H6154 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE September 20, 2012 

a battle today. Part of the Republican 

game plan for 2012 is to make voting 

difficult or impossible for some of the 

same groups who have long suffered 

discrimination, who are now seriously 

disadvantaged by new voter suppression laws that have been passed by Republicans in States like Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Florida. 

Because voter fraud is a Federal offense, with serious legal consequences, 

even jail time, improperly cast ballots 

are virtually nonexistent in the United 

States. There are far more votes that 

are lost due to malfunctioning voting 

machines, mistakes and sleight-ofhand by local elected officials who are 

either inept or cheating than are all 

the cases that have been documented 

nationwide. 

Texas has another effort to pass aggressive voter ID legislation, but they 

can find only five documented incidents of voter fraud in 13 million ballots cast in the last two elections. 

In Pennsylvania, there have been 

fewer cases than you can count on your 

fingers, yet up to a million people may 

be denied the right to vote because of 

these legal changes. 

Millions of poor, elderly, minority 

and student voters don’t have passports 

or driver’s licenses; some don’t even 

have birth certificates. They may face 

the modern version of a poll tax, and 

that’s unconscionable. 

The media and courts are pushing 

back on some of the more outrageous 

behaviors, like Ohio’s Secretary of 

State, John Husted, who was called out 

and forced to back down after he tried 

to limit early voting in counties with 

Democrats in the majority, while expanding them in Republican counties. 

Come election day, the problems will 

still persist. There is a solution: pry 

partisan fingers off the controls of a 

varied election process. We shouldn’t 

be treating the precious right to vote 

as a game where partisan advantage 

comes at the expense of our civil 

rights. 

Oregon has been involved for 25 years 

with what is no longer an experiment 

but a display of a better way: vote by 

mail. Each registered voter in the Oregon is mailed a ballot to their residence 19 days before the election. They 

are given well over 400 hours to examine the ballot, make their decision on 

the issues and individuals, and return 

it by mail or in person. 

Oregonians don’t worry about people 

gaming voting machines, closing precincts early, having long lines for 

working people at the end of the day, 

or mysteriously running out of ballots 

at precincts that are likely to vote 

against you. In Oregon, there’s no problem with illegal voting. Everybody has 

access to the ballot, and results are 

processed in a timely fashion. 

It’s shameful that, after more than 

two centuries of struggle for the right 

to vote, we’re still playing games with 

people’s opportunity to exercise that 

hard-won privilege upon which our 

democratic tradition rests. 

I will be championing the Oregon solution of vote by mail to make the 

process simpler, more reliable, most 

important, fairer, while saving money 

in the process. I hope these blatant attempts at manipulation and discrimination backfire so that the next Congress and the administration are positioned to do something about it. 

A country that prides itself as the 

oldest democracy deserves for the 

democratic process to work. 

f 

STILL NO FARM BILL 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The 

Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 

South Dakota (Mrs. NOEM) for 5 minutes. 

Mrs. NOEM. Mr. Speaker, this is the 

second-to-the-last day that we’ll be 

here and be in session before we head 

home to our districts, and we still do 

not have a farm bill that gives certainty to our producers and our ranchers across the country. In a little over 

a week, the 2008 farm bill is going to 

expire. 

While many of these programs will 

continue into the future for months 

ahead, we have an opportunity to actually save money and give other producers certainty as they begin planning for the coming years. 

Last week, I sat down and I visited 

with Mike and Lori. They’re producers 

from near the town of Huron, South 

Dakota. They raise corn, soybeans, and 

beef cattle. And this year was particularly difficult for them in light of the 

drought situation that producers in 

South Dakota were facing. 

b 1010 

Thankfully, they had programs such 

as crop insurance that helped them 

manage their risk in such a difficult 

year. They wrote me a letter on the 

importance of the farm bill, and I want 

to read a portion of that letter to you: 

We are experiencing a severe drought in 

our area this year. We put up half the hay 

that we normally do. Dugouts are starting to 

dry up, and crop yields will be down significantly. Crop insurance will be extremely important to offset lost crop production and 

lost revenue due to poor crop conditions. 

Crop insurance is a vital part of providing 

stability to our income and allowing us to 

stay a viable family farm dedicated to growing a safe, affordable food supply for a growing world. 

They went on in their letter to describe exactly what this means to their 

family at home: 

We have a 6-year-old son and a 4-year-old 

daughter. We tell them daily how important 

our jobs are as farmers, how we are truly 

feeding the world. They are taking true pride 

and ownership of that, and passing a good 

farm bill only helps stabilize their dreams, 

their futures—and ours. 

A 5-year farm bill gives us the stability to 

plan ahead for our operation long term. With 

the limited time Congress has to pass a farm 

bill before the current one expires, I would 

encourage lawmakers to look to rural America and realize how much work we can get 

done in a week. We know that, if the farm 

bill is made a priority, there is still enough 

time to get one passed. Thank you again for 

your work, and we urge Congress to pass a 

farm bill now. 

This past week, I was traveling 

through the middle of our State, in an 

area that has been hit particularly 

hard by the drought. I stopped at a 

truck stop and visited with many producers who were there filling up with 

fuel and getting supplies to head back 

out to the field. You see, right now in 

South Dakota, producers are planting a 

winter wheat crop, and they’re having 

to make the decision: Do they put that 

crop into dry ground, or do they wait 

and see if they get a farm bill and crop 

insurance into the future so that they 

have the certainty to make sure that 

their risk is managed? 

Many of those producers were electing not to plant. They were waiting to 

see if they could get rain and get a program that would actually keep their 

families in business. Some were putting it in the ground, showing that 

they truly are brave producers who 

have little faith that the skies will 

open up and that next year will be different. 

I tell you that they and Mike and 

Lori and other producers across the 

State of South Dakota and across this 

country who have been particularly hit 

in these tough times are looking to us 

here in Congress to provide them certainty during this drought. The farm 

bill is one of the reasons that our family farmers are able to stay in business 

during tough years. Many other programs in the farm bill give them the 

stability and certainty, which, in turn, 

gives every American the certainty in 

having a reliable, affordable food supply. 

I ran for Congress to bring more common sense to this place and to be an efficient and effective leader for South 

Dakota. We have an opportunity to get 

a farm bill done this year that provides 

a safety net and real reforms for our 

producers and cost savings for the taxpayers. While the clock hasn’t run out 

yet, I think it is important that we get 

our work done on time, and I am disappointed that it hasn’t been scheduled 

for a vote. 

SEPT. 11, 2012. 

Hon. KRISTI NOEM, 

Cannon House Office Building, 

Washington, DC. 

DEAR REP. NOEM: Thank you for the opportunity to meet with you during our trip to 

Washington, D.C., to talk about passing the 

farm bill. My husband, Mike, and I are both 

third-generation farmers. We have a diversified crop and beef cattle operation 25 miles 

southwest of Huron, S.D., where we raise 

corn, soybeans and 250 head of cattle. 

We are experiencing a severe drought in 

our area this year. We put up half the hay 

that we normally do, dugouts are starting to 

dry up and crop yields will be down significantly. Crop insurance will be extremely important to offset lost crop production and 

lost revenue due to poor crop conditions. 

Crop insurance is a vital part of providing 

stability to our income and allowing us to 

stay a viable family farm dedicated to growing a safe, affordable food supply for a growing world. We were fortunate to have utilized 

the EQIP Program to install two water 


tjames on DSK6SPTVN1PROD with HOUSE
September 20, 2012 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE H6155 

sources in two pastures to provide drinking 

water for our cattle which has been vital 

during this drought. We were also able to 

participate in the Stewardship Program 

through NRCS. Those conservation practices 

helped retain subsoil moisture which has 

been critical in the drought conditions we’ve 

faced. 

We have a 6-year-old son and 4-year-old 

daughter. We tell them daily how important 

our jobs are as farmers, how we are truly 

feeding the world. They are taking true pride 

and ownership of that and passing a good 

farm bill only helps stabilize their dreams 

and ours. 

A five-year farm bill gives us the stability 

to plan ahead for our operation long term. 

With the limited time Congress has to pass a 

farm bill before the current one expires, I 

would encourage lawmakers to look to rural 

America and realize how much work we can 

get done in a week. We know that if the farm 

bill is made a priority, there is enough time 

to get this bill passed. Thank you again for 

your work and we urge Congress to pass a 

farm bill now. 

Sincerely, 

MIKE AND LORI PESKEY, 

f 

Iroquois, S.D. 

CREATE A STEM VISA PROGRAM 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The 

Chair recognizes the gentleman from 

Illinois (Mr. GUTIERREZ) for 5 minutes. 

Mr. GUTIERREZ. Mr. Speaker, today 

we will vote on a Republican proposal 

to provide green cards to certain immigrants and to cut the same number of 

green cards available to other legal immigrants. 

How do we determine who gets more 

green cards and who gets fewer? 

For my Republican friends, that’s 

easy. They will provide more green 

cards to a very narrow number of immigrants they can tolerate—smart immigrants who have been educated in 

U.S. colleges and universities. They 

will make other legal immigrants— 

ones they can’t tolerate—pay for that 

increase. 

Meanwhile, Democrats have introduced bills that would also provide 

green cards to the immigrants who 

have been educated in U.S. colleges and 

universities. Our Democratic proposal, 

however, does not take green cards 

away from other deserving immigrants 

who want to come legally and contribute to this country. 

On our side of the aisle, we respect 

all immigrants. Our bill recognizes the 

value of all of them to our economy 

and, indeed, to our future. We should 

not educate some of the world’s most 

talented people in the STEM fields— 

that’s science, technology, engineering, 

and math—and then send them away to 

work in foreign lands to compete 

against us. 

Democrats strongly support providing these visas as a way of helping 

the U.S. economy and creating jobs, 

not just for the immigrants but for the 

U.S. workers they will employ and the 

economic activity they will generate. 

Democrats want progress. We want 

visas for STEM graduates. We will 

work in a bipartisan manner with Republicans to get it done. It’s a smart 

policy, and it’s a just policy. Let me be 

clear. There is no economic reason—no 

budget reason, no jobs reason—to punish other immigrants because we give 

out STEM visas. Absolutely none. Let 

me try to make it simple. 

Let’s pretend we’re not talking about 

immigrants, because any time some of 

my Republican friends hear the word 

‘‘immigrants,’’ they immediately want 

to punish someone. So let’s say, instead of immigrants, we’re talking 

about a family of three children, of 

three honest and hardworking children. 

One child wants to go to college to become an industrial engineer, and another wants to go to college to become 

a math professor. The third—a diligent, 

industrious child—doesn’t want to go 

to college. Let’s say he wants to start 

a landscaping business. He wants to 

work with the land and get his hands 

dirty. 

The Republican plan is simple—to 

help the kids going to college and to 

cut the other kid off. He’s out. Tough 

luck. He’s not smart enough for this 

family. The Democratic plan is just as 

simple. We need scientists, engineers 

and mathematicians, but we need other 

workers, too—construction workers, 

machinists, chefs, entrepreneurs. We 

need immigrants from all over the 

world—from every continent, including 

Africa. Everyone who works hard helps 

our economy, so let’s be helpful to everyone. That’s the Democratic belief, 

but that’s not the Republican plan 

today. 

Maybe we shouldn’t be surprised. 

After all, this proposal comes from a 

party whose Presidential nominee 

doesn’t care about 47 percent of America. Call it the Mitt Romney deadbeat 

doctrine in which half of all Americans 

are freeloaders. Maybe that’s all we 

need to know about this Republican 

plan. I suppose, in the Republican 

world, STEM visas are for the half of 

America that works, and the other 

visas are for the deadbeats that Mitt 

Romney doesn’t care about—you know, 

the freeloaders like your parents on 

Social Security or your son or daughter with that student loan or the Pell 

Grant—or like my parents, who came 

from Puerto Rico with only an elementary school education, but who worked 

hard every day and put two kids 

through college and one of them in the 

Congress of the United States. Yes, 

those deadbeats. If my parents had 

needed visas to come to this country 

today under this new plan, they would 

never have gotten a chance. 

We are changing the rules about who 

can—and more importantly—about 

who cannot come to America. So unless you view the world through Mitt 

Romney’s ‘‘us versus them’’ vision of 

America, there is no reason to cut 

visas today. None. I want to stand up 

for the ZOE LOFGREN provision of immigration—the Democratic vision of immigration. We’re not divided into a 

country where people who gather at a 

fancy country club and write $50,000 

checks to political candidates are good 

and where the people who stand to run 

and serve them the food are bad. America is not half deadbeats. We are one 

America, and we have a chance to 

prove it today. 

Democrats are offering a sensible 

plan that doesn’t divide us. It values 

all work from all immigrants. It 

achieves our common goal of creating 

a STEM visa program, keeping more 

scientists and engineers right here in 

America, making us stronger. In Mitt 

Romney’s world, if you help one person, you have to punish another. I 

think that’s wrong. I urge my colleagues to pass a fair and sensible plan 

to create a STEM visa program, and 

let’s do it without punishing a single 

person. 

f 

IN HONOR OF LIEUTENANT COLONEL CHRISTOPHER RAIBLE, A 

FALLEN SOLDIER 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The 

Chair recognizes the gentleman from 

Pennsylvania (Mr. MURPHY) for 5 minutes. 

Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania. This 

morning, I rise with a heavy heart, but 

on behalf of a grateful Nation, to honor 

a soldier born and raised in southwestern Pennsylvania, who gave his 

life on September 14 in service to our 

country. 

This week, he returned to his home, 

the United States, where he will be laid 

to rest. Lieutenant Colonel Christopher 

Raible, commanding officer of Marine 

Attack Squadron 211, died in the assault on Camp Bastion, which is connected to the American-run base Camp 

Leatherneck, in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. It was a despicable attack 

by the Taliban that not only took the 

life of this dedicated, respected, and 

brave marine but that also resulted in 

the worst loss of U.S. military aircraft 

since the Vietnam war. 

But this morning, I rise so my colleagues, my constituents at home in 

Westmoreland County, and the entire 

Nation will know more about this courageous marine known as ‘‘Otis,’’ who 

commanded a Marine Harrier jet 

squadron. 

After graduating at the top of his 

class from Norwin High School, where 

he was a starting defensive back for 

the Knights, Lieutenant Colonel Raible 

earned his degree in civil engineering 

from Pittsburgh’s prestigious Carnegie 

Mellon University. Following his college graduation, Raible joined the 

United States Marine Corps, and by 

1998 had become a naval aviator. A natural leader, Raible rose to the rank of 

lieutenant colonel last summer, having 

received numerous military honors 

along the way, including a Meritorious 

Service Medal, 10 Strike-Flight awards, 

and a Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal, to name just a few. 

In support of Operation Enduring 

Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom, 

Raible deployed many times to serve 

our Nation. Colonel Raible commanded 

the only Marine Harrier squadron in 


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