for longer. it is more difficult to balance diabetes when you have tied the i because of the predisposition of some people to low blood glucose. i spoke of its dangers. that said, i do not want to minimize either type, or even and gestational diabetes. it occurs in women who were pregnant. tight ii, we see a huge number of complications. with the elderly population -- one of two children will develop it, and one out of three elders have it. it can impact the quality of life. i think that is all-important. there are particular dangers that will impact the type i population. host: the national conference

on dives is here in the washington to talk about this issue. thanks to shareen for being our guest this morning. that does it for today's show and we will be back tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] plants seeds of equality and hopefulness in other nations as well. may the history of our struggles make us patient as the map of the world changes. in all our efforts to establish peace, fair trade, civil rights and the freedom of religion, may we provide learning and experience to others. lift all beyond mere material prosperity to seek true compassion for those most in need and create a spiritual dynamic that will build a kingdom of unity and happiness where your presence will be

realized. this we ask both now and forever. amen. the speaker pro tempore: the chair has examined the journal of the last day's proceedings and announces to the house his approval thereof. pursuant to clause 1 of rule 1 the journal stands approved. the pledge of allegiance will be led by the gentleman from north carolina, mr. coble. mr. coble: i ask those present in the gallery to join us in the pledge to our country. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. the speaker pro tempore: the chair will entertain up to 15 requests for one-minute speeches on each side of the aisle. for what purpose does the gentlewoman's time has expired rise? >> to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend --

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman rise? >> to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. >> mr. speaker, as i watched yesterday's senate investigation subcommittee hearing, it was not just the greedy, irresponsible and likely illegal actions of some of goldman sachs' more dubious employees that was at the center of the attention. in fact, the useless and dangerous financial instruments known as synthetic collateralized debt obligations shared the spotlight as well. one of goldman's hot shot young stars who sold these investments to goldman's clients testified yesterday that they were, quote, things which had no purpose, unquote. and likened them to franken stein's monster -- frankenstein's monster. sadly, he's right. it spread billions of dollars in toxic assets and added dangerous risk to our financial system that ultimately was born

e by the u.s. taxpayers. meanwhile, they reaped millions of dollars in bonus even as the economy was crashing. these synthetic c.d.o.'s were synthetic garbage. and, oh, by the way -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman's time has expired. ms. speier: i revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. for what purpose does the gentleman from south carolina rise? mr. wilson: to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. wilson: mr. speaker, americans living abroad continue to face unnecessary roadblocks, not only to u.s. banks but increasingly at foreign banks as well. the requests from expats continue to come in at startling rates. i want to thank congresswoman carolyn maloney for bring these banking roadblocks to the attention of the treasury department. we were hoping that the financial services committee will soon hold hearings to review current u.s. banking laws and regulations that prevent americans living overseas from accessing u.s. banking services.

the international harold tribune reporter recently highlighted that amid moupting frustration over taxation and banking problems, small but growing number of americans overseas are renouncing their citizenship. i encourage the financial services committee to read the article and schedule a hearing in the very near future. in conclusion, god bless our troops and we will never forget september 11 and the global war on terrorism. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from arizona rise? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mrs. kirkpatrick: yesterday the congress passed the congressional pay hike. it would be unacceptable to have taxpayers who are making less pay us more. when millions of americans are

tightening their belts, folks have the right to expect their elected officials to do the same. blocking the pay hike was a necessary first step, but it cannot be the last. washington can and must do more. members have not reduced their salaries for 77 years, since the great depression. i do not know anyone back in arizona who has gone eight decades without a pay cut. senators and representatives should be no different. that is why i introduced legislation to cut congressional pay by 5%. this congress needs to pass my bill now. americans are tired of waiting for washington to get it, and i yield back. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from north carolina rise? mr. coble: to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. coble: mr. speaker, last sunday afternoon i attended the robins north carolina first wesleyan church veterans' memorial dedication. the program was generously laced with patriotic music and

appropriate hymns. veterans living and deceased were recognized. it has been said, mr. speaker, that many americans do not practice patriotism as they did in the past in the world war ii era, in particular. not true in robins. when last sunday patriotism was alive and well, and i am appreciative to the wesleyan church in robins for the invitation that i received to attend that very special day in robins saturday last. i thank the speaker and yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from california rise? >> mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. baca: i stand and voice my strong opposition to the new law arizona law, s.b. 1070. this is inspired by hate and racism. the new law opens the door to serious civil rights abuse and will lead to racial profiling

of latinos and latinas in arizona and people of color. it's unconstitutional. violating the fourth and 14th amendment, this new law will create a division for people who are asked for legal documents and those who do not. people should not spend one cent of money in arizona except to create jobs. i urge americans to support the boycott by wearing red, yellow and blue waist bands. this misguided law is another example why we must act now. we need republicans, i state, we need republicans to stand with democrats in a bipartisan fashion to support comprehensive reform now. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from texas rise? mr. johnson: unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. johnson: during these tough economic times many people are

experiencing financial uncertainty. that's why on saturday, may 8, at 9:00 a.m. in plano, texas, i will host a free workshop called recession proofing your resources. i will hold this in conjunction of -- with a company in dallas. debt can be overwhelming and financially taxing. a sound contingency plan is vital to ensure you and your family come out of this fiscal crisis in the black. fortunately, there are ways to plan for the unexpected life changes, and an expert will be onhand to show people how to learn more. visit samjohnson.house.gov or you may call my office in richardson. thank you. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman

from mississippi rise? >> to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. childers: saturday's devastating tornados hit several areas in north mississippi, including three county first congressional district which i represent. damages included more than 700 homes or mobile homes destroyed, various businesses, 49 injuries and 10 deaths. i'd like to express my deepest condolences of the people living in choctaw county. it is located in mississippi's first district. my thoughts and prayers go out to the paterson family and the yates family. i'd like to express my support for all those mississippians who suffered damages to their homes and businesses. we are a strong community and we will recover from this disaster. we will continue working with authorities and all levels of government toward the shared goal of recovery. i ask my colleagues to join me in expressing condolences to

those who lost their lives during the devastating storm and wish mississippi a swift recovery. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from louisiana rise? >> i ask unanimous consent to speak to the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. fleming: mr. speaker, the d.o.d.'s recently released military power report on iran should be a wake-up call for the president and the leadership here in congress. and while i'm glad the pentagon undertook this assessment, i and most americans didn't need a report to confirm the iranian threat is real and credible. the regime poses a significant danger to the u.s. and our allies, particularly israel. also, because of our failure to implement tough sanctions against iran, many nations will feel the need to develop nukes while we are reducing our stockpile, and failing to

modernize our nuclear inventory. in addition, we have halted the production of f-22's, allowed a window of vulnerability in missile defense and have delayed development of the next jen bomber. -- nextgen bomber. i hope the president will not shortchange the d.o.d. this year in ballistic defense, the nextgen bomber and other vital initiatives to protect our homeland and our allies well into the future. thank you and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from illinois rise? >> to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. quigley: mr. speaker, renee fought for equality in the glpt community. she fought for equality for everyone. she fought to bring people together around issues of diversity, development and health care. she fought for the children in the chicago public schools.

and the final days of her life, the community she served for so long surrounded her with love and comfort. among learning of her illness, president obama wrote to renee, in trying times, each of us draw on the power of hope, determination, perseverance and faith. renee lived her life changing the community she served through her perseverance few may never know. renee, we'll continue your fight. thank you, and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from nebraska rise? >> to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. >> thank you, mr. speaker. despite assurances the health care bill would actually lower costs for the american people, i actual -- actually, things are quite different. a report said american will spend $311 billion more on health care under the new law than we would have without it. it increases taxes on the middle class. about three million people will have to pay the insurance mandate penalty tax.

it also kills jobs through mandates on small businesses. the american people have said this is not the direction in which they would choose to go. health care reform should be patient centered to increase access to care and reduce costs without bankrupting our nation and limiting our liberties. we should rather allow individuals to ban together across state lines to allow deductibility to everyone for the cost of premiums and to crack down on junk lawsuits. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from north carolina rise? >> to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. >> senator mcconnell said about wall street reform, as you look at the bill closer and closer, it's mostly about main street. yes, wall street reform is about main street, because americans trying to make an honest living on main street are being bled dry by wall street. the vullingar accesses of wall street -- vulgar accesses of wall street. they are at the expense of working in middle-class american families. ordinary americans know the

fine print that big banks lawyers wrote in their credit card contracts and their mortgages and their overdraft agreements were filled with traps to take their income and their life savings and who knows what worthless junk wall street unloaded on their pension funds. every issue i worked on had a compromise. i picked the side of middle-class americans trying to support themselves and their families. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from michigan rise? >> mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. . mr. stupak: americans are already realizing the benefits of this legislation. for instance, for the past few years as chairman of the oversight investigations committee, we have investigated the industry practice of rescission. rescission occurs when the insurance company pours through your -- pores through your policy apple case to find any excuse to drop you from coverage

when you become ill. when you need insurance the most they look for an execution to abandon you. this rescission practice used by insurance companies employ up to 1,400 computer entries to kick out claims of people who may become seriously ill, to drop them when they are sick, and will cost the insurance companies some money. as chair of oversight and investigation, i have written to the largest insurance companies to stop this practice of rescission now. under the health care legislation we passed, it says rescission practice will stop in september, but i urge the insurance companies to stop this unconscionable practice now. in america, health care is a right not a privilege. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from minnesota rise? without objection. >> mr. speaker, two years ago our nation experienced the beginning of the worst financial crisis since the stock market crash of 1929. resulting in the longest, deepest financial downturn since the great depression. mr. walz: while the factors that

distributed to this, there is one simple underlying cause, unchecked greed. our history teaches the best way to focus this greed into something constructive is to have rules to protect consumers and investors and put cops on the beat to ensure those rules are enenforced. but for decades this country has pursued a policy of deregulation and lax enforcement, believing the greed is good. that invisible hand did something, it gave billions in bonuses to those who used other people's money like poker chips. when that game went bust it slapped the american taxpayers to the tune of eight million jobs. now that this congress is moving to fairness and accountability, there are those who prefer to huddle with wall street. the status quo is bailouts for too big to fail banks. i urge my colleagues both here in the senate to stand with the american people, pass reform and bailouts. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from nevada rise?

>> to address the house for one minute. revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. ms. titus: today i join with people across the country to commemorate workers memorial day honoring workers killed, injured, or harmed at work. unfortunately workers in nevada are all too aware of the dangers they face in the workplace. a number of deaths on the job in recent years led to nevada being the first stayed in the country to undergo an in-depth review that highlighted the problems facing the state's osha program. this review made it clear to me that federal osha needs an additional option to work with states that are not meeting federal standards. currently osha can only suggest improvements or completely take over the state's programs. that's why i introduced the ensuring worker safety act. this legislation aims to protect both workers and states' rights by giving federal osha additional tools to make sure

that state osha plans like nevada's are at least effective as federal standards and enforcements. the slogan of workers' memorial day is remember the dead and fight for the living. that's what i intend to do in congress. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from kentucky rise? mr. yarmuth: request permission to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. yarmuth: mr. speaker, i know our republican friends don't like it when we call them the party of no, but let's review the score for just a minute. on health care reform, 177 noes, no yeses. on wall street reform, 175 noes, no yeses. on the american recovery and reinvestment act, 177 noes, no yeses. let's look at the senate. in two consecutive votes whether to bring wall street reform to the floor for a debate, 40 noes, no yeses. they are just not the party of no, they are the party of no jobs for america, no energy security, no wall street reform, no consumer protections against

predatory practices, for no equal pay for women in the workplace, and the party of no for tax relief for middle class families. if the republicans don't want to be called the party of no, they better learn to say yes. i yield back the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from florida rise? >> to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. >> thank you, mr. speaker, as the newest member of congress, ious just spent six months talking to voters every day and i can say with confidence there are a lot of partisan issues out there, however there is one issue that united people of all political persuasions, that was our urgent need to prevent an economic meltdown from happening again. mr. deutch: i have only been in congress for a week, but i can say the actions of those turning wall street reform into a political issue are no less appalling in person than they are on tv. for the millions of seniors who lost so much of their life savings, wall street reform is

not a political issue. for the eight million workers who lost their jobs, wall street reform is not a political issue. and for the 2.2 million families who lost their homes, wall street reform is not a political issue. for them, wall street reform is about financial security. it is about oversight and honesty, and most importantly it is about accountability. let's put politics aside and do the job that the american people sent us here to do by passing wall street reform and sending a tough bill to the president's desk. thank you, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from texas rise? >> to address the house for one minute. without objection. -- the speaker pro tempore: without objection. ms. jackson lee: thank you, mr. speaker. i join my good friend from florida in acknowledging many of the issues we debate on this floor are not political issues. so he-r i ask america and i ask my friends on the other side of the aisle, let us not internally implode over a decent human rights issue of immigration

reform. while the economy is failing and questions are being asked about the integrity of wall street, let us look to a reasoned response, the immigration reform, not troops on the border, not the national guard on the border, but a real comprehensive immigration reform that provides access to the country's legalization and the picking up of the criminals. we understand that. there is no time for politicking and grandstanding on the question of students and families who want to be reunited. i am ashamed of the action of the governor of arizona, but i sympathize with the people. let us have real border security. and i will be reintroducing ramping up the border patrol agents, more technology. let's do this the right way. the faith community, business community of america. let's talk reasonably. the business community should be talking across america about the importance of comprehensive immigration reform. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired.

pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, the chair will postpone further proceedings today on motions to suspend the rules on which a recorded vote or the yeas and nays are ordered or on which the vote incurs objection under clause 6 of rule 20. record votes on postponed questions will be taken later. for what purpose does the gentleman from new york seek recognition? mr. towns: mr. speaker, i move that the house suspend the rules and agree to h.r. 3393, as amended. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 3393, a bill to amend the improper payments information act of 2002, 31 u.s.c. 3321 note in order to prevent the loss of billions in taxpayer dollars.

the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from new york, mr. towns, and the gentleman from california, mr. issa, will each control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from new york. mr. towns: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. towns: the office of management and budget recently reported the federal government may not be an improper and over payment -- this is a staggering amount and completely unacceptable. no family or business in this great country would tolerate being charged twice or even overbuild for anything, and neither should the government. we need to do everything we can to ensure that the government spends every tax dollar in the most responsible way possible.

in fact, we have an obligation to the taxpayers to fight waste, fraud, and abuse. and to ensure that if the government overpays for something, it has the means to recover those precious tax dollars. the bill we are now considering, h.r. 3393, the improper payments elimination and recovery act of 2009, will provide the government with the means to fulfill this obligation to the taxpayers. mr. speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california. mr. issa: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. issa: mr. speaker, this is an important and bipartisan bill being brought to the floor today. it has been well thought out and well crafted and i want to thank mr. murphy, mr. bilbray for their diligent work on this subject. also mr. todd plats who was

worked in this -- platts who has worked in this area for a number of years and has brought to light this failure of government. mr. speaker, when there are $2 trillion worth of payments being made and $100 billion worth of improper payments being noted, one would say we must be doing a good job of finding improper payments that would allow us to get to the bottom of this large amount of money. but, mr. speaker, without this corrective action, it is clear that what we are seeing is the tip of a very large iceberg. under the current law, since you must have the greater of both 10 million and 2.5% in order to trigger reporting, this only really triggers $10 million events with very small agencies. as we look at the department of defense and other large agencies, realistically the 2.5% becomes the trigger. if i were able to at the stroke of a pen change things from day

one, i would look and say the american people consider not only $10 million a lot of money, but $2 million, and $1 million, $100,000. we cannot quickly make those kinds of changes in reporting. i am told. however, today, we are taking a fairly significant step. by reducing -- by automatically having any time $100 million is at stake be reported and by reducing from 2.5% to 1.5% the program outlays, we are catching an unknown amount of greater waste, fraud, and abuse in government. these improper payments will undoubtedly rise, perhaps double, perhaps triple in reporting as a result of this new law. but it is not enough. as this reporting becomes more widespread and we are able to investigate extremely large but smaller than today programs, i hope that we will see that we

must find all, all improper payments in government and set them right. the american people expect no less. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from new york. mr. towns: mr. speaker, i'd like to yield five minutes to mr. patrick murphy, who is really responsible for us being here today. he has worked so hard on this legislation and of course as i have said to many staffers along the way, this makes a whole lot of sense. i want to thank him and of course mr. platts and people who worked on this and kept it going. i want to recognize him for five minutes, the sponsor of the bill. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. murphy: thank you, mr. speaker thank you, chairman, i appreciate it. let me first off by thanking my colleague across the aisle, the gentleman from california, for partnering with me on this bipartisan bill for the past two years. and today is a great day for our country. i want to also highlight his partnership and his commitment

to fiscal responsibility. it's an honor to work with you, sir. i also want to thank senator tom carper for his tireless efforts in advancing this legislation in the senate. mr. speaker, most of us would be outraged if we received or realized that our phone company charged us twice for last month's bill. or that we pay for car repairs that were never made to our car. we figure out the problem, we get our money back, and we make sure that that never happened again. but every day the federal government either overpays or pays twice the amount for products or services it was supposed to. but until now there was too little action and even less outrage. according to the office of management and budget, in fiscal year 2009, federal agencies made nearly $98 billion in improper payments. let me repeat that. in 2009, federal agencies made

nearly $98 billion in improper payments in just one fiscal year. mr. speaker, numbers get thrown around in this chamber all the time. so let me put this number in context. this is more than double the budget for the department of homeland security, and triple the budget of the national institute of health. . these improper payments occur as a result of fraud or from poor fiscal management systems that do not detect or prevent mistakes before federal dollars are already out the door. this bill, our bill, the improper payments elimination and recovery act will eliminate these improper payments . it will cut down on fraud and waste by requiring agencies to develop and implement action

plans to avoid improper payments. mr. speaker, no business owner would allow an employee to get away with these mistakes and american taxpayers should not have to foot the bill when the government mismatches their hard-earned dollars. that is why this legislation contains strong measures to hold those in power accountable for failing to protect taxpayer dollars. and perhaps most importantly, mr. speaker, this legislation would force the federal government to claim -- to reclaim more money that was im properly sent. it's simple. if a family in bristol, bucks county, found out they were getting double billed for their car payments or paying for groceries they never got, they'd fix the problem, get their money back and would not allow it to happen again. my bill ensures that the federal government hold itself to the same standard of fiscal responsibility that will save

taxpayers billions of dollars. mr. speaker, there is no question that we must do more to tackle our national debt. while the debate grows increasingly partisan, the solutions seen sometimes out of political reach, but this proposal is not. this commonsense measure is something that delats and republicans have come together to support. cutting wasteful spending and growing our economy will lead us out of this recession and help us put us on a path toward fiscal responsibility. i urge all of my colleagues to vote yes and pass this legislation on behalf of the american taxpayer. and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from california. mr. issa: thank you, mr. speaker. at this time i'd like to yield to the co-author of the bill, mr. bilbray, for three minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for

three minutes. mr. bilbray: thank you, mr. speaker. i'd like to thank the author and ranking member issa for bringing this bill up today and i appreciate addressing it. mr. speaker, all across america, americans are speaking out loudly. in fact, there is a degree of dismay for those of us in washington when we go home, to see the outrage that is coming out from the average taxpayer in this country. and i think we are just now really realizing that there's a justification for the outrage and the strong feelings. basically, as we tell the american people that they must give more and that we are going to take more, they are saying, no way, you have not earned the right to be trusted with our tax money. mr. murphy and i have been able to identify one of those items that the american people have been calling for for a long time. i mean, how to we explain to our constituents that we are giving away inappropriately twice as much money as we spend

to defend their neighborhoods from terrorism when it comes to homeland security? how do we have the gall to ask them to trust us with more money when we have this kind of mismanagement of public funds, not just repeatly about but historically? and i think this is one place in a bipartisan effort admit that washington needs to be more responsible, needs to be more -- do more and frankly demand more from washington and the bureaucracy and less from the american people when it comes to accountability. we're talking about the fact that we need now to lower the thresholds of reporting so the problem can be more transparent and hold those who are trusted in their apartment with american taxpayer money to be more accountable for the mismanagement of those funds. and frankly, we need to be --

demand more recovery of the money when we detect these moneys are being misappropriated. frankly, right now i think the outrage across this country is more that is healthy for all of us, democrats, republicans, independents. we should not be asking, why are the american people so outraged, we're saying, why didn't we realize this earlier and sooner so that out rage did not show up -- outrage did not show up in screaming town hall meetings and across this country? i want to thank mr. murphy for joining me in showing the american people that we don't blame the american people for being outraged, we blame the washington establishment for not addressing this before and not moving before. i thank the chairman and the ranking member. i think my coauthor on this. mr. chairman, i think this is more than just money. we are talking we have taking hard-earned resources from hardworking americans and we

have been trusted in the past and we have violated that trust. this bill will -- mr. issa: i yield. mr. bilbray: this bill will start in a pattern towards earning the trust back from the american people. but we do not have a right to ask them to trust us with more money until we've proved to them that we can correct this problem and take care of the money that we're already been endowed with. so i ask this body pass this bill, address it. it's one place. it's a small step in the direction that america's asked us to go to for far too long. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from new york. mr. towns: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. towns: improper payment and elimination recovery act, h.r. 3393, provides the federal government with the tools needed to prevent mistakes and overpayment in the first place

and recover funds that are paid in error. that's the reason why i like to salute congressman issa from california, congressman bilbray and, of course, congressman platts and congressman murphy for the outstanding job they have done on this legislation. the bill we are considering today takes the next step and makes federal agencies more accountable for properly managing taxpayers' funds. the bill requires agencies to develop and report corrected action plans based on measures in terms of error rates and creates incentives for meeting their goals and penalties for failure to meet those goals. importantly, the bill also gives the agencies the means to go after the funds that they have overpaid which will make the taxpayers' agency programs and activities which rely on those -- we are living in a

time, mr. speaker, when our government is under extreme fiscal demands, and we need to do everything possible to ensure that every tax dollar goes to where it is needed. to ensure this tax -- this takes place, we need to provide our federal agencies with the tools to properly manage their spending. we also need to give the agencies the ability to follow through with their oversight and provide them with the ability to recover erroneous payments. however, we cannot stop there. we must do everything that we can to ensure that federal agencies who make improper payments fix the problem that allowed the improper payments to take place. at the end of the day, this bill amends current law to require more accountability through reports, plans, definitions, clarifications of

responsibility, allocation of funds and oversight. again, i'd like to thank my colleagues, of course, representative murphy, bilbray, issa and working in a truly, truly bipartisan manner in getting this important piece of legislation to the house floor. h.r. 3393 is a commonsense, good government bill, and i encourage my colleagues to join me in supporting it. on that, note, mr. chairman, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from california. mr. issa: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. issa: mr. speaker, in closing i'd like to share with yourself something that happened this morning. i was on c-span and a woman named betty called in and was very concerned that we were not working on a bipartisan basis, that there was no consensus or compromise, that we were

paralyzed. and it's sometimes hard to answer somebody on the other end of a telephone at the time, but i would like to take today and note that this is an example of the dozens of times every week that we come together, the chairman and myself, members of the committee and we find things we can agree on, that are good for america, the common god, and they will not usually be noted. so today i'd hope we all note that -- and for betty who called in this morning -- that this is an example where we can find compromise, we can find a win-win for the american people. i'd hope we would do more of it. chairman towns has been good at looking for those examples, and i pledge for looking for things like this. i want to thank leader hoyer and leader boehner for the help they gave us in expediting this

to the floor. with that, mr. speaker, i urge support and passage of the bill and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from new york. mr. towns: mr. speaker, let me just make this statement and i will yield back as well. let me again say how glad i am that we are taking the time to fight waste, fraud and abuse of our precious tax dollars. with this measure. i want to thank the gentleman from california for his comments and the fact that we are working together to get rid of waste, fraud and abuse here. this is a classic example. i want to thank him for working with him and the relationship we had over the year in terms of doing these kinds of things. on that note, mr. speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 3393 as amended. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 having responded in the

affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed, and without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. for what purpose does the gentleman from new york seek recognition? mr. towns: i move that the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 5148. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 5148, a bill to amend title 39, united states code, to clarify the instances in which the term census may appear on mailable matter. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from new york, mr. towns, and the gentleman from california, mr. issa, will each control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from new york. mr. towns: i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks . the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. towns: mr. speaker, i yield myself at this time as much time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. towns: i rise in support of h.r. 5148, the bill to further

prohibit deceptive mailings using the word census. only a few weeks ago on march 10, to be exact, the house acted unanimously to deal with the misleading fundraising mail designed to look like it is from the census bureau. congresswoman maloney introduced h.r. 4621, the prevent deceptive census look-alike mailing act, which was originally co-sponsored by myself, congressman clay, chairman of the subcommittee with jurisdiction over the census, congresswoman maloney, congressman clay are longtime supporters of the census and they have worked hard to make sure we have an accurate count in 2010. h.r. 4621 was also co-sponsored by the ranking member of the committee, congressman issa of california, as well as the ranking member of the subcommittee with jurisdiction

over the postal service, congressman jason chaffetz. i thank them for their support and helping us move it to the floor today. the goal of the bill was simple. the united states census currently under way is a critical source of information for america's future. regrettably, scamless and conartists are trying to hijack the word census to confuse citizens into opening and responding to mail that is unrelated to the actual u.s. census. we must protect the u.s. census from this kind of fraud. h.r. 4621 simply requires mailings which have the term census on the envelope or cover to also include an accurate return address and the name of the sender on the envelope. h.r. 4621 was drafted merely to

avoid the first amendment concern and avoid interfering with legitimate use of the mail by nonprofit organizations. the bill was intended to prevent the deceptive use of look-alike mailings by requiring transparency and disclosure. the house voted 46-0 to pass h.r. 4621. the senate passed the same bill by unanimous consent. not many bills pass this house unanimously, but this one did. both houses. that's not something that happens real quick around here. you would think the message sent by that law was very clear. unfortunately, days after h.r. 4621 was signed into law, the r.n.c. sent a new mailing which

included the same deceptive practices. the new mailing is also labeled a census, and it does not include a return address and identifies the sender as the r.n.c. as required by law, mr. speaker. . these offensive mailings are dated april 12. only five days after the president signed h.r. 4622 into law. apparently the r.n.c. cannot even let one week go by without deceiving the american public. despite these actions of congress, the r.n.c. continues to act in defiance of congress and plain common sense and fairness. these mailings continue to mislead citizens, confuse voters, and annoy recipients. on that note, mr. chairman, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from california.

mr. issa: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. issa: mr. speaker, i rise in support of h.r. 5148, not surprisingly i'm the author of it. i insisted on being the author because it was the right thing to do and because there needed to be a message sent loud and clear. deexceptive advertising is -- deexceptive advertising is already bad enough today. we often receive things that look like a credit card bill when in fact they are an offer to buy, get something, or apply for a credit card. we have all received cards that look like you're already getting a card when in fact it's john dough on the card -- john doe on the card. when it comes to the census there is no separation between republicans and democrats and independents. there is no separation between the house and the senate. the sanctity of this actual responsibility -- constitutional

responsibility to get it right to count everyone cannot be allowed to be interfered with by anyone's attempt to raise money. when the earlier bill was passed at the -- the author, carolyn maloney, and co-sponsor of many of us, we thought we had ended this. as a matter of fact for all of us on both sides of the aisle we believed then that an independent agency, the post office, could have stopped that mail without the law. but we wanted to make the intent of congress clear. by passing that bill we made the intent of congress clear. we all talk about deexceptive advertising. about -- deceptive advertising. about people seeing something thinking it was the census bureau, thinking it was a census form. we crafted it in a way as the chairman said that was intended to not cross over anyone's free speech rights, including that through the mail. we achieved that. but lawyers at the republican

national committee made a decision that the language of the bill was such that they could continue having a piece -- successful mailing go on. let me make something very clear here today. you cannot say we are beyond the letter of the law when you truly are within the intent of the law and tell the american people it's ok. the foursquares of the law may or may not have been violated by the n.r.c.c., most of us believed as i said before, the post office could have stopped before the law and certainly could stop this after the law. and i have sent along with my ranking subcommittee member a letter to the postmaster encouraging him to make that decision. as has congresswoman maloney. notwithstanding their eventually action, we are making it clear here today that we will plug any

perceived loopholes or any questions about whether or not you can or you cannot. the r.n.c. sent out mailings which certainly violated the spirit of h.r. 4621. the mailings contained text, visible from outside the envelope, not printed on the envelope but effectively the same as printed on the envelope. i would say to people who raise money, whether it's the republican national committee, the democratic national committee, other political entities, or nonpolitical entities who simply want to have their envelopes 7ped -- opened for an opportunity to raise money or get the message out, don't use the census. don't even think about using the census because it's wrong. if something is deceptive, then it is wrong under the law that we already passed. it is wrong under the law that we expect this bill to represent. so, mr. speaker, i would like to

thank the chairman and congresswoman maloney and congressman jason chaffetz, and more importantly the leadership of the house, both mr. boehner, mr. hoyer, because they made it possible for us to come to the floor quickly, get it to the senate quickly, allow the senate to deal with it quickly so the president can make a statement for the second time in less than a month. he shouldn't have to do it. he does have to do it. we are going to make sure that while the census is underway that we not have anyone think that this is a time where they can continue to do fundraising that ultimately links itself to the ongoing census. with that i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from new york. mr. towns: mr. speaker, i would like to yield five minutes to the gentlewoman from new york who has been very involved in this issue. and to say to my colleagues in

california, i really appreciate his involvement in it as well. ranking member of the committee. congressman issa. i yield five minutes to carolyn maloney. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized for five minutes. mrs. maloney: i thank the gentleman for yielding and for his leadership in so many ways and to my good friend on the other side of the aisle for his leadership on this issue and many others. we are united today in a bipartisan effort. republicans and democrats. we are united in our efforts to stop the r.n.c. from using census mailings for political gain and to fundraiser for -- fundraise for the r.n.c. mr. steal in particular, the head of the -- steele in particular, the head of the r.n.c., five days after this vote, unanimous on both sides of the aisle, mailed out another partisan mailer raising money for the r.n.c. in an envelope that looked like it was an official document for the census department. i suggest that mr. steele

contact the members of his own party before he acts in such a way because the republicans supported stopping using the census mailer in any way for partisan gain. specifically this congress passed legislation to stop mailers, fake mailers, lookalike mailers, that made the document look official like a census document to open it up. the r.n.c. and others were mailing fundraising, acting like they were the census. this is wrong. we passed legislation to stop it. it is now under review by the postal department. i have every bit of confidence that they will report that it violated not only the spirit of the law, but violated the law. the ink wasn't even dry from president obama signing the legislation into law, five days later the r.n.c. leadership sent out another partisan mailer

designed to look like the census , to mislead people. this is dangerous. because the census is important to our country. it is mandated by the constitution. it must take place every 10 years. and the census numbers are the numbers that we use to decide representation, practically every funding formula is based on census numbers. so we want people to respond to the census. it's important. to the degree that mock fake mailers are out there deceiving people, it will drive down the participation. so today we are united on enforcing the law in a bipartisan way. and i congratulate particularly the leadership on the other side of the aisle that are speaking out against the leadership of their own r.n.c., knowing that the census is important and should not be used for partisan reasons. i compliment steny hoyer, mr. boehner for moving this to the

floor immediately so that another mailer doesn't go out. and this is a critical time for the census. it is in full swing. people are responding to their mail. there will be enumerators, additional mail. to the extent people are fundraising with fake lookalike documents, it would drive down the participation in the federally mandated actually required and federally funded census. it is undercutting tax dollars from the public that are trying to get an accurate count and accurate picture of where we are from the census data. so this is a very important action and it's one that we are acting quickly on. and i hope the r.n.c. and anyone else who wants to put out a deceptive, misleading mailing will stop and respect the law, respect the census, and respect this congress. i thank my colleagues on both sides of the aisle and i yield back the balance of my time.

mr. towns: reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from california. mr. issa: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. issa: i would like to thank the gentlelady from new york. her words are our words. her thoughts are our thoughts. perhaps as a proud republican i can do more than the thought she made. mr. speaker, i want everyone to be counted in the census. i want everyone to open their envelopes from the census. as a republican, i'm particularly sensitive because i don't want republicans to be undercounted. so i would advise as i will do, if i receive anything, and it looks like it's from the census, i'm going to open it. when i open it, if it's from the census, i'm going to fill it out. if it's not from the census, i'm going to throw it out, because ultimately all of us, regardless of our party, should be indignant if we receive a request for money and we open it believing it's from the census only to find out that it's that

request for money. the census does not ask us for money. they ask us for sensitive information leading to a correct count of the american population. and from that congress does it's work to allocate resources and quite personally to allocate representation here in the house. so i for one will open all the mail. encourage all to open the mail. when you open it, do the right thing. if it's from the census, do the right thing. if it's from somebody trying to fundraise, let there be no doubt this is important to us in the house. we speak with one voice. we speak today. i suspect that they will speak by tomorrow in the senate. and we will make sure that this cannot be allowed. in closing, i did join with the gentlelady from new york and mr. chaffetz, the gentleman from utah, and the chairman, in calling on the postmaster to assert any jurisdiction he may believe he can, which we believe he has, to stop mailings even if

they are going out today. but certainly within a matter of hours or days we expect there will be new power without any question that would allow for the holding of that mail and its destruction. with that, mr. speaker, i encourage passage of the bill. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from new york. mr. towns: thank you very much, mr. speaker. i would like to close by saying in order to send the message we need to make certain that this stops, however i do believe the new r.n.c. mailings are illegal under current law, that's number one. this bill will clarify that any use of the word census that is visible through the envelope will trigger a requirement to disclose the name and return address of the sender. congress should not have to act twice to make it clear that it is wrong to imitate the census.

which is mandated by our constitution. unfortunately, the foolishness of the r.n.c. has forced us to act again. madam speaker, i want to thank all of my colleagues, especially the ranking member of the committee, and for congresswoman maloney, and of course mr. chaffetz and others, especially the staff, who understand and recognize how important the census is. and that we should not get involved in any kind of trickery when it comes to the census. because there are so many things that depend on the census, and therefore to play around with it to me is so unfair when you are talking about really playing around with the lives of people, because so many things are based on the fact that the count is so important. so it's my hope that the r.n.c. will recognize this and stop

this trickery, because there's no place, no time do we need that today. we need to make certain that everybody fills out the census form and get it back in as soon as possible. on that note, mr. speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. . the speaker pro tempore: the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h.r. 5148. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on motion to reconsider is laid on the table. for what purpose does the gentleman from illinois seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, i move to

suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution, h.con.res 264, authorizing the use of the capitol grounds for the national peace officers memorial service. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the concurrent resolution. the clerk: house concurrent resolution 264, concurrent resolution authorizing the use of the capitol grounds for the national peace officers' memorial service. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from illinois, mr. costello, and the gentleman from wisconsin, mr. petri, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from illinois. mr. costello: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on h.con.res 264. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. costello: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. costello: mr. speaker, house concurrent resolution 264, authorizing the use of the capitol grounds for the 29th annual national peace officers' memorial service, a solemn and respectful public event in our

nation's capital, honoring our heroic civil servants who were killed in the line of duty in the previous year. 116 brave men and women were killed in the line of duty in 2009. the fewest number since 1959. the total number of officers killed in the line of duty declined 16% from 2008. unfortunately, the number of officers shot and killed had a dramatic rise and increased 22% from the previous year. according to the national law enforcement officers' memorial fund, the number of incidents were more than one officer was killed by a single gunman accounted for 15th debts, nearly a third of the officers killed in firearms' related incidents. one was killed in my congressional district, gregory jonas. the national peace officers'

memorial service is a fitting tribute to those who protect us in our home and workplace. the memorial service will be free and open to the public. i support the resolution and urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this tribute to our fallen peace officers. mr. speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from wisconsin. mr. petri: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. petri: h.con.res 264 authorizes the use of the capitol ground for the national peace officers' memorial service to be held on may 15. the memorial service will be just one event of many planned for police week to honor the sacrifices of the men and women who serve in law enforcement and to give special recognition of those who lost their lives in the line of duty. in may, 1962, congress established peace officers memorial day and police week

through a joint resolution of congress. and in 1982, the first official memorial service took place in senate park with 125 people gathered to honor 91 officers. since that time, law enforcement from around the world have come to d.c. to participate in week-long events to honor the brave service and sacrifice of officers who have fallen in the line of duty. today, thousands of people participate in the events, including the memorial service, and over 3,000 law enforcement officers have been honored from around nation. currently there are 3,000 officers who selflessly risk their lives so we can be safe and protected. unfortunately, on average 160 officers each year lose their lives in the line of duty. and there are approximately 16,000 assaults on police

officers each year, resulting in nearly 600,000 injuries. this year 324 fallen officers will be honored, including 116 that lost their lives in 2009. police week will serve to honor the service and sacrifice law enforcement officers make for us every day. i support this resolution and encourage my colleagues to do the same. and, mr. speaker, i have no requests for time and yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from illinois. mr. costello: mr. speaker, we have no further requests for time, and i urge support of this resolution and yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the question is will the house suspend the rules and agree to house concurrent resolution 264. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the concurrent resolution is agreed to and without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table.

for what purpose does the gentleman from illinois seek recognition? mr. costello: mr. speaker, i move to prulls and pass the bill h.r. 5147, the airport and airway extension act of 2010. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 5147, a bill to amend the internal revenue code of 1986 to extend the funding and expenditure authority of the airport and airway trust fund, to amend title 49, united states code, to extend authorizations for the airport improvement program and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from illinois, mr. costello, and the gentleman from wisconsin, mr. petri, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from illinois. mr. costello: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks. and to include extraneous material on h.r. 5147.

the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. costello: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. costello: mr. speaker, i thank you for recognizing me on this legislation. i rise in support of h.r. 5147, the airport and airway extension act of 2010. i want to thank chairman oberstar and ranking member, mr. mica, as well as mr. petri for working with me to bring this bill to the floor today. in both the 110th and 111th congresses, the house passed comprehensive legislation to re-authorize the f.a.a. and to provide for much-needed modernization of our aviation system. last month, the other body passed its own f.a.a. re-authorization bill. we look forward to the completion of a final comprehensive bill and are in the process of working out the differences, the measures in both legislation to reconcile and bring a conference report to the floor. however, the airport and airway trust fund will expire on april

30, 2010, and the bill before us today, h.r. 5147 is needed to extend the aviation taxes and expenditure authority in the airport improvement contract authority until july, 2010. specifically, h.r. 5147 provides $3 billion in a.i.p. contract authority through early july which translates to an annualized amount of $4 billion for fiscal year 2010. this level of funding is consistent with the annual levels provoided by the house and senate re-authorization bills as well as the fiscal year 2010 concurrent budget resolution. these additional funds will be -- will allow airports to continue critical safety capacity enhancement projects. additionally, the bill provides $7 billion for the f.a.a. operations, $2.2 billion for facility and equipment programs, and $144 million for

research, engineering and development programs. when translated to yearly amounts, these a.i.p. figures equal the funding levels passed in the transportation, housing and urban development and related agencies appropriation act of 2010. in addition, aviation excise taxes will also be extended through july 3, 2010. these taxes are necessary to support the airport and airway trust fund which funds a large portion of the f.a.a.'s budget. any lapse in these taxes could drain the trust fund's balance, so it is important that we act now pending the passage of a longer term re-authorization bill. aviation is too important to our nation's economy, contributing $1.2 trillion in output and approximately 11.4 million jobs. congress must ensure that this extension passes today to ensure that our aviation system

is not disrupted and continues to function safely. mr. speaker, i urge my colleagues to support this legislation and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from wisconsin. mr. petri: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. petri: in may of last year, the house passed h.r. 915, the f.a.a. re-authorization act of 2009. last month, the senate passed its own f.a.a. re-authorization bill, which the house took up, amended and passed and sent back to the senate. well, a conference has not been called, staff in both chambers have begun informal meetings. this process will take time, and given that the current f.a.a. extension expires at the end of this month, we need to extend the f.a.a.'s taxes and authorities to allow time to get a final conference f.a.a. bill. h.r. 5147 would extend the taxes, programs and funding of the f.a.a. to july 3 of this year.

this bill provides just over $3 billion in airport improvement program funding, extensive risk insurance program and extends other authorities related to small community air service and air safety programs. this bill will ensure that our national airspace system continues to operate and that they fund important airport projects while the congress completes action on a final re-authorization bill. and i would now at this time yield such time as he may consume to the senior republican on the public works and transportation committee, my colleague from florida, mr. mica. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for as much time as he may consume. mr. mica: thank you, mr. speaker. and i thank mr. petri, our ranking member on the aviation subcommittee, for yielding. i'm pleased, also, to recognize the fine work of the current chair of the aviation subcommittee, mr. costello, our chair of the full committee,

mr. oberstar. you know, i'm here today and, folks, if you haven't tuned in, mr. speaker, our my colleagues, to the comedy hour. in fact, it's almost sort of a sad time, but it almost seems like a bit of a sad comedy here that we are back the 15th time extending f.a.a. authorization, authorization for all of the cis, federal programs that deal with -- policies, federal programs that deal with the f.a.a. this is the 13th extension. now, mr. petri, the ranking member of aviation, mr. costello, the current chair, when i came to chair, mr. oberstar was the chair of the aviation subcommittee, and i was in the minority but a

member of the committee from 2001 to 2008, i was the chairman of the aviation subcommittee. in fact, in 2004, i believe it was, 2003 -- sorry -- i wrote the current f.a.a. authorization that then extended some 13 times with the passage of this today. now, i know i did a great job and a thorough job but i never intended it to last on and on, and it wasn't intended to last on and on. we do -- at that time we did a four-year bill, and we set the policy, the projects. we set all the safety criteria for aviation in the country. what particularly burns me right now is we have a commuter aviation safety piece of legislation that we intend to incorporate in this extension.

we've had it done for sometime. we worked in a bipartisan fashion, and that sits idle. we sat down in a bipartisan fashion after we had a number of disastrous commuter flights. one of them, of course, up in new york, and our heart aches for those families that suffered a loss of a loved one. but we have the responsibility to pass that legislation, and that legislation, which is part of the extension, is still sitting today undone. but, again, 15 times we've been here. this is the 13th extension that goes on to july of a bill i authored back in 2003 that expired in 2007. and it couldn't come at a worse time for the economy. we need in place that policy. we need the funding formula in place. we need the ability to move and

expand our airports, which are our main transportation hub of today and the future. the modernization of the air traffic control system and the provisions that we put in this to move that forward are also stalled. it's called nextgen, next generation air traffic control system. this is very sad. when you stop and think about it, 11% of the economy of the united states of america deals around the aviation industry. this is big business. it's big jobs, and unfortunately it's stalled and that's sad. and i can't -- i'm not here to point fingers. the house has done due diligence. the other body continues to work on the measure. they made some progress of late. there is one issues in there.

it's called the fedex provision, which does expand some unionization provisions, if it is passed. quite frankly, the senate said that provision is not going to be accepted. many on the house opposed this on both sides of the aisle. . let's take the controversial things and put them aside and move forward with the bill. foreign repair stations. we cannot abrogate our obligations under international treaties. we can't leave planes in some foreign location without the ability to repair them. so we have to have a reasonable standard and internationally coherent and internationally client way to proceed for repair stations. those controversial provisions need to be put aside, move forward. people are crying out for jobs

in this country and one of the best employers that we have in this nation is the aviation industry. it pays some of the highest salaries. we have the potential for expanding that. and when you expand aviation, you enter global markets with such ease today. but we are leaving that behind. so i am indeed deeply saddened that we are not at a point where we are passing this. i asked members to support this extension, the 13th extension. this is a very embarrassing moment for the congress. and i'm saddened that our work is not done. i yield back the balance of my time. mr. petri: i urge my colleagues to support 5147 and yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from illinois. mr. costello: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may

consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. costello: mr. speaker, let me concur with the remarks of the ranking member of the full committee, mr. mica, and mr. petri in his statement. i do want to make it clear, though, that we have in this house we have done our job. both in 2007 and in 2009. the committee and also the full house passed the re-authorization bill and both -- on both occasions in 2007 and 2009, we sent it over to the senate and waited for the other body to act. unfortunately, the other body did not act until recently. as i said in my opening remarks, we are negotiating with them now to resolve our differences so that we can bring a bill to the floor in order to get it to the president. and mr. mica is right about the airline pilot and safety act as well. we did pass that legislation both in the committee and the

house. it was a bipartisan bill. it is urgently needed. it is a part of the re-authorization process. again it is my hope that we can work out our differences and quickly bring a conference report to the floor. with that, mr. speaker, i urge my colleagues to support this legislation and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 5147. so many as are in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed, and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from new york seek recognition? ms. slaughter: mr. speaker, by direction of the committee on rules i call up house resolution 1300 and ask for its immediate consideration. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the resolution. the clerk: house calendar number 186, house resolution 1300.

resolved that at any time after the adoption of this resolution, the speaker may, pursuant to clause 2-b of rule 18, declare the house resolved into the committee of the whole house on the state of the union for consideration of the bill h.r. 5013, to amend title 10 united states code to provide for performance management of the defense acquisition system, and for other purposes. the first reading of the bill shall be dispensed with. all points of order against consideration of the bill are waived except those arising under clause 9 or 10 of rule 21. general debate shall be confined to the bill and shall not exceed one hour equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the committee on armed services. after general debate, the bill shall be considered for amendment under the five-minute rule. it shall be in order to consider as an original bill for the purpose of amendment under the five-minute rule the amendment in the nature of a substitute recommended by the committee on

armed services now printed in the bill. the committee amendment in the nature of a substitute shall be considered as read. all points of order against the committee amendment in the nature of a substitute are waived except those arising under clause 10 of rule 21. notwithstanding clause 11 of rule 18, no amendment to the committee amendment in the nature of a substitute shall be in order except those printed in the report of the committee on rules accompanying the resolution. -- this resolution. each such amendment may be offered only in the order printed in the report, may be offered only by a member designated in the report, shall be considered as read, shall be debatable for the time specified in the report equally divided and controlled by the proponent and an opponent, shall not subject to amendment, and shall not be subject to demand for division of the question. all points of order against such amendments are waived except those arising under clause 9 or 10 of rule 21.

at the conclusion of consideration of the bill for amendment, the committee shall rise and report the bill to the house with such amendments as may have been adopted. the previous question shall be considered as ordered on the bill and amendments thereto to final passage without intervening motion except one motion to recommit with or without instructions. section 2, the chair may entertain a motion that the committee rise only if offered by the chair of the committee on armed services or his designee. the chair may not entertain a motion to strike out the enacting words of the bill as described in clause 9 of rule 18. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from new york is recognized for one hour. ms. slaughter: thank you, mr. speaker. for the purpose of debate only i yield the customary 30 minutes to the gentlewoman from north carolina, dr. foxx. an all time yielded during consideration of the rule is for debate only. i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to

insert extraneous material into the congressional record. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. ms. slaughter: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized. ms. slaughter: mr. speaker, the resolution provides a structured rule for the consideration of h.r. 5013, the improve acquisitions act of 2010. the rule waives all points of order against consideration of the bill except those arising under clause 9 or 10 of rule 21. it makes in order the committee amendment to the original bill and provides the bill shall be considered as read. the rule waives all points of order against the committee amendment except those arising under clause 10 of rule 21. and the rule makes in order 16 amendments printed in the rules committee report and waives all points of order against those amendments except those arising under clause 9 or 10 of rule 21. the rule provides one motion to

recommit with or without instructions. the rule provides the chair may entertain a motion that the committee rise only if offered by the chair of the committee on armed services or designee. and the chair may not entertain a motion to strike out the enacting words of the bill. mr. speaker, over the years we have watched as countless stories reveal flaws in the military's procurement operation. disappointment was the way the department of defense manages the money we appropriated reflects poorly not just on the pentagon but on congress as well. $640 toilet seat is now the stuff of legend, sadly it is often just the tip of the iceberg. in recent years excesses stemming from the ill considered rush towards privatization champion -- have become increasingly common. the push to contract out nearly every part of the military's mission has inevitably led to

waste, fraud, and abuse involving some of the biggest corporate names in this country. sadly i believe that many years from now historians will associate a significant part of the war in iraq with wasteful and poorly managed contracts that made private companies millions of dollars, billions of dollars, actually, often at the expense of our own men and women in uniform and certainty of taxpayers. two years ago in congress i was here on the floor as the house debated h.r. 1362, the accountability in contracting act, and that, too, was intended to save taxpayer money. earlier in the 110th congress, i worked with my friend, ms. schakowsky, on h.r. 897, the iraq and afghanistan contractor sunshine act. i hesitate to say that those and other efforts toward contracting reform have been unsuccessful. clearly we made significant reforms and part of our work in

congress involves regular and diligent oversight. it is a never-ending process. for my part one of the proudest efforts during my career in congress has been to force the pentagon to acknowledge that some of the testing done on body armor for troops during the early part of the war was deeply flawed. my work on this issue grow out of a 2006 audit that i read about in "the new york times" that found that 80% of the marines who had died in iraq of a body wound would have survived with the proper body armor. i waited for other committees to take the lead, but no one came to the fore. we are still working on this issue, but we have come a very long way. major changes have been made in testing labs. some of them taking back into the army rather than contracted out, which in this case did not work.

thankfully, however, the work did accomplish one thing. the military agreed to no more poorly manage deals for outside contractors to test the body armor. all current and future body armor testing will be conducted internally by the department of testing and evaluation within the d.o.d. with strict standards to ensure our troops receive nothing but the highest quality of body armor. when it comes to safety of our troops, which we send into battle, it is foolish to put the bid out to the lowest priced contractor. but today we moved into a new chapter of oversight and reform, and i'm happy to see it come. this morning we are bringing up an important piece of legislation intended to help the pentagon reform inefficient procurement operations. it's called, the implementing management for performance and related reforms to obtain value in every acquisition act of

2010, otherwise known as the improve act. this bill will help the defense department immediately, immediately once it's signed to crack down on cost overruns and lapse oversight of contractors. not only that, but the bill should help reduce our dangerous reliance oftentimes on outside companies to do so many varied functions on behalf of the military. it is hard to overstate how important this bill is. my colleague, mr. conaway of texas, who is the ranking member of the house armed services committee defense acquisition panel offered the following testimony on how urgent the need is for the reform. he said, quote, the department of defense is the largest agency in the federal government. only 86% of the government's assets, estimated at $4.6 trillion.

over the last two decades, millions of dollars have been spent by d.o.d. in the quest to obtain auditible financial statements, end quote, but giving those numbers have proven elusive if not at times impossible. no more, mr. speaker, after this bill is signed. this bill mandates that the pentagon considers shifting work away from contractors if they don't meet the cost goals. it will set up a new system of cost objectives and schedules which d.o.d. procurement officers would have to follow. the bill said that by 2017 pentagon agencies must prepare records that can be audited and draft a new policy that will reward those -- a new polcy. these are sensible reforms that the american people can understand and appreciate. no matter what anyone in congress thinks of the ongoing wars in afghanistan and iraq,

all of us believe that the men and women who are serving over seas rely on equipment and deserve to know that the funds for their equipment are not being squandered and that they are given the highest quality. . another bright note on this legislation, when it was approved by the armed services committee, it was voted 56-0. i'm happy to speak on a bill that all of us can agree on. although there is not currently any pending movement on the bill in the senate, it is my hope that a strong bipartisan vote on this bill today will spur the senate into action. billions of taxpayer dollars and the trust of our troops depend on it. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman reserves. the gentlewoman from north carolina. ms. foxx: thank you, mr. speaker. and i thank my colleague from new york for yielding time. mr. speaker, i'm very concerned

that the underlying bill we had before us today is being brought forward under a structured rule, adding to the record number of structured and closed rules the democrats have arbitrarily used since they've been in the majority. today, the democrats in charge of -- have rejected nine amendments and refused to allow these amendments to be debated and their colleagues' voices to be heard. democrats have chosen to stifle and control the debate today, presenting the congress with another structured rule, eliminating both republican and -- republicans' and democrats' ability to offer important amendments affecting their constituents. after promising to have the most open and honest congress in history, why is the speaker consistently gone back on her word? why are the democrats in charge shutting off debate? are they afraid of debate? are they protecting their members from tough votes?

regardless of their motives, one thing is clear. the democrats in charge are doing the american people an injustice by refusing to allow their representatives to offer their amendments on the floor of the people's house. therefore, mr. speaker, i urge my colleagues to reject this structured rule, and with that i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman reserves. the gentlewoman from new york. ms. slaughter: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized. ms. slaughter: i need to point out to the gentlelady there were 26 amendments offered on this bill. only one was a republican amendment. 10 amendments were not allowed. the republican amendment was. we are not afraid of debate. we are not afraid of discussing. as a matter of fact, i am somewhat taken aback by your calling for a no vote on this rule given that this legislation passed unanimously out of the committee. i have no requests for time, so i'll reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman reserves. the gentlewoman from north

carolina. ms. foxx: thank you, mr. speaker. i appreciate the comments from my colleague, and i do realize that the bill passed out of committee unanimously, and i'm sure it's going to receive strong support on the floor. but, mr. speaker, we know that providing protection for our nation is one of the few jobs specifically assigned to the federal government by the u.s. constitution. indeed, the federal government is the only level of government that can provide for the defense of this nation. however, you would never know this was true based on the policies of this administration and the democrats in charge who slashed defense spending, even the midst of ongoing troor threats, even to -- terror threats, only to increase the spending. i am worried about the backwards spending from this administration and the democrats in charge.

automatic spending grew by $77 billion or 5%. military spending represents less than 1/5 of the federal budget and approximately half the average level of dispense spending during the cold war as a percentage of our economy. meanwhile, medicare, medicaid, social security and the president's new health care takeover are on course to consume the entire federal budget, including defense. according to the heritage foundation under current projections it's expected that the federal government will spend more on interest payments for the national debt than on defense by the year 2015, if not sooner. the obama administration's recently released nuclear posture review and new start agreement will weaken national security and make our nation less safe.

it will cause the u.s. to fall dangerously behind at a time when other countries are seeking to strengthen and develop their own nuclear weapons. the president seems to believe that the power of new start's example will somehow encourage iran and north korea to surrender their ambitions, but there's no evidence to believe this is the case. since the end of the cold war, these countries have only increased their attempts to gain nuclear weapons, even as the u.s. and russia have been reducing their supplies. what would do far more good is a loud and clear declaration that the u.s. and russia will stop iran from gaining a nuclear military capability by whatever means necessary. the n.p.r. references existing treaties that our enemies disregard and treaties that have yet to be negotiated and will take years of diplomatic effort to achieve but do little to make america more secure.

the threat to international nonproliferation is a nuclear iran, not the u.s. nuclear arsenal. nuclear weapons are an inevitable truth in our modern-day world, so unfortunately they are essential to our national survival. as long as they exist, we must have the world's most effective nuclear arsenal and possess a missile defense system to protect ourselves against any actor that employs nuclear weapons. this is necessary in order to comply with the constitution's requirements to provide for our common defense. the n.p.r. signifies that the obama administration plans to neglect this responsibility. the administration's n.p.r. provides many care but few sticks. it commits the u.s. to unilateral disarmament while hoping that will give incentives to other nations to do the same, which it will not. it leaves the u.s. with no

deterrent against rogue nations, such as north korea and iran, who continue to develop nuclear arsenals and assert they will use nuclear weapons if they so much as feel threatened by the u.s. a nuclear zero, which the obama administration talks eloquently about, cannot be achieved unilaterally or even bilaterally. it will require many countries to make the strategic decision that nuclear weapons are unnecessary for their security. and the rest of the world, including our allies, friends and foes, seek continuing value in nuclear weapons. winston churchill once warned the u.s. to, quote, be careful above all things not to let go of the atomic weapon until you are sure and more than sure that other means of preserving peace are in your hands. we are not even close to meeting churchill's requirement because we have not yet found an alternative basis for preventing war.

weakening our nuclear arsenal will stop us from being able to follow through on our commitments to our allies. many of our closest allies sees nuclear -- without the u.s. nuclear umbrella, they may fear that they lack security and thus develop their own alternative nuclear deterrent capabilities. as the late british nuclear expert, sir michael quinn lon stated, quote, -- quinn len stated, quote, no better than a war with nuclear weapons. nuclear weapons have served our nation as a primary deterrent and are the reason we have not had a world war since their inception. without them we will lose our ability to deter rogue nations from attacking us or our allies and thus able to lead our world towards peace. and with that i reserve the

balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman reserves. the gentlewoman from new york. ms. slaughter: mr. speaker, may i inquire from my colleague if she has any speakers? is she ready to close? or did she just close? the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman res. ms. foxx: i reserve the balance of my time, mr. speaker. ms. slaughter: i have no request for speakers, and i'l reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from new york reserves the balance of her time. the gentlewoman from north carolina. ms. foxx: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, not so long ago the democrats in charge were outspoken critics of the bush administration's spending. however, it's clear that the same democrats either have very short memories or their criticisms were all for show because since being in charge they have not only failed to improve our current economic situation but have undeniably made it worse. while both republicans and democrats need to work to hold the line on spending, it's only appropriate that the democrats in charge be reminded of their

criticism of deficit spending under a republican congress which their own spending under their democrat congress now dwarfs. in 2006, then minority leader pelosi stated that, quote, when republicans spend, the federal budget ends up in the red, the u.s. treasury borrows money from foreign countries. our national debt is a national security issue. countries that own our debt will not only be picking our toys -- will not only be making our toys, our clothes and our computers, pretty soon they will be making our foreign policy. actions speak louder than words. if only speaker pelosi still held these beliefs today, maybe our fiscal situation would look quite different. again, in 2006, minority leader pelosi is quoted as saying, quote, if mg is important to you, figure out how to pay for

it, but do not make my children and grandchildren have to pay for it or anybody's children or grandchildren have to pay for it. it's immoral for us to heap these deficits on our children. how ironic, mr. speaker, to have had those words spoken by now speaker pelosi. in 2006, then minority whip in 2006, then minority whip hoyer told republicans, quote,

you have voted for budget which have provided the largest deficits in our history. you are in charge of the house. you are in charge of the senate and you have the presidency. i would tell the majority leader today to heed his own words and ask right thing by the american people our children and our grandchildren. and with that, mr. speaker, i and with that, mr. speaker, i reserve the balance of my time.

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the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to house resolution 1400 abrule 18, the chair declares the house the committee of the whole house on the state of the union -- coip the house is in the committee of the whole house on the state of the union for consideration of h.r. 5013. i the clerk: to provide for performance management of the defense acquisition system and for other purposes. the chair: pursuant to the rule the bill is considered as read

the first time. the gentleman from missouri, mr. skelton, and the gentleman from california, mr. mckeon, each will control 30 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from missouri. mr. skelton: i thank you, mr. speaker. i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks on the bill that is just before us. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's request needs to be made in the full house. mr. skelton: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. skelton: i rise to call up h.r. 5013 which is known as the improve acquisition act of 2010. for many years we have witnessed the waste of department defense acquisition system spiral out of control placing a heavy burden

on both the taxpayers and men and women in uniform. less frequently and still far too often fraud and abuse has crept into the system. as sadly it happened recently in iraq. our troops are on the acquisition -- rely on the acquisition system to buy the equipment they need. when that system breaks down they suffer. in recent years i have known my colleagues on the armed services committee become increasingly concerned this flawed defense acquisition system was not responsive enough to today's mission needs. not rigorous enough in protecting the tax dollars. of millions of families struggling financially and not desperate enough in the acquisition for tomorrow's wars. we took action. mr. speaker, last year, we worked with the senate to enact

legislation to reform the weapons system acquisition which covers about 20% of all of the military acquisition. however, weapon systems is a small piece of our defense. that bill was a great launching pad, however we need to do more. in the house we continue the effort by creating a panel on defense acquisition reform. ably led by congressman rob andrews and mike conaway to carry out a comprehensive review of the current system and identify what steps we need to take to make this system work. the panel could not have done a better job. it deals with everything from paper clips to boots to food. everything under the acquisition umbrella. during the course of this past

year, this panel held 14 hearings, plus two briefings on a broad range of issues dealing with the acquisition system. on earthing everything from contract fraud to simple process errors that led to billions of wasted dollars. they put together an excellent report with suggestions to fix the system. we are here today with the good role in the house to pass legislation that will enact those recommendations as outlined in the panel headed by mr. andrews and mr. conaway. this act will overhaul the defense acquisition system in many respects. basically, however, requiring the department to set clear objectives for the defense acquisition system and manage performance in achieving those objectives. requiring the department to introduce real accountability

into the requirement's process and create a requirements process for the acquisition of services. strengthening and revitalizing the acquisition work force. requiring the department to develop meaningful consequences for success or failure in financial management. and strengthening the industrial base to enhance competition and gain access to more innovative technology. in other words, the legislation before us today would require the department of defense to adopt the basic management practices that are necessary for anything as complex as the acquisition system to function properly. these changes will make sure that the men and women horrificing their lives to protect our country are getting the proper equipment they need to do their jobs and to protect themselves and that they get it sooner. additionally we expect this bill

to prevent wasteing billions of the taxpayer dollars over the next five years. this is a bipartisan bill. i'm very proud of that fact. it passed our armed services committee by a vote of 56-0. a great deal of credit goes to mr. rob andrews and mr. mike conaway and a special thanks to my partner, buck mckeon, the ranking member, the gentleman from california. i urge my colleagues to join us in sending a strong message to the men and women in uniform as well as to the american people that we are serious about protecting the taxpayers' dollar and making the acquisition system work more smoothly. it's really for them as well as for our country. i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from california. mr. mckeon: thank you, mr.

chairman. today i rise in support of h.r. 5013, the improve acquisition act for 2010. the very first thing i would like to do is thank my partner across the aisle, chairman ike skelton. chairman skelton has shown considerable leadership on this front as well as the tone he has set for our committee. i want to commend him and his staff for working so closely with us on this bipartisan bill. subcommittee chairman rob andrews and ranking member congressman mike conaway deserve special recognition as well. i salute the defense acquisition reform panel that they have chaired for all of their hard work. under the leadership of congressman andrews and congressman conaway, this panel and its seven members deviled into the complex -- delved into the complex world of acquisition. over the past year the panel held more than 20 events and supported the drafting and passage of the acquisition

reform act of 2009. late last month based on their detailed study the panel released its final report containing recommendations for improvements to defense acquisitions. on april 14, i was proud to honor their efforts by co-sponsoring h.r. 5013, a bill that implements the panel's recommendations. moreover, last week's unanimous committee vote on the bill speaks loudly to the hard work that this team put into their task. last year's weapons system acquisition reform act reformed the organization and processes used by the department of defense to manage major weapons programs which account for approximately 20% of the pentagon's procurement spending. this year congressman andrews and conaway tackled the other 80%. when you consider that over 50% of the pentagon's procurement dollars are for services contracts alone, the legislation we intend to introduce today has

the potential to affect major changes at the department of defense and save taxpayer dollars. i believe these reforms are just as important as those implemented by last year's acquisition reform legislation. first, because they address the remaining 80% of defense acquisition, but more notably because true reform can only be accomplished by the men and women of the acquisition work force. the bill provides tools to enhance the experience and structure of this work force. our legislation will help the department of defense design better ways to measure value within the defense acquisition system. create a link between financial management and acquisition. address the acquisition of services, information technology, commodities, and commercial parts, and finally, foster a robust domestic

industrial base. while we may not be able to guarantee a precise level of savings associated with this bill, i'll tell you why i think it's important to pursue every avenue we can for savings. i personally believe we should be spending more on our national security. but ultimately we have a responsibility to ensure that we spend the money we do have as wisely as possible. nobody argues that the department of defense faces rising costs associated with military personnel and health care. when you cupple this reality with the fact -- couple this reality with the fact that the d.o.d.'s operating costs are migrating from supplemental spending measures into the base budget, the future for the d.o.d.'s investment accounts looks bleak. i'm concerned that the department's ability to invest in technology options for the future and to procure the equipment needed by our war fighters will be curtailed. therefore anything we can do to save money and invest that

savings back into our top national security priorities should be imbue -- be viewed as an imperative not just as a good thing. in closing, we want to give special acknowledgement to the dedicated men and women of the defense acquisition work force. they hold the key to improving acquisition outcomes and implementing h.r. 5013 without falling victim to bureaucracy. a significant challenge but one for which that department has our full support. thank you, mr. chairman. i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from missouri. mr. skelton: mr. speaker, before i reserve the balance of my time, let me pay tribute to members of our committee.

buck mckeon, the ranking member, a gentleman of the first order, is helping so very, very much to achieve end results on a bipartisan manner. national security is an american challenge, it is not a democrat or republican challenge, but one that is bipartisan. . i certainly appreciate his efforts. all of those on the panel, the bipartisan panel, which made the recommendations for this legislation did so unanimously. we had a full hearing, debating the issues that arised in this bill. it was passed out to this floor with a vote of 56-0.

so i want to say a special thanks to members of the armed services committee, all the members and special -- especially the gentleman from california, mr. mckeon, for his efforts in this regard. mr. speaker, i yield two minutes to my friend and my colleague who's also the chairman of the subcommittee on military personnel, the gentlelady from california, ms. davis. the chair: the gentlewoman is recognized. ms. davis: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, for a bill designed to increase efficiency, its formal title sure is long. but the acronym gets straight to the point. just like the legislation itself. simply put, the improve acquisition act reduces waste, increases efficiency and encourages innovation in the defense marketplace. it does this by creating a better accountability system, improving the management of the

acquisition work force and expanding and strengthening the industrial base. i routinely meet with small businesses in san diego that have so much to offer the defense world in the form of quality products and efficient services. yet it's been frustrating to hear from these very capable and resourceful companies that they continually run into barriers. one example is the negative impact contract bundling has on our industrial base. contract bundling is when multiple requirements are combined into a single contract. while in theory this practice generates savings and speeds up the procurement cycle, it often forces out small businesses that can't compete for large contracts. especially now, at the brink of economic recovery, our government needs to help bring more businesses into the d.o.d. procurement system, not push them out.

so that's why i'm so pleased that the amendment i offered in committee to reduce contract bundling is you included in this bipartisan -- included in this bipartisan bill. because smaller firms are hurt when only a select number of companies are able to bid for d.o.d. projects and i also must say, so is the american taxpayer hurt by that. mr. speaker, i believe the improve act will help small businesses and transform the defense acquisition process into a system the american people can trust. i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentlelady's time has expired. the gentleman from california. mr. mckeon: mr. speaker, i'm happied to yield at this time, the gentleman from colorado, mr. coffman, such time as he may consume. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. coffman: thank you, mr. speaker. i'm proud to stand before you today in strong support of h.r. 5013, the improve acquisition

act of 2010. as a member of the house armed services defense acquisition reform panel, i commend chairman rob andrews and ranking member mike conaway for their leadership over the past year as we delved into the complex world of defense acquisition. recently based on our panel's detailed study we released our final report containing recommendations for improvements to defense acquisition. today -- today's legislation implements our defense acquisition reform panel's recommendation and i am proud to co-sponsor this very important bill. as a result of the panel's efforts, this legislation reforms the remaining 80% of the defense acquisition system, not addressed by last year's weapons system acquisition reform act. these measures will potentially save billions of taxpayer dollars. the primary focus of the bill is

to reform defense spending by identifying cost-saving techniques at the earliest stages of development. our goal is to decrease cost overruns exponentially before they spiral out of control. i am pleased that many of my acquisition reform priorities are included in h.r. 5013. there is no doubt that there is a great need for enhanced accountability within the defense acquisition system. maintaining our nation's defense industrial base is paramount. recruiting, training and retaining a pro-- professional experienced acquisition work force within the department of defense is crucial to ensuring the best use of taxpayer dollars in the most cost effective way. we must also re-emphasize the need for program stability beginning with realistic requirements and periodic reassessments. the improved acquisition act of

2010 will cut down on waste, fraud and abuse, potentially saving billions of tax dollars. it will also get the right equipment to our war fighters sooner. if representative jerry connelly's amendment regarding the establishment of an industrial base council is adopted today, i strongly urge that the council consider the issue of supply chain vulnerabilities, especially with respect to rare earth metals. i urge my colleagues to join me in voting in favor of this important legislation. thank you, mr. chairman, and i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from missouri. mr. skelton: mr. chairman, let me point out that this acquisition legislation is based upon complicated set of facts. you just don't go down to the local store and buy the

necessary equipment for the young men and young women in uniform. many of the issues involved deal with the production, with the purchase, with the right sizing and all of the intricacies and technologies of today's high level type of efforts. so, to overexplain all of this in much greater detail, the gentleman who is the key sponsor of this legislation, the gentleman who chaired the panel and i compliment him on the excellent job that he and mr. conaway and the other members of the panel did. so i yield at this time five minutes to my friend, the sponsor, the gentleman from njcaa, mr. andrews, five

minutes. the chair: the gentleman from njcaa is recognized -- new jersey is recognized for five minutes. mr. andrews: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the chair: without objection. mr. andrews: thank you, mr. chairman. i thank my chairman and mentor and friend for yielding. i want to begin by thanking you, -- by thanking chairman skelton and mr. mckeon, mr. chairman, for their guidance and leadership. the two of them have run the armed services committee as i believe congress should run. on a factual, nonpartisan basis. and i appreciate very much the leadership they've shown. i also want to specifically thank congressman mike conaway of texas who is the senior republican on the panel, who served with tremendous diligence and fortitude and made a tremendous contribution to this. do i want to thank some other people later in the debate in detail and i certainly will. here's what this bill is sb -- about. the department of defense, even

after you take away the purchase of aircraft carriers or fighter jets or what have you, is spending almost $1 billion every day of the week, every week of the year. almost $1 billion. and sometimes the people who run that system of buying everything from software to lawn mowing services do a really good job. they provide value to the taxpayer and great tools for our service members. but that's not always the case. a few years ago the air force went to buy a rerefrigeration unit to put on a plane. they paid $13,000 for the unit. less than 24 months later they bought exactly the same refrigeration unit for the same sort of plane and paid $32,000 for the same thing. i would not want to go home, mr. chairman, to my spouse and

explain to her i'd done that kind of costover on buying anything this you are -- in our household. a few years ago there was a contract let or at least discussed to provide refined petroleum products to truck them from kuwait up into iraq. and it was about a $220 million contract. $201 million was paid for and committed before the contract was even signed. this is a $220 million contract where $201 million was paid out before there was a written contract even signed. none of us, mr. chairman, would buy a house that way or an automobile that way or have our kitchen remodeled that way. neither should the taxpayers here. when the department of defense buys software or hardware, when it buys infor from the time they think of what they need to the time they

actually start to use the technology, typically takes 81 months. now the way computer technologies work these days is about every 18 months computer power doubles which means that every 36 months or so what was a cutting edge product is now obsolete. this would be the equivalent of using the phone that you used in 2003 as the phone you use today. the phone that most of us used in 2003 just made phone calls and we're happy that it did. today the little machines that our children and others carry around can record video, can upload and download video, they can access the internet, send text messages, emails, act as a g.p.s. imagine using a 2003 phone in 2010. that's the equivalent of what we're doing when it takes us 81 months to go from the idea of

the piece of technology to actually fielding it. this bill changes that and it has a couple of key ideas. the first key idea is that the people who are running these procurement organizations should be held to very high standards in quality and cost and time. and when they meet these high standards they should be paid for. they should be compensated more for doing a good job and saving money for the taxpayer. when they fail to do so, however, there should be significant consequences. and there are. another idea in this bill is that if a system would work well for the marine corps or the air force, then there ought to be one system, not two or three or four. yet another idea is before we buy services we ought to think about what we really need before we start spending money. second very good idea comes from mr. conaway, an issue he's pursued in his entire time in the congress, which is that every part of the defense department should be auditble,

meaning that auditors and accountants ought to be able to go in and look at the books and see if the money is being spent on the things it's supposed to be spent on, the way virtually every business and organization in america is today. the third idea of this bill is our work force, that we not only enlarge the number of people working in our purchasing organizations, -- the chair: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. andrews: may i ask for one more minute? mr. skelton: i yield the gentleman an additional five minutes. mr. andrews: i thank the chairman. the chair: the gentleman may proceed with an additional five minutes. mr. andrews: thank you, mr. speaker. not only do we want to increase the number of people working on solving this problem, we want to increase the quality of their work. so this bill provides for education in training, it provides for diversification of our work force, it provides for the use of the best and brightest to get the job done. the final aspect of this bill is to induce and provide more competition in the provision of goods and services to our department of defense.

you know, somewhere in america today there's probably a couple of people who are scientists on a college campus, who are working in a tool shop somewhere in the kwloy have a much better solution to some problem than a person working for an immense defense contract. now, if the immense defense contractor has the best solution, that's what we ought to buy. but if the three people in the college lab or the five people in the tool shop have a better idea, we need to get them into the competition so they can have their idea heard, have their proposal heard and if the best one for the service members and for the taxpayers that's the one that ought to be chosen. we refer that as broadening and diversifying the industrial base. i'm especially gratified, mr. chairman, that by my count 43 members of this body will have written a part of this

legislation by the time it reaches final vote later this afternoon. that includes the seven members of the panel, it includes a number of members of the full committee who offered amendments in the committee voting process and it will include a number of amendments that we will consider here today. so just as we're trying to get the best and the brightest to contribute to the process of buying $1 billion a day worth of items, we try to get the very best ideas from the members of this body, democrat and republican, on the committee and not on the committee. so i'd like to conclude by again thanking chairman skelton, ranking member mckeon, congressman conaway for their work in making this process work. i believe we've come up with a product that will do very well by our service members and do very well by our taxpayers as well. i would urge careful consideration of the amendments as we go through the afternoon and i would obviously urge a yes

vote from both parties for final passage of the bill. i thank the chairman and yield back my time to him. . the chair: the gentleman yields. the gentleman from california. mr. mckeon: i'm happy to yield at this time to the gentleman from texas, mr. conaway, who served as ranking member on the panel, ranking member on the subcommittee that had jurisdiction on this area. such time as he may consume. the chair: the gentleman from texas is recognized for such time as he may consume. mr. conaway: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today in support of h.r. 5013, the improve acquisition act of 2010. first i want to thank chairman skelton and ranking member mckeon for the trust and competence they placed in the defense acquisition reform panel. i want to give special thanks and accommodation to my good friend, rob andrews, for the hard work he did in leading this effort. he led it very, very well. he proved once and for all that we can start things on time -- meetings on time and get our

work done even if they start at 8:00 a.m. in the morning. i enjoyed working with rob. he and i may not agree on certain things, in this arena, most things on the armed services, we are a pretty good agreement. on this work full agreement. i want to appreciate and tell him thank you very much for the good work and his commitment to making this thing work. the panel did approach its work on a nonpartisan basis. if you were to read the transcripts of the hearings and read the questions without the names attached, you could not tell, or distinguish between a republican question or democratic question. i think that speaks volumes for the way that the work -- most work on the armed services committee occurs and in particular the work of our panel. i was very proud to be a part of that and lend my efforts. i also want to thank chairman skelton and ranking member mckeon for their praise for rob and me. i would be remiss if i didn't also acknowledge the other

dedicated members of the panel, jim cooper, duncan hunter, brad ellsworth, mike and joe sestak. this bill as rob said there are many fingerprints, but the seven of us have the most. i want to thank my colleagues for the work they have done. i also want to thank the staff. they did an outstanding job. andrew hunter and janet, who did this work together and the staffer out of my office for the great job they did in making this work product come together as quickly as it did. as ranking member of the panel on defense acquisition, i can attest that h.r. 5013 will truly be instrumental in reforming the bill -- reforming the full range of the defense acquisition system. i believe this bill will improve the way we measure value and acquisition. it will create a more responsive requirement process and sustain the acquisition work force and manage certain elements of the acquisition system. my colleague, mr. andrews, has talked at length about the reforms, but i would like to

speak to one that's dearer to my heart. it's a little less obvious but no less important. for me it plays a critical role in improving the financial management practices of the department of defense and provides incentives to achieve an unqualified audit opinion for all the department of defense. the publication of an unqualified audit would give the american people the confidence that their tax dollars are being accounted for an spent wisely in the defense of this great nation. since 1990 there's been a requirement that the federal government to publish audited financial statements, but the federal government is not in compliance with that federal law. a large responsibility for this circumstance rests with the department of defense. the department of defense is the largest agency in the federal government, owning about 86% of the government's assets estimated at $4.6 trillion. over the last two decades, money has been spent by the department of defense and unsuccessful requests to obtain audited financial statements.

there have been good people working very hard on this issue for a long time. good people today at the department of defense working hard on this issue. we are not there yet. we have a lot of work to do. quite frankly we cannot allow these past failures and past unsuccessful efforts to deter us from the work ahead of us to get the job done. i'm c.p.a. and i used to audit entities and i'm fully aware of how hard this is. it is not an easy task. but it is possible and it's necessary to implement the financial control systems necessary to generate auditible financial statements. this bill assures that d.o.d. is no longer held to a separate standards from the public business and the rest of government. the reliability of financial data is crucial to improve acquisition outcomes. without understanding what money is being spent or what assets it owns, there would not be the proper accountability of acquisition costs. perhaps money is being spent

well is being well spent. but we don't know that. the department of defense doesn't know that. and the taxpayer doesn't know that. financial accountability must continue to be the high priority. if correctly implemented, this legislation allows -- will allow america's tax dollars to be stretched further and will have a substantial impact on reducing waste, fraud, and abuse. i applaud the panel and the armed services committee for adopting these recommendations and encourage each of the components of the department of defense to take full advantage of the incentives provided in this bill to accelerate the auditibility of the financial statements at the department of defense. again i want to thank my colleague, rob andrews, for the hard work he did in moving this forward by his strength of will. in closing, i look forward to the progress this legislation will allow and encourage my colleagues to vote for this bill later on this afternoon. i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from new jersey. mr. andrews: thank you, mr. chairman. this bill has the potential to save $135 billion over five

years. i'm pleased to yield now to my friend and colleague, someone who has made a lifelong -- career long commitment to fiscal discipline, the majority leader of the house of representatives, the gentleman from maryland, mr. hoyer, for one minute. the chair: the gentleman from maryland. mr. hoyer: i thank my friend for yielding. i thank mr. andrews for his extraordinary work on making sure that our national defense is strong and ready and that our troops are provided for as we put them in harm's way. and i thank him for his leadership. i also want to thank mr. mckeon for his leadership on the committee and helping to bring this bill to the floor. america faces a massive budget challenge and it must be addressed. the consequences of our dangerous budgetary situation are truly wide ranging. we all know where america's unsustainableth path of debt leads. among other things it leads to a dramatically diminished american role in the world.

history has seen time and time again great powers forced into retreat by unbearable debt. simply stated they did not pay attention to the bottom line. democrats take that lesson seriously, which is why we have made fiscal responsibility such a priority under president obama. we passed the pay-go law which ensures that congress pays for what it buys. we passed a health insurance reform bill that significantly cuts the deficit. and president obama has proposed a budget that freezes nonsecurity discretionary spending. cuts the deficit by more than half, by 2013, and cuts it by more than $1 trillion over the next decade. americans need to know that every dollar in our budget is spent wisely and that none of them go to waste. we talk a lot about waste, fraud, and abuse, but administration after administration talks about it

and then as soon as they leave, we talk again about waste, fraud, and abuse. whether it's a republican administration or democratic administration. we all talk about it. and then we immediately talk about it after the last administration's left. americans need to know that their dollars are being spent correctly. that's what this bill is focused on. defense acquisition reform is part of that work because defense spending accounts for nearly 1/5 of our federal budget. we took an important step last year when we passed and the president signed the weapons system acquisition reform act. i say we have now been -- see we have now been rejoined by the chairman of the committee, my good friend, ike skelton. chairman skelton has been an extraordinary chairman of that committee and there is no person in the congress who has fought harder to make sure that the quality of life for our members in our armed services is more attended to than chairman ike skelton of missouri.

i thank him for that. but he also understands that we need to spend our defense dollars smartly without waste and make sure that they are effective in providing our war fighter with the tools that they need, but make sure that the dollars we spend to do that are done so effectively. today we can go a step further than we went last year toward fiscally responsible defense spending, which still ensures that our troops can accomplish their mission, which is our number one objective. the improve acquisition act contains a number of important provisions, mr. speaker, to eliminate waste without compromising our military effectiveness. while last year's acquisition reform went a long way towards eliminating waste in major defense acquisition programs, this bill recognizes that more than 50% of the defense department's procurement budget goes towards service contracts. as a result, the improve

acquisition act requires rigorous accountability and clear standards for d.o.d.'s acquisition of services. the public expects no less and deserves no less in the care of their dollars. it creates a better trained and more professional acquisition work force which ultimately, of course, saves us money. and it brings more responsible financial management to the defense department. as chairman skelton who worked so hard on this bill put it, and i quote, this legislation will require d.o.d. to adopt the basic management practices that are necessary for anything as complex as the acquisition system to function properly. i congratulate chairman skelton on those remarks and on his leadership. those practices will save taxpayers as mr. andrews just said, billions and billions of dollars. while getting our troops the equipment and services they require sooner and that we want

them to have. our position in the world is dependent on the brave efforts and sacrifice of our troops. but it also depends on our demonstrating more responsibility here at home. our long-term security rests to a great extend on -- extent on that challenge. we need a national conversation about balancing our budget. and this bill, this bill is an important part of achieving that larger goal. and i am pleased that we bring it to the floor and with bipartisan support. i'm pleased that we will pass it with bipartisan support. and i congratulate both the chair, subcommittee chair, the ranking members for their leadership on this bill and urge my colleagues to strongly support it and yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentlelady's time has expired. -- the gentleman's time has expired. does anyone wish to be recognized? the gentleman from new jersey. mr. andrews: thank you, mr.

chairman. at this time i'm pleased to yield one minute to a new member of the committee who clearly understands the balance mr. hoyer just spoke of between a strong national defense and fiscal responsibility, my friend, mr. heinrich, for one minute. the chair: the gentleman from new mexico is recognized for one minute. mr. heinrich: mr. speaker, there can be no dispute that our nation's war fighters deserve the most state-of-the-art equipment on the battlefield. and they risk their lives in defense ever our nation and in turn we must protect them with the most innovative technology available. however far too often the department of defense's acquisition system has been compromised by waste, abuse, and even fraud. i applaud the d.o.d. acquisition panel for working on this problem. last week in the house armed services committee, we unanimously passed h.r. 5013, the improve acquisition act. to put the panel's recommendations into action.

the improve acquisition act will bring strategic financial management to the department's acquisition system and save taxpayers an estimated $135 billion over the next five years. this bill will ensure that our service members have the most advanced resources while making the most efficient use of taxpayer dollars. our men and women in uniform deserve no less. and i would urge my colleagues to support this legislation. i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from california. mr. mckeon: mr. speaker-- the chair: from texas. mr. conaway: the multitude of the defense acquisition form studies that line the shelves of many offices is that it hasn't worked. this one, mr. speaker, i would argue will have a better chance of working with proper oversight by the armed services committee

which i know the chairman and ranking member committeed to because the matrix that are laid out for the agencies to abide by are such that we can conduct proper oversight. we'll know that the programs have been put in place and they will also be able to see that the department of defense is using them properly to manage their business. so unlike previous efforts in this regard, i think these systems -- these improvements are very -- subject to being properly oversighted, if that's a proper word, by the armed services committee. i know we are committed to that. with that i reserve the balance of my time. . the chair: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from new jersey. mr. andrews: i'm pleased to yield to the gentleman from indiana, mr. ellsworth, for two minutes. the chair: the gentleman from indiana is recognized for two minutes. mr. ellsworth: i'd like to thank the gentleman for yielding the time.

i rise today in strong support of this critically important defense acquisition reform legislation. last year, mr. speaker, democrats and republicans in the house and senate came together to pass bipartisan major weapons system acquisition reform legislation. last year's reform effort aimed to reel in the cost overruns of $3 billion in major weapons systems. the bill we're considering today serves as a worthy companion to the weapons overall by focusing on how the department of defense gets services. the ideas included in this bill were realized through a year's worth of hearings held by the defense acquisition panel. i was honored to participate in this panel which was chaired by mr. skelton. thanks to the focused leadership of rob andrews and ranking member mike conaway, the panel put forward final recommendations that have guided to us this point. today we'll be voting on a

reform package that will strengthen the defense acquisition work force. i'd also like to thank chairman andrews for working with me to include commonsense contractor provision in this bill. this is an issue i've been working on for approximately three years and i'll continue to do so until it's fully enacted. the provision is quite simple. it requires companies seeking defense contracts to prove their in good standing with -- they're in good standing with the internal revenue service. the company must certify they carry no tax debt. the department of defense will not merely rely on their word, the company must allow the treasury department to verify the certification. false certification will be reported to a contractor's integrity database. this is a practical and cost effective way to ensure all companies compete on an equal playing field and our tax dollars are being used wisely. each year in april, mr. speaker, hoosiers play by the rules and pay their taxes. they expect companies to do business with the federal government to do the same. it's pretty simple. bad actors don't just cheat us,

they cheat the government of tax revenue and they also gain an unfair advantage over businesses that are doing the right thing. with that i urge my colleagues to support this provision, vote for the improve act and i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from new jersey. mr. andrews: thank you, mr. chairman. at this time i'd like to yield to the gentlelady who built on the work mr. ellsworth just talked about, made sure the same standards apply to subcontractors. the gentlelady from new hampshire, ms. shea-porter, for two minutes. the chair: the gentlelady from new hampshire is recognized for two minutes. shay think a -- ms. shea-porter: thank you. i want to thank chairman skelton and everyone who has work ed on the improve acquisitions act. this bill cleans up defense acquisition spending, saving taxpayers an estimated $27 billion a year and expediting the process to get the necessary equipment to our troops. accountability in the contracting process is critical to protect taxpayer dollars. according to a government accountability office report,

63,000 federal contractors had total tax debts of $7.7 billion in 2007. these contractors profit through taxpayer dollars but refuse to pay their own taxes. that is why i'm pleased that section 403 of this bill, based on my colleague's act, requires contractors to disclose seriously delinquent tax debt. the bill also includes my amendment to hold the first chair subcontract accountability by adding a certification requirement to ensure that they, too, do not have unpaid taxes. those who have incurred a significant tax debt and have avoided paying it should not be eligible for defense contracts. there is no reason for the government to pay money to a contract to those who owe money to the government in taxes. again, i'd like to thank the chairman, ranking member and the defense acquisitions panel for their hard worken this bill and i yield back -- work on this bill and i yield back. the chair: the gentlelady yields back the balance of her time yields back.

the gentleman from new jersey. mr. andrews: mr. chairman, i'm pleelingsed to yield two minutes to the gentlelady from massachusetts who brought the expertise of a technical base in her drink to the deliberations on this bill, the gentlelady from massachusetts, ms. tsongas, for two minutes. the chair: the gentlelady from massachusetts is recognized for two minutes. sonksonk i thank my colleague -- ms. tsongas: i thank my colleague, mr. andrews, and i rise in support of the act of 2007. i applaud the efforts of my colleagues on the house armed services committee and believe we have made a real step forward in improving the acquisition process. a process beset by issues such as cost overruns and ever-changing requirements. this is good legislation that reflects a bipartisan effort to combat waste, increase efficiency and get good value for our taxpayer dollars. it builds on what we started last year when we enabilitied a bill aimed at weapons systems acquisition reform. this bill addresses systemwide problems that weren't impacted by that law.

i'm delighted to report, for example, that this bill requires better communication lists and stability for our industrial base. i also applaud legislative mandates that require contractinging for best value and provisions that enhance the defense department's ability to control costs while most importantly protecting our soldiers. my thanks to the acquisitions panel members and staff for their hard work, careful study and dedicated effort to the task at hand and i urge passage of this landmark legislation. thank you and i yield back. the chair: the gentlelady yields back. the gentleman from new jersey. the gentleman from california. mr. mckeon: mr. chairman, we have no further speakers at this time. we'll continue to reserve. mr. andrews: mr. chairman, we have no further speakers. the only thing i'd like to do in general debate is thank the staff and other members, read their names into the record with that we would close general debate. the chair: the gentleman from california. mr. mckeon: we're willing to

concur in the thanks of the staff and to all those who have worked so hard and encourage our colleagues to vote in support of this bill and yield back the balance of our time. the chair: the gentleman from california yields back. the gentleman from new jersey. mr. andrews: mr. chairman, again i want to begin by thanking chairman skelton, ranking member mckeon for their extraordinary efforts. i want to society myself with the remarks -- associate myself with the remarks of mr. conaway in thanking the other panel members. mr. cooper, mr. ellsworth, mr. sestak, on our side, mr. coffman and mr. hunter on the republican side. the panel members all worked very hard on this. we appreciate that. and we obviously want to extend our appreciation to the incredible members of the staff of the committee and the panel. i want to thank andrew hunter who did a tremendous job on this, kathy garman who particularly worked very hard on the issues regarding labor relations, jinese who was an

all-star in last year's bill and once again improved her impeccable credentials, zach stacy, jennifer cole, paul arkingeli, our new staff director, kevin gates, mary cate cunning hamas, deborah watta, megan howard, nat bell who worked tirelessly on this. i appreciate his excellent efforts. phil and lara battles. and if there are any others i apologize for that but there were extraordinary work. did you want to add anything during general debate? mr. skelton: no. i appreciate the gentleman from new jersey and i have nothing further to add except that hopefully this bill will receive

unanimous vote in a later moment. mr. andrews: mr. chairman, again i'd like to thank the members for their corporation, your stewardship of this debate. at this time we would yield back the balance of our time. the chair: the gentleman from missouri yields back the balance of the time. all time for general debate has expired. pursuant -- pursuant to the rule, the amendment in the nation of a substitute printed in the bill should be considered as an original bill for the purpose of amendment under the five-minute rule and shall be considered read. no amendment to the committee amendment is in order except those printed in house report 111-467. each amendment may be offered only in the order printed in the report by a member designated in the report, shall be considered read, shall be debatable for the time specified in the report equally divided and controlled by the proponent and an opponent. shall not be subject to amendment and shall not be subject to a demand for division of the question. the gentleman from missouri. it is now in order to consider

amendment number 1 printed in house report 111-467. for what purpose does the gentleman from missouri wish to seek recognition? mr. skelton: mr. chairman, i have an amendment at the desk. the chair: the clerk will designate that amendment. the clerk: amendment number 1 printed in house report 111-467 offered by mr. skelton of missouri. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 1300, the gentleman from missouri, mr. skelton, and a member opposed each will control five minutes. the chair now recognizes the gentleman from missouri. mr. skelton: mr. chairman, thank you. the amendment before us is one that is technical in nature. it merely seeks to clarify certain technical errors and inconsistencies that arose during the process of drafting the bill. it confirms the bill to the intent of the armed services committee in its markup, it makes no substantive changes,

it's noncontroversial and i would certainly hope that we could adopt the amendment. the chair: does the gentleman wish to recognize the gentleman from new jersey? mr. andrews: mr. chairman, i rise to claim time in opposition to the amendment although i are will -- will not oppose the amendment. we find it completely acceptable if we yield to the minority to have any comments, otherwise we support the amendment and yield back the balance of our time. the chair: without objection, the gentleman's request was granted. the gentleman has yielded back. the gentleman from missouri. mr. skelton: at this time, mr. chairman, i yield two minutes to the gentleman from new york, mr. arcuri, for the purpose of a colloquy. the chair: the gentleman from new york is recognized for two minutes. mr. arcuri: thank you. mr. chairman, thank you for yielding me this time. and i ask that went ar colloquy to discuss the arcuri-shuler-davis amendment

and the health of the titanium industrial base. as this bill recognizes providing high technology equipment to the department of dehe fence, which are major sources of high paying, high skilled jobs throughout this country. although it is easy to think of the industrial base in terms of big aerospace companies, the real guts of these systems are mostly built by small parts assembly suppliers located throughout this country. i represent a number of those firms in my district. congress has long recognized that certain industrial capacities important to the department of defense are critical to maintain in this country. among these are the ability to produce titanium parts made from titanium. section 2533-b of title 10 of the united states code requires the product's procured by the department of defense which contain titanium must use titanium metal and titanium parts produced in the united states. the law contains a number of exceptions, however, that allow for metal and parts produced overseas to enter the supply chain. i'm concerned that the use of these exceptions has expanded

far beyond congress' original intent and may be undermining the law. i along with my colleagues filed an amendment to the rules committee requiring the department of defense to prepare a report on the impact of these exemptions and -- are having on our industrial bales. however this has brought to the attention -- this was brought to our attention that the committee is working on this issue as part of the national defense authorization act for fiscal year 2011 and that this matter will be addressed in a few weeks. mr. chairman, is that correct? mr. skelton: would the gentleman yield? would the gentleman yield? mr. arcuri: yes, i yield. mr. skelton: yacht is correct. our armed services committee has under consideration a number of requests from members of the house who led the impact of current law regarding tie tineum and other specialty metals. we will consider these requests when we mark up the national defense authorization act for fiscal year 2011. i look forward to working with

mr. arcuri, mr. shuler and mr. davis on the issue in the coming weeks so that these important concerns are addressed and i thank the gentleman for his efforts on this bill, h.r. 5013, for agreeing to assist the committee in putting together our authorization bill. the chair: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. arcuri: thank you. mr. skelton: mr. chairman, i yield one minute to the gentleman from north carolina, mr. etheridge. the chair: the gentleman from north carolina is recognized for one minute. mr. etheridge: mr. speaker, with permission to revise and extends my remarks. the chair: without objection. mr. etheridge: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise in support of the amendment and thank the gentleman for yielding. this bill really reflects -- reflects got major responsibilities of our government. keeping make safe and restoring discipline to our budget by eliminating unnecessary government spending. i commend him. for too long the unscrupulous defense contracts have been taking advantage of american

taxpayers which not only costs us money but restricts our ability to get our soldiers the equipment they need in a timely manner. this bill ends waste, fraud and abuse and makes sure that we get a sense of value for every nickel spent. as a former small business owner in north carolina, i know what it takes to balance the books and get value for the dollar invested. this bill and amendment modernizes the defense department's acquisitions by practices that will -- that are proven in business. more broadly, this bill makes sure that our men and women in harm's way can get the tools they need to protect our nation quickly and efficiently. simply put, this reform saves lives and saves money, mr. speaker. i yield back and thank the gentleman for the legislation. the chair: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from missouri. . m skelton: i thank the the gentleman. yield back. the chair: the question is on the amendment offer by the

gentleman from missouri. so many as are in favor say aye. those opposed will vote no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. the amendment is agreed to. pursuant to clause 6 of rule 18, further proceedings -- the amendment is agreed to. it is now in order to consider amendment number 2 printed in house report 111-467. for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? mr. sessions: i have an amendment at the desk. the chair: the clerk will designate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 2, printed in house report number 111-467, offered by mr. sessions of texas. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 1300, the gentleman from texas, mr. sessions, and a member opposed each will control five minutes. the chair now recognizes the gentleman from texas. mr. sessions: mr. chairman, thank you so very much. mr. chairman, my amendment to improve this act sets the record straight on the importance of competition in federal contracting. my amendment simply clarifies that nothing in this bill restricts the current

public-private competition requirements that already exist in title 10 of the united states code. competing contracts help the government to be a smarter shopper. this process simply compares cost and performance currently being used by federal government to alternatives available in the private and nonprofit organizations. whether the benefits are produced by keeping the work within the agency or from contracting out, the best deal for the taxpayer and our national defense should win every single time. the office of management and budget report on competitive sourcing results for fiscal year 2007 showed that competitions between the year 2003 and 2007 have saved the taxpayers $7.2 billion. expected savings from competition are approximately $1 billion a year.

taxpayers will return -- will receive a return of about $30 for every dollar spent on competition. competition simply gives the taxpayer the opportunity to be a smarter shopper and to get the best products available for the very best price. i'm not only encouraged by my colleagues who have agreed to support this amendment, but also for those who adopt competitive sourcing procedures and will support them in all of our federal agencies. what is good for the department justice and department of defense and all across this government is srnl good enough for the labor department and all agencies. this improve act is one step towards combating the waste, fraud, and abuse of contracting within the federal government. i support this legislation and believe it is not only intended for the right purposes but will also achieve that. i ask that all of my colleagues support this passage of this

amendment. i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from new jersey. mr. andrews: mr. chairman, i rise to claim time in opposition to the amendment although i do not oppose the amendment. the chair: the gentleman virginia tech. mr. andrews: thank you, mr. chairman. i would like to thank my friend from texas for offering this amendment. i think it makes a very significant contribution to this legislation. what it effectively says is that competition should always be the general rule. only when there is a compelling reason for an exception should there be one. so, for example, if there is a national emergency or there truly is only one entity that could provide a good or service, then in those exceptional circumstances but only in those exceptional circumstances should there be no competition before rewarding of a contract. again i think that the amendment is very much consistent with the purpose, spirit, and letter of the bill. and would urge my colleagues to support it. and reserve the balance of my time.

the chair: the gentleman from texas. mr. sessions: thank you, mr. chairman. mr. chairman, do i want to thank the gentleman, mr. andrews, not only in his testimony before the rules committee yesterday but also that of mr. conaway. with the intent of their legislation they are trying to streamline the government. save money, produce a better product, and perhaps more importantly to make sure that the american people have confidence in the money that they are spending that goes for the intended reasons. for that i not only appreciate you, mr. chairman, but also the hard work and the thoughtfulness that mr. andrews, the gentleman from new jersey, has put into this. i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from new jersey. mr. andrews: i urge support of the amendment. i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from texas. so many as are in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the aye vs. it. the amendment is agreed to.

the gentleman from new jersey. it is now in order to consider amendment number 3 printed in house report 111-467. the gentleman from new jersey. mr. andrews: mr. chairman, i ask unanimous consent that i may serve as the designee of the author, mr. hastings, for the purpose of presenting the amendment. the chair: if the gentleman will suspend. for one minute. mr. andrews: i withdraw my unanimous consent request. the chair: the gentleman withdraws. mr. andrews: as the designation ig knee, i will offer his amendment and make the argument in favor of it. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for that purpose. mr. andrews: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the chair: the clerk will designate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 3, printed in house report number 111-467, offered by mr. andrews of new jersey. the chair: pursuant to house

resolution 1300, the gentleman from new jersey, mr. andrews, and a member opposed, each will control five minutes. the gentleman now recognizings the -- recognizes the gentleman from new jersey. mr. andrews: i also thank the parliamentarian for his usual excellence in helping us navigate the rules of the house. mr. chairman, mr. hastings makes a very valid amendment to this bill that acknowledges that when we want to build the best work force and the brightest work force, we should reach for diversity of the work force. mr. hastings' amendment acknowledges the fact we are living in a global economy and one of the principal assets of our country is the diversity of our population in understanding literally every corner of the world because our people come from every corner of the world. mr. hastings' amendment directs that the department of defense in its efforts under title 2 of this bill to improve the quality of our work force, take into account the diversity of life

experiences and backgrounds of those who apply for those positions. it's a very worthy amendment, entirely consistent with the purposes of the bill. and i urge its adoption and reserve the balance of our time. the chair: the gentleman reserves. is there any opposition to the amendment? not hearing any opposition, then, the question will be on the amendment -- mr. andrews: i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman from new jersey yields back. so the question is on the amendment of the gentleman from new jersey. so many as are in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. the amendment is agreed to. mr. andrews: thank you, mr. chairman. the chair: it is now in order to consider amendment number 4 which is printed in house report number 111-467. for what purpose does the gentleman from new york seek

recognition? mr. hall: mr. speaker, i have an amendment at the desk. made in order under the rule. the chair: the clerk will designate the designate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 4, printed in house report number 111-467 verages offered -- offered by mr. hall of new york. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 1300, the gentleman from new york, mr. hall, and a member opposed each will control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from new york. mr. hall: thank you, mr. andrews, for supporting this amendment and offering me the time to rise in support of increasing reporting requirements and congressional oversight of defense acquisition systems. thank chairwoman clout slaughter of the rules committee for -- chairman slaughter of the rules committee for making my amendment in order and chairman skelton and mr. andrews for bringing h.r. 5013 forward and supporting the amendment. i also would like to thank the staff of the house armed services committee and office of

legislative counsel for helping draft this amendment. i am pleased we are addressing this critical issue. last year when congress reformed defense weapons procurement, we tackled only about 20% of each dollar that this nation spends on defense contracting. the other 80% is on nonweapons systems contracts. this amendments to more than -- amounts to more than $1 billion a day. today's bill may seem to address the less glamorous side of defense spending until you remember our men and women in uniform rely every day on contractors to provide them with meals, equipment, and even health care. increased accountability for these service contracts is critical to the well-being of our soldiers and to assuring that the taxpayers are not on the hook for wasteful spending. as the representative for new york's 19th congressional district, i'm also well aware of the importance of this sort of defense spending since i have the honor and privilege of representing the united states military academy at west point and serving on its board of visitors. west point does not develop

weapons systems but it does develop the army's next generation of leaders. the cadets at west point rely on exactly the services and products covered by this bill. they and all service men and women deserve to know that they are getting the best. this amendment would require d.o.d. to include the performance assessments required by h.r. 5013 in an annual report to congress. similar to provisions in last year's weapons systems procurement bill. it also requires that d.o.d. report to congress when it uncovers a particularly egregious problem. when i visited afghanistan last april, i talked to soldiers from all over new york and asked them what they needed what, congress could do to improve their lives. i expected to hear more about m raps or shorter tours of -- m wraps or shorter tours of duty. instead they wanted shower facilities with more hot water that works and faster internet broadband connections so they could talk to their families.

thee services provide a slice of home life and comfort to our troops. this amendment will help ensure congress is made aware of the defense acquisition systems not delivering a useful service to our men and women in uniform or are wasting taxpayer funds. prompt knowledge of the worst offenders will help congress better address these issues. our soldiers serving overseas and here at home and the cadets at west point deserve no less. their safety, comfort, and health depend on it. i urge my colleagues to support this amendment and the underlying bill. thank you, mr. chairman. mr. speaker. i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from new jersey. mr. andrews: mr. chairman, i rise to claim time in opposition to the amendment although we do not oppose the amendment. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. andrews: thank you, mr. chairman. let me just say to the minority i'll be happy to yield for any comments at any time. we support mr. hall's amendment.

he has been an advocate for government transparency since his first day in this institution. and this amendment is a significant stride forward for transparency. last year's major weapons systems bill and this bill vests significant authority in the parka office which is the review office or the auditing office of the department of the secretary of defense. this office under this bill will compile annual reports judging the quality of the work by procurement organizations throughout the department of defense. mr. hall's amendment assures that those reports become public documents. so the taxpayer can understand with great spess physicality the quality or lack thereof by which their tax dollars are being spent. mr. hall is proproviding a valuable tool for -- providing a valuable tool for oversight. future congresses will be able to understand those reports and act efficiently in terms of

their oversight responsibilities. i think even more importantly what mr. hall has done is given the public an opportunity for that oversight. some of the very best work on ferretted out wasteful government spending has come as a result of the first amendment from the press and public. and so mr. hall's amendment will give the press and the public as well as the members of this body an opportunity to understand the quality or lack of there of -- lack thereof of procurement activities. i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from new york. mr. hall: once again i urge my colleagues to support the amendment and yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from new jersey. mr. andrews: we yield back the time in opposition. urge a yes vote. the chair: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the question then is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from new york. so many as are in favor say aye. those opposedno