Statements For the Record

Thank you Mr. Chairman. I join you in welcoming Assistant Secretary Washburn and our other witnesses to the subcommittee this morning.

Education is the cornerstone of the foundation on which we build our future. And, Native American parents, like parents all across this nation, look to a good education as an investment in a better future for their children.

Dear President Obama, Speaker Boehner and Leader Pelosi:

As negotiations on the fiscal cliff continue, we urge you to address the largest and fastest growing area of federal spending – health care. We must keep moving away from fee-for-service health care and toward a system that provides better care at a better cost. We urge you to build on delivery system reforms and find further efficiencies through incentivizing the value of care provided instead of the volume of care.

Mr. Speaker, The American people expect Congress to work together to create jobs and grow our economy. We heard that message loud and clear in last week’s election. We have an opportunity to save 75,000 American jobs RIGHT NOW by extending the Wind Production Tax Credit.

In Minnesota, this tax credit helped create an entire industry that employs thousands of people from construction workers to high-tech analysts. All of these jobs are now under threat.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to H.R. 5912. This is a misguided bill that repeals public financing of our national political conventions and allows moneyed special-interests to complete their corporate buyout of America’s electoral process.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.Res. 786. I join President Obama, Secretary of State Clinton and my colleagues in Congress in condemning these attacks in the strongest possible terms. The attacks on our embassies in Cairo, Egypt and Sana, Yemen and the violent assault on our consulate in Benghazi, Libya were shocking and unacceptable.

[as prepared]

As you’ve already heard here today, H.R. 5544 is missing an awful lot of important detail & taxpayer protections -- creating major problems with its vague and unusual language. One major omission in this bill is its failure to acknowledge the treaty rights of Minnesota’s tribal nations. Treaty rights are a prominent concern in this land exchange because the unspecified lands under consideration in H.R. 5544 are all within the Superior National Forest, which is governed by the 1854 Treaty between the Chippewa nations and the United States Government.

[as prepared]

The House should not be spending its limited floor time on this bill. The House should be debating the American Jobs Act – the President’s plan to put nearly 2 million Americans back to work without adding a dime to the deficit.

Instead, the Republican Majority has a land exchange bill on the floor that is completely unnecessary. The State of Minnesota and US Forest Service have the authority they need to finalize this land exchange. There is a stakeholder process underway in Minnesota to determine a proposal for land sale and exchange.