H300 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE January 14, 2009 

it accounts for two-thirds of our Nation’s overall oil consumption. 

Every year, 17 million new cars are 

sold in the U.S., and for the most part 

these cars only run on gasoline. To 

remedy that, I introduced the Open 

Fuel Standards Act last year with 

three of my colleagues, Reps JACK

KINGSTON, STEVE ISRAEL and BOB INGLIS—and you can tell it’s bipartisan 

again. The Open Fuel Standards Act 

would require 50 percent of new cars 

sold in the United States by 2012 and 80 

percent by 2015 to be flex fuel vehicles, 

meaning they can run on ethanol, 

methanol and gasoline, similar to what 

all cars have in Brazil nowadays, and it 

would only cost about $90 or $100 per 

car to do this. We should be doing it 

now. 

To help supply America with alcoholbased fuels for flex fuel vehicles, I plan 

to facilitate the importation of ethanol 

by introducing the Imported Ethanol 

Facilitation Act, which was introduced 

by Representative—now Senator— 

UDALL. 

We also need to make a serious push 

to electrify the transportation sector 

for American consumers and to create 

new green jobs while doing it. Very little of our electricity is generated from 

oil, so using electricity as a transportation fuel enables the full spectrum of 

electricity sources to compete with petroleum; that includes wind, solar, geothermal, hydro, nuclear, and coal, 

among others. 

I fully support our Governor, Governor Paterson’s ‘‘45 by 15’’ program, 

whereby New York will meet 45 percent 

of its electricity needs by 2015 through 

improved energy efficiency and clean 

renewable energy. This program will 

help drive economic revitalization and 

help protect our environment. 

As Congress deliberates an economic 

recovery bill, I believe that now is the 

time to jump-start investment in electric transportation. The production of 

electric vehicles in the United States 

will involve huge numbers of green 

manufacturing jobs. Plug-in hybrid 

cars is something we should consider. 

There are many, many things that we 

can do, and when we do the economic 

stimulus package, we should keep this 

in mind. 

As we move towards greater use of 

various types of electric vehicles, there 

will be increased demand for the advanced batteries that will power those 

vehicles. We must ensure that we can 

meet the demand for production of 

these batteries here in the United 

States. 

We must also fund the Green Jobs 

Workforce Investment Fund authorized 

under Title 10 of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. I will 

make a continued effort to secure funding, as well as additional funding for 

related policies, to help American manufacturers produce advanced lithium 

ion batteries, hybrid electrical systems, and other components and software designs. 

So let me say, in conclusion, that I 

am committed to breaking our dependence on foreign oil and doing so in a 

way that grows our economy and builds 

a clean energy future for all Americans. I will continue to press these 

matters in the next weeks ahead, and I 

believe in our economic stimulus package we should keep this in mind. 

f 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a 

previous order of the House, the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. 

JONES) is recognized for 5 minutes. 

(Mr. JONES addressed the House. His 

remarks will appear hereafter in the 

Extensions of Remarks.) 

f 

b 1930 

HONORING CORPORAL JONATHAN 

YALE AND LANCE CORPORAL 

JORDAN HAERTER 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a 

previous order of the House, the gentleman from California (Mr. HUNTER) is 

recognized for 5 minutes. 

Mr. HUNTER. Mr. Speaker, I rise 

today to honor Corporal Jonathan Yale 

and Lance Corporal Jordan Haerter, 

who grew up in different parts of this 

Nation but gave their lives to this 

country together in Iraq. Both have 

been nominated for the Navy Cross for 

their actions on April 22, 2008, and both 

are owed a great gratitude by this Nation for their actions. 

Tony Perry—a journalist who I got to 

know in Fallujah in 2004—from the LA 

Times, who has covered this story, describes what transpired that morning 

best. Corporal Jonathan Yale, 21, grew 

up in poor rural Virginia. He had joined 

the Marine Corps to put structure in 

his life and to help support his mother 

and sister. He was within a few days of 

heading home. 

Lance Corporal Jordan Haerter, 19, 

was from a comfortable middle class 

suburb on Long Island. As a boy, he 

had worn military garb and he had felt 

the pull of adventure and patriotism. 

He had just arrived in Iraq. 

On April 22, 2008, the two were assigned to guard the main gate to Joint 

Security Station Nasser in Ramadi, the 

capital of the Anbar province, once an 

insurgent stronghold, and still a very 

dangerous place. Dozens of marines and 

Iraqi police lived at the compound and 

some were still sleeping after all-night 

patrols when Yale and Haerter reported 

for duty that warm, sultry morning. 

Yale, respected for his quiet, efficient 

manner, was assigned to show Haerter 

how to take over his duties. Haerter 

had volunteered to watch the main 

gate, even though it was considered the 

most hazardous of the compound’s 

three guards station because it could 

be approached from a busy thoroughfare. 

The sun had barely risen when the 

two sentries spotted a 20-foot long 

truck headed toward the gate, weaving 

with increasing speed through the concrete barriers to the gate. Two Iraqi 

police officers ran for their lives, so did 

several Iraqi police on the adjacent 

street. Yale and Haerter tried to waive 

off this truck, but it just kept coming. 

They opened fire, Yale with the machine gun, Haerter with an M–16. Their 

bullets peppered the radiator and windshield. The truck slowed, but kept rolling. A few dozen feet from the gate the 

big truck exploded. Investigators found 

that it was loaded with over 2,000 

pounds of explosives and that its driver, his hand on a ‘‘dead-man switch,’’ 

was determined to commit suicide and 

slaughter the marines and Iraqi police. 

The thunderous explosion rocked 

much of Ramadi, interrupting the 

morning call to prayers for many 

mosques. A nearby mosque and a home 

were flattened. The blast ripped a crater five feet deep and 20 feet across into 

the street. Shards of concrete shattered everywhere, and choking dust 

filled the air. 

Haerter was dead, Yale was dying. 

Three marines about 300 feet away 

were injured, so were eight Iraqi police 

and two dozen civilians, but several 

dozen other nearby marines and Iraqi 

police, while shaken, were unhurt. 

Mr. Speaker, we all hope that in 

times of great crisis, we will rise to the 

occasion and do the right thing. 

Haerter and Yale rose to the occasion 

and defended their fellow Marines. It is 

an honor to call them fellow Marines. 

Major General John Kelly, Commanding General, First Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward) interviewed 

the witnesses himself. What he learned 

from these interviews led him to nominate the two for the Navy Cross, the 

second highest award for combat bravery for the Marine Corps and the 

United States Navy. In General Kelly’s 

statement in support of the Navy 

Cross, he writes: ‘‘Because they did 

what they did, only 2 families had their 

hearts broken on 22 April, rather than 

as many as 50. These families will 

never know how truly close they came 

to a knock on their door that night.’’ 

We are winning in Iraq and Afghanistan because of brave Marines like Corporal Jonathan T. Yale and Lance Corporal Jordan D. Haerter. To their families I offer my heartfelt condolences. 

And to Corporal Yale and Corporal 

Haerter, I say, Marines, job well done. 

This is but one example of the bravery and sacrifice of over 4,000 men and 

women who have given their lives to 

the cause of liberty since 2001 and the 

over 1.5 million men and women who 

have served in Operation Enduring 

Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom 

and come home, and, of course, the 

over 150,000 that are serving now. 

Mr. Speaker, I would like to include 

for the RECORD Tony Perry’s entire article and Major General Kelly’s statement in support of the award of the 

Navy Cross. I encourage all of my colleague and hope all Americans will 

read about these two brave Marines 

and keep their families in their prayers. 


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January 14, 2009 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE H301 

[From Los Angeles Times Dec. 29, 2008] 

A SPEEDING TRUCK BOMB, AND A SHARED ACT

OF COURAGE

(By Tony Perry) 

SAN DIEGO.—Two Marines in Iraq saved 

dozens—but not themselves. They’ll be 

awarded the Navy Cross. They had known 

each other only a few minutes, but they will 

be linked forever in what Marine brass say is 

one of the most extraordinary acts of courage and sacrifice in the Iraq war. 

Cpl. Jonathan Yale, 21, grew up poor in 

rural Virginia. He had joined the Marine 

Corps to put structure in his life and to help 

support his mother and sister. He was within 

a few days of heading home. 

Lance Cpl. Jordan Haerter, 19, was from a 

comfortably middle-class suburb on Long Island. As a boy, he had worn military garb, 

and he had felt the pull of adventure and patriotism. He had just arrived in Iraq. 

On April 22, the two were assigned to guard 

the main gate to Joint Security Station Nasser in Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, 

once an insurgent stronghold and still a dangerous region. Dozens of Marines and Iraqi 

police lived at the compound, and some were 

still sleeping after all-night patrols when 

Yale and Haerter reported for duty that 

warm, sultry morning. 

Yale, respected for his quiet, efficient manner, was assigned to show Haerter how to 

take over his duties. 

Haerter had volunteered to watch the main 

gate, even though it was considered the most 

hazardous of the compound’s three guard 

stations because it could be approached from 

a busy thoroughfare. 

The sun had barely risen when the two sentries spotted a 20-foot-long truck headed toward the gate, weaving with increasing speed 

through the concrete barriers. Two Iraqi police officers assigned to the gate ran for their 

lives. 

So did several Iraqi police on the adjacent 

street. 

Yale and Haerter tried to wave off the 

truck, but it kept coming. They opened fire, 

Yale with a machine gun, Haerter with an 

M–16. Their bullets peppered the radiator and 

windshield. The truck slowed but kept rolling. 

A few dozen feet from the gate, the truck 

exploded. Investigators found that it was 

loaded with 2,000 pounds of explosives and 

that its driver, his hand on a ‘‘dead-man 

switch,’’ was determined to commit suicide 

and slaughter Marines and Iraqi police. 

The thunderous explosion rocked much of 

Ramadi, interrupting the morning call to 

prayers from the many mosques. A nearby 

mosque and a home were flattened. The blast 

ripped a crater 5 feet deep and 20 feet across 

into the street. Shards of concrete scattered 

everywhere, and choking dust filled the air. 

Haerter was dead; Yale was dying. Three 

Marines about 300 feet away were injured. So 

were eight Iraqi police and two dozen civilians. But several dozen other nearby Marines 

and Iraqi police, while shaken, were unhurt. 

A Black Hawk helicopter was summoned in a 

futile attempt to get Yale to a field hospital 

in time. A sheet was placed over Haerter. 

When it was considered safe to take 

Haerter’s body to a second helicopter, his 

section leader insisted he be covered by an 

American flag. ‘‘We did not want him carried 

out with just a sheet,’’ said Staff Sgt. Kenneth Grooms. 

Maj. Gen. John Kelly, the top Marine in 

Iraq, wanted to know how the attack happened. Like many veteran Marines, he is 

haunted by the memory of the 1983 bombing 

of the barracks in Beirut, when a blast from 

an explosives-laden truck killed 241 U.S. 

service personnel, including 220 Marines. 

Not given to dark thoughts or insecurities, 

Kelly, who commanded Marines in the fight 

for Baghdad and Tikrit in 2003 and Fallouja 

in 2004, admits that the specter of another 

Beirut gives him nightmares as he commands the 22,000 Marines in Iraq. He went to 

Ramadi to interview Iraqi witnesses—a task 

generals usually delegate to subordinates. 

Some Iraqis told him they were incredulous 

that the two Marines had not fled. When Marine technicians restored a damaged security 

camera, the images were undeniable. 

While Iraqi police fled, Haerter and Yale 

had never flinched and never stopped firing 

as the Mercedes truck—the same model used 

in the Beirut bombing—sped directly toward 

them. 

Without their steadfastness, the truck 

would probably have penetrated the compound before it exploded, and 50 or more Marines and Iraqis would have been killed. The 

incident happened in just six seconds. 

‘‘No time to talk it over; no time to call 

the lieutenant; no time to think about their 

own lives or even the American and Iraqi 

lives they were protecting,’’ Kelly said. 

‘‘More than enough time, however, to do 

their duty. They never hesitated or tried to 

escape.’’ 

Yale was always trying to boost the morale of his buddies, said Lance Cpl. Brandon 

Creely, 21, of Boise, Idaho. ‘‘Whenever I was 

down, he’d tell a joke, tell me it’s not as bad 

as it seems.’’ 

Staff Sgt. Grooms, 28, said he knows how 

Haerter should be remembered. ‘‘He was a 

hero,’’ Grooms said, ‘‘and a damn fine person.’’ 

STATEMENT OF MAJOR GENERAL JOHN F. 

KELLY, USMC—IN SUPPORT OF THE NAVY

CROSS RECOMMENDATIONS IN THE CASES OF

CORPORAL JONATHAN T. YALE, USMC AND

LANCE CORPORAL JORDAN C. HAERTER, 

USMC 

The following statement is a compilation of events from my personal 

interview of several Iraqi police men, 

view for a video tape of the entire 

event capture by the Joint Security 

Station’s (JSS) security camera, and 

walking the site. 

At 0745C on 22 April 2008, Joint Security 

Station, JSS, Nasser, Ramadi, Iraq, was attacked by a very large truck bomb with an 

estimate explosive weight over 2,000 lbs. The 

truck was driven by a suicide bomber who 

was consumed in the blast. At the time two 

battalions, 1st Battalion 9th Marines and 2 

Battalion 8th marines were conducting a relief in place at JSS Nasser. The JSS by its 

nature who housed a relatively large number 

of Iraqi police. At the time of the attack two 

Marines, Corporal Jonathan T. Yale and 

Lance Corporal Jordan C. Haerter were 

standing post at the entry control point 

(ECP— along with two Iraqi policemen. At 

least 8 other Iraqi policemen were also on 

duty about 60m away at the intersection 

(Routes Apple and Sophia) of a busy city 

street, and the entrance alley to the JSS in 

the Sophia District of Ramadi. 

Without warning a Mercedes tank truck 

made the turn and immediately accelerated 

negotiating the serpentine careening towards the entryway of the JSS compound. 

The Marines undoubtedly understood immediately what was taking place as they went 

straight to the guns without any escalation 

of force firing continuously until the truck 

lurched to a stop just outside the compound’s gate, and literally a few feet from 

the Marines, when it detonated. Both Marines were killed still firing their weapons. 

Three Marines were also wounded over 100m 

from the event, as were at least eight Iraqi 

officers and 24 civilians. A nearby mosque 

and house were both destroyed, with a number of others houses suffering significant 

damage. The blast crater measured 20 feet in 

diameter and five feet deep. At the time of 

the attack, and because of the ongoing relief 

in place, there were over 50 Marines on site 

with a similar number of Iraqi police officers. It was only due to the bravery of the 

two Marines that a catastrophe was averted, 

but that is exactly why they were there to 

prevent such a bomb from entering the compound and they did exactly that. 

When interviewing several police officers 

separately on 25 April at the JSS they all 

told essentially the same story. When the 

truck turned down the entryway to the JSS 

the tip off that it was not an innocent delivery was that it accelerated through the concrete Jersey walls. The Marines on station 

immediately began to fire then some of the 

police joined in. One of the officers made the 

point that no sane man would have stood 

there and fired—yet two men did. Another 

said he knew the Marines were crazy (he 

meant fearless I think), but this was beyond 

what he’d seen Marines do even when he was 

fighting us as an insurgent two years before. 

A third who was no more than 15 feet from 

the two Marines when the truck turned into 

the alley ran to safety in the few seconds it 

took the truck to negotiate the 60 m to the 

gate (caught on tape). He survived. He told 

me when he observed the truck accelerating 

and the Marines firing he ran but the Marines did not. All were in agreement that had 

the Marines not stood their ground to their 

deaths the truck would have wiped out the 

JSS and everyone in it. 

Subsequent to my taking these interviews 

I viewed a video of the entire event captured 

by our surveillance camera at the entryway 

of the JSS. It took several days to 

forensically recover the images from the 

badly damaged camera. I did not know either 

one of the hero’s, but I have known thousands like them in my career. They will do 

anything we ask them to do—even to their 

deaths. Like the police officers they could 

have run and likely survived, but did not. I 

do not think anyone would have called them 

cowards if they had. They took seriously the 

duties and responsibilities of a Marine on 

post, and stood their ground before they 

would allow anyone or anything to pass. For 

their dedication they lost their lives. Because they did what they did only 2 families 

had their hearts broken on 22 April, rather 

than as many as 50. These families will never 

know how truly close they came to a knock 

on the door that night. 

JOHN F. KELLY, 

Major General, U.S. Marine Corps 

Commanding General, I Marine Expeditionary 

f 

Force (Forward). 

HERE WE GO AGAIN: THE SECOND 

HALF OF THE BANK BAILOUT 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a 

previous order of the House, the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. KAPTUR) is recognized for 5 minutes. 

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I rise 

this evening to warn America that here 

we go again. Wall Street, the Bush administration, the chief executor of 

Goldman Sachs Hank Paulson, who in 

his spare time sells U.S. debt to China 

and Saudi Arabia as our Treasury Secretary, are asking to get their hands on 

the second half of the $700 billion bank 

bailout. 

Last fall the administration and Wall 

Street’s chief cheerleader Treasury 

Secretary Paulson scared Congress into 

adopting the first round of Wall Street 


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