mr. stupak, mr. israel, to 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. w

mr. stupak readily accepting the premise that we have to get inspectors into these facilities. and we are ready to address an issue that is thoughtful. and respectable and pay for the inspectors and facilities where they are not going into. it's not like we haven't done anything. congress -- last congress approximately 57 million from the supplemental went to food safety. the house passed a 2009 on the best appropriated an additional 325 million for the fda with 140 million of the 325 million would go for food safety programs. and the president 2010 budget, he included 1 billion additional dollars to fda for food safety. so there is a huge commitment already for massive federal funds to go to food safety. now we have as our concern a bill, a draft that has what, 325 million for no explanation, no earmarking, no direction. and that's where a lot of our questions will be today is why that amount, what justifies that amount, how are we going to be sure that's not going to be used for other purposes, and the likes. so i would ask the leadership on the other side that if they really

mr. stupak mr. rush. i mean so many members, including members off the committee, like henry cuellar from the state of texas who worked with us on natural gas-related issues. we will not be here unless we had the cooperation of so many members across the full spectrum of the house. during this process we have received valuable input and expertise from other leaders in the house like chairman rangel on trade issues, chairman peterson on agriculture issues, amongst, again, many others. the legislation we have before us today is the most important energy and environment legislation to ever have been considered in the history of the united states. the consequences for our country are great unless we act to deal with these issues. this legislation sets a new course for our country creating millions of new clean energy jobs while reducing our dependence upon imported oil. and when it becomes law and it will, for the first time in the history of the united states congress, for the first time in the history of ou

mr. stupak, mr. modes of new hampshire, mr. welch, mr. mann zulea, mr. stearns, mr. brown and mrs. miller. the speaker pro tempore: clause 10 of rule 1 and the order of the house of january 6, 2009, the chair announces the speaker's appointment of the following house to the british interparliamentary group. the clerk: mr. chandler of kentucky, chairman, mr. sir is, mr. clyburn of south carolina, mr. etheridge of north carolina, mr. bishop of new york, mr. pete try of wisconsin, mr. crenhaw and mr. aderholt and mr. latta of ohio. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to house resolution 578 and rule 18, the chair declares the house in the competent committee of the whole in the state of the union for consideration of h.r. 2996. the chair appoints the gentleman from virginia, mr. connolly to preside over the committee of the whole. the chair: house is in the committee of the whole on the state of the union for consideration of h.r. 2996, which the clerk will report by title. the clerk: a bill making appropriations for the department of interior, environment and related agencies for the f

mr. stupak and i have worked closely with key stakeholders on this discussion draft and as we move forward with the legislation, we hope to continue those conversations as well as conversations with our counterparts on this committee. the bill we're discussing today will modernize the food safety laws currently in place. it places a strong emphasis on prevention and shifts the responsibility for food safety onto those who actually make the food. it also provides the fda with the necessary resources and enforcement authorities to ensure that all companies are in compliance with the new requirements. this draft bill would require all food manufacturing companies to register annually with the fda so that the agency has an up-to-date list of all facilities who sell products in the united states. it focuses on prevention by requiring companies to conduct thorough, hazard and risk analysis of the products that they're making. it mandates the companies put in place preventive controls to mitigate and minimize those identified hazards and it requires companies to document all the steps they've tak

mr. stupak. i am happy that this bill does have a dedicated allowance for natural resource adaptation and significant protection in acquisition of lands. this is a good bill. i urge my colleagues to support it. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back his time. the gentleman from oklahoma is recognized. mr. lucas: madam speaker, i wish to recognize the gentleman from texas, mr. conaway, for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas is recognized for one minute. mr. conaway: i wish to congratulate you on your long service. madam speaker, this bill passes today, this will be a bad day at black walk for america. this will raise energy costs. our president has said it will skyrocket. claims of high coal usage and lower costs is nonsensical. it is muted by the fact that we delay implementation of many of these provisions for years and years in order for people to vote for this nonsense. it has no meaningful effect. we all want to breathe clean air. we all want to drink cl

mr. chairman. >> thank-you. in chairman stupak. >> thank-you mr. chairman and thank you commissioner barrett as chair of oversight and investigations and one of the authors of the food safety enhancement act, we have seen both nine hearings in the last two years just on food safety and certainly is a major problem. one of the problems i found every time we had a hearing there was always a lack of information that the fda did not have the manufacture of the food or the producer of the food and was always difficult to get information. in the safety enhancement act authorizes the fda to issue subpoenas for records and other things relevant to a hearing investigation or proceeding or relative to any other matter within the fda's jurisdiction including matters of the public health service act and the federal anti tampering act. do you believe subpoena power would be beneficial to the fda? >> is very important for us to get access in a timely way to the information that we needed and i think that authority will enable us to act more swiftly and effective

mr. henderson, your opening statement. >> thank you chairman stupak and ranking member, walden. >> teeone to move that closer. >> on each action out to reinvent gm there is a human story, our dealers and parts of the larger gm family. there are valued business partners and for many consumers the face of general motors. however, the sacrifices all painful that we're all making are necessary to put gm in a better path to long-term viability and success and we owe this to the u.s. taxpayer. in essence this is our last chance to reduce debt, to operate under competitive labor agreements, to have the manufacturing capacity that matches realities 10 and partly to continue to design and build trucks with the leading technology. we simply cannot undergo the sweeping transformation without a comparable effort to reshape its retail network, one which was largely created in the '50s and '60s. we have been called upon to make tough commercial decisions and will do so responsibly and compassionately. and in the case of our dealers to act as carefully responsible and objectively as we can come to help

mr. doyle. ms. sutton from ohio, please. >> thank you, chairman stupak, for holding the hearing and thank you very much for inviting one of my constituent dealers, ellen spitzer to testify here today. mr. spitzer is losing seven of his dealerships. in addition there are two other chrysler dealerships in my district that are being eliminated. across ohio 47 chrysler dealerships are being eliminated in the ohio auto dealers association estimates and 130 gm dealerships may be cut. the impacts of these decisions on families and local economies will be substantial. and we heard from the distinguished gentleman from pennsylvania and i associate myself with his remarks. on average 43 people work at a dealership in ohio where the average pay is $44,000 a year. with these closings, millions of dollars of income will disappear with the jobs and those jobs are lost on top of the 2,000 auto manufacturing jobs that will be eliminated by the closing of the chrysler twinsburg plant, the gm mansfield metal center plant and gm's power train unit in parma. these dealers and their employees, they're not merely statistics

mr. sassi your opening statement please. >> thank you chairman stupak, ranking member wilbon and members of the committee for inviting me to testify before you today. i am brian sassi, president ceo of the consumer division of wellpoint. we understand the impact these decisions can have on individuals and families. we have put in place the theroux process with multiple steps to ensure that we are as there and accurate as we can be in making these difficult decisions. i want to emphasize that rescission is about stopping misrepresentation that contribute to the spiraling healthcare costs. by some estimates healthcare fraud in the u.s. exceeds $100 billion, and now large enough to pay for covering nearly half the 47 million uninsured. recission as a tool employed by wellpoint and other health insurers to protect the vast majority of policyholders to provide accurate and complete information from subsidizing the cost of those who do not. the bottom line is rescission is about combatting caused her been by these issues. if we fail to address misrepresentation the cost of coverage would incre

mr. chairman and kudos as well to rosa delauro and chairman stupak and john dingell who have worked for many years to improve food safety in america and welcome to dr. hamburg, based upon your background obviously you enjoy a challenge. the food safety is an important challenge for our country. of all the issues we deal with in this subcommittee food is the most ubiquitous and relevant to all americans. i want to remind my colleagues that the government accountability office remember keeps him that a very short list of major tenant problems that require brawn transformation before they can ever hope to be effective. the list all of a high risk series includes notorious government failures such as the financial regulatory system which failed to prevent the largest financial collapse in generations, it includes the implementation of a home and security department which has been played from the beginning by cost overruns, and no surprise and also includes the federal oversight of food safety. and here's an example from last year that really hurt in my home state of florida. tomatoes last year f

stupak and congressman dingell and congressman sutton. i see the evaporation because of this practice and i wonder whether it is part of your you have given consideration to that. mr. henderson? >> first of all, i'm able for the unborn in the state of michigan. second of all, when we are done general motors will still have what we believe will be the largest distribution system for the small towns in the u.s.. approximately 1500 of the 3600 will be located, sir. >> actually, through the new dealer network with increased the share of dealers in the rural markets and reduced the share of dealers in the metro markets. we do realize the importance. the difficulty is from the volume guinn from 2 million to 50,000 we don't produce enough vehicles for every business to stay in business. it's unfortunate but it's a fact and we are trying to make sure the dealers have highly enough volume they can stay in business and have a good operation going forward to compete with the transplants. >> into the two of you that have accomplished so much in your career the people sitting on this side of the table have a much deeper sense for the attitude of our constituents, and i would b

mr. chairman. i yield back the balance of my time. >> miss sutton, for opening statement, please. >> thank you, chairman stupak, for holding this important hearing. recision by insurance companies puts dollars ahead of lives of americans. i'm not exaggerating when i say that insurance company accountability is something that i have fought and advocated for at every stage of my professional life. during my time as a representative in the ohio general assembly, i worked on behalf of ohioans to ensure when benefits were promised, benefits were given. and now i'm here in congress. to continue that fight. recision of coverage is a problem that we in congress are seeking to eliminate, and it's our hope, you've heard from the comments here, that when we have finished reforming our health care system, coverage discrimination will be a thing of the past. but today it's still a problem that exists and must be eliminated. when a health insurance policy recision occurs, it creates waves throughout the entire health care system. make no mistake, these decisions deprive people of needed care. they deprive hospitals and doctors of the reimbursement the

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 general motors to help some of the steelers and there is gm and the auto dealers association working together to try to do some things i think that's positive and we have further explanations but we will

mr. barton, for questions, please. >> thank you, i wanted to thank our witnesses for being here, it -- this is a difficult situation. but, i listened when you answered chairman stupak's question about unintentional omissions. and to your credit you are honest, that you would reserve the right to still rescind some of these policies. doesn't it bother you that people are going to die? because you insist on reviewing a policy that somebody took out in good faith and forgot to tell you that they were being treated for acne? doesn't that bother you? >> yes, sir, it does. and we regret the necessity that that has to occur even a single time. and we have made suggestions, that would reform the system, such that that would no longer be needed. >> well, you know, i haven't heard your opening statements, i glanced at them and i haven't heard the first round of questions, we understand the need to verify that people are telling the truth. we are not asking you guys to -- the insurance industry to automatically take somebody's word for it. i mean, i understand that. but, when i see advertisement after advertisement about be a part of the family, and you know, we treat you like

stupak and upton for their collaboration and support on this bill. and thank you 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. stupak and mr. bishop who were the -- i think the tri-m.v.p.'s. i also want to commend on our side our m.v.p., mr. bar et, who played a great game -- mr. barrett who played a great game. john shimkus who pitched and did well and sam graves who made several highlight catches in the outfield. it was a good game. the democrats did deserve to win. but don't get accustomed to it because we will be back in the spirit of good competition and as mr. doyle said, it was for the washington literacy council and the washington area boys and girls club. i do want to thank the nationals for letting us use their field. and my guess is they will be calling up some of the democrats to play on their team since you have a better winning record now this year than they do. i yield back the balance of my time. doyle doyle we're going to play the nationals next year. mr. barton: congratulations to mike doyle. he deserves the trophy. doyle doyle thank you, mr. speaker. -- mr. doyle: thank you, mr. speaker. t

mr. israel and myself had earlier introduced a piece generally in the same direction heading with the leadership of betty sutton and bart stupak. some argued that the efficiency provisions of this bill are not aggressive enough. the bill i introduced and mr. israel did had more aggressive targets. but i want to point out one of the most singular achievements of this bill. if we are going to stop global warming, we have to come together across the country. folks in the steel industry are going to have to work with people on oh the coast. people in the midwest in the rust belt states mood to work with folks in the san francisco bay region. congress means coming together. this bill i think represents a perfect example of how our nation needs to come together to tackle the many challenges we have in dealing with global warming. when we pass this bill today, it will be one step, one brick in the wall of that effort for a true clean energy revolution in america where we can all be proud of across the country. congratulations. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentlewoman from ohio is recognized to yield