NEW FINANCIAL RESCUE BILL GAINS SUPPORT
October 3, 2008
“Nobody in East Tennessee hates the fact that I’m going to vote ‘yes’ today after voting ‘no’ on Monday more than me,” Congressman Wamp said on the House floor during debate on the financial rescue bill. “We’re out of choices and our backs are up against the wall. All week we fought for some improvements: increasing the FDIC limits from $100,000 to $250,000 is an improvement. The mark-to-market changes to allow these mortgage-backed securities to move and free up liquidity will help a lot. This month in East Tennessee, many small businesses will not be able to meet their payroll. Pension funds for thousands in Tennessee are upside down and it’s happening fast. The costs of inaction are greater than the costs of this bill.”

RISKING PEACE
September 23, 2008
Congressman Wamp spoke on his resolution promoting interfaith dialogue among Christians, Jews and Muslims that condemns terrorism, intolerance, genocide and ethnic and religious hatred, and advocates for global peace and understanding. Zach said, “There is a time for war, and there is a time for peace. We need to risk peace and encourage the moderates in Islam to stand with us against terrorism and radicalism so that we have the hope of a world that could exist together in peace.” This resolution passed the House of Representatives later in the evening.

OIL SPECULATION BILL A DIVERSION AND DISTRACTION
September 18, 2008
Less than 36 hours after the Democrats defeated any reasonable new energy capacity in the bipartisan Peterson/Abercrombie energy bill alternative, they are proposing a bill on oil speculators. Congressman Wamp described this as an attempt “to immediately change the subject and refocus the debate on speculation instead of oil and gas supply, which actually will bring down prices.” Zach said, “It’s a diversion and a distraction to change the subject from the very unfortunate, watered down and weak energy bill that they jammed through the House without amendments or alternatives, except for the bipartisan bill that they then encouraged dozens of their own members to vote against, even though they were cosponsors of it and had bragged about having written that bill.”

AMERICAN ENERGY ACT DESERVES A VOTE
September 16, 2008
“One issue is burning in the American public like no other issue, and that is the cost of energy,” said Congressman Zach Wamp on the House floor in support of the American Energy Act, which will not be allowed to come up for a vote. The energy bill that the Democrats are bringing to the floor is not an all-of-the-above energy approach. Zach said, “There’s talk of a secondary stimulus bill, but the most important thing we can do for an American economy is to pass the American Energy Act, which will open up all of the oil and gas resources in this country for jobs, productivity, exports and standing our country back up economically. But it will be suppressed again today, because the Democrat energy bill is a very limited, watered-down effort.”

HOUSE APPROVES MILCON-VA BILL
July 31, 2008
“Oftentimes in life it’s more important what you do with your second chances than what you do the first time around. Neither Chairman Edwards nor I took advantage in our younger years of serving in the uniform of our Armed Forces. However, fate has it that we would have a second opportunity to serve by serving those who are serving us through this bill,” said Congressman Wamp. Zach managed floor time during general debate on the Military Construction-VA spending bill through his role as the Ranking Republican on the House Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Subcommittee. “We still have many challenges, but I can tell you in this bill there is a bipartisan commitment to honor every man and woman in uniform, those serving now and those that have served in the past.” This is the only one of the 12 spending bills for fiscal year 2009 to be approved by the House of Representatives this year.

American People Want New Energy Supplies
July 28, 2008
“Seventy percent of the people want us to go after new oil and gas supplies,” said Congressman Wamp as he closed the bipartisan energy policy debate at Tulane University in New Orleans. As a member of the House Energy SWAT Team, Zach made the case for the ‘all of the above’ energy strategy that includes new supply plus new technologies and conservation. “This is a central issue of the future, on whether or not we are going to prepare ourselves for the challenges of the next generation. We have to have more capacity. We have to implement an ‘all of the above’ strategy. If we don’t get on with it, we are going backwards. That is what the American people want.”

Strengthening P.E. in Schools
July 24, 2008
“By taking action to increase physical activity and reduce obesity amongst our youth, we can improve academic performance, decrease medical costs and save lives,” said Congressman Wamp during a House Education and Labor Committee hearing. Zach and Congressman Ron Kind of Wisconsin testified on their bill, the FIT Kids Act, to improve PE in schools and bolster efforts to fight childhood obesity. Research shows that healthy children learn more effectively and achieve more academically. The FIT Kids Act is a bipartisan bill that has the support of more than forty combined health, education and physical activity organizations.

Honoring an American Hero
July 23, 2008
“Corporal Jason Dane Hovater is an American hero in every sense, and we thank him so much for his sacrifice.” Congressman Wamp expressed his gratitude on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives for the service and sacrifice of nine soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice in Afghanistan defending the United States of America. Zach met with the Hovater family in Lake City, Tennessee. “I had the privilege to say thank you from a grateful nation, from every one in the Congress, for their extraordinary sacrifice. I shared with them that every time freedom has been handed from one generation to the next, it has been by these American patriots who are willing to stand between a threat and our civilian population and pay the ultimate sacrifice on our behalf.”

ENERGY BILL DESERVES A VOTE
July 23, 2008
“It is time for Democrats and Republicans to come together and get this done. The American people are tired of waiting. I come to the floor to offer solutions,” said Congressman Wamp in the chamber of the U.S. House of Representatives before offering his ‘all of the above’ energy plan. “Don’t pick winners and losers.  Don’t take anything off the table.” Zach highlighted the need to lift the federal moratorium on the Outer Continental Shelf, increase conservation, enlarge nuclear power capacity and extend the renewable energy tax credits.

REASONABLE ENVIRONMENTAL AND ENERGY POLICy
July 9, 2008
Congressman Wamp joined many of his colleges on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives to praise the efforts of California’s courageous firefighters and to highlight our responsibility for reasonable policies toward the environment and energy. “The best thing we can do for the firefighters is to try to mitigate the fires with good forestry practices, good stewardship, and logical environmental response. It's that kind of thinking, long-term stewardship, that we need to get back to so that the political winds of the day do not stymie us on good management practices with our forests or good energy policy as a nation so that everything is not off-limits to the point we are paying $4.50 for a gallon of gas.”

MILCON-VA BIll PASSES APPROPRIATIONS COmmittee
June 24, 2008
The House Appropriations Committee debated and passed the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations bill on Tuesday. As the ranking Republican on the MilCon-VA Subcommittee, Congressman Wamp talked about the Subcommittee’s work to craft the bill. Over the course of 19 hearings, Zach discussed the overall military quality of life with military and civilian leadership, including deployments, health care facilities, military housing and child development centers. “We can see the entire continuum of care and how that’s so important to understand how the quality of life transfers straight from the service to being a veteran and how important it is to keep it all together,” Zach said.

FUNDING OUR TROOPS
June 19, 2008
“Today, we meet together to do what is right for our country. Let’s honor our commitment to our men and women in uniform,” said Congressman Wamp during the U.S. House of Representatives debate on the long-awaited bill to fund our troops and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The White House first requested this legislation in February 2007, but the critical funding for our troops was held up as the Democrat leadership in the House and Senate attempted to attach extraneous spending to the bill. The bill also included new GI education benefits for veterans or their families.

CALLING FOR INCREASED ENERGY CAPACITY
June 11, 2008
“Demand and supply are connected to each other,” said Congressman Zach Wamp on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives. “I’ve cast 24 votes to increase capacity for oil and gas in this country. Words are cheap and votes really do make a difference. The votes for energy capacity have been really important in the past, and they’re even more important today and they’re going to be even more important tomorrow. And this is where we have to bring the Congress together. I think we ought to have an all-of-the-above strategy.”

LEADING REFORM ON ENERGY
May 9 , 2008
“Since the 1970’s we have been sitting on the couch as a nation, knowing we needed to get up and do something on energy. Action is necessary and leadership is called for,” said Congressman Wamp. He and Congressman Bart Gordon joined Senator Lamar Alexander at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory to announce his proposed “New Manhattan Project for Clean Energy Independence” to address the rising price of gas, the high cost of utilities and the need to enhance our national security.

"All of the Above" approAch to energy
May 8, 2008
“My position on energy is an all-of-the-above position,” said Congressman Zach Wamp on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives. “The world needs to see us proactively addressing this and the best way we can do it is to deploy the technologies and capitalize on our free-enterprise system to solve these problems.” Zach spoke about the need to use technology solutions to energy that will balance the budget and create a robust manufacturing driven U.S. economy. He is an original co-sponsor of the Main Street U.S.A. Energy Security Act that will open the Outer Continental Shelf to responsible energy production, allow for energy development within ANWR and streamline the refinery permitting process.”

His first speech can be seen here, followed by additional remarks on energy

Increasing Energy Capacity through Technology
April 17, 2008
“The nexus between national security, energy and the environment is one of the most important issues of our time,” said Congressman Zach Wamp on the floor of the House of Representatives. Zach spoke on the need to increase our national energy capacity to become self sufficient. “This is a time to come together for new energy technologies to promote an en-tech agenda, to actually balance the budget again with a robust manufacturing economy. It’s pro-American.”

VETERANS SUPPORTING IRAQ MISSION
April 8, 2008
Congressman Zach Wamp joined other Members of Congress to welcome veterans to Washington, as more than 400 veterans from around the country with first-hand combat experience in Iraq or Afghanistan came to Capitol Hill. These 21st Century patriots will meet with their legislators about the importance of supporting General Petraeus’ strategy. Following this event, Congressman Wamp spoke on the House floor in support of our veterans and American troops.

SALUTING A NATIONAL CHAMPION
March 31, 2008
“Every now and then a person’s story will so inspire us that the example is set for all young people to look up to, to follow in their footsteps. And that happened to a young man from East Tennessee whom so many people are so very proud of today. His name is Jordan Leen,” said Congressman Wamp on the floor of the House of Representatives. Zach spoke about Jordan’s NCAA wrestling national championship win in the 157-pound weight class at Cornell University. “He was the greatest wrestler in the history of the state of Tennessee by anyone’s standard: a 4-year state champion; 215 victories; 9th, 10th, 11, and 12th State champion all the way through high school at the Baylor School.”

FLAWED ETHICS REFORM
March 11, 2008
Fixing a broken Washington requires real reform of the Ethics Committee, not by adding another layer of partisan bureaucracy to an ethics enforcement process that is already paralyzed by partisanship. Congressman Wamp worked with Congressman Baron Hill of Indiana on bipartisan ethics reform alternative that the House leadership would not let the House of Representatives consider. Zach spoke passionately about the flaws in the leadership’s proposal that was considered and ultimately passed by a very narrow margin, "There is good reform and there is bad reform. This is bad reform.”

U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY’s CHARACTER AND LEADERSHIP SYMPOSIUM
February 21, 2008
As the keynote speaker for the U.S. Air Force Academy’s 15th Annual National Character and Leadership Symposium hosted by the USAFA’s Center for Character Development, Congressman Zach Wamp addressed the theme of ‘Impassioned Citizenship: Can One Make a Difference?’ with the Academy’s cadets in Colorado. “We are grateful for your commitment to our country and freedom, to preserving our way of life and for you stepping up and answering your country’s call,” Zach said. “Public service comes in lots of shapes and sizes. The philosophy of public service is that you give more than you take. We will be measured in our life’s work by how much we give. The more you give, the more you get. We need leadership in this country like never before. We are a great nation and we are a good people. We give, we go and we do. The United States is an experiment in freedom, democracy and self-determination. It works because people volunteer to standup and serve their country and put it all on the line.”

EARMARK REFORM NEEDED
February 14, 2008
Congressmen Zach Wamp, Jack Kingston of Georgia and Frank Wolf of Virginia introduced a concurrent resolution in November to establish a Joint Select Committee on Earmark Reform that would make a full study and comprehensive recommendations on earmarks. Congressman Wamp joined Congressman Wolf on the floor in support of the resolution. "We need a comprehensive and systemic approach to this. We need a moratorium on earmarks until we make the needed changes to begin to restore the public trust, and uphold the honor and dignity that should be associated with our fulfilling our responsibilities under the Constitution of the United States.”

SUPPORTING TORNADO RESOLUTION
February 13, 2008
Members of the Tennessee House Delegation joined other Southern colleagues in support of a resolution for those affected by the powerful tornados that struck communities in Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Tennessee on February 5, 2008. Congressman Zach Wamp expressed his sympathy for the loss of life and those who were injured because of these storms, and his gratitude for those who helped their neighbors in need. “Tennesseans are good people. When folks are hurting, everybody comes to help,” said Congressman Wamp.

CONDEMNING BHUTTO ASSASSINATION
January 16, 2008
As the House of Representatives debated a resolution to condemn the assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, Congressman Zach Wamp shared some thoughts about his friend Bhutto, who died trying to save her country from the threat of radicalism. The resolution, which later passed the House, also reaffirms the commitment of the United States to assist the people of Pakistan in combating terrorist activity and promoting a free and democratic Pakistan.

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