H6158 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE September 20, 2012 

the 555,270 direct and indirect coal-related jobs that help supply America 

with nearly half of its generated electricity and pay $36 billion in wages. 

The nonpartisan U.S. Energy Information Administration has all but confirmed the President’s aggressive push 

against coal development with a report 

detailing a record number of coal-fired 

power plants to be closed this year, 

largely because of the burdensome regulations and other compliance costs. 

That’s why this week the U.S. House 

will pass H.R. 3049, to push back on the 

President’s commitment to end coal as 

a source of domestic energy and protect the countless jobs that have been 

lost or put at risk as a result of his politics. 

H.R. 3049 includes the following package of bills: The Coal Miner Employment and Domestic Energy Infrastructure Protection Act, which bars the 

Environmental Protection Agency 

from issuing any regulation before December 31, 2013, that would adversely 

affect coal mining employment. 

The Coal Residuals Reuse and Management Act, which establishes Statelevel permitting programs for the storage of coal combustion residuals under 

the Solid Waste Disposal Act, which is 

now primarily used to regulate the 

management of municipal solid waste 

landfills and sewage landed fills. 

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The Energy Tax Prevention Act, 

which prevents the EPA from regulating greenhouse gases and any effort 

to address climate change. 

The Clean Water Cooperative Federalism Act, which prohibits the EPA 

from issuing a new or revised water 

quality standard when a State standard has already been approved by the 

EPA. 

The Transparency in Regulatory 

Analysis of Impacts on the Nation Act, 

or the TRAIN Act, which creates an 

interagency committee to examine the 

effects of current and proposed Federal 

regulations on U.S. energy and manufacturing industries, U.S. global competitiveness, U.S. and energy prices. 

Again, it’s not just a war on coal; it’s 

a war on the use of carbon-based 

fuels—coal, oil, natural gas—which 

supply over 80 percent of our energy. 

f 

CONDEMNING VIOLENCE AGAINST 

SIKH COMMUNITY 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The 

Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 

California (Ms. CHU) for 5 minutes. 

Ms. CHU. I rise today as a proud cosponsor of House Resolution 785, condemning the hate crimes, bullying, and 

brutal violence perpetrated against 

Sikh Americans and all acts of violence against Sikh Gurdwaras in the 

United States. In the face of unrelenting and unprovoked violence, it is clear 

that action must be taken. 

The Sikh community has a long history of contributing to this Nation. 

Sikh farmers shaped California’s agriculture industry, farming a third of the 

land and providing nature’s bounty for 

others to enjoy. The very first Asian 

American to be elected to the U.S. Congress was a Sikh American, Dalip 

Singh Saund, elected in California in 

1957. And Sikh temples all across the 

country have shown their beautiful 

spirit by giving free food, called langar, 

to everybody in the neighborhood who 

is hungry. And yet time and time again 

we see the good deeds of Sikh Americans met with undue violence from 

others. And in the wake of 9/11, this behavior spiked sharply. Just days after 

the attacks took place—as the soot 

still lingered over Manhattan and 

smoke still smoldered from a field in 

Pennsylvania—Balbir Singh Sodhi became the first victim of misplaced retaliation. He was in the gas station he 

had worked his entire life to own when 

a gunman shot at him and took his life. 

Through the years the violence has 

not abated. Last year, in northern California, Surinder Singh and Gurmej 

Atwal, two elderly Sikh Americans, 

were doing what they always did every 

afternoon, taking a walk in the neighborhood, when suddenly they were 

shot. They were murdered in cold 

blood, but not for money or jealousy or 

revenge. They were murdered because 

of their turbans. And then there were 

the overwhelmingly shocking events of 

August 5 of this year in Oak Creek, 

Wisconsin. The Sikh community was 

peacefully preparing meals for Sunday 

prayer inside their gurdwara. But that 

peace was shattered without warning 

at the hands of a gunman filled with 

hate and rage. He fired indiscriminately and without cause, and when 

the smoke cleared, six innocent people 

lay dead. Although it has been more 

than a decade since 9/11, hysteria and 

stereotyping are still far too common. 

We must combat the growing wave of 

violence and intolerance that threatens 

the safety and civil liberties of the 

Sikh American community. 

Today, while the FBI tracks the 

overall number of hate crimes taking 

place, it doesn’t even record attacks 

specifically on Sikhs, despite the fact 

that we’ve seen over and over again 

that Sikhs are singled out over and 

over again because of their appearance 

and faith. That’s why this resolution 

not only denounces the violence 

befalling this community; we’re calling 

on the Department of Justice to finally 

begin documenting and quantifying 

hate crimes committed against Sikh 

Americans. As many as three out of 

four Sikh boys endure torment and bullying from their peers. And so we’re 

urging educators across the Nation to 

help end the epidemic of bullying 

against Sikh youths. We’re urging law 

enforcement officers in every locality 

to do all they can to prevent violence 

against this and all communities. 

America was founded on the principles of religious freedom, acceptance, 

and tolerance. Let’s make sure that 

every American can live safely and in 

peace. Let’s make sure that every 

American is protected. 

TIME TO RETHINK OUR FOREIGN 

AID 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The 

Chair recognizes the gentleman from 

Texas (Mr. POE) for 5 minutes. 

Mr. POE of Texas. Over the last 

week, we have watched as anti-American groups throughout the world have 

killed Americans, attacked our embassies, had protests, burned the American 

flag, and destroyed our property in 

many parts of the world. These events 

and events that have preceded them 

bring up that question again that these 

countries that we give aid to seem to 

be countries where there is violence 

against America. So I want to spend a 

few minutes talking about the aid 

Americans, when they write that check 

to the government, our government, 

spend all over the world. 

This is a map of countries in the 

world that the United States of America taxpayers give assistance to worldwide. You’ll see there are three colors. 

The red are colors that the United 

States gives foreign aid to. And you 

can see that’s most of the countries in 

the world—and it is most of the countries. There are 191 countries in the 

world. Sometimes there are 193, depending on whether those last two are 

really countries or not. And American 

taxpayers give money to 158 of them. 

So you see those that are in the red. 

The green represents countries that we 

give military aid to. And the few little 

blue countries—a couple in Europe, a 

couple in Africa—those are countries 

we don’t give any money to. By far, the 

minority. So you see the massive world 

as we know it, American money goes to 

most of it. 

Now you notice over here there’s a 

red block in this part of the world. And 

I’m sure, Mr. Speaker, you would recognize this massive country here. 

That’s Russia. Yes, American aid goes 

to Russia. And did you know even 

though China controls so much of our 

debt, American money, yes, goes to 

China as well. 

So maybe we need to rethink how we 

do this. With all the problems we’ve 

got in the United States, the taxpayers 

are writing checks for countries 

throughout the world. And here’s how 

we vote on foreign aid. And I suspect 

the Senate does it the same way. We 

put all the countries in a list and in a 

bill and the State Department usually 

submits an amount of money they 

would like us to give to this country. 

And then this House votes ‘‘up’’ or 

‘‘down’’ on all 158 countries. 

Now maybe we ought to do business a 

little better. Maybe we should vote 

country by country. Some say, Oh, it’ll 

take too long. Hey, we’re talking about 

American money here. It wouldn’t take 

very long at all. I think that if we 

voted ‘‘up’’ or ‘‘down’’ country per 

country, most of these countries are 

not going to get any aid from the 

United States in a bipartisan way. Of 

course, probably Israel would. And 80 

percent of the money given to Israel is 

spent back in the United States. I 


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September 20, 2012 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE H6159 

think most Members support Israel. 

Maybe one or two other countries. 

Let’s vote ‘‘up’’ or ‘‘down’’ country 

by country. And some of these countries that we’ve had unrest in in the 

last couple of weeks—like Libya, like 

Egypt—maybe we need to reevaluate 

the money we send to them. At the 

very least, what we ought to do in 

countries like Libya and Egypt, and in 

some of these other countries that are 

destroying American property as we 

speak, who have looted, pillaged, and 

destroyed our embassies, like in Egypt, 

the money that we’re going to give 

them in aid, take a portion of it out to 

help rebuild the embassies that are in 

that country and pay for the property 

damage, and probably even take money 

out we’ve given to Libya and pay reparations to the four Americans that 

were killed in Libya. 

Let’s use some common sense when 

we’re spending money overseas. And 

maybe we shouldn’t be trying to go all 

over the world and play nice with people. We’ve had a foreign aid problem 

since before I was born. We continue to 

give money to countries in the hope 

that they will like us. Well, how’s that 

working for you? Not too good, is the 

way that I see it. 

Mr. Speaker, we don’t need to continue to support countries like Pakistan. I’m astonished we will still give 

money to Pakistan. They harbored 

Osama bin Laden. They put in prison 

the informant that told us where he 

was hiding. I believe some of the 

money we give Pakistan ends up in the 

hands of the Taliban and corrupt military government. But yet we keep paying them. 

This summer the House did vote to 

cut $625 million from Pakistan. But yet 

when the CR came through last week— 

the continuing resolution—that money 

is back in, going to Pakistan. Pakistan 

is just one of many examples, Mr. 

Speaker. We don’t need to pay these 

countries to hate us. We don’t need to 

pay them to betray us. They will do it 

for free. 

And that’s just the way it is. 

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b 1050 

VOTER DISENFRANCHISEMENT 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The 

Chair recognizes the gentleman from 

Arizona (Mr. GRIJALVA) for 5 minutes. 

Mr. GRIJALVA. Mr. Speaker, this 

week marks the United States Constitution’s 225th anniversary. 

Our Constitution is a product of realistic compromise and intelligent consensus—a trait, I might add, sorely 

missing in this Chamber. 

It lays out the central principles for 

a democratic government and the 

rights that citizens can expect to enjoy 

in that government. With the inclusion 

of six voting rights amendments, we 

have formed a more solid democracy. 

The voting rights amendments fundamentally changed our system of government—outlawing poll taxes in Federal elections, giving ordinary Americans the right to elect their Senators, 

allowing the citizens of our Nation’s 

Capital to vote for President, and guaranteeing that all Americans—regardless of race, religion, gender, or age— 

would enjoy these protections. 

With these protections and these 

amendments, we affirmed the inherent 

values of our Constitution and our democracy. 

The right to vote is still, to this day, 

the essential piece of our democracy. 

Think about it. To deny an eligible 

voter the opportunity to vote is to undermine the very freedom that defines 

us as a Nation. The right to vote is essential to our democracy. 

However, while the marches of student demonstrators and religious leaders once drove electoral reform in the 

United States, a new and dark movement is sweeping across the country. 

State lawmakers have been pushed by 

corporate interests and driven by a 

cynical point of view that says: We 

must deny other people the right to 

vote in order to continue to keep our 

power, and we must target those 

groups and individuals who may not 

agree with our point of view. With this 

cynical selective process, we keep 

power and we only concentrate on the 

people and extend the privileges to 

those that agree with our point of 

view. 

New voter laws that are now being 

proposed and have passed in State legislatures make voter registration more 

difficult and cumbersome, cut the 

availability of early voting, and require voters to present current government-issued identifications as a prerequisite to casting a ballot. These efforts threaten the integrity of our 

democratic system and are very clearly 

targeted. 

The new restrictions on voting would 

disproportionately burden African 

Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans, 

young voters, and Americans new to 

the political process. 

Plain and simple, these restrictive 

voter laws threaten to disenfranchise 

young, poor, minority, and elderly voters who lack formal government-issued 

IDs despite the fact that it is more 

likely that an American will be struck 

and killed by lightning than he would 

impersonate another voter at the polls. 

We know exactly what these voter suppression laws mean. 

In Texas, a Federal court recently 

found that the Texas voter ID law violated the Voting Rights Act because it 

made it harder for African Americans 

and Latinos to vote. The court stated 

that evidence conclusively shows that 

the cost of obtaining a qualified ID will 

fall more heavily on the poor, and a 

disproportionate number of African 

Americans and Latinos in Texas live in 

poverty. 

In Pennsylvania, a July 5 Philadelphia Inquirer article reported that 

758,000 registered voters in Pennsylvania do not have an ID, a new State 

law requirement for voting. That figure 

represents 9.2 percent of the State’s 

voters that could be stopped from voting. 

A report by the Brennan Center for 

Justice found that allegations of widespread voter fraud often proved greatly 

exaggerated. Moreover, these claims of 

voter fraud are frequently used to justify policies that do not solve the alleged wrongs but could well disenfranchise legitimate voters. 

In some States, veterans’ ID cards 

won’t be sufficient as a photo ID to 

vote. 

In the last 12 months in my State of 

Arizona, there has been an accelerated 

effort to suppress the vote. These new 

efforts represent a coordinated effort 

clearly designed to suppress the vote of 

those people who need to make sure 

that their government is paying attention to their needs. 

People of color, women, young people 

literally risked, and some lost, their 

lives to gain the right to vote in this 

Nation of ours. Throughout its history, 

our country has tried to remove obstacles to voter participation, making the 

right to vote accessible to all eligible 

citizens. 

We cannot turn our back on that fundamental right. Our legacy as a Nation 

demands better of us. 

f 

SUICIDE PREVENTION MONTH 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The 

Chair recognizes the gentleman from 

Ohio (Mr. AUSTRIA) for 5 minutes. 

Mr. AUSTRIA. Mr. Speaker, thank 

you for this opportunity to publicly 

recognize September as Suicide Prevention Month. 

As a member of the Military Mental 

Health and Suicide Prevention Caucus, 

my goal is to increase awareness and 

aid in the prevention of suicide. 

Although suicide affects thousands of 

Americans each year, I would like to 

take a moment to focus specifically on 

our veterans and the men and women 

who are currently serving in our 

United States military. 

Suicides are increasing at an alarming rate this year for our soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines. Recent data 

shows that suicides are occurring at a 

rate of approximately one per day for 

the military. This makes suicide the 

second-leading cause of death for our 

troops, surpassed only by combat. 

The Army, in particular, has seen a 

22 percent suicide increase when comparing the first 7 months in both 2011 

and 2012. 

But these are not just numbers and 

statistics. These are real soldiers and 

real families impacted by this growing 

tragedy. 

This increase became very personal 

for me again last weekend when I attended a memorial dedication for 

Lance Corporal Bobby Wiley. Lance 

Corporal Wiley was a Lima Company 

marine and the son of my classmate 

and friend. As a result of Bobby’s 

death, a loving family and Nation 

grieve with loss. 


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