H5634 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE August 2, 2012 

I urge my colleagues to join me in 

supporting American entrepreneurship, 

American innovation, and American 

jobs. Sign on to the Innovation Promotion Act to build America’s economic leadership in the world and promote job creation right here at home. 

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WE HAVE A JOB TO DO 

(Mr. HULTGREN asked and was 

given permission to address the House 

for 1 minute.) 

Mr. HULTGREN. Mr. Speaker, traditionally, Members of Congress return 

to their districts during the month of 

August to avoid the hottest, muggiest 

month of the Washington year, but 

given our current circumstances and 

the invention of air conditioning, I 

think we should break that tradition. 

Senate Democrats have passed the 

President’s plan to raise taxes. A family of four earning $50,000 a year will 

see their taxes increase by more than 

$2,000 per year. House Republicans have 

passed the only plan in Washington to 

stop the tax hike in its entirety. 

A new report finds the tax hike will 

cost more than 700,000 American jobs. I 

stand by the House leadership who 

stated this week that if the Senate 

takes action to address these threats, 

the House will be in Washington in August for the purpose of sending solutions to the President’s desk. 

We have a job to do, and 23 million 

unemployed Americans are waiting. 

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GUN SAFETY 

(Mr. MCGOVERN asked and was 

given permission to address the House 

for 1 minute and to revise and extend 

his remarks.) 

Mr. MCGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I rise 

today to call attention to the need for 

stronger gun safety laws in our country. This Congress has not only failed 

to address the issue of gun violence in 

the United States, it has actually 

weakened gun safety laws. 

I am proud that my home State of 

Massachusetts is a leader in gun violence prevention and has the lowest 

firearm fatality rate per 100,000 population of any urban industrialized 

State. 

I am proud of the work being done by 

antigun violence advocates across the 

Commonwealth, including Boston’s 

mayor, Tom Menino, and John Rosenthal, founder of the organization, Stop 

Handgun Violence. Today, Stop Handgun Violence is hosting a rally in Boston calling on Congress to pass stronger gun safety legislation. I applaud 

their work and the efforts of other organizations like the Brady Campaign 

as they continue to educate and advocate for sensible legislation. 

What more will it take for this Congress to bring commonsense gun control measures to the floor? How many 

more tragedies? Silence is no longer 

acceptable. 

TAXES 

(Mr. PALAZZO asked and was given 

permission to address the House for 1 

minute and to revise and extend his remarks.) 

Mr. PALAZZO. Mr. Speaker, I’m a 

CPA by trade. I’ve spent many years in 

my former life wading through volumes 

of Tax Code trying to ensure my clients followed every last letter of the 

law while also trying to ensure they 

don’t get stuck paying more taxes than 

they owe. But the American people and 

the people of south Mississippi don’t 

need a CPA to tell them that we need 

a simpler, fairer, and flatter Tax Code. 

Last week, the U.S. Senate sent a 

strong message when it voted to raise 

taxes on small businesses and families. 

In south Mississippi alone, the proposed tax hikes would increase taxes 

by an average of $2,200 per family. 

That’s a total of more than $723 million 

more that south Mississippians would 

have to pay. 

In addition to that extra tax burden, 

a recent study from Ernst & Young 

shows that we could lose as many as 

710,000 jobs, and wages could decrease 

by almost 2 percent. 

Now, I’m no rocket scientist, but I’m 

pretty sure that the American people 

and the people of south Mississippi 

don’t need a rocket scientist to tell 

them that these tax hikes are the last 

thing we need right now. That’s why 

the House stepped forward yesterday 

and passed legislation to stop the tax 

hike, and that’s why we’re committed 

to continue working on tax reform to 

make our Tax Code simpler, fairer, and 

flatter for all Americans. 

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THANKING ERNIE ALLEN FOR A 

JOB WELL DONE 

(Mr. BARROW asked and was given 

permission to address the House for 1 

minute and to revise and extend his remarks.) 

Mr. BARROW. Mr. Speaker, I rise to 

pay my respects to a tireless crusader 

in the quest to protect America’s children from violence and exploitation. 

Ernie Allen recently retired as the 

president and chief executive officer of 

the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, where his mission was 

to protect our Nation’s children. 

Under Ernie’s leadership, the National Center for Missing & Exploited 

Children played a crucial role in recovering some 74,000 children. With Ernie 

at the helm, they saw their recovery 

rate for missing children climb from 62 

percent in 1990 to 94 percent today. 

While there’s no official record book 

of what Ernie has accomplished over 

the years, his record lives on in the 

lives he has saved and the families he 

has reunited. 

I know I speak for my colleagues in 

the Congressional Missing, Exploited 

and Runaway Children’s Caucus and for 

thousands of grateful families all 

across the Nation in thanking Ernie 

Allen for a job well done. 

b 0910 

LET’S INVEST IN THE AMERICAN 

PEOPLE 

(Mr. HIGGINS asked and was given 

permission to address the House for 1 

minute.) 

Mr. HIGGINS. Mr. Speaker, our economic problems are eminently solvable. They just require confidence in 

the American people. But the American people have lost confidence in 

Congress, and it’s easy to see why. 

Exhibit A: the inability to reach a 

deal on a grand bargain on debt reduction. Last year, the Speaker and the 

President negotiated a plan to reduce 

the debt by $4 trillion through a mix of 

spending cuts and revenue increases, 

revenues that would come, not from 

raising taxes, but closing special deals, 

institutionalized corruption. 

That plan represented a balanced and 

bipartisan approach. The economy 

today would be performing much better 

had that deal been enacted. But the 

Tea Party-controlled Republican House 

rejected the deal. 

Exhibit B: the refusal to act boldly to 

create jobs and rebuild the infrastructure of America. We just spent $89 billion rebuilding the roads of Afghanistan. Last week we passed a bill to 

spend just $52 billion a year in rebuilding roads and bridges right here in 

America. That’s a weak plan. In fact, 

it’s pathetically weak. That is why the 

American people have lost confidence 

in Congress. 

The best tax policy is to invest in 

America and the American people and 

to bring lost taxpayers back to work. 

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OBAMA CARES AND YOU SHOULD, 

TOO 

(Ms. WILSON of Florida asked and 

was given permission to address the 

House for 1 minute.) 

Ms. WILSON of Florida. Mr. Speaker, 

Obama cares, and you should, too. 

ObamaCare provides access to muchneeded contraceptives for women. 

First of all, it’s my body, not yours. 

I alone bear the burden, pain, and joy 

that it brings. Please stop trying to 

regulate my reproductive organs. They 

belong to me. 

Have you ever had a menstrual period? Have you ever felt unbearable 

pain in every bone of your body during 

childbirth? 

Will you be there for a mother when 

she needs prenatal care, formula, diapers? Will you support the Head Start 

program? Will you focus on creating 

good public schools again? Will you reform foster care and stop greasing the 

prison pipeline with unwanted children? 

There are grandmothers living in 

trailer parks and public housing, singlehandedly raising millions of grandchildren. Where are you when Grandmother is trying to feed Jerome, 

Shaquita, Pedro, Heather, and John? 

The only time I see you is on the 

floor of the House trying to take away 


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