Education

Educational Training

With a vote of 416-0 the House of Representative approved the Green Energy Education Act of 2007 (H.R. 1716) in June of 2007. The bill will allow the Secretary of Energy to contribute research and development funds to the National Science Foundation for the purpose of supporting graduate education that is related to energy technology. It also authorizes the Secretary to provide funds for the improvement of undergraduate and graduate engineering and architecture curriculum on the design and construction of "high performance buildings." Representative Boehner voted for this bill. H.R. 1716 was ultimately integrated into the America COMPETES Act (H.R. 2272) which is now law, but was not fully funded in the budget.

Educational Funding

Representative Boehner voted for the 10,000 Teachers, 10 Million Minds Science and Math Scholarship Act (H.R. 362). The legislation will require the National Science Foundation to increase its funding of the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship program with the goal of increasing the number of math and science teachers by up to 10,000 per year. The Noyce program provides scholarships to math, science, technology, and engineering students who commit to becoming teachers upon graduation. The legislation passed with a vote of 389-22.

Teaching Evolution/Intelligent Design

In a letter to the Ohio School Board after the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act in 2002, Representative Boehner wrote that "[i]t’s important that the implementation of these science standards not be used to censor debate on controversial issues in science, including Darwin’s theory of evolution. Science is neither religion nor philosophy. Many people may draw religious or philosophical implications from science, but those implication are best drawn outside the science classroom. Students should be allowed to hear the scientific arguments on more than one side of a controversial topic. Censorship of opposing points of view retards true scholarship and prevents students from developing their critical thinking skills."^[1]

Energy

Fuel Economy Standards

On the radio show "America's Business with Mike Hambrick" in August 2007, Representative Boehner criticized an increase in fuel economy standards, saying "When it comes to CAFE, I think the proposal that was passed in the Senate, that’s being sponsored by Miss Pelosi and Mr. Markey from Massachusetts will wreck America’s economy…I think that’s very bad for our country."^[2]

Nuclear Power

During consideration of H.R. 6, Representative Boehner admonished (see Youtube) the lack of debate on nuclear energy, saying "And my goodness why won’t we talk about nuclear energy on the floor of the House of Representatives of the United States when we know that it’s the cleanest source of fuel for our future?

Renewable Energy

In January of 2007, the House of Representatives passed the CLEAN Energy Act of 2007 (H.R. 6). This legislation is intended to address a royalties oversight that occurred when the Department of the Interior issued leases for off-shore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico from 1998 to 1999. The bill would also deny income tax deductions for oil and gas companies. Revenues generated from these provisions would be used for the development of alternative fuels and renewable energy sources. Opponents of the bill claimed that the legislation would raise costs for the domestic production of oil and could increase foreign oil imports. Representative Boehner voted against this legislation, which passed with a vote of 264-163.

During consideration of H.R. 6 in June of 2007, the Senate changed the focus of the legislation into developing a more comprehensive energy bill that focused on the development of renewable fuels, energy conservation, and increased Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards. In the face of a veto threat from President Bush, the House passed the Senate version of H.R. 6 with amendments by a vote of 235-181 on December 6, 2007. Representative Boehner voted against this bill. The final Senate rendering of the bill, which passed with a vote of 86-8, still included language raising CAFE standards to 35 mpg by 2020. The final version of the bill passed in the House with a vote of 314-100 and was signed into law by President Bush on December 19, 2007.

In a press release issued on the day of the vote on H.R. 6, Boehner criticized the 'No-Energy Bill' as "containing plenty of pork, higher taxes, and a maze of new federal government regulations, but it creates no new energy to provide American families with relief from soaring energy prices. In fact, it leaves more than 100 million American families in the cold, facing the highest home-heating prices in history this winter and jeopardizes millions of jobs as American factories consider closing their doors because of skyrocketing energy costs."^[3]

In August 2007, Representative Boehner voted against the final passage of the Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Tax Act of 2007 (H.R. 3221). The legislation would provide tax incentives to promote the development of renewable energy and energy efficiency, including guaranteeing up to $1 billion in loans for the development of biorefineries and biofuel production facilities. The measure also would repeal tax deductions to income attributed to the domestic production of oil and natural gas. It passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 241-172 and was sent to the Senate.

A controversial amendment to the bill was H. Amdt. 748 sponsored by Representative Udall. This amendment would require retail electric suppliers to provide 15% of their electricity through a renewable energy portfolio standard (RPS) by 2020. Representative Boehner voted against the amendment, which was adopted with a vote of 220 to 190.

Energy Independence

On July 22nd, 2008, Rep. Boehner introduced the American Energy Act (HR 6566). "The bill calls for leasing regulations for offshore natural gas by 2010, removing restrictions for outer continental shelf drilling, and opening up sections of ANWR for drilling."^[4]

Environment

When choosing members for the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming in March 2007, Representative refused^[5] to give a Republican seat to Representative Gilchrest (R-MD), the chair of the House Climate Change caucus, because he refused to deny that humans were the cause of climate change.

Climate Change

• Nothing posted to date

Health

In January 2007, Representative Boehner voted against ^[6] the Medicare Prescription Drug Price Negotiation Act of 2007 (H.R. 4) ^[7], which would have allowed the federal government to negotiation directly with drug companies to lower the price of prescription drugs for Medicare.

In April of 2007, the House of Representatives passed the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2007 (H.R. 493) with a vote of 420-3. Representative Boehner voted for this bill. If enacted, GINA will prevent health insurance companies from adjusting premiums on the basis of genetic information and forbid requiring individuals to undergo genetic tests. The bill will also prohibit employment discrimination on the basis of genetic information. This legislation is currently awaiting action in the Senate.

On September 25, 2007, Representative Boehner voted against “Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act” (H.R. 976). This bill would have increased funding for the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) by $50 billion dollars over five years. On October 3, 2007, President Bush vetoed ^[8] H.R. 976, citing that the bill moved too many children towards federally funded healthcare. Boehner voted twice to sustain the President's veto, saying in a after press release ^[9]after the last veto attempt that “After two failures to override the President’s vetoes of their flawed SCHIP bill, I hope congressional Democrats finally end the political games that have dominated this debate and work with Republicans to focus on low-income children first. The Majority’s bill would shortchange low-income children and expand SCHIP coverage to illegal immigrants, adults, and those who already have private health insurance." On December 29, 2007, President Bush signed ^[10] the Medicare, Medicaid, SCHIP Extension Act of 2007 (S. 2499) which extends funding for SCHIP through March of 2009, but does not significantly increase the program.

Non-Embryonic Stem Cell Research

Representative Boehner supports federal funding for adult stem cells. In a June 2007 statement^[11], he praised the 'potential' of adult stem cells compared to the "controversial and non-productive results of embryonic stem cells."

In December 2005, Congress passed the Stem Cell Therapeutic and Research Act of 2005 (H.R. 2520), which President Bush signed on December 20, 2005. The law "creates a new Federal program to collect and store cord blood, and expands the current bone marrow registry program to also include cord blood." Representative Boehner voted for this bill. The legislation passed the House of Representatives with a vote of 431-1 and passed the Senate by unanimous consent.

Embryonic Stem Cell Research

In April of 2007, Congress passed the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2007 (S. 5), which would have overturned President Bush's ban on the use of federal funding for research on embryonic stem cell lines created after August 9, 2001. Representative Boehner voted against the legislation. The bill passed the House of Representatives with a vote of 247-176 and the Senate with a vote of 63-34. President Bush vetoed both this legislation and an identical bill that was passed by Congress in 2006.

Innovation

On August 9, 2007, President Bush signed the America Creating Opportunities to Meaningfully Promote Excellence in Technology, Education, and Science (COMPETES) Act (H.R. 2272) into law. The law authorizes the doubling of funding for the National Science Foundation over the next seven years, increased funding for the National Institute of Standards and Technology and competitive grants for teachers and schools with the goal of strengthening the quality of education in science, math, and critical foreign languages. The bill was passed with unanimous consent in the Senate and was agreed to by a vote of 367-57 by the House after being reconciled in a conference committee. Representative Boehner voted against this legislation. The America COMPETES Act was not fully funded in 2008.

In a floor speech given on the day of the vote, Representative Boehner cited bureaucracy as the reason for his refusal to support the legislation, saying: “You know, this bill creates a lot of Washington bureaucracies and a lot of Washington bureaucrats. And the only thing competitive about this bill will be the competition for office space created by all the new bureaucrats that will be employed as a result of this bill. I know there are some good things in this bill, and I know my colleagues worked hard at it. But at the end of the day this looks too much to me like Washington as usual, and as a result I’m unable to support the bill.”^[12]

Research and Research Management

Funding In May of 2007, Representative Boehner voted for the final passage of the National Science Foundation Funding Authorization Act of 2007 (H.R. 1867), which authorizes appropriations for the National Science Foundation for the fiscal years 2008, 2009 and 2010. The final vote count was 399 to 17.

During debate on this legislation, H. Amdt. 128 was offered by Rep. Honda that will allow the NSF to support the creation of K-12 curriculum focused on global warming, climate change, and actions people can take to lower greenhouse gas emissions. Rep. Sullivan of Oklahoma offered a secondary amendment, H. Amdt. 129, that would have required the education materials referenced in Rep. Honda’s amendment to "reflect the diversity of scientific opinion, including the diversity of opinion regarding the impact of human activities on climate change." Congressional Democrats criticized the Sullivan amendment as seeming "to suggest that there is an equal weight of evidence against that perspective [that humans are causing climate change] as there is in favor of it" (read the full debate). The Sullivan amendment failed by a vote of 166 to 250. The Honda Amendment passed by a vote of 252 to 165.

Representative Boehner voted for the Sullivan amendment and voted against the Honda Amendment.

Endnotes

1. ↑ Boehner Letter to Ohio School Board. March 15, 2002. http://sharp.sefora.org/w/images/1/1f/Boehner-OhioLetter.pdf
2. ↑ "America's Business with Mike Hambrick". August 28, 2007. http://www.americasbusinessblog.org/
3. ↑ Boehner Statement on the “No Energy” Bill. Dec. 6, 2007. http://johnboehner.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=80205
4. ↑ The American Energy Act: Supply Side Solutions. July 23, 2008. http://blog.heritage.org/2008/07/23/the-american-energy-act-supply-side-solutions/
5. ↑ Global warming panel makeup questioned. March 20, 2007.http://www.chesapeakeclimate.org/news/news_detail.cfm?id=303
6. ↑ Final Vote Results for Roll Call 23. Jan. 12, 2007. http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2007/roll023.xml
7. ↑ http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:h.r.00004:
8. ↑ Message to the House of Representatives. Oct. 3, 2007. http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/10/20071003-2.html
9. ↑ Boehner Disappointed at Missed Opportunity to Strengthen SCHIP on Behalf of Low-Income Children. Jan. 23, 2008. http://johnboehner.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=82443
10. ↑ President Bush Signs H.R. 4839 and S. 2499. Dec. 29, 2007. http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/12/20071229-1.html
11. ↑ An Ethical Approach to Stem Cell Research. Jun. 25, 2007.http://johnboehner.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=72164
12. ↑ Boehner Floor Speech on the Importance of Competitiveness. Aug. 2, 2007. http://republicanleader.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=71086