protect 
our country from terrorist attacks and to help respond to devastating 
natural disasters. The CR contains $4.2 billion in grant funding for 
port security and first responders, increases in funding to hire 2,200 
new border patrol agents, and important new oversight provisions to 
ensure Department of Homeland Security is spending its money wisely and 
implementing the findings of the 9/11 Commission. The bill also 
provides $22.9 billion in emergency disaster response assistance to 
help the gulf coast rebuild from Hurricane Ike, help communities in the 
Midwest that suffered from floods, and assist those in the West that 
were ravaged by wildfires.
  Like many of my colleagues, I had hoped that this administration 
would be willing to

[[Page E2017]]

work with Congress as we began our work on the appropriations process. 
Unfortunately, most other government programs are going to be 
temporarily funded at last year's levels until March 6, 2009, because 
we did not receive the kind of bipartisan cooperation required to 
complete work on all 13 appropriations bills. As the unemployment rate 
continues to rise and American families are struggling, this 
administration refuses to recognize that increased funding for programs 
such as the Commodity Supplemental Food Program, unemployment insurance 
and employment service operations, the Low-Income Home Energy 
Assistance Program, among others, is desperately needed.
  Next year, Congress will have the opportunity to work with a new 
administration that I imagine will be more favorable to these programs, 
but until then I am pleased to see that some of these important 
programs will receive a much-needed increase. For example, this 
continuing resolution increases funding for student financial 
assistance programs by $2.5 billion, with $16.8 billion devoted 
exclusively to Pell grants. With the troubles in the financial markets, 
this funding is critical for students who rely on aid to finance their 
education. I strongly believe that higher education is the key to 
turning our economy around, especially in Michigan, and the fear of 
student aid being cut is a distraction our students and their families 
do not need. The increase in the Pell Grant Program will help those 
that need it the most, at a time when they need the help the most.
  I am particularly pleased that this legislation will set an annual 
funding level of $110 million for State unemployment insurance and 
employment service operations at the Department of Labor. As the State 
with the highest unemployment rate of 8.9 percent, families in Michigan 
know all too well the difficulty unemployed workers are having not only 
in finding a new job, but also receiving the critical training or 
assistance they need. Since this President took office Michigan has 
lost over 400,000 jobs. In the last 6 months alone, Michigan has lost 
an average of 3,820 jobs per month. Without further funding for 
unemployment insurance we cannot turn this trend around. We all can 
agree that finding a job during an economic downturn is extremely 
difficult. Therefore it is critical that families have the help they 
need to buy their groceries, pay their mortgages, and fill their gas 
tank until that next employer is found. I hope that as Congress turns 
to the economic stimulus package we can go a step further and extend 
unemployment benefits for States that need it the most.
  This legislation also included a critical increase for the Commodity 
Supplemental Food Program, CSFP, and the Nutrition for Women, Infants 
and Children, or the WIC program. Without the increase of $23.5 million 
for this program, 70,000 low-income women, infants, children, and 
elderly citizens, would risk losing access to food. With over 70,000 
citizens relying on CSFP in Michigan, this increase is critical. This 
is also true of the WIC program which assists over 200,000 families in 
Michigan each year. This legislation would increase funding for this 
program by $1 billion, which will greatly help mothers and their 
children buy the groceries they need at a time when food prices 
continue to sky rocket. When the price of a gallon of milk is the same 
price as a gallon of gas, we need to ensure that our families are not 
forced to choose between the two.
  While Michigan families are being forced to pay more for many goods 
and services, one of the most painful increases has come from rising 
energy costs. Fortunately, this legislation includes $5.1 billion for 
the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, which is $2.5 billion 
more than 2008 levels and will assist 2 million additional households. 
LIHEAP, a critical but thinly stretched program, serves nearly 560,000 
homes in Michigan. This funding will help the State of Michigan in its 
efforts to provide as many homes as possible with home energy 
assistance. The need for this funding is clear. The winter months bring 
with them rising utility costs, and the State of Michigan has seen an 
additional 30,000 LIHEAP applicants between June 2007 and June 2008. In 
addition, this bill provides $250 million for weatherization 
assistance. Around 3,000 homes in Michigan are served by projects that 
increase their home energy efficiency. The increased funding will allow 
for weatherization of approximately 100,000 homes, saving low-income 
families $400 in energy costs.

  One thing that is not included in this bill is an extension of the 
decades-old moratorium on offshore drilling. This means for the next 5 
months drilling is allowed up to 3 miles off the Atlantic and Pacific 
Coasts and parts of the Eastern Gulf of Mexico. The citizens of 
Michigan's 15th Congressional District are no strangers to high gas 
prices; in fact, average gas prices in Michigan are among the highest 
in the Nation. Despite the claims of the Bush administration and its 
Republican Congressional allies that drilling in the Outer Continental 
Shelf is some sort of panacea, allowing the moratorium to expire will 
have little effect on rising prices at the pump. I would remind my 
colleagues across the aisle that the Energy Information Administration 
reported in 2007 that, ``access to the Pacific, Atlantic, and eastern 
Gulf regions would not have a significant impact on domestic crude oil 
and natural gas production or prices before 2030.'' Earlier this year, 
Republicans obstructed legislation that would require oil companies to 
start drilling on the 68 million acres of Federal oil reserves which 
they are warehousing or lose the ability to obtain new leases. If the 
Republicans were really concerned with bringing down gas prices, they 
would have voted for a bill that would have taken action now to 
increase oil production.
  Fortunately, under the current plan, leasing in these off-shore areas 
will not begin until 2012. This most certainly means that the next 
President and the next Congress will steer the course of our national 
drilling policy. If I have anything to do with it, this policy will 
include a framework for leasing and development that complies with 
environmental laws and insists on proper direction and use of revenues 
gained from drilling.
  This legislation provides funding for critical programs and ensures 
our government will continue to operate until March 6, 2009. While it 
is disappointing that partisanship and election year politics stopped 
us from completing our work on all 13 regular appropriations bills this 
year, I am hopeful that we will quickly finish our work next March when 
we have better leadership from the White House and a larger majority to 
work with. I once again thank Speaker Pelosi, Majority Leader Hoyer, 
and Chairman Obey for their hard work on this important bill, and urge 
my colleagues to support it.

                          ____________________