E PL UR UM IB N U U S Congressional Record United States th of America PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 111 CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION Vol. 155 WASHINGTON, TUESDAY, JUNE 9, 2009 No. 85 House of Representatives The House met at 10:30 a.m. and was speaking, 15 more children will die JESSE JACKSON JR., ZACH WAMP, called to order by the Speaker pro tem- needlessly from waterborne disease. WELCH, BOOZMAN, BURTON, GEORGE pore (Ms. EDWARDS of Maryland). To address this slow-motion disaster, MILLER, and FORTENBERRY. The pur- f I worked with the then Chair and rank- pose of this act is to empower the U.S. ing member of the House Foreign Af- Government to respond to the pressing DESIGNATION OF SPEAKER PRO fairs Committee, Henry Hyde and Tom poverty, security, and environmental TEMPORE Lantos, and the Senate majority and threats presented by the dire mis- The SPEAKER pro tempore laid be- minority leaders, Bill Frist and HARRY management and shortage of global fore the House the following commu- REID, to enact the Paul Simon Water freshwater. The goal for the Water for nication from the Speaker: for the Poor Act of 2005. This land- the World Act is for the United States WASHINGTON, DC, mark, bipartisan legislation estab- to provide 100 million people of the June 9, 2009. lished investment in safe and afford- world’s poorest first-time access to safe I hereby appoint the Honorable DONNA F. able water for the world’s poorest as a drinking water and sanitation on a sus- EDWARDS to act as Speaker pro tempore on major goal of United States foreign as- tainable basis by 2015. To accomplish this day. sistance. But, sadly, with the last ad- this goal, the legislation builds on the NANCY PELOSI, ministration, we were slow to imple- Water for the Poor framework for in- Speaker of the House of Representatives. ment, and until last year, slow to fund vestment, expands U.S. foreign assist- f it. We are more than halfway to the ance capacity, and recognizes sustain- MORNING-HOUR DEBATE 2015 Millennium Development goal able water and sanitation policy as with mixed results, and we must redou- vital to the long-term diplomatic and The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursu- ble our effort. development efforts of the United ant to the order of the House of Janu- A special concern is Sub-Saharan Af- States. ary 6, 2009, the Chair will now recog- rica that lags so far behind that we will I applaud the leadership of Senators nize Members from lists submitted by miss our modest goal to cut the people DURBIN, CORKER, and MURRAY, who the majority and minority leaders for without safe drinking water and sani- have introduced companion bipartisan morning-hour debate. tation by one-half by 2015, that Sub-Sa- legislation in the Senate. This legisla- The Chair will alternate recognition haran Africa will miss that target date tion will help the United States focus between the parties, with each party by 25 years for water and sanitation by its efforts and fully implement a smart limited to 30 minutes and each Mem- 61 years. And these are not just num- and efficient global water strategy that ber, other than the majority and mi- bers; these are millions of people’s meets our commitment to extend safe nority leaders and the minority whip, lives. drinking water and sanitation to over a limited to 5 minutes. Some progress is being made through billion people in need. f innovative partnerships between the I urge every Member of Congress to United States, NGOs, businesses, and make water policy and funding a pri- GLOBAL WATER AND H.R. 2030, local partners. But the stark truth re- ority, to save the life of a child every SENATOR PAUL SIMON WATER mains: Nearly 900 million people world- 15 seconds who dies needlessly from wa- FOR THE WORLD ACT OF 2009 wide still lack access to safe drinking terborne disease. The SPEAKER pro tempore. The water, and two out of five people on the f Chair recognizes the gentleman from planet lack basic sanitation services. Oregon (Mr. BLUMENAUER) for 5 min- And this is going to become more of a HEALTH CARE utes. challenge in the future. Because of cli- The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Mr. BLUMENAUER. Madam Speaker, mate change and rapid population Chair recognizes the gentleman from as one-fifth of the world’s population growth, there will be further stress on Ohio (Mr. BOEHNER). relies on freshwater that is either pol- water resources. By 2025, 2.8 billion Mr. BOEHNER. Madam Speaker, Re- luted or significantly overdrawn, the people in more than 48 countries will publicans want to work with the Presi- lack of safe water and sanitation is an face devastating water shortages. dent and our Democrat colleagues here ongoing threat to global security and To help accelerate the progress, on in the Congress to make sure that remains the world’s greatest health Earth Day I introduced bipartisan leg- every American has access to high- problem, accounting for 2 million islation, the Paul Simon Water for the quality, affordable health coverage. On deaths a year and half of the illness in World Act of 2009, along with Rep- an issue like this, we need to act, but the developing world. Before I finish resentatives PAYNE, ROHRABACHER, we also need to get it right. b This symbol represents the time of day during the House proceedings, e.g., b 1407 is 2:07 p.m. Matter set in this typeface indicates words inserted or appended, rather than spoken, by a Member of the House on the floor. H6309 . VerDate Nov 24 2008 23:55 Jun 09, 2009 Jkt 079060 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 7634 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A09JN7.000 H09JNPT1 smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HOUSE H6310 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE June 9, 2009 Frankly, the record the Democrats hind, deserve our best effort to put forcing millions of people off the pri- have amassed this year so far shows us these reforms in place that will meet vate health plans they already have why we need to take our time. Think their needs. and which the vast majority of them about it. On every major issue ad- f very much like.’’ dressed by Congress and the White You know, when insurance compa- HEALTH CARE REFORM House this year, the middle class has nies are forced to compete, they do taken a big hit. Middle-class Ameri- The SPEAKER pro tempore. The very well. Senator MCCONNELL and I cans are paying for a trillion dollar Chair recognizes the gentleman from have a common constituent, the ‘‘stimulus’’ package that no one read. Kentucky (Mr. YARMUTH) for 5 min- Humana Corporation, a great corpora- They’re paying for a $400 billion omni- utes. tion. When they’re forced to compete, bus appropriation bill with 9,000 ear- Mr. YARMUTH. Madam Speaker, the they figure out how to add value. And marks in it. They’re paying to bail out distinguished minority leader has just they’re doing that right now. They are those who lied on their mortgage appli- expressed the desire of his party to en- doing it with the Medicare Advantage cations. They’re paying for a govern- gage us in health care reform, and I’m program. ment takeover of General Motors with so gratified and happy to hear him say When insurance companies are forced no exit strategy. And they’re paying that. Similarly, the distinguished mi- to compete, they compete well. Right for a budget that didn’t include a tax nority leader of the Senate, who is now they’re not forced to compete. cut that was promised for, yes, you both my Senator and my constituent, What many of us are proposing is that guessed it, the middle class in Amer- has spent the last few days in the Sen- we create a public competition for ica. And if Democrats get their way, ate talking about that same desire, to them, make them compete with the they’ll be paying for a national energy help us move forward in addressing public plan. And unlike what Senator tax on anyone who has the audacity to what we all know is an unsustainable MCCONNELL says, if they are unable to drive a car or to flip on a light switch. and dysfunctional health care delivery compete, it won’t be because of an un- Over and over again, the people who system. fair advantage; it will be because they follow the rules are being left behind The Senator spoke last Friday, and are not providing the kind of coverage by Washington. Are Democrats going he said, ‘‘Americans want reform that at the cost that the American people to leave the middle class behind on addresses the high cost of care and want. If American people want to stay health care as well? gives everyone access to quality care. in their private plans under the pro- The forthcoming plan from Demo- In America in 2009, doing nothing is posals that we’re advancing, they will cratic leaders will make health care simply not an option. We must act and be able to do that. We’re not forcing more expensive, limit treatments, ra- we must act decisively. The question is anyone out. Right now most Americans tion care, and put bureaucrats in not whether to reform health care; the don’t have a choice, and we are trying charge of medical decisions rather than question is how best to reform health to provide that choice through a public patients and doctors.