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“RETIRING LEGISLATIVE DIRECTOR, PAULA L. STEINER” mentioning the U.S. Dept of Labor was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H16799 on Dec. 18, 2007.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
RETIRING LEGISLATIVE DIRECTOR, PAULA L. STEINER
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. King) is recognized for 5 minutes.
Concerning Missed Energy Vote
Mr. KING of Iowa. Madam Speaker, initially in the time that you have recognized me for, I would like today to announce to the House that had I been present for the vote on H.R. 6, the energy bill which passed this floor 314-100, I would have voted ``yes'' on that bill.
Madam Speaker, today the House passed H.R. 6 by a vote of 314-100. This legislation contained a large increase in the Renewable Fuel Standard that will greatly benefit to the western Iowa ethanol producers that I represent.
While previous versions of H.R. 6 also contained an increased RFS, they also contained a large tax increase placed on the backs the oil and gas industry. I opposed the previous versions of H.R. 6 for this reason. I oppose tax increases, and I especially oppose tax increases when they will hurt consumers like the Iowa farmers I represent.
Madam Speaker, I am on record as stating that we need more Btu's of energy in America that are produced in America. We need more ethanol, biodiesel, wind, solar, clean coal, oil, gas, nuclear, and geothermal.
America has the ability to produce the Btu's, Congress just needs to remove the restraints so that industry can produce these Btu's. We need to allow the American energy industry to expand the size of the energy pie.
Every once in a while in each Member's congressional career, there come times when things happen that are beyond our control. At the time the vote occurred, I was detained by a prior engagement. Madam Speaker, I believe in the future of bio-fuels. I think this bill did some good things for them. However, this bill also contained some provisions that I do not agree with.
H.R. 6 contained Davis-Bacon provisions. This labor law is the product of Jim Crow laws and needs to be abolished. I may be the only Member of Congress, I know of no others, who has earned Davis-Bacon wages and paid Davis-Bacon wages, and I have lived underneath that for over 30 years, 28 years writing paychecks, over 14 consecutive months meeting payroll. I know what this does. I can tell you the history of it also goes back to an Iowan, an Iowan President, Herbert Hoover.
This is the last remaining Jim Crow law on the books that I know of. It was designed to keep blacks out of the construction trade in New York. Davis-Bacon is prevailing wage by definition, union scale in practice. There is no other way to analyze this. Union scale is what gets produced when the Department of Labor produces the proposed prevailing wage.
As an earth moving contractor, I know first hand how Davis-Bacon prevented my Small Business from competing in the market place. Small businesses are discouraged from bidding on Davis-Bacon public projects because of the complex and archaic rules. The inflated wage requirements and significant redtape burdens of Davis-Bacon shut small employers out of the Federal construction market.
The Davis-Bacon wage mandate also inflates the price tag for public, construction projects--costing you your hard earned taxpayer dollars.
There was over a billion dollars invested in renewable energy in my district last year. There will be over a billion dollars invested this year. All this was done without Davis-Bacon. If Congress is going to impose Davis-Bacon wage scales on rail improvement and carbon sequestration it will burn up at least 20 percent of the capital that can be used.
Regardless of my feelings about Davis-Bacon, I would have voted
``yes'' for this bill. I would ask that the record reflect this.
Paula Steiner
Madam Speaker, for the balance of the time that you recognized me, I am motivated to come to the floor and say some words about my retiring legislative director, Paula Steiner. In the time that I came here to Congress, elected in 2002 and sworn in on this floor in January of 2003, Paula has done the job inside our legislative shop for those 5 years persistently, relentlessly and reliably and with significant insight.
I regret that she has to move on for family reasons and those obligations, and when I see the family that has surrounded her, I am really gratified because it is far more important that the family see the best of their mother than that I get the most use out of their mother.
But what I do want to say is that as I travel up and down the district in western Iowa, the western third of Iowa, the 32 counties that are the Fifth Congressional District that stretch from Minnesota to Missouri, and I meet the local officials and the people that are involved in and that are engaged in policy, as this news of Paula turning her focus on her family is, as it trickles through the district, they come up to me one by one and say, I am really going to miss Paula. The Siouxland Chamber's emissary on Friday said, we are really going to miss Paula. The Voice of Glenwood in Mills County said, we are really going to miss Paula.
That is what I came here to say, Madam Speaker: we are going to miss Paula. And this Hill is populated with good, hardworking, loyal people that keep our congressional offices functioning and rolling on a day-
by-day basis. And sometimes when you go along outside the Cannon Building or the Rayburn Building or the Longworth Building, you will see late at night the lights are on. Sometimes it is because the maintenance people walked in, emptied the trash and left them on. Sometimes it is because dedicated people that keep our jobs going, keep our operations and our trains running on time are up there burning that candle at both ends so we can step down here and represent our district and represent our people.
The people in the Fifth District of Iowa are better represented than they would have been if I hadn't had the privilege of having Paula Steiner working for me, and I know that her family is going to be very well taken care of if they receive half of the kind of work and labor of love that Paula has demonstrated, and I want to add to that the measure of loyalty. And into this Congressional Record I choose not to go down through a series of the anecdotes except to say that it is clear that loyalty is an essential component to a congressional office. It is absolutely there with Paula.
My district says goodbye, thank you very much. I say, Paula, you are part of the extended family. Keep stopping in like you always will. Thank you very much and God bless you.
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