mr. braley and mr. barton said, these bankruptcies and is closing of the local car dealerships are not just affecting the dealers em

mr. braley and mr. barton said, these bankruptcies and is closing of the local car dealerships are not just affecting the dealers themselves, but millions of people who live in all of our districts who are going to be inconvenienced at the very least. .. because on the one hand, we see these profitable dealerships in our districts. on the other hand, we see the need for consolidation and for saving money but we don't quite understand how closing those profitable dealerships works especially given the human implications and that's why we're concerned and that's why we're having this

mr. braley. >> mr. chairman, wanted thank you for holding the hearing on the discussion draft of the food safety legislation, there have been high profile contamination incidents in the united states including peanut butter and tim nato and this committee is investigating these incidents. these hearings on the fda have clearly shown us that it does not have the resources, finding our manpower and technology to protect american food supply and fulfill its mission. chairman dingell, and in peanut butter have worked on this issue. i am hopeful the riss hearing and discussion draft will bring us one step closer and passing food safety legislation out of the house. i have a brief chance to review this and briefly discuss a couple of issues that concern me -- it allows for food imports and to be inspected by labs to conduct sample analysis and i support the provision go live to see an investment in construction of fda labs and the port of houston is the largest in terms of foreign and improves our energy indu

mr. braley, for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from iowa is recognized for one minute. mr. bilbray: madam speaker, this is a de-- mr. braley: madam speaker, looking at the chairman holding his grandchild in his hands is what every member in this body is going to have to face when they look in the eyes of their children and grandchildren. where were you on this pivotal vole in our nation's -- vote in our nation's history? where were you when we were trying to free ourselves from foreign oil? why were you when we were debating this bill? this bill won't cost jobs in iowa. it will create thousands of jobs in clean energy. that's what the message is i am sending to my children. that's the message i am sending to my grandchildren. this is the time to break away from mideast oil people. set a new policy for our energy future and send a message to the world that we will be leaders, not followers, when it comes to climate change. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the ge

mr. braley: mr. speaker, a year ago i stood in this well is a heavy heart and asked for a moment of silence for the town of parkersburg that was destroyed by an f-5 tornado. the high school was destroyed and the recovery was the allegedenedary -- legendary football coach thomas. he emerged from the rubble with tears in his eyes, pledged to rebuild the school and rebuild a community and help heal the sorrow. ed and his wife, jan, moved into an apartment above a hardware store. he worked with young people and inspired them to become better people. yesterday morning as coach thomas was at the school he loved working with young people a lone gunman entered the school and shot and killed ed thomas in front of 20 to 30 high school students. ed thomas coached for 37 years. he had a career record of 292-84, including two state championships, 19 state playoff appearances and get this, in a town of 280 students in high school, four of his students played in the national football league. coach thomas said, we d

mr. braley? >> do you know, a jennifer fox, mr. press? >> i may. >> you know, a jennifer fox to works in the washington d.c. office? >> yes. i don't know her last name. >> i assume she uses an e-mail address that and seven chrysler.com that is an employee of chrysler? are you aware chrysler is attempting to convince chrysler dealers who have not been terminated to ring gauge in a lobbying effort to point* out the positive aspects of the consolidation through bankruptcy that has been going on? >> i am aware the fact because of the publicity there are 391 dealers that have benefited and they give to the league and 100 year dealers 21 the opportunity to make their position known. >> are you aware chrysler has been sending out talking points under a key messages memo that says chrysler llc made the appropriate business decision with the dealer network that could be thriving and profitable and the automobile industry cannot support the number of dealers that currently exist. dealers have known chrysler wanted to consolidate and locate all thre

mr. braley. >> thank you mr. chairman and ranking member walden. i thank you can tell from the interest in this hearing that is something that affects all for under 35 congressional districts and that is why i am going to segment by written statement and focus instead on the human cost of what we're here to talk about as ranking member barton was talking about. i am very fortunate one of my constituents who is the chairman of the national auto dealers association from clinton, iowa is here because he works and sells cars in the heartland and i think a lot of what we're talking about today is an explanation of how the decisions that are being made are affecting dealers over the country. my wife's grandfather was at first ford dealer in dubuque, iowa and my uncle came home from world war ii and at the request of one of his navy bodies move to my home town of berglund, iowa and started working as a parts manager and a chevy dealership that he later purchase and worked in for 60 years. i want to talk a little bit about where we have been to get to wher

mr. braley for an opening statement. >> thank you, mr. chairman.i'd like to start by talking about the concept we are here to discuss because the term post-claims underwriting is an oxymoron. insurance companies are structured in a different departments to get the have an underwriting department and claims department and the underwriting department is supposed to do pre-issuance risk assessment to determine whether an individual policy is worth the company investing in that person as a health care and risk. the claims department is designed to respond, to request for coverage after a policy has been issued. so the very theory that we are here to talk about today isn't even supposed to exist in a rational health care delivery system. and it wouldn't exist if we had a rational health care delivery system. but when you read news stories where the ceo of one private health insurance company is sitting on stock options valued at $1.6 billion, it shouldn't come as a shock to any of us that we are sitting here today reading these were stories of patients

mr. braley, to mr. waxman. this is truly the work of a lot of people coming together. and ultimately the approach has produced a win-win-win-win situation. a win for consumers who get a new, more fuel-efficient vehicle, a win reducing our dependence on foreign oil and a win for an industry that's struggling. it's always a win-win, members from the two coasts can join together and come up with a compromise that all sides can support. the price of a gallon of gasoline is rising inextrishly back up to $4 a gallon. it has gone up $1 at the pump on a national average since december. the price of barrel of oil has gone from $30 to $69 since december. this is the kind of bill we need to put in place. my congratulations to the gentlelady. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentlewoman from ohio continues to reserve. the gentleman from michigan is recognized. mr. upton: i reserve the balance of my time at the moment. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan continues to reserve. who yields time? the gentlewoman from ohio is recognized. ms

mr. braley, you want to introduce john? > i'm pleased to have john who's president of the auto dealers president in clinton, iowa, in my district and also has another franchise in iowa city, welcome, john. >> mr. spitzer -- betty help me out elyiri a. >> he has been in the business a long time in eylira and the surrounding years. 100 years i believe in the auto dealership. [inaudible] >> well, those are pretty deep roots and i am honored and i'm grateful, mr. chairman, that you brought mr. spitzer to share his experience not only in obviously providing our communities with the cars they need to drive but helping to shore up so much within our community by sponsoring organizations and contributing to the quality of life there. >> next we have mr. bob thomas, mr. walden, would you like to say a few words there. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. mr. thomas is a constituent of mine from bend, oregon. his grandfather formed the dealership for general motors in 1918. he served as lieutenant in the u.s. marine corps from 1969 t

mr. braley: one year ago today i got on a plane and flew back home to waterloo, iowa, to a district and state under water. the railroad bridge in downtown waterloo was torn down by the raging waters and my entire state went through the worst natural disaster in our state's history. it's hard to believe that much time has passed but the work continues and the good resilient people of iowa continue to rebuild which is why secretary donvan is there today announcing the latest rounds of h.u.d. assistance to helpp people get back on their feet and rebuild their homes. i will be wearing next week in the congressional baseball game the jersey of the blue raiders. last year this baseball team's entire field was under 10 feet of water. and it's a symbol of what happens when communities all over this country are devastated by natural disasters. that's why the work we do in this body is so important. i continue to call upon people to keep in mind those who are devastated in a similar way in the years and days ahead. i yield back my time. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from

to my colleagues, representative candice miller and representative bruce braley who started this process with me back in march. mr. speaker, the bipartisan cars act will sure up millions of jobs and stimulate local economies. it will reduce our dependence on foreign oil. it will provide much-needed financial assistance to consumers to trade in less fuel-efficient vehicles, for vehicles which achieve a measured increase fuel economy. what the cars act will not do is allow someone to trade in a vehicle and receive a voucher to purchase a vehicle that is less fuel economy. we have ensured environmental integrity in this bill. and this bill demonstrates that we do not have to bind ourselves to the arguments of the past. we no longer have to give into the temptation of either or thinking. the cars act demonstrates that we can free ourselves of the false thinking of either you are for the environment or you are for jobs. we can do both. 2009 auto sales are down nearly 42% below the 2005 peak. we have not seen such a decline since 1955, and this decline jeopardizes our country's largest manufacturing industry. these are

mr. chairman. i want to add of course as you can see who stayed here at the end as was pointed out the car act we passed this week represent braley and our original cosponsor and chairman stupak and chairman dingell were involved in the process of getting that bill done and it is intended to have a concrete impact because we do believe that mr. keikenapp said, we want for chrysler and gm to be a success because it is linked to our work communities and jobs and the food it puts on the tables of the people we are honored to represent and so it's painful for us to be here and in this position but the payment that we feel listening to this is nothing compared to what we have heard displayed here on the folks losing their dealerships and i want to thank all of you that came here today to put a human face and perspective about cost of what is going on on this major problem so thank you for coming and mr. chairman, thank you for holding this hearing. we do want you to be successful. >> thanks, and that concludes all the questions from the members. i keep the hearings have been helpful since the senate hearing we have a process with gene