[edit] 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 Holt 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 Holt 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
  • Nothing posted to date

[edit] Energy

• Energy Policy
  • Introduced on 5/15/2009 by Rep. Waxman and cosponsored by Rep. Markey, the American Clean Energy and Security Act (H.R. 2454) aims to create jobs, protect the environment, and increase American energy independence through new regulation of utilities and industry, as well as investment in an array of new technologies. Key provisions of this bill include: mandating that, by 2020, utilities meet 20% of their electricity demand through increased efficiency and/or renewable sources, implement new energy efficiency regulations for buildings and appliances, reduce carbon emissions from large US by more than 80% by 2050, as well as investing in new clean energy technologies and improving the energy efficiency of existing technology.
    
    Representative Holt voted for this bill.
• Fuel Economy Standards
  • See discussion of CLEAN Energy Act under Renewable Energy section.
• Nuclear Power
  • Template:Vote-EnergyDeptAppropriations2010House
  • In a New York Times interview with Jared Flesher, Representative Holt discussed the connection between nuclear energy and nuclear weapons.

"On nuclear, the biggest problems are not primarily technological. They have to do with the connection between nuclear processes and weapons. Nuclear proliferation is a problem that humankind has not solved. I don’t want to see us get deeper into a dependency on nuclear power until we demonstrate to each other that we can solve the problem of nuclear proliferation."^[1]

• Renewable Energy
  • See stimulus discussion under Innovation section.
  • 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 Holt voted for 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 Holt voted for 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 August 2007, Representative Holt voted for 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 Holt voted for the amendment, which was adopted with a vote of 220 to 190.
  • Also within the New York Times interview, Representative Holt discussed sustainable energy technologies that hold the most promise.

"Clearly, technologies that pump greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, or poison workers or bystanders more directly, with sulfur dioxides and nitrogen oxides and so forth, are not sustainable. Energy generation technologies of solar photovoltaics, solar thermal, wind, geothermal, tidal and small-hydro — all of those have their place. Now the place for wind might be more on the Great Plains than in southern Virginia, but there is some place for wind right in New Jersey, there is some place for solar thermal and photovoltaics right in New Jersey. Low-head hydro, well that’s probably a little more useful in hilly and mountainous areas than in the plains or the shore. There’s a place for all of those things. . . .

So anyway, it’s a long list. By the way, having worked for years in fusion energy, I think that in the lifetime of today’s kids it will be a significant contributor to the electric grid. There are necessary investments and necessary advancements between here and there." ^[2]

• Off Shore Drilling
  • On September 16, 2008 the House passed H.R. 6899, the Comprehensive American Energy Security and Consumer Protection Act. This act allows oil and gas leasing in areas of the Outer Continental Shelf Planning Area that are more than 50 miles from the coastline and establishes a Strategic Energy Efficiency and Renewable Reserve. Representative Holt voted against this legislation. This legislation was passed with a vote of 236 to 189.

[edit] Environment

• After the House failed to pass S. 22 under suspension of the rules (which requires 2/3 to vote for a provision, but does not allow any amendments), the Senate called an unrelated bill, (HR 146), to carry the omnibus land bill. The bill is a combination of over 150 public land bills and will designate over 2 million acres of land as wilderness, improve the management of currently protected land, establish new water projects, and more. Swapping the original legislation in HR 146 for the land bill was designed to make finalizing the bill in the House easy.
  
  When HR 146 was brought to the Senate, Sen. Coburn (R-OK) introduced several amendments, though only one passed:
  • Amendment 682: to make it less likely that casual stone collectors would run afoul of the criminal restrictions on taking paleontological fossils from federal land (passed)
  • Amendment 675: to stop federal officials from using the power of eminent domain to take land from citizens. Critics say this amendment was unnecessary as eminent domain would not be used in any lands included in the bill.
  • Amendment 677: to require an annual report on the total size and cost of federal property.
  • Amendment 679: to strike provisions that would block renewable-energy development on public land
  • Amendment 680: to bar new construction in national parks until the Interior secretary certifies that current sites are up to date, and
  • Amendment 683: to eliminate what Coburn considers to be "frivolous" projects

The bill passed the Senate on March 19, 2009. It passed the House by a vote of 285-140 on March 25, 2009. Representative Holt voted for this bill. It was then signed into law by President Obama on March 30, 2009.

[edit] Climate Change

• Congressmen Holt co-sponsored HR 2192: Climate Change Safeguards for Natural Resources Conservation Act, introduced on April 30, 2009.

• Congressman Holt believes that the United States is overdue for revamping policy toward climate change
  • "The need is . . . desperate. Each year we delay the large-scale, dramatic action that is necessary means that the chances of being able to reverse [global warming] are less. The chances of even stabilizing the world’s climate are less. With each passing year there is economic and personal damage. We are years overdue in doing this. Furthermore, any change of a trillion dollar system — because the way we produce and use energy is more than a trillion dollars of our economy in the United States – takes time." ^[3]

[edit] Health

• Template:Vote-HHRAndEducationAndAppropriations2010
• Introduced on March 3, 2009 by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (H.R. 1256) aims to increase the authority of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in regulating tobacco in America. The legislation would empower the FDA to require larger warning labels on cigarette packaging, control nicotine levels, and regulate the advertising and marketing of cigarettes. During the 110th Congress, an identical bill had passed in the House in July of 2008 but was never considered in the Senate. The current bill passed in the House on April 2, 2009 by a vote of 298-112. Representative Holt voted for this bill. The Obama administration has released a statement in support of the bill and Senator Edward Kennedy stated that “the Senate will approve it expeditiously.”
• See stimulus discussion under Innovation section.
• Healthcare
  • After being vetoed twice by President Bush in 2007, the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) (H.R. 2) bill was reintroduced in the 111th Congress on January 13, 2009. SCHIP provides a subsidy for children’s insurance for families that cannot afford private insurance yet earn too much to qualify for Medicaid. The cost of the program is funded by an increase in cigarette taxes of 62 cents per pack. The House of Representatives voted 289-139 to pass the bill on January 14, 2009. Representative Holt voted for this bill. The Senate also passed SCHIP, and it was signed into law by President Obama on February 4, 2009.
  • On January 23, 2008, the House once again failed with a vote of 260-152 to pass H.R. 3963 to override President Bush’s veto of SCHIP. Representative Holt voted for this legislation.
  • On October 3, 2007, President Bush vetoed H.R. 976, citing that the bill moved too many children towards federally funded healthcare. The House attempted to override the President’s veto, but the measure failed to pass with a vote count of 273-156. Representative Holt voted for the veto override. On December 29, 2007, President Bush signed 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.
  • On September 25, 2007, the House passed the final version of the “Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act” (H.R. 976) with a vote of 265-169. This bill would have increased funding for the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) by $50 billion dollars over five years. Opponents saw the bill as too costly and were critical of the funding methods for the program, including a cigarette tax increase (read the floor debate). Representative Holt voted for this legislation.
  • 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 Holt 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 was passed by the Senate in a vote of 95-0. The House passed the Senate amended version of the bill on May 1, 2008, by a vote of 415-1. Rep Ron Paul was the only representative to vote against the bill. President Bush signed GINA into law on May 21, 2008.
  • On July 15, 2008, both Houses of Congress voted to override President Bush’s veto of the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act (H.R. 6331), a bill to put off an almost 11% cut of payments to doctors who care for Medicare patients. The legislation offset putting off the payment cuts for doctors by reducing reimbursements to insurance companies that include Medicare patients in their managed-care programs.[1] The House voted 383 to 41 in favor of a veto override. Representative Holt voted for this legislation.
• 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 Holt voted for 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.
• Non-Embryonic Stem Cell Research
  • 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 Holt voted for this bill. The legislation passed the House of Representatives with a vote of 431-1 and passed the Senate by unanimous consent.
• Food
  • Template:Vote-FoodSafetyEnhancementAct2009House

"Tonight President Obama clearly stated why the status quo is unacceptable and why we must fix our broken health insurance system. Americans are living sicker, dying younger, and paying more than we should or than residents of other major countries do.

"My guest for tonight's speech was Adira Riben, a Monmouth Junction resident, who recently lost her job and her insurance. She is concerned about the difficulty in finding new health insurance because she suffers from two chronic health conditions. I hear from many residents who are happy with the coverage they have. Before she lost her job, I imagine Ms. Riben was happy with her coverage too. Unfortunately, almost everyone is one stroke of bad luck away from something they can't handle.

"It shouldn't be this way. The fight for meaningful health insurance reform has lasted 100 years. We are closer than ever to ensuring that all Americans - whether they have insurance or not - will have security and stability in their health care." <h ref>http://www.bluejersey.com/diary/12695/reactions-to-obama-health-care-speech</h ref>

[edit] Innovation

• Stimulus
  • On February 17, 2009, President Obama signed into law the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (H.R. 1). This stimulus bill contains over $30 billion for energy initiatives including the Smart Grid Investment Program and advanced battery systems; $20 billion in tax incentives for renewable energy for both businesses and homes; over $8 billion for augmenting energy efficiency in federal buildings and housing programs; and $7 billion to extend broadband service to underserved communities. The Act also gives the National Science Foundation $3 billion for research; the National Institutes of Health over $10 billion for research and renovations; NASA $1 billion, a portion of which to employ more scientists; and the Department Of Energy’s Office of Science $1.6 billion for energy research. Finally, it provides $19 billion for a modernized Health Information Technology (HIT) system; $87 billion to help fund Medicaid programs; $1 billion for health prevention programs; subsidies for temporary insurance; and $19 billion for clean water and environmental restoration programs. For a more complete listing of the bill’s provisions, click here.
    
    It passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 246-183 on February 13th and passed the Senate on February 13th. Representative Holt voted for this bill.

• Rep. Holt wrote an OpEd with Rep. Eshoo in a February edition of The Hill describing his strong belief that spending on science stimulates the economy and should be a component of the 2009 Stimulus bill.

• COMPETES Act
  • 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 increased funding of the National Science Foundation putting it on track to double funding 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 Holt voted for this legislation. The America COMPETES Act was not fully funded in 2008.

• In an article on the blog Science Progress, Congressman Holt wrote about the relationship between a thriving economy and scientific innovations.

"History repeatedly demonstrates that America’s entrepreneurial spirit and our capacity for innovation are what drive our economy. To get out of the current recession and to sustain our long-term prosperity we need to invest in innovations that will supply our businesses with a steady stream of new ideas. These new ideas come from basic scientific research.

A recent analysis by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation found that 77 percent of the award-winning innovative technologies in 2006 were derived from ideas generated from federally funded scientific research. Those innovations substantially improve the productivity of our economy, as Federal Reserve Board researchers found that two-thirds of productivity growth between 1995 and 1999 was a result of innovation and capital investment in technology." ^[4]

[edit] Research and Research Management

• Funding
  • See stimulus discussion under Innovation section.
  • In May of 2007, Representative Holt 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 Holt voted against the Sullivan amendment and voted for the Honda Amendment.

[edit] Technology

• On March 18, 2009, Rep. Bart Gordon (D-TN) introduced the Electronic Waste Research and Development Act (HR 1580) which works to reduce the waste caused by dumping unwanted electronics and to boost awareness of how to recycle such products. The bill would fund increased research on how to separate out hazardous material from waste as well as fund grants to universities to create curriculums to help in the reduction of this waste. HR 1580 passed in the House by voice vote on April 22, 2009. Representative Holt voted for this legislation.
• See stimulus discussion under Innovation section.
• In the summer of 2008, the House met to consider the FISA Amendments Act of 2008 (H.R. 6304), which would give retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies that wiretapped customers’ phones for the Bush administration shortly after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. The legislation also allows the warrantless wiretapping of American citizens for up to 7 days before obtaining court approval. The House passed the bill with a vote of 293 to 129, and the legislation was signed by President Bush on July 7, 2008. Representative Holt voted against this legislation.

[edit] Endnotes

1. ↑ Jared Flesher, Rush Holt on Energy Policy, Barack Obama and John Holdren, Jan. 15, 2009.
2. ↑ Jared Flesher, Rush Holt on Energy Policy, Barack Obama and John Holdren, Jan. 15, 2009.
3. ↑ Jared Flesher, Rush Holt on Energy Policy, Barack Obama and John Holdren, New York Times Green, Inc. Blog, Jan. 15, 2009.
4. ↑ Science Progress. Holt, Rep. Rush. "Innovation Is Central to Our National Prosperity." Science Progress : Science and technology policy news, commentary, and analysis. 05 Feb. 2009 <http://www.scienceprogress.org/2009/02/innovation-national-prosperity/>