pingree, who is a member of the rules committee. the chair: the gentlewoman is recognized for four minutes. ms. pingree: thank you, mr. speaker. thank you to the chair of the committee for yielding his time. . you can imagine when i first saw this amendment i was quite angry and i don't want to be discouraged about the motives of the good representative from texas, so perhaps the good representative doesn't understand the importance of this to maine. and he said he doesn't, because i know he has a farming district. i'm sure in his district it's important to have cotton subsidies, wheat subsidies, millions of which come into his state every year. this is $200,000 to a very important industry in our state the lobster fishing industry. if you're from texas, fishing

may seem like a distant thing and i understand that may be complicated, but let me say that fishing is a common resource. this $200,000 helps us to monitor fisheries, a very tightly and controlled fish erie. and this is the subsidy that the federal government as well as our state government gives to make sure that this stays a healthy resource. just to give you a sense of the size of is industry. there are 7,000 fisherman in the lobster industry. they brought in 69 million pounds last year. in texas, $242 million may not sound like a substantial contribution, but that's big contribution to the state of maine and fishing is very important to our state. 85% of all the lobsters in this country come from the state of maine. now, it may be that you think of lobster as some sort of

glamorous food, but we are talking about hard-working fisherman and let me tell you how this industry works. by law in the state of maine, these are basically individual entrepreneurs. each one of these michigannermen is a business and family business in the state of maine. unlike other states where you have big corporate farms that get corporate subsidies, these are individual fishermen. this is not a subsidy to them, but this is making sure that there is a resource for them out there. and by law, they operate as individuals. they buy the gas. they pay for their boats. often their own children go to work with them. they get up early and work long, hard hours and struggle with a resource that isn't always plentiful. it's been a tough year for the fishermen in our state, partly because of the economic downturn. these fish are often processed in the canadian banks.

so these fishermen have been struggling. these hard-working fishermen want to make sure there is a resource available to them in the future. mr. speaker, it is possible that the good representative from texas did not understand how vital this was to the state of maine. it is possible that he thought this would be a way to use our subsidy of the fishing industry as an example, but i just want him and everyone else here in this body to know that this is one of the most regulated fisheries in the world. these are some of the most hard-working fishermen in our country. this is an important resource to our state. and $200,000 isn't much to ask tore a lot of people who contribute to our economy in the state of maine every day and are counting on our support. i hope that the good representative from texas will withdraw his amendment. but if not, i urge everyone in this body to vote against this

and to vote for the economy and the state of maine. i yield back the balance of my time. and i thank the chair. the chair: the gentleman from west virginia has approximately one minute remaining. mr. mollohan: i yield one minute to the the gentleman from maine. the chair: the gentleman from maine is recognized. mr. michaud: this is a tremendous worth while product and helps sustain a vital product in the state of maine. this is vital to maintaining the jobs and livelihoods of thousands of people. in order to maintain an important part of our economy, we must continue to monitor the resource in part so we don't overfish. in maine alone, more than 40,000 jobs depend on the health of this industry. in all, the industry contributes an indispensible $1 billion a year to the maine economy. as the fisheries have declined, fishermen have increased their

dependency on lobster. down coast maine has the most effective michiganries in new england. this is a key element to the economic stability of this industry. these programs monitor the health and sustainability of the lobster resources and are the foundation of the industry management program. their continuation is not only essential to the successful preservation of the lobster population, but the preservation of tens of thousands of jobs in the state of maine. i urge my colleagues to oppose this amendment. and i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman from west virginia's time has expired. the gentleman from texas. mr. hensarling: thank you, mr. chairman. contrary to the gentlelady from maine, i did not come here quite angry, but i do come here disappointed. i'm sure her motives are good and pure, but she has brought to us an earmark that takes $200

,000 away in order to benefit people in her congressional district. maybe she doesn't understand what $200,000 means to the working families of the 5th congressional district of texas and ultimately maybe she doesn't understand why 46 cents on the dollar, borrowing it from the chinese, something that majority leader steny hoyer once described in increasing the federal deficit, fiscal child abuse. we must have priorities. we must reject this earmark. and i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: all time having expired, the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from texas. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the noes have it. the amendment is not agreed to. the gentleman from texas. mr. hensarling: i request a recorded vote. the chair: pursuant to clause 6,

rule 18, further proceedings on the amendment offered by the gentleman from texas will be postponed. for what purpose does the gentleman from california rise? >> mr. chairman, i rise as the designee of the the gentleman from california, mr. lewis, to offer amendment number 105. the chair: the gentleman is the designee of mr. lewis of california. and the clerk will designate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 105 plinted in the congressional record offered by mr. campbell of california. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 552, the gentleman from california and a member opposed will each have five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from california. mr. campbell: thank you, mr. chairman. mr. chairman, as the gentleman from texas before me pointed out, this nation right now is awash in debt. the federal deficit is around

$11 trillion. i think at last count, but it's going up so fast, about $2 trillion a year. that it's probably larger than that now, and i don't know exactly what it is. but 46 cents of every dollar spent by the federal government, spent by this congress on the budget this year will be borrowed. 46 cents of every dollar spent is going to be borrowed. the deficit will double in five years and triple in 10 years. interest payments on the debt, interest payments alone are projected to be one out of every $6 of federal spending by 2019. one out of every $6 we would spend to pay interest on the debt. our level of debt is projected by 2011 to reach 70% of our

gross domestic product. 70% of gross domestic product. most people listening, that may not mean anything. but it's roughly the level where the united kingdom, britain, is at today which resulted in a warning that they may get their credit rating downgraded. if that were to happen to the united states' treasury, then our interest rates would go up even more. these deficits, interest payments on the debt will reach almost $1 trillion. former chairman bernanke said we can't expect to continue to borrow even 4% to 5% of g.d.p. but the deficits are ranging from 4% to 6% of g.d.p. mr. chairman, the debt we have is absolutely unbelievable and unsustainable. we have to stop spending and borrowing so much money. so this amendment is dealing

with a proposed $180,000 to be spent on quote, training the next generation of weather forecasters for san jose state university, san jose, california. i'm sure they do a fine job teaching weather forecasters, but do we want to borrow another 1 -- $180,000 for this purpose? do we want to subsidize the training at this university and not subsidize it anywhere else it is done? is this $180,000 so critical, because we really shouldn't be spending anything right now and borrowing more money unless it's really critical to our needs? is this $180,000 that critical

that we should borrow it again? i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from west virginia rise? mr. mollohan: i rise in opposition to the gentleman's amendment. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. mollohan: i thank the chairman. mr. chairman, i yield five minutes to the the gentleman from california, member of our subcommittee, doing an excellent job on that subcommittee, mr. honda. the chair: the gentleman from california is recognized for five minutes. mr. honda: i thank my chairman for this opportunity. i rise in opposition to the the gentleman from california and his amendment. i'm pleased to have this opportunity to talk about what may well be the most important problem facing our world today, global warming. and about this important project to help us deal with it. the gentleman and many of his colleagues on that side of the aisle may wish to keep their

heads in the sand about global warming, but i believe we need to prepare to deal with the problem today. and i'm not alone in this view. the united states global change research program, which coordinates and integrates federal research on changes in the global environment and their implications for society released a new report yesterday that provides an assessment of national and regional impacts of global climate changes in the united states. this new report provides a valuable objective, scientific consensus on how climate change is affecting and may further affect the united states. it reveals that climate change will alter prescription patterns and the patterns of mountain snow melt and climate change could be parchment to the southwest. one of the keys to dealing with these changes is going to be

adapttation, developing ways to protect people and places by reducing their vulnerability to climate changes. to properly to adept to more extreme climate events, we need to have information, data, accurate weather fksing. they are trying to predict the extreme events expected with climate change and can give the american people the advanced warning needed to deal with or even escape from, if necessary, these dangerous and avoid tragedies such as hurricane katrina. funding for this amendment seeks to strike -- would be used by san jose university to complete the development of a field experience curriculum to supplement the existing bachelor of science meteorological program. this allows the university to better train the next generation and helping to ensure that

government can plan and respond properly. this is a one-time shot that will be used over and over again as instruction goes on. the field expense will improve the quality of the graduates by exposing them to a wider array of weather fen no, ma'am none. this will enhance their ability to recognize and forecast the wide array of weather that is likely to be experienced across california and the nation in the next 30 years as we experience climate change. i know the gentleman often asks, why is this project and others are not worthy projects. well, the department of meteorology at san jose university is the only meteorological department in the public university system in the state of california. it has a strong focus on undergraduate programs. there are very few bachelor of science in meteorology programs in the western states. so the benefits of this program

will extend to other states in the region whose students will attend san jose state. there are not a lot of options for developing this important curriculum. and it has the faculty capable of developing and offering this new course. the gentleman asks, why should the federal government be funding this? i think noaa makes that point for me. the story from the agency's website reads, noaa leads climate impact and adaptation activities. this is what noaa does. it is dedicated to enhance the economic security and national safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events. the curriculum and the funding in this bill will help it achieve this mission. the university will seek other funding sources to fund the

class after it has been geared up. . training the next weather forecasts or to predict climate change. when i was going through san jose state back in the 1960's, seven new words like ecology, food web, smog, other terminology which is common among youngsters today started then at university. today these are concepts that are necessary for understanding the kinds of things we are faced with. i thank the chair. i yield. the chair: the time of the gentleman from west virginia has expired. the gentleman from california. mr. campbell: may i inquire how much time i have remaining?

the chair: one minute, one minute, 45 seconds remaining. mr. campbell: thank you, mr. chairman. i appreciate the arguments from my colleague from california and his eloquence in presenting them. however one of the things i would like to point out to the gentleman is that unless we missed it somehow, i believe that all earmark requests are supposed to be shown on your website. we were unable to find this on your website. but we were able to find that there was some of this funded last year i believe so that this is not simply a one-time funding request. but in fact a multiple year funding request. as noble as the quest and so forth is that the gentleman described, san jose state is a publicly supported university. it's one of the cal state university system, publicly supported university, i guess part of the question is, can we continue to do this, mr. chairman? can we take and borrow another

$180,000 to put into this program to subsidize this program further? and is that such a critical need that this program gets another $180,000 from the federal taxpayer, borrowed by the federal taxpayer that we can't take just starting now, just take $180,000 and save it and start to reduce the deficit and start to save a little money and start to reduce that debt? so that hopefully we can begin to get this thing under control. until we start to do that, i understand the gentleman's concern, but, mr. chairman, until we start to do that, we are not just condemning our children and grandchildren to a mountain of debt. it's piling up so fast we are condemning ourselves to a mountain of debt. with that i yield back the balance of my time. i ask for an aye vote. the chair: the gentleman's time has expired. all time having expired, the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from california.

so many as are in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the noes have it. the amendment is not agreed to. the gentleman from california. mr. campbell: i request a recorded vote. the chair: pursuant to clause 6 of rule 18, further proceedings on the amendment offered by the gentleman from california will be postponed. for what purpose does the gentleman from california rise? mr. campbell: mr. chairman, i rise as a designee of mr. lewis of california to offer amendment number 104. the chair: the gentleman is the dessig known the clerk will designate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 104, printed in the congressional record, offered by mr. campbell of california. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 552, the gentleman from california and a member opposed will each control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from california. mr. campbell: thank you, mr. chairman. you don't get a mountain of debt without spending the money first. i'd like to talk a little bit about the spending that this

congress and this president are doing. nondefense discretionary spending so that is basically nondefense and nonentitlement spending, for 2010 is rising and these appropriations bills we are dealing with now from the current year by 12.8%. that's $57 billion more we are going to spend in the next fiscal year than we are spending in the current fiscal year only on nondefense discretion spending. if you look at what's happening in the economy right now, growth is not -- there is no growth. we are down. the g.d.p. is falling by somewhere from 4% to 6% on an annualized basis. what that means is that the incomes of americans are falling by 4% to 6%. they are not going up by 1%, 2%. they are on balance falling by 4% to 6%. obviously some more, some less. but in this period when the incomes of americans are falling

4% to 6%, should the government be increasing its bureaucratic spending by almost 13%? if it does, where's that going to come from? if americans are making 4% to 6% less, how is the government going to continue to spend 1213% more? if you include defense spending, total discretionary spend something rising by 8% this year. these numbers i have just thrown out are in addition to the $787 billion stimulus bill that was passed earlier this year. when you put that into effect, mr. chairman, many of the agencies of government saw their budgets double, double over the previous year. at a time when regular americans at home are cutting back. what are they going to have to do? this money you just doesn't drop out of the sky. people say this spend something good for the economy. it doesn't drop out of the sky. it has to be borrowed or it has

to be taxed. and right now we are borrowing it. someday the people on the majority side will probably want to tax it. and that, mr. chairman, is an unsustainable process. the president's bunt -- budget increases spending to more that $4 trillion which is now 29% of the gross domestic product. that's basically means almost one out of three dollars of output in the country is now done by the federal government. not including state and local governments. after 10 years the national debt will be a quarter of g.d.p. for every dollar the u.s. produces 25 cents is eaten up in debt. mr. chairman, this particular earmark funds, quote, the minority business development agency for the chamber -- jamaica chamber of commerce in jamaica, new york, for the jamaica export center. now, mr. chairman, it's $100,000.

that is proposed to be spent, another $100,000 to be spent, another $100,000 to be borrowed, another $100,000 we don't have. americans don't have. that's going to have to be borrowed or taxed to be spent for the chamber of commerce in jamaica, new york, to set up an export center. mr. chairman, that just doesn't seem to me as a critical need at this time that we should be spending $100,000 more on to do. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california reserves his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from west virginia rise? mr. mollohan: i rise in opposition to the gentleman's amendment. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. mollohan: mr. chairman, i yield five minutes to the gentleman from new york, mr. meeks. the chair: the gentleman from new york is recognized for five minutes. mr. meeks: i thank the chairman from west virginia. i have been listening for a

while. and if ever there was a position i think we should agree upon it's this piece. i heard mr. hensarling say on the floor that we are losing small businesses by the thousands. and i agree with that. people are losing jobs. small businesses which is the backbone of america, and i have heard my colleagues on the other side of the aisle talk often and defend the backbone of america, our small businesses. without them the average everyday american is in trouble. and so it is that if you look at the jamaica chamber of commerce export center, which supports the needs of small and midsized freight forwarding businesses, small business, that's surround

john f. kennedy airport and it aims to provide economic and industrial relief to new york city communities that are grappling with an exodus of export and freight jobs and businesses, we are losing the jobs. small businesses are closing. the average everyday american is asking those of us in congress to help them. john f. kennedy airport, once the premiere airport for shipping cargo has fallen, causing the loss of thousands of jobs. as a primary employer, the freight forwarding firms in queens county employs approximately 41,000 people directly. studies project that every 1,000 air transport jobs that are lost means there's additional 470

jobs in associated industries that are also lost. so it seems to me the perfect remedy to save jobs in various areas is to help keep small businesses running and thriving. it's estimated that the industry has already lost 4,000 jobs in the area surrounding john f. kennedy airport. this issue became even more pronounced after the tragic events of of 9/11. which had a devastatingly negative impact on the airline and related industries in new york city. in an effort to help sustain the 1,300 small and midsized firms located off the airport site, the jamaica chamber of commerce opened the export center. the center's incubator, one of its main features, happens to

encourage minority and female entrepreneurs to operate freight forwarding businesses by offering technical assistance from a major university business center, keeping them in business, and lowering their cost through the collective use of facilities. if this project is earmarked, the funds would be administered by the minority business development agency under the department of commerce whose goal is specifically, this is what they are there for, specifically to foster the establishment and growth of minority owned businesses in america. it aims to address the historical disparate -- disparity and the number of minority businesses and the large gap that still remains so that small businesses and minorities can get involved and the great american dream of owning a business and creating jobs in a community in which

they reside. it specifically encourages the development of entrepreneurship programs that increase the success of minority and women-owned businesses. the jamaica chamber of commerce export center does exactly and supports the goals specifically that the program within the department of commerce is charged to do. so there's a perfect match here. to create jobs. to get people to become small business owners. to maintain low overhead. i think that that's what the american people want. and by doing this, saving jobs, not only in one area, but in many areas. to me that is something that should be applauded. not something that should be be taken away. we match the very definition of

what the department of commerce has talked about. a perfect match. and we give in this process daylight so that the american people can understand we are trying to help them. i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the time of the gentleman from west virginia has expired. mr. campbell: may inquire of the chair how much time i have remaining? the chair: 1:15. mr. campbell: thank you. i would like to point out to the gentleman from new york as well that this -- we could not find this earmark request on your website, which i believe is something that the committee rules require. we could not find that. so that is one thing we'd like to point out to you. but also, mr. chairman, that what this $100,000 that we are going to borrow subsidizes the -- very quickly, yes, i yield. mr. meeks: it is on the website. la