guest: what about the shortbread cookie? host: any allergic reaction she has. guest: that is something that the fda looks at. any time we have a food safety scare, the fda is usually the one leading the charge on that. that may be the case if you are eating fruit from a very specific farm or producer. it may be that there is something wrong with a certain thing and you may want to report it. host: catherine larkin is with bloomberg news. thanks for joining us. first time on c-span. please come back again. guest: appreciate it. host: the house is in for just a moment. the senate is also in today. the white house is saying that the president will quickly sign

the measure, and will also sign the financial regulatory overhaul bill. british prime minister david cameron is leaving washington. he will be in new york today. we are back tomorrow morning for "washington journal" 7:00 a.m. eastern time. we take you to the floor of the u.s. house of representatives for today's morning business. live coverage here on c-span. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010]

the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. the prayer will be offered by the guest chaplain, reverend herbert brook, st. john missionary baptist church, joliet, illinois. the chaplain: our heavenly father and creator, we acknowledge your presence and power on this day. today, lord, we ask your blessings upon this house of government and remind us of your word.

the government shall be a soldier. we humbly ask, lord, to guide them, direct them, rest your spirit upon their shoulder during this decisionmaking time. we ask, lord, you endow them with the ability to make the right decisions that is pleasing to our lord and to all mankind. keep every representative of this great country strong, of sound mind, willing heart to continue to serve. protect those that are protecting us, lord, as we ask you to be our henchly protector. bless -- heavenly protector. bless the staff as well as the families of this house of representatives. fill as always your brotherly love, your one accord spirit and your peace. we pray all this in your precious name. amen. the speaker: the chair has examined the journal of the last day's proceedings and achounses to the chamber her approval thereof. pursuant to clause 1 of rule 1, the journal stands approved. the pledge of allegiance will

be led by the gentleman from missouri, congressman cleaver. mr. cleaver: 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: without objection, the gentlewoman from illinois, congresswoman halvorson, is recognized for one minute. mrs. halvorson: madam speaker, i rise today with great pride to introduce pastor herb brooks who kindly delivered this morning's opening prayer. herb brooks is not just a pastor at st. john baptist church in joliet, illinois. he is a husband, to wife gwynn, and proud father and grandfather. he served as a member of the will county board where he represents his constituents with passion, integrity, and intelligence. and he has been an outspoken advocate for civil rights and

the need for a better health care in our community. it is all these reasons why he is considered a true leader in our district and why i have invited him here today to continue this great tradition. pastor brooks embodies the spirit and pride that defies our community and i could not think of anyone better to represent our district during the opening prayer. i thank him for being here and i am so proud to introduce him. i yield back. the speaker: the chair will entertain up to 15 further one-minutes on each side of the aisle. for what purpose does the gentleman from missouri rise? without objection. mr. cleaver: madam speaker, i came to the floor today to talk about social security, but having spent most of last evening watching the news on a variety of stations and reading several newspapers this morning, i decided i wanted to

just speak about what i am seeing. this body has gone from spacecraft to demagoguery and witchcraft. the hill has become a thick setting for everything wrong and ugly about politics. we are not about a way to fix, we are about pure nasty politics. we could be partisan without being poisonous. when i look back at our young pages, young americans who are gifted, i cannot help but wonder whether we are teaching them through our actions to become peace throwers or bomb throwers. we make the choice. we can be partisan without being poisonous. and on this day, july 21, 2010, we are poisonous. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania rise? >> to address the house for one minute. revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore:

without objection, so ordered. mr. pitts: mr. speaker, the united states competes on a global level for businesses and jobs and when international investors look at our nation, they have some concerns about the future. our country has the second highest corporate income tax rate in the industrialized world. and come january 1, we will see the largest tax increase in our nation's history as the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, all taxes, snap back to the old higher levels. there's uncertainty with on again, off again tax cuts and increases. starting today, our financial regulatory agencies will write hundreds of new rules governing investment. and we now completely are remaking our health care system with extensive government oversight taxes and thousands of pages of new regulations. with all these things together it's perfectly understandable why we have weak job growth. uncertainty about the united states business climate is directly caused by what congress is doing to the american economy. we need to stop harming our

economy with new taxes, complicated regulations, and opportunity for new litigation and instead free american entrepreneurs and businesses to risk their capital. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentlelady from florida rise? without objection, so ordered. >> thank you, mr. speaker. it is my distinct honor and privilege today to recognize on the floor of the united states house of representatives dr. pam carbiner for extensive community service and spirit of volunteerism. she has dedicated her life's work to helping people in need. she's had a particular focus on women and children and she has dedicated her energy to a wide range of causes, including eating disorders, children's advocacy, sexual assault, and maternal health. additionally, she has served the public with her expertise on the health board of

commissioners which is the governing body of the area's largest health service provider. ms. kosmas: she currently practices medicine in daytona beach, florida. she resides in or mand beach with her husband and three children. . today i would like to officially thank her for her tireless work and her dedication to the health, well-being, safety, and care not only of her patients but also to the countless citizens who are volunteerism has served. she is recognized as an accomplished and outstanding community leader and for the greater halifax region of central florida. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back her time. for what purpose does the gentleman from arizona rise? without objection, so ordered. mr. flake: mr. speaker, just days ago the state of arizona lost a kind and gentle soul when mitch menlo passed away at the tender age of 36.

mitch leaves behind a record of honor and integrity among those he worked with in a successful career in public afairs. he leaves behind a rich heritage of service in his church and his community. most important by far, however, is the legacy mitch built, a legacy that will continue for generations to come with his wife, elizabeth, his children max, morgan, and mckenna, and a fourth child who will be important any day now. just hours before mitch passed from this life, he climbed arizona's highest peak. he stands even higher today. those of us who are left momentarily behind will be forever grateful for the explemlarry -- exemplary life he lived and the wonderful family that will carry on his legacy. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from california rise? >> to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. baca: today when president obama signs into law wall

street reform it will mark another important change, i state another important change from the failed republican policies of the past. the irresponsible policies of the bush administration and republican congress cost us eight million jobs. thankfully this new financial reform puts us on a path of restoring accountability to our financial system and ending the era of tax funded bailouts. president obama and the congressional democrats are moving america forward. we have enacted significant new laws to create new jobs and increase small business lending, end pay discrimination in the workplace, extend medicare's solvency, make college education more affordable. unfortunately my republican colleagues continue to support policies that will ship jobs overseas, privatize social security, and dismantle medicare. we can no longer afford the policies of the past. we must continue to work with our president and move america forward. i yield back the balance of my time. .

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from texas rise? mr. poe: request permission to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. poe: mr. speaker, seven more countries now join mexico and the united states to sue the state of arizona. they are nicaragua, peru, paraguay and guatemala. not exactly all champions of human or civil rights. they say illegals in arizona might mistreated. but here's the real kicker, our old state department has sided with these other nations against the american people. it has filed a declaration in the lawsuit saying the arizona law is causing an international incident and hurting foreign policy. now it's nine chris versus arizona. the nerve of our government to side with foreign powers and sue the american people, foreign countries have no business meddling in and dictating american national security. our government is on the wrong side. it should support and defend the constitution and the people of arizona.

it should be not be siding with nations that have illeagues in our country. it's nine countries versus arizona. i cast my lot with the people of arizona. and that's just the way it is. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from new jersey rise? >> address the house for win minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered -- one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. >> mr. speaker, i am outraged by the persistent failure of the united nations hue maim -- human rights council to promote and protect human rights. the u.n. human rights council has targeted israel and recently displayed a flagrant disregard for a human rights agenda with the election of the cuban ambassador as vice president of the council. the state department 2009 report on human rights described cuba as a totalitarian state that continued to deny the citizens their basic human rights and commits numerous and serious abuses. mr. sires: it is appalling that a country with such a poor human rights record has been elected as a leader over a body to protect and promote universal

human rights. while these election results are absurd, they're reflective of a larger problem. the overall state of the human rights council. the council doesn't need to improve its record on protecting human rights, it needs to reverse its record. if the council continues to ignore its own member's egregious human rights records and persist in its anti-israel campaign, then may be the united states should move its sponsor and participate as well. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from colorado rise? >> address the house for one minute, revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. >> mr. speaker, i rise to pay tribute to a hero, the united states marine corps corporal larry d. harris jr. of thorton, colorado. corporal harris, a marine corps veteran of iraq and afghanistan, graduated in 2003 from boulder high school where he played football and ran track. he loved being a marine on the front lines. corporal larry harris displayed heroism and service to others

both overseas and at home. mr. coffman: he was awarded the glave and marine corps achievement medal for helping civilians severely injured in an automobile accident. on july 1, 2010, while on patrol in helmond province in afghanistan, another marine was shot in the leg. picking up his fellow wounded marine to carry him to safety, he tripped an explosive device, absorbing the blast. though he died in the explosion, his efforts saved the life of the wounded marine. corporal harris is a shining example of the marine corps' service and sacrifice as a marine corps veteran. my deepest sympathies go out to his family and to all who knew him. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentlelady from maryland rise? >> address the house for one minute, revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. the gentlelady is recognized. ms. edwards: mr. speaker, day after day my republican

colleagues stand in the well of this chamber blaming democrats for failing to create jobs. as a democrat who has voted time and time again in this house of representatives to create jobs for working family, i'm shocked. right now and today senate republicans are blocking the passage of five critical bills that would create at least 1.5 million jobs for the american people. and house republicans after not having cast votes for these bills have the audacity to accuse democrats of not doing enough to create jobs? shame on them. i urge republican senators to vote for the america competes act, the small business credit act, the jobs for main street act, the business and infrastructure act to provide desperately needed jobs. if they're serious about creating jobs they'll urge their senate republicans to take immediate action and pass these bills. senate republicans, it's payday for the american workers, it's time to write a check to the american people and finish the job that the house started. thank you and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back the balance of her time. for what purpose does the

gentleman from louisiana rise? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for win minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. >> mr. speaker, i rise today to congratulate former shreveport police chief henry whitehorn on being sworn in as the united states marshall for the western district of louisiana. mr. fleming: prior to becoming the first african-american police chief in shreveport's history, he served 29 years in the louisiana state police. eventually becoming appointed to the post of deputy secretary for public safety services and louisiana state police superintendent by the governor. marshall whitehorn also served four years as a sergeant in the united states air force. i thank marshall whitehorn for his many years of public service and wish him the best as he continues to serve the people of louisiana in this new position. thank you and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentlelady from ohio rise?

>> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for win minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection -- one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentlelady is recognized. >> thank you, mr. speaker. today the senate passed the wall street reform bill. i was very proud to be able to serve on the central services committee and conference to help craft the bill and stand with the people of main street, to stand with the regular people of our communities against the special interests that have had too much power in washington. we are able to put in place a bill that has a real watchdog with teep teeth, to protect our cue -- teeth, to protect our consumers, to protect american savings and pensions and investments and be on the lookout for those unscrupulous financial practices that can hurt our economy. ms. kilroy: it has the consumer protection bureau, it has an early warning system and plan so that any future failing institution will not be bailed out at taxpayer expense.

taxpayers will no longer be on the hook, be forced to deal with something that's called too big to fail. it puts an end to tarp, it brings transparency to the markets and because of the spill, wall street will no longer be able to act like a casino that will do such damage to our economy again. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired -- the gentlelady's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from south carolina rise? without objection, the gentlelady is recognized. >> mr. speaker, the new state job numbers confirm that 47 states are suffering since the so-called stimulus bill passed while d.c. bureaucrats are benefiting from increasing jobs. mr. wilson: the political -- the politico reported on such a discrepancy on an article titled "reality gap." the article says, america is struggling with a sputtering economy and high unemployment but times are booming for washington's governing class. the massive expansion of

government under president barack obama has basically guaranteed a robust job market for proil professionals, regulators and contractors for years to come. the housing market, boosted by the large number of high income earners in the area, many working in politics and government, is easily outpacing the markets in most of the country. the american people want congress to focus on small business job growth instead of spending more of the people's money to create government jobs. americans understand tea, taxed enough already. we will never forget september 11 and the global war on terrorism. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from connecticut rise? >> to address the house, revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized. >> mr. speaker, as we approach the 75th anniversary of the social security program, two things are very clear. first, the program which keeps fully half of our seniors from living in poverty must be preserved and sustained for the long run.

second, preservation of social security must not, cannot mean increasing the risks that we ask our seniors to take. mr. himes: already just a year or two after a financial disaster objectly the raid -- obliterated $17 trillion of american household wealth, we hear proposals of privatizations, of turning social security money over to the vagueries of the market. you can imagine -- could you imagine if that monthly social security check that 50 million americans get was hammered the way retirement accounts have been hammered? every american who can should have private accounts that they fund with their savings. they shouldn't just rely on social security, but when things go wrong, they need to be able to rely on that social security with no risk that it disappears. thank you, mr. speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from california rise? >> address the house, revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized. mr. herger: mr. speaker, the

federal government must do more to dismantle mexican drug trafficking organizations operating marijuana plantations on our nation's federal land. this is a severe and growing problem in the northern california congressional district i represent. these traffickers pose a threat to the visitors of the national parks and forests and local law enforcement and the federal government is fundamentally responsible for addressing it. i have introduced a resolution that i hope will garner sufficient support to focus more attention and begin a process of greater cooperation and coordination among the agencies responsible for protecting our federal lands and the citizens who want to enjoy them. mr. speaker, it's essential that we stay focused on addressing this important issue.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from arkansas rise? >> address the house for win minute -- one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized. >> with the death of nick baken from cancer, arkansas and america have lost a hero, a vietnam veteran, an army retiree and a medal of honor winner. yet for those of us who knew nick, mostly we have lost a friend. advocacy for veterans was his life's work, touching the lives of military families by helping them with a problem. touching the life of arkansas by participating in so many public events honoring our military. the last time i talked with nick he was working on some end of life financial issues but in his matter of fact blunt way he said, but other than that, i'm good to go. but other than that, i'm good to go. mr. snyder: nick bake season now gone and we will miss him. our -- bacon is now gone and we will miss him. my condolences and gratitude go to his wife, his grandchildren and his brothers and sisters.

i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from washington rise? >> request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. >> mr. speaker, the american people are sick and tired of broken government, they're sick and tired of business as usual which means no business at all, no business at all means no jobs. mr. reichert: and why are there no jobs? businesses are being taxed to the max. government borrows like there's no tomorrow. government spends to the end, the end of american ingenuity, the end of american business, here's what we need to do. don't raise the capital gains tax, don't increase taxes on families and small businesses, don't -- hey, i know, let's repeal the estate tax, what about making the r&d tax a permanent tax credit? allow small businesses to deduct the cost of expensive machinery, i mean, there's ideas after ideas after ideas of what we can do to make this country grow. how about this, mr. speaker? have a little faith in the

american people. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from illinois rise? >> to address the house for one minute, revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized. >> thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, i rise today to reaffirm my commitment to the new repeal of don't ask, don't tell. mr. quigley: i applaud the department of defense for initiating a plan but i remain deeply disappointed that instead of moving forward immediately, we're on hold. we're spending millions on a 32-page survey asking service members how they feel about the repeal when polls show that this is unnecessary. what's worse, as a country founded on liberty and equality, we're denying basic human rights to some of our brave men and women who are defending those very principles. and unlike more than 256 our allies, including every -- 25 of our you a lies, including every nato significantnytary, we have not ended discrimination. experts say what is needed is not a study but rather a quick and authorizetative top-down

repeal. our military leaders must act now before our pace destroice our mission. thank you, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from texas rise? >> unanimous consent to address the house, revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized. >> thank you, mr. speaker. when the clock strikes midnight on december 31, 2010, a $3.8 trillion democrat tax increase will ring in the new year. the democrats' ticking tax bomb means all tax paying americans will face higher taxes starting on january 1. for married couples, get ready to give up date nights in order to pay the tax penalty for saying, i do. for families with children, get ready to give up the family summer vacation so that you can fork over to uncle sam an extra $500 per kid. already struggling small business owners, get ready to share more of your hard-earned

profits with uncle sam, hard-earned profits that could be used to hire new workers. the american people want, need and deserve better than the democrat massive tax hikes to pay for their big government agenda. let's stop the big tax increase and protect america's future. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from kentucky rise? >> request permission to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized. . mr. yarmuth: mr. sessions of texas said if the republicans took over the house next congress, that we could count on the exact same agenda that we had under the bush administration. now, you know, there's good news and bad news to that. the good news is we wouldn't have to fight about extending desperately needed unemployment insurance benefits to american citizens because when the republicans were in control they didn't pay for anything. not for two wars, massive tax

cut for the rich, and certainly not for a massive prescription drug program. of course the bad news is that we would be once again turning the country over to big banks and big insurance companies and big oil because as minority leader boehner said, he's for moratorium on regulation in this country. i know the republicans would like the american people to get collected amnesia this fall, but they remember just like the elephant, they remember the bush agenda and they don't want that exact same agenda repeated in the 112th congress. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from indiana rise? >> to address the house for one minute. rerned. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized. >> mr. speaker, out on the plaza a few minutes ago the new tea party caucus met with a bunch of tea party members from across the country. and i have heard a lot of my colleagues and people across the country and in the media criticize the tea party as being racist and a whole host of other things. when we were out there and met

with these people, we found african-americans, we found hispanics, we found people from all ethnic groups out there saying very clearly they want less government spending, less government regulation. lower taxes. and the things that everybody believes in this country and better and closer constitutional government. that's what the tea party is all about. and we are here in the tea party caucus not to tell them anything but to listen to them because they are speaking from the heart for the american people. it's time that people realize on both sides of the aisle that the tea party movement is not something that's not really speaking for the american people. these are people from all across the country that want congress and the american government to know that they want less government and more responsibility. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentlelady from california rise? >> to address the house for one minute. revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentlelady is recognized.

ms. speier: thank you, mr. speaker, three years ago we were warned about the financial risk associated with subprime. and the shell games being masked as risk-free investment. she said the consumers can't buy a toaster that has a one in five chance of bursting into flasmse but they can enter into a mortgage that has the same one in five chance of putting them out on the street. in the end, we were told what would happen and it did. professor warren didn't just limit herself to warnings. she laid out the foundation of what would soon become the consumer financial protection bureau. were the president signing wall street reform today, the time has finally come to appoint a director to this new bureau. we need a proven fighter at the helm with a strong record of being tireless, independent, and willing to speak out for consumers. when others won't. she's the best choice for the job. i urge the president to appoint elizabeth warren to the post.

i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back her time. 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 michigan seek recognition? mr. leaven: i move to suspend the rules and pass -- mr. levin: i move to pass the bill h.r. 4380 as amend the. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 4380, a bill to amend the whom niesed schedule of the united states to modify temporarily certain briefs of duty and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from michigan, mr. levin, and the gentleman from michigan, will camp, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: 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, so ordered. mr. levin: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. levin: mr. speaker, i urge members to support the u.s. manufacturing enhancement act of 2010 also known as the miscellaneous tariff fill. it suspends tariffs on components used in manufacturing. this bill is a shot in the arm for u.s. manufacturers and workers who need these products to keep making their goods and supporting american jobs. i want to underscore that point. this bill grorts u.s. manufacturing jocks. pro-- deports u.s. manufacturing jobs. it reduces tir raves for things in automotive, textiles,

electronics, machinery, and equipment. when the cost of these inputs is lowered, u.s. producers' overall costs are reduced, making their products more competitive in this market and globally. and that increased competitiveness translates to increased production and more jobs. all these provisions have been extensively vetted to ensure that the inputs covered by any tariff suspensions are not made here. review by the administration, by the independent i.t.c., and also an opportunity for public comment. consumeers, we have for example, the two leading tax tile associations who represent an industry that's been hard hit by global competition during the m.t.b. as key to their competitiveness. i quote ncto saying m.t.b. is a critical cost reduction measure

for many manufacturers supporting domestic production and employment. and that's why the bill is supported by u.s. manufacturing , the nam has said this. one of the most, i quote, important short-term actions congress can take to preserve and expand good american jobs, cut the cost of doing business in the u.s., and boost american manufacturing exports and u.s. chamber has said alike. the same thing. in the past considering duty suspension bills like this since the 97th congress and usually indeed in every case they have been noncontroversial and supported on a bipartisan basis. i quote two documents recently put out by ways and means republicans. my colleagues. i quote from that put out under the name of our ranking member,

the distinguished member from michigan, david campment -- camp. i quote description of the m.t.b. the bill helps u.s. manufacturers and employees compete by temporarily reducing duties on foreign made intermediate products or materials and some finished product that is are not made domestically or there is no domestic opposition. such reductions or suspensions reduce the cost for u.s. employers. if there is any objection to a specific provision, such as because the u.s. manufacturers identified the item is dropped from the bill. i also quote a recent statement by the ranking member, mr. brady, on the subcommittee on trade. i quote. this traditionally bipartisan legislation reduces unnecessary costs for american business and consumers and increases u.s. competitiveness. a model of transparency, the bill is carefully vetted during a long public process to ensure

domestic producers are protected. as the ranking member of the trade subcommittee of ways and means, i have been--i have long been a strong advocate for it and have called for its passage for the past three years. so what's changed? what changed was that the republican conference decided recently to oppose all earmarks . the house rules distinguish between earmarks and limited tariff benefits. they are defined separately in the rules. so therefore there is really no basis for lumping them together and when they are lumped together, manufacturers and their workers in this country would be taking their lumps. so i close with this in terms of transparency.

this process is thorough, vigorous, and transparent to n sure there is no domestic opposition. as indicated, the i.t.c. has to vet this. and all of the information from this extensive review process can be found on the ways and means committee website. as a result the sunlight foundation that has been in the leading favor of transparency has called this process transparencycy -- transparency done right. i end the quote. in some or both for h.r. 4380, is a vote for manufacturing and u.s. jobs. i hope my republican colleagues, many of them who have businesses and workers in their districts which need this help, and many of whom have introduced legislation incorporating this bill, i hope that they will join the democrats and stand up for

american businesses and workers and support this legislation. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves his time. the gentleman from michigan. mr. camp: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. camp: i'm disappointed that i can't support this legislation. the miscellaneous tariff bill has long been a bipartisan effort that helps both american manufacturers and consumers obtain lower cost access to products that aren't made in the united states. and i appreciate the chairman following my statement so carefully and even quoting them to this house because the process used to assemble this legislation is a model in transparency and accountability. it's been a long-standing process. been congresses under both republican and democratic control, and it should serve as an example of how similar legislation should be prepared. every provision is first introduced as a separate bill,

each provision is vetted by the administration and by the u.s. i.t.c., international trade commission, and subject to public notice and comment. all information is posted on the committee website and any provision receiving any opposition is removed from the final package. in my view this bill technically does not contain earmarks in the form of limited tariff benefits. each provision lowers duties on imports and any company or entity or person that imports that product receives the benefit of those lower duties. not just those few that can be positively identified today. but despite these facts, democrats have written the rules of the house in such a way as to treat limited tariff benefits like other earmarks and the democrats were wrong to do so. the republican conference has taken the position, correctly so, we are taking a one-year

moratorium on all the provisions included in the democrat rule. to demonstrate our commitment to getting government spending under control. i'm committed to both the letter and spirit of that moratorium and therefore would vote against the bill. the majority's well aware of our earmark ban. and i can't help but wonder if this wasn't put on the suspension calendar after 3 1/2 years without a vote. it's a shame and won't work. the business community know it is. the american workers whose jobs depend on it know it, and we know it. democrats have had 3 1/2 years to pass the miscellaneous tariff bill and they have failed to do so. congress has not passed a miscellaneous tariff bill since december of 2006, right before the democrats took the majority. and accepting for the peru free trade agreement have brought no trade legislation to the floor

in the time that they have been in the majority. i think given the state of our economy, given the loss of jobs, i think that record is not only an embarrassing one, it's a shameful one. and the record speaks for itself. republicans have long supported the m.t.b. and u.s. employers, while the democrats have written the rules of the house to discriminate against this bill. under this majority, business investment and hiring are frozen in the face of looming tax hikes, smoothering government regulation and little, very little, frankly no action on the trade agenda. a true commitment to trade and the good-paying u.s. jobs it provides would involve passing the pending bilateral trade agreement which economically are even more important to this country than the bill before us today. . mr. speaker, what you're seeing today is merely one more attempt by the majority to distract

american workers and employers from the real damage they've done to the american economy. this legislation cannot overcome the $670 billion in new taxes already passed by this congress and the billions more coming. it cannot overcome the antibusiness attitude of so much of the legislation produced by the majority. mr. chairman, if my friends on the other side -- mr. speaker, if my friends on the other side of the aisle were truly interested in helping american manufacturers, they'd be lowering taxes, knocking down trade barriers and supporting the private sector. this legislation is no substitute for those policies. the house should take a breather from earmarks, as called for in the moratorium from the republican conference. it's unfortunate that this rule, that this pause includes the m.t.b., but we didn't write the rule. the majority did. i urge my colleagues to show the american people we are serious about reforming the way washington works and vote no and i reserve the balance of my

time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from michigan. >> i yield myself 15 seconds. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for 15 seconds. mr. levin: rule 29, clause 9 specifically defines congressional earmarks in one clause and limited tariff benefits in another. you lump them together, you're lumping hurt against manufacturing in the u.s. i yield three minutes to the gentleman from who chairs the trade subcommittee, my colleague from tennessee, mr. tanner. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. mr. tanner: thank you, mr. chairman. thank you, mr. speaker. i guess this probably symbolizes as much as anything what's wrong with congress. here are people who get up and say this is a good bill, it's good for job creation in this country, it has been bipartisan for 0 years and because we -- 30 years and because we made a

mistake in the republican conference with respect to lumping it in as some sort of earmark we have to oppose it, even though it's good for job creation in this country and good for our nation. this is almost alice in wonderland where up is down and down is up. i have to vote against a bill i know will help create jobs because they did it when they wrote the rules and we misinterpreted the rules so now we're going to have two wrongs make a right. if job creation is important and everyone knows that this bill will help create jobs in the united states of america, it seems to me that to vote against it for the reasons -- and by the way, part of the time delay was because of a senator in the other body who is in the republican party, but all of

that asued, if we cannot rise above -- aside, but awful -- if we cannot rise above rules that we can't interpret correctly or whatever and we're going to vote against american workers in the industrial base of this country because of that, then i suggest we put our voting cards to whoever the leadership, the republican conference is and go home. what do we have a brain for? we're not supposed to park our brain at the door because of some sort of partisan political advantage we think we might be able to get by hurting our own country. this is -- there are some letters that i'd ask unanimous consent that they be placed in the record of support from the national association of manufacturers, the chamber of commerce, amtak, u.s.

manufacturers all across the nation say, this is for us. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. tanner: to create jobs. i know i'm running out of time but this is a perfect example of what's wrong with this house of representatives, where we put partisan politics ahead of the country's interest. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from michigan. mr. camp: at this time i yield such time as he may consume to the ranking member of the trade u.n. is committee, the gentleman from texas, mr. brady. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for as much time as he may consume. mr. brady: i thank you, mr. speaker. i would like to support this legislation but i cannot. as mr. camp has pointed out, this has always been a bipartisan process, when republicans were in the majority we regularly prepared this legislation in a bipartisan, transparent manner. it's bipartisan because democrats, republicans worked together to review every provision, ensure there is no opposition to any provision and that if protected -- it

protected american companies. it was transparent because every provision was reviewed by the u.s. international trade commission and the i.t.c.'s report was posted online for all of america to review. every provision was subject to public notice and comment and i'm happy to say, and i compliment our democrat majority for continuing this transparent policy in this legislation. but as lead republican originally on this bill, however, i will vote against this legislation because it violates the letter and the spirit of the republican moratorium on earmark requests. congress has to get handle on earmarks, there's no question about it. and while the mislanious terrorist bill, the one we're looking at it, -- at, it ought to be a model the way other committees deal with earmark requests, unfortunately in the house rule, clause 9, this --

unfortunately the majority's overbroad and i think carelessly written effort to handle the earmark problem has netted, unfortunately, these provisions. as a result, in establishing a moratorium to discipline the process, republicans have no choice but to include miscellaneous tariff bills. but my question is, is, and i guess i'm puzzled, this is no surprise, we've visited, as republicans and democrats, on this issue, trying to find way forward. for months now. why if you're truly serious about passing this measure, why would you demand a supermajority that ensures its defeat rather than a normal majority vote that ensures its passage? for months we've said, because the moratorium, we cannot help

on this bill this year and we're sincere about it, by chution the suspension route you've killed this bill -- by choosing the suspension route you've killed this bill. so the question is, where do we go from here? how do we build -- we have so many trade issues that we face as republicans and democrats. we have differences about what that trade agenda should be. i worry and others do that we have moved to the sidelines, other countries have stepped ahead of us, selling their products ahead of u.s. products. we've seen this in column where can -- columbia where american farmers have now lost half of our market because of us benching ourselves as a country. we have to find a bipartisan way forward on opening new markets to u.s. companies, we have to find a bipartisan way forward on facilitating trade, on modernizing our own customs and border processes, to allow trade while we become more secure, we have to find a bipartisan way

forward on the pending trade agreements with columbia -- colombia and panama and korea, where the president has asked us to find a way forward as he tries to as well. we have to find a way forward in a bipartisan manner on china, on currency, on protecting intellectual property rights, on setting standards and rules for trade throughout this world. we have a lot at stake in working together. which is why i think choosing the most confrontational method on this bill is short sighted. and why unfortunately this bill will be defeated because of the choice to seek a supermajority rather than the normal route of a majority vote in this house. reluctantly but strongly i oppose this bill because the earmark moratorium. i'm hopeful that the majority will bring this back under

regular order, that democrats, with a almost supermajority in this house already, can pass this bill. but we have been very open from the beginning about the fact that if it's brought under suspension it will die. i regret that and i would encourage us to find a bipartisan way forward on trade and facilitation on miscellaneous tariff bill. with that i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: i yield myself 10 seconds. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for 10 seconds. mr. levin: mr. brady, it's your choice. i now yield three minutes to the distinguished gentleman from massachusetts, mr. neil. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. neil neil mr. speaker, i stand in support of this job-creating legislation. this legislation before us today is going to advance american manufacturing competitiveness in an increasingly global economy. and it furthers our goal of dubbling exports over the next

five years and yet we hear strong opposition to this legislation today. let me tell you something, it's or wellian what you just heard. or it's a reach. there is clearly an opportunity for us to get past some of the pettiness in this institution and move forward on legislation that at one time would guarantee 400 votes. there's nothing that we're attempting to hide with this legislation. the markings have been posted on the internet. mr. neal: now, our opponents have even offered some of these provisions. now they've decided that if somehow they help an american company that it's dirty business. one of the provisions that i've offered in this bill today helps a manufacturing company in my district and by the way its headquartered in a republican member's -- it's headquartered in a republican member's district who is apparently going to vote against it today and we're going to hear opposition

that doesn't stand up under the magnifying -- magnifying glass. these reductions are taxes on imports. but these imported products are based upon no american manufacturer making them. so it only raises taxes on the cost of an american importer who use the raw material to create a marketable product for sarah palin sale. this bill will lower -- sale. this bill will lower production cost and crease american manufacturing competitiveness. the u.s. chamber of commerce and the national association of manufacturers and others have said this is a job booster, estimated to increase g.d.p. by, listen to this, several billion dollars. this has been a model for bipartisanship in the past. for transparency and for good policy to promote american manufacturing and jobs which ought to be our current and lasting priority. but today things have changed -- changed. there is no other bill, no other

legislative process that requires the same magnitude of disclosure that this legislation does. no other bill requires the certification that this legislation does. it's a model for sight in and transparency. and -- sunlight and transparency and yet some today will urge a vote against this legislation. i'm not one of them. i am glad to stand here and support the provision that i have offered that will help a company in my district that supports 500 very good jobs. i urge adoption. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from michigan. mr. camp: mr. speaker, i yield three minutes to the gentleman from california. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. mr. dreier: unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. dreier: mr. speaker, i want to begin by praising my colleagues, mr.s camp and brady, for the hard work they have put into the overall job creating

and trade agenda. we all know very well that opening up new markets for u.s. goods and services around the world is one of the most important things that we can do if we in fact are going to do what everybody says we want to do and that is create good american jobs. we have pend pping, as we all know, the colombian and panama agreement and the south korean agreement. it's wonderful to hear the kind of supportive remarks that come regularly from the president of the united states after the g-20 meeting he was very supportive of it. he stood right here when he addressed us in his state of the union message saying that he thought it very important that we pass the colombia and the peru agreement bus he has yet to send them up. so i will say that we are all anxiously awaiting the arrival of those job-reating -- creating measures. now, what is it that we're doing here? and, mr. speaker, i've got to say that i always pride myself

on being a bit of a reagan optimist and occasionally skeptical and i don't want to say that i moved over toward cynicism but when we have a measure like this that is being brought up under suspension of the rules which, as mr. brady said, will in fact die if we're not going to get it, it means that the majority understands full well that this mother ain't going to happen. now, let's look at what is it that's gotten us to the point where we are, mr. speaker. the fact of the matter is, we made it very clear that in our attempt to rein in federal spending, the notion of continuing to spend earmarks was a nonstarter for us. and so our republican lead leader mr. boehner encouraged all of us under his leadership to say that we will have a moratorium on earmarks. . it was not until the 110th congress, not until this congress under the rules established by the democratic majority did we have these

tariff measures included under the earmark designation. so while there's criticism leveled and at us over here, the fact is, you-all, mr. speaker, your party actually designed this new definition which included these measures under earmarks. so the majority knew full well that those of us who were opposed to this dramatic expansion in earmark spending would come to the conclusion that we would not be supportive of this measure as much as we would like to. as much as we are passionately committed, i believe more so than many ofure colleagues on the other -- of our colleagues on the other side of the aisle, we are more committed to the notion of breaking down tariff and nontariff barriers to encourage the free flow of goods and services around the world. as much as we would like to do that, the majority knew full well that creating under their new definition -- mr. camp: additional minute. mr. dreier: i thank my friend

for yielding. under their definition, mr. speaker, what is it that's happened? they knew that we would not be in a position to do this. so it is with a great deal of regret that i join with mr. camp and mr. brady and encourage our colleagues to vote no, but to say that, as mr. brady pointed out, a bipartisan agreement that could allow us to address these measures is something that we should be working on and we could do in the house rules committee. so i will say, just as we are ready, willing, and able to take on and i hope pass the south korea, colombia, and panama agreements if the president were to send them up, i stand ready, willing, and able to work in the rules committee in a bipartisan way to make sure we can address this issue and bring it here so that we can work together to create good american jobs. with that, mr. speaker, i yield back the balance of my time.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: i yield myself 10 seconds. the rule has several provisions on congressional earmarks and limited tariff benefits. you are using an excuse that does not exist. i yield two minutes to the gentleman from texas, mr. doggett. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. doggett: republicans do indeed have a moratorium. it's a moratorium on cooperation. it's a moratorium on voting for good bills they say they are for. it's a moratorium on reality. they never miss an opportunity to let their rigid ideology get in the way of us doing something for america. that's what's happening here today. we reach out a hand on a bill they say they are for and they slap it back. let me say just a word about openness and government which has a lot to do with earmarks and this bill. because it's too often good talk but little meaningful

action. in the past, this very piece of legislation to suspend or reduce hundreds of individual tariffs for specific businesses has been a troubling example of government in the shadows. as in previous congresses when i first attempted to learn more about what was in this bill, i found an impenetrable process. even as a member of the committee of jurisdiction to determine specifics about this bill were initially thwarted. true to its name the sunlight foundation shed light on this opaque process n 2008 it took on the laborious task of creating a data base to improve the public's ability to understand who would benefit from the bill at the request of which lobbyist and for which corporation. this year the ways and means committee under the leadership of chairman levin has built upon the sunlight foundation's laudable work.

substantially changing the secretive process of the past that governed the miscellaneous tariff bill. i'm pleased to have work with the sunlight foundation and chairman levin to make this official data base a reality. now any citizen can look up the details of this bill, learn who the winners and losers were, and see who pushed them over the finish line. today we have not only a new name for this legislation, but we have a new process involving public participation and understanding in its development. does the gentleman have another 15 seconds? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for an additional 15 seconds. mr. doggett: this is the latest example of public access in this congress with the encouragement of the sunlight foundation and other public interest gloups, we must continue build -- groups, we must continue building on such success arming citizens with the tools they need to make informed decisions. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from michigan. mr. camp: i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the

gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: i yield now two minutes to another distinguished member of our committee, mr. blumenauer of oregon. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. blumenauer: thank you. i rise in support of this legislation today. i have worked on miscellaneous tariff bills in the past that are important to open up markets here at home. one of the areas that i have been involved with over the years has dealt with the bicycle industry which benefits dramatically, it's $133 billion part of the united states economy, it supports over a million jobs. generates almost $20 billion in taxes. we've got elements here that are not manufactured in the united states, that are necessary for the bicycle industry to thrive. i'm pleased that they are in here. but i am stunned at what i'm hearing from my friends on the other side of the aisle. it is sadly a symbol of the

hollow rhetoric and shallow thinking. they want to do the right thing, but they can't. they can't take yes for an answer because it's partisan. it's partisan because they refuse to vote for things that know are right. that they helped craft. and the notion that this is somehow an earmark, i'm sorry i was pained when i heard my good friend from texas on the floor. the top republican on trade, kevin brady, has said that while he supports the g.o.p. earmark prohibition, he has never considered a tariff suspension an earmark. and added that he considers it important that the bill moves in this congress. it's not an earmark unless you want to pretend that it's an earmark. but for hetches sakes, this is something that -- hetches -- heaven sakes, this is not something they are going to do this year.

it's an election year ploy to try to get attention to something they created when they were in charge. we opened it up. it's transparent. it's important. i hope my friends on the other side of the aisle will take yes for an answer and join me in voting for this legislation. the speaker pro tempore: the chair would advise the gentleman from michigan, mr. levin, he has 3 1/2 minutes. and advise mr. camp that he has 6 1/2 minutes. the gentleman from michigan is recognized. mr. camp: at this time i'll continue to reserve. i will make a statement when it's time to close. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman continues to reserve. the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: thank you. i now yield two minutes to another distinguished member of our committee, mr. pascrell from new jersey. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. pascrell: here we go again on process.

we want results. we need to look back at the record since 1995 on this legislation. the house has approved the n.t.b. six times under suspension. two of those votes, mr. speaker, two of the votes voted on in the 104th congress and the 107th congress were voiced. were voiced. we didn't even have a roll call vote. so for you to come before this house and tell us that the world was turned upside-down, you turned it upside-down. when you look at the 104th and 111th congress. we know who -- 107th congress and we know who the majority was in those congresses. that's the record. now, we know there is a very clear distinction between earmarks and the n.t.b. provision which this bill

enunciates. you know that an earmark provides for the authorization of a specific district or state, etc., etc. but a limited tariff benefit is a provision modifying, harmonized tariffs. we don't know what the word harmony means in this house. i am in strong support of h.r. 4380. this bill will lower costs for american small businesses, allowing them to prosper, make their products more competitive, both here and abroad. this is what we should all be about. this will create tens of thousands of united states jobs and increase united states production and expand g.d.p. by several billion dollars. my district, two towns, will benefit from duty suspensions on certain products. this is significant not only for the people who work there but for the customers of these

products. if i may have 30 seconds, mr. chairman. 10 seconds. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. pascrell: thank you, mr. speaker. in fact, the sunlight foundation which is no stranger to criticizing this congress on earmarks has called this billing -- bill transparency done right. i rest my case. let's pass this legislation. thank you, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the chair will remind members that members will address their remarks to the chair and not to fellow members in the second person. the gentleman from michigan. the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: i yield to mr. scott for a unanimous consent request. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. scott: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks in favor of the bill which will promote competitiveness, innovation,

export, and most importantly jobs in the richmond, virginia, area. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: how much time do we have, mr. speaker? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman has a minute and a quarter. mr. levin: we have the final speaker, mr. etheridge. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is correct. mr. levin: do you want to yield back the balance of your time? mr. camp: i want to close. you have an additional speaker? mr. levin: mr. etheridge will close. mr. camp: all right. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan, mr. camp. mr. camp: thank you, mr. chairman. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. camp: first, let me address the rule of the house. it's very clear that these are treated the same way if you look at the rules. in fact if you pull the rules of the house out there is a subsection called congressional earmarks. all of this is listed in that section. it's very clear there was an intent to incorporate,

unfortunately wrongly, these kind of provisions in the earmark process. we didn't write that rule. the democrats wrote that rule. we are trying to have some integrity to the entire process. i realize that on the other side whether it's the budget, budget act of 1974, you ignore that, whether it's pay-go, you ignore that when it suits your needs, and find an emergency to get around that, but the fact is we need to reform this process. we have not done that. we have -- in personal terms i have urged the chairman not to bring this under suspension of the rule. the last time this bill was on suspension in the 109th congress failed and a majority of democrats voted against the bill. i think this is not the process in order to sign a bipartisan path forward on this bill. what we need to do should have been done is not bringing this bill where it requires a supermajority because i think it is very likely the bill will fail. and that may be the political outcome that my friends on the

other side wanted, but in order to move this legislation in a bipartisan way forward, i think it's going to be important to get a rule, which i'm certain will occur, and we'll be back on the floor very shortly addressing this matter with a rule and a simple majority vote. i would just urge my colleagues to vote no on this bill until we can find a way to bring this legislation to the floor with a bipartisan rule that we have had the ranking member on the rules committee come forward and say he would be willing to work with the majority to find a way to resolve this issue. again, i urge no on this legislation and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: i yield the balance of our time to mr. etheridge, a distinguished member of our committee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. etheridge: i thank the gentleman for yielding. i rise in strong support of the manufacturing enhancement act. my top priority and priority of this congress ought to be three things, jobs, jobs, jobs. people are hurting. i know too many north

carolinians are out of work. families are hurting. they are being squeezed. and this helps small businesses. it was for tens of thousands of jobs in my state and across america, it would strengthen our manufacturing sector, and a time when we really need that kind of support. fixing these tariffs is a boom to u.s. manufacturing t. lowers costs for consumers, and make sure u.s. jobs stay in the united states of america. my colleagues on the other side reminds me of the story of the young man who came before this aged gentleman and he had a bird in his hand and he said, old man, he said, is this bird alive or is he dead? knowing that if he said he was alive he would crush it. if he said he was dead he would release it. and the old gentleman said to him, young man, it is up to you . when you say whether this bill will pass or die, to my colleagues on this side of the aisle, it's up to you. but the american people are

watching and they will suffer. i urge you to reconsider and vote yes on this legislation not just to make a point but to make a difference for the american people. i yield back. . the speaker pro tempore: the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 4380, 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, this bill is passed. >> i ask for the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays are requested. all those in favor of taking this vote by the yeas and nays will rise and remain standing until counted. a sufficient number having arisen, the yeas and nays are ordered. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20 and the chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be postponed.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from west virginia seek recognition? mr. rahall: mr. speaker, i ask that the house concur in the senate amendment to h.r. 725. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 725, an act to protect indian arts and crafts through the improvement of applicable criminal proceedings, and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from west virginia, mr. rahall, and the gentleman from washington, mr. hastings, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from west virginia. mr. rahall: thank you, mr. speaker. i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks, and i yield myself such time as i may consume.

the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized. mr. rahall: on january 19, 2010, the house passed h.r. 725 under suspension of the rules. this bill, introduced by our colleague from arizona, mr. ed pastor, would improve prosecution of unlawful misrepresentation and counterfeiting of american indian jewelry, baskets, rugs under the indian arts and crafts act of 1990. h.r. 725 would authorize any federal law enforcement officer to conduct an investigation of an offense involving the sale of any good that is misrepresented of any indian good or product that occurs within the united states. on june 23, 2010, the senate passed h.r. 725 by unanimous consent without changes to the house-passed text. however, the senate did add the language of the tribal law in order act of 2010 by senator dorgan. the house counterpart is h.r.

1924, sponsored by representative herseth sandlin. in addition, the senate included provisions from h.r. 1333, which was introduced by mr. grijalva. h.r. 1333 passed the house by voice vote on september 30, 2009, and would permit tribal governments to use displayed fireworks for ceremonial and other purposes. despite the federal responsibilities to protect indian communities, the violent crime rate on reservations is 2 1/2 times the national average. amnesty international estimates that more than one in three native women will be raped in their lifetimes. the tribal law and order act addresses these tribal public safety and justice issues by establishing accountability measures for federal agencies responsible for investigating and prosecuting reservation crime and by providing tribes with additional tools to combat crime locally. among other vital improvements

to existing law, the tribal law and order act would, one, require the department of justice to maintain data on criminal declarations and share evidence with tribal justice officials when a case is declined. number two, authorize tribes to increase sentencing authority for up to three years in certain situations. number three, provide tribal police with greater access to criminal history databases such as the national crime information center. and, four, mandate that indian health service and bureau of indian affairs officials provide documents and testimony in prosecutions before tribal courts. in short, the tribal law and order bill would address the profound public safety needs and provide the additional law enforcement and criminal justice resources sorely needed on indian reservations across the country. i want to commend our colleague, the gentleman from arizona, mr. pastor, for his hard work and dedication to this legislation. i also thank ms. herseth sandlin for her efforts in

championing the tribal law and order portion of the bill. both members are addressing long standing problems in indian country and i ask my colleagues to support its passage and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from washington. mr. hastings: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. hastings: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, included in this legislation are a great many important anti-crime, anti-violent provisions that will assist and support indian tribes across the country. there is considerable bipartisan support for what this bill aims to do and yet today it is being considered before the house using a process and procedure that illicits opposition. mr. speaker, let me be clear. the objections that i will express today are focused squarely, squarely on the manner in which the house leaders have chosen to have this bill debated. violence and crime against indians is a serious problem,

deserving attention of this congress. such as an important issue as this should not be relegated to the suspension calendar. the process being used today to consider this legislation is normally reserved to bills such as naming post offices and congratulating sports teams on winning championships. addressing crimes against indians deserves to be considered in a much more serious, thureo process. furthermore, the man -- thorough process. furthermore, the manner in which it was passed in the senate is unfair to not only all 435 members of the house but also to every indian constituent that they represent. a procedure is being used to consider this bill that denies every house member the ability to offer a suggestion to improve it, even members whose indian constituents may seek such improvements. the bill before us today, h.r.

725, started out as an indian arts and crafts amendment act of 2010. it was an innocuous 10-page bill with almost no cost whose purpose was to address counterfeits arts and crafts wrongly marketed as indian-made products. there was almost no disagreement over the merits and policies of this bill when it first passed this body. the senate took h.r. 725 and attached the tribal law and order provisions. again, these are policies that merit action by congress on which i believe there is a great deal of agreement. yet, the process and manner which this is being done is generating opposition. when a widely supported arts and crafts bill that is just a few pages in length and which costs nothing is changed by the senate to run over 100 pages with authorized spending of over $1 billion to me, mr. speaker, that is simply

unacceptable. as i said, i oppose this controversial process and procedure being used on a bill of this magnitude. i oppose such procedures in the past and i have opposed such a process as the ranking member of this committee most notably on the omnibus lands bill that passed last year. so i regret that i must stand here today and oppose passing this bill using this process. independentian country deserves more attention -- indian country deserves more attention and better treatment than to have this bill appear on a suspension cal der which is more often -- calendar which is more often used to name post offices. bail as important as this should not be heard because -- a bill as important as this should not be heard because it does disrespect to the committee and it needs more than 40 minutes of the house's attention. the members of this house deserve a fair opportunity to improve legislation, not to be totally blocked from offering any suggestions including any sought by their indian

constituents. again, when a process is used to transform a several page no cost bill on indian arts and crafts into a 100-page billion-dollar bill on violence and crime then it should not be considered in this manner. it deserves the true attention of all members of this house. and for those reasons, mr. speaker, i urge my colleagues to oppose this bill under this unfair process. and with that i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from -- mr. hastings: reserve my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from west virginia. mr. rahall: mr. speaker, i yield three minutes to the gentleman that has brought this legislation to the floor of the house, helped bring it to the floor of the house, the gentleman from arizona, mr. pastor. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from arizona is recognized for three minutes. mr. pastor: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. pastor: the underlying bill, the indian arts and crafts amendment bill started in the senate. it started with senator mccain

and senator kyl from arizona. the senate passed that particular bill from the senate. it came over here, and as chairman rahall told you that my companion bill, the bill that i authored, was passed by the house and mirrored the bill passed in the senate. when it went over to the senate , the indian arts and crafts bill, checking with senator mccain and senator kyl, the amendment was added to the bill,ed underlying bill -- the underlying bill. the senate by unanimous consent , by unanimous consent took the amended bill and sent it back to us for our consideration, and that's where we are today. mr. speaker, i will tell you that this bill has been heard

in the senate, has been heard in the house. the underlying bill as well as the amendment. and, mr. speaker, i would tell you that there is concurrence in indian country that this bill is supported. there is concurrence here with the native american caucus which is a bipartisan caucus that deals with the interests, the positive interests that native american issues who are in support of it. the gentleman objects because of the procedure, but the content and the support is there. and so i would ask my colleagues both on the republican side and the democratic side to support this bill which has had the scrutiny of the senate and the house and a bill that has the approval, unanimous consent in a bipartisan manner.

it's very rarely that we see this type of cooperation between the house and the senate, much less cooperation in a bipartisan manner. so i would ask my colleagues to support this bill and have it passed and signed by the president. i yield back my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from washington. mr. hastings: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, i'm pleased to yield three minutes to the gentleman from oklahoma, mr. cole. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. from oklahoma. mr. cole: i thank the gentleman for yielding. mr. speaker, i rise today in support of h.r. 725, the senate amendments to the indian arts and crafts amendment act. this bill was originally passed in this body by a voice vote. in the senate, however, the bill was amended to include the tribal law and order bill, and that's what i want to focus my remarks on today. this bill passed the united states senate by unanimous consent after senator coburn

and the senate republican study committee negotiated certain spending reductions and addressed the spending concerns. there's no question i think both sides of the aisle agree that the federal government has a unique obligation to ensure that these americans, the first americans, are granted the same public safety rights and protections that other american citizens enjoy. law enforcement in indian country, however, has been woefully underfunded and mismanaged over decades, resulting in a drastic situation for many of our fellow americans. . i want to thank my colleague, stephanie herseth sandlin, and her staff in the bipartisan way which she worked with my staff and myself to address some of the concerns that we have. obviously want to thank my fellow chairman of the native american caucus, daily kildee, and some of my republican co-authors and supporters of this situation. however i agree very much with

my colleague, mr. hastings' concern, that this legislation should have been brought to this body under a rule. and because it is indeed a major spending piece of legislation and there are many important and dramatic changes in federal law, and we should have treated it under normal process. that's a legitimate republican concern and i think it ought to be a concern of everybody in this body. and quite frankly we will lose votes today on this legislation because of the manner in which it was brought to the floor. and that is unfortunate. frankly if we don't make it today, it will be because the democratic leadership chose to bring it to the floor this way. had it been brought under normal order it would pass easily. however having said that, i think this is a case in which substance must trump process for the good of our fellow americans in indian country. the problems as i mentioned earlier are severe. on indian reservations, crime is 2 1/2 times the national

average. one in three native women will be raped over the course of a lifetime. we have only 3,000 tribal officers that cover 56 million acres of indian country. and even if criminals are apprehended, many tribal law enforcement officials have not had the opportunity to receive the training and the resources they need to adequately carry out their duties and secure convictions. further, if the perpetrators are non-indian, it becomes a maze of federal, state, and tribal law to determine whose responsibility it is to prosecute crimes. we have had a very difficult legislative process to work through some of these problems. this bill isn't a cure-all, but it's an important start in moving in the right direction. the speaker pro tempore: additional minute. mr. cole: i thank the gentleman. this bill not only re-authorizes existing programs at existing or last appropriated levels, in other

words there is no new spending in bill t provides enhanced sentencing authority for the tribes they impose longer sentences on native americans, not non-native americans. it enhances evidence sharing and federal accountability and increases officers on the ground in indian country, it streamlines the process for the b.i.a. and i.h.s. employees to testify in sexual assault cases, re-authorizes funding to support tribal courts. in closing, all americans have the right to public safety and security, but it's pre-eminently a federal responsibility to protect those rights in indian country. a vote against this bill in my opinion is a vote to continue the status quote of rampid violence and drug abuse in indian country which we have an opportunity to make significant progress on. this legislation will only pass as it did in the senate if it has significant bipartisan support and i hope that support is available here today. i urge my colleagues on both

sides to pass this important piece of legislation. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. the chair will receive a message. the messenger: mr. speaker, a message from the senate. the secretary: mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: madam secretary. the secretary: i have been directed by the senate to inform the house that the senate has passed s. 3250, cited as the federal building personnel training act of 2010, in which the concurrence of the house is requested. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from west virginia. mr. rahall: mr. speaker, one of the wane movers of this legislation is the gentlelady from south dakota, ms. herseth sandlin. she has been a tremendous help on our committee on natural resources on all issues, but especially those affecting indian country. and indian country can be very proud of the friend they have in stephanie herseth sandlin. i yield her five minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from south dakota is recognized for five minutes. ms. herseth sandlin: thank you, mr. speaker. i want to first thank chairman rahall for yielding me time and

for his outstanding leadership of the natural resources committee and its office on indian affairs and moving this important legislation forward. i'd also like to thank the judiciary committee chairman, mr. conyers, as well as my good friend, mr. scott, chairman of the subcommittee on crime, terrorism, and homeland security. through their efforts on the judiciary committee the bill has been strengthened in its final form. i'd like to thank my good friend, the gentleman from oklahoma, mr. cole, and his staff for his strong partnership in moving this important bill through the house. i urge my colleagues to support this bipartisan bill that passed the senate by unanimous consent. the tribal law and order act will improve law enforcement efforts and combat sexual assault and drug smuggling in indian country. it re-authorizes existing programs designed to strengthen tribal courts, police departments, and correction centers, as well as programs to prevent and treat alcohol and substance abuse and improve opportunities for at-risk indian youth. a vote geps this bill is a vote

to keep the status quo. the status quo where it's estimated one in three women, american indian women, and alaska native women, will be raped in their lifetime. a vote against this bill will maintain the status quo. the status quo where drug trafficking organizations are tarring thed interian reservations to -- are targeting indian reservations because of the lack ever law enforcement on indian land. native american families like all families deserve a basic sense of safety and security in their community. law enforcement is one of the federal government's trust obligations to federally recognized tribes. yet as tribes across the country know all too well, congress is failing to meet that obligation. the situation is stickley challenging for large land-based reservations in south dakota and elsewhere. officials from the department of public safety recently had

six officers, six, six officers to cover the pine ridge reservation. an area larger than the states of delaware and rhode island combined. the kinds of problems that arise from such a limited law enforcement presence include the case of a young woman living on the pine ridge reservation. she received a restraining order against an ex-boyfriend who battered her. one night she was home alone, woke up as he attempted to break into her home with a crowbar, she immediately called the police but due to a lack of l.a.n. lines for telephones and spotty cell phone coverage, the call was cut off three times before she reported her situation to the dispatcher. the nearest officer was about 40 miles away and even though the police officer who took the call started driving to her home at 80 miles an hour, by the time he arrived the woman was severely bloodied and beaten the perpetrator had escaped.

today the house has an opportunity to deal with these issues. to deal with these issues and so many others to make a difference in the lives of native americans across the country. the senate has already unanimously approved it. senator john kyl, the republican whip said when the bill passed the senate, many tribal communities today lack the support and tools needed to combat the terrible violence and crimes they experience. that's why i applaud the passage of the tribal law and order act which authorizes desperately needed funds for law enforcement in indian country. senators john barrasso, vice chairman of the senate indian affairs committee added, quote, through this bill we are sending a strong message that indian reservations will not be a haven for criminal activity, drug trafficking, gangs, and abuse. the tribal law and order act also has the support of the administration, the national congress of american indians, and many other tribal states and local governments and organizations. we have worked for years, over

many congresses, in field hearings, where members of this body and their staff have traveled to south dakota and to other native american communities, to fully understand the magnitude of this problem. and the importance of asking in this congress, working with the senate in a bipartisan way, through weeks and months of negotiations to make responsible changes to this bill, to address the concerns that members on both sides of the aisle had expressed about the bill. we have made those changes. senator coburn has been satisfied so we have made those changes. we have worked diligently in the committees of jurisdiction to address the changes, to ask what it is that any member has to get them to a yes. we can't delay any further.

native american women and their children are the most at risk. the statistics bear it out. i ask my colleagues to join me in passing this important bipartisan bill and send it to the president for his signature. thank you. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from washington. mr. hastings: i reserve my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from washington reserves the balance of his time of the the gentleman from west virginia. mr. rahall: i join in thanking the chairman of the house judiciary committee, chairman john conyers, for his help on this legislation and in particular i want to thank the subcommittee chairman on crime, terrorism, and homeland security, the gentleman from virginia, bobby scott. i'm very happy to yield to him now four minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from virginia is recognized for four minutes. mr. scott: thank you, mr. speaker. i thank the gentleman for yielding. i'm pleased to join my colleagues on both sides of the aisle in support of the legislation today which includes the tribal law and order act of 2010.

others have spoken about the yepped of crime in our nation's indian land, unfortunately many tribes reported many of the crimes, including the very serious crimes such as rape and assault, are not included among those prosecuted in federal courts by u.s. attorneys e. either a matter of case priorities or limited resources. with inadequate funding and limited prosecutorial authority of the tribes, even when the crimes are first prted in tribal court, the limitation of 12 months on sentences in tribal court does not allow sentences adequate to address the more serious crimes. this bill allows tribal authorities to respond to such crimes and to do so with more appropriate consequences for the more serious and dangerous offenders. at the same time, it improves the procedures in tribal court and better protects the rights of tribal defendants. moreover, as it authorizes moreau bust enforcement and appropriate sentences, it also authorizes key programs to address the root causes of

crimes. these include juvenile delinquency prevention and summer youth programs as well as drug and alcohol abuse programs. timely, the bill also addresses federal law enforcement to do -- impresses federal law enforcement to do more and improves the coordination among tribal, state, and federal law enforcement agencies. this is a practical effort to solve a very significant problem in our country. mr. chairman, this is a rare crime bill that comes to the floor. mr. speaker, this is a rare crime bill that comes to the floor of this body but the kind of broad bipartisan support that the tribal law and order act has earned. this bill has the unanimous support of the senate. it has the support of tribal governments and organizations. it has the support from the justice department and outside law enforcement groups such as the national district attorneys association. we also have the support of amnesty international and federal public defenders.

with that kind of bipartisan support i urge all of the members to vote yes on the motion to suspend the rules and agree to the senate amendment. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from washington. mr. hastings: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, i'm pleased to yield four minutes to the gentleman from california, mr. lungren. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. lungren: thank you very much, mr. speaker. at this time i'd like to enter into a colloquy with the chairman of the committee. i would like to address changes made to section 201 of the tribal law and order act that concern public law number 83-280, commonly known as public law 280. this law was enacted on august 15, 1953 and public law 280 removed the federal government special indian country law enforcement jurisdiction over almost all indian lands in the states of alaska upon statehood. my own state of california, minnesota, nebraska, oregon,

and wisconsin have permitted these states to exercise criminal jurisdiction over those lands. the act specifically provides these states, quote, shall have juries decks offer offenses committed by or against indians in the area of indian country to the same extent that such state has jurisdiction over offenses committed elsewhere within the state. the criminal laws of such state shall have the same force and effect within such indian country as they have elsewhere within the state, end quote. section 201 of the tribal law and order act of 2010 allows the federal government to reassume criminal jurisdiction on public law 280 lands when the affected indian tribe requests the u.s. attorney general to do so. if the attorney general concurs, the united states will reassume jurisdiction to prosecute violations of the general major and crimes act, sections 1152 and 1153 of title 18 that occur on the requesting tribes reservation. the bill makes clear that once

the united states reassumes jurisdictions pursuant to this provision, criminal authority on the affected reservation will be concurrent among the federal and state governments and, quote, where applicable, end quote, tribal governments. i'd like to ask the distinguished chairman of the committee on natural resources, mr. rahall torques make clear nothing in the tribal law and order act retracts jurisdiction from the state government and nothing in the act will grant privilege jurisdiction in indian country to an indian tribe that does not currently have criminal jurisdiction over such land. i yield to the chairman. . mr. rahall: he is correct. public law 280 has been mixed for both the tribes and the states. the states that are subject to law 280 possess the authority to investigate and prosecute crimes committed on reservations.

but because of somebody is he went court decisions, it has civil jurisdiction to affected states, these states have almost no ability to raise revenue on public law 280 lands. and to the extent that tribal governments retain concurrence jurisdictions over crimes committed by indians on these lands, such authority is committed to no more than one year for any one offense. as such, residents of disturb subject to public law 280 sometimes have underfunded state and local law enforcement authorities to prosecute reservation crimes. the phrase in section 201 that jurisdiction, quote, shall be concurrent upon state governments and where applicable tribal governments, end quote, those subject to public law 280 will maintain such criminal authority and

responsibility. in addition, this provision intends to make clear that tribal governments subject to public law 280 maintain concurrent criminal authority over offenses by indians in indian country where the tribe has such authority. nothing in this provision will change the current law of criminal jurisdiction for state or tribal government. it simply seeks to return criminal authority and responsibility to investigate and prosecute major crime in indian countries to the united states where certain conditions are met. mr. lungren: i thank the chairman for that. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. lungren: i thank the chairman for that. i concur with the interpretation expressed by him and i want to thank him for the clarification of section 201 of this important legislation. mr. speaker, although i intend to support this legislation, the process under which the bill has been brought up can

only be described as stranger than fiction. while it might have been appropriate to consider under suspension an act to protect indian arts crafts, the guts of that bill have been replaced with language that dramatically affect the criminal justice system on tribal lands. the house judiciary committee upon which i serve have had no markup. although we had a meeting which i found most interesting and helpful, we did not work our will on the legislation. why am i concerned about that? because there are some very specific parts of indian law as it incorporates with state law in p.l. 280 states that frankly are not fully addressed in this bill. among other things, it is likely we will need to address the adequacy of the training standards in the bill which are less rigorous than the police officer standards and training commission standards in my own

state. as the former chairman of that commission, i realize the seriousness of the training requirements of law enforcement officers. unfortunately, that is not addressed in this bill. secondly, there is a concern expressed by law enforcement officials in my state about the adequacy of protection of information. under current law under the clepp system, the california law enforcement system dealing with information, criminal justice inspection, it is not currently available to tribal authorities because of the lack of training and a concern about law enforcement -- about liability. the question about liability, if there is a misuse of that information remains. and local law enforcement -- mr. hastings: i yield the gentleman one minute. mr. lungren: and local law enforcement of my state of california has informed me of their continuing concern on

this. that is not enough for me to oppose this bill because i think the essentials of this bill are necessary for us to help protect those in indian lands. but, mr. speaker, the nature of indian land is very different in different states. some states have very, very large reservations and very few tribes with very large populations in those tribes. california has in by and large very small geographic reservations and other properties that are sovereign territory of the indians involved, but we have relatively small bands but large numbers of them. so we have a different set of circumstances of which we have to deal. i would hope we would be able to work legislation that would acknowledge that difference, but unfortunately that did not happen here. and i will support this bill but it is unfortunate that true

concerns expressed by law enforcement in p.l. 280 states and other areas of the country were not taken into consideration here, and i hope we will have a chance in the future to amend this process or amend this legislation. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from west virginia. mr. rahall: mr. speaker, i'm happy to yield now to another member of our natural resources committee, classmate of mine and a gentleman who co-chairs the native american caucus and certainly indian country has a true, true friend in this gentleman from michigan, representative dale kildee. i yield him two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan is recognized for two minutes. mr. kildee: i thank the gentleman for yielding. mr. speaker, today i rise in strong support of the tribal law and order act as an amendment to h.r. 725, the indian arts and crafts amendments act. i applaud the hard work and diligence of my friend and colleague, congresswoman herseth sandlin, for introducing this legislation,

and i thank my good friend, tom cole, who has been working hard and well on this legislation. as co-chair of the congressional native american caucus, i know that this legislation is desperately needed. the federal government is obligated to various treaties with indian tribes, provide public safety, yet it has failed in its duty for far too long. mr. speaker, violence in indian reservations is 2 1/2 times higher than the national average. it's estimated that one in three native women will be raped or sexual assaulted in her lifetime. only 3,000 tribal law enforcement officers cover over 56 million acres of land in indian country. mr. speaker, this legislation will impose enhanced sentencing guidelines, provide for more evidence sharing between federal agencies and enhanced federal accountability. it will also provide for more law enforcement officers and increase access to training at state and tribal police academies.

mr. speaker, finally, this legislation will re-authorize funding for tribal courts, jails and juvenile detention centers. the senate passed the same legislation through with bipartisan support. i strongly urge my colleagues to do the same and pass this critical piece of legislation. mr. speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from washington. mr. hastings: mr. speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from washington reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from west virginia. mr. rahall: mr. speaker, i yield one additional minute to the gentlelady from south dakota, ms. herseth sandlin. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from south dakota is recognized for one minute. ms. herseth sandlin: i want to submit letters in support of h.r. 725. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. the gentleman from washington. mr. hastings: mr. speaker, i yield 30 seconds to the distinguished gentleman from virginia, the chairman of the interior subcommittee on appropriations, mr. --

mr. rahall: mr. speaker, i yield 30 seconds to the distinguished gentleman from virginia, the chairman of the interior subcommittee on appropriations, mr. moran. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. moran: the only argument i hear is a jurisdictional one. the chair of the judiciary committee has not raised any objection to this. it should be passed and this congress should be proud that it did. thank you, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from washington. mr. hastings: thank you, mr. speaker. could i advise my friend, the chairman, if he has more speakers? mr. rahall: we're prepared to close. mr. hastings: i yield myself the balance of the time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. hastings: mr. speaker, i want to point out because i have expressed my opposition to this because of the process that's been acknowledged by several members on both sides of the aisle. the last time this legislation -- legislation like this was taken up was in the 101st congress. the bill was introduced, i think, on the first day.

there were hearings held on that legislation and then it went through committee markup. it was amended in committee, sent to the house floor and it was passed on suspension but that was after the committee had done its work. it went to the house where there were -- to the senate where there were hearings in the senate. the bill was further amended in the senate committee, went to the senate floor where it was amended again. and then came back to the house. the house concurred and amended it one more time, went back to the senate, they concurred and the bill was finally passed. so i point out that that process involved in that case both houses, both houses had ideas on how to improve this legislation. but apparently this year while a bill -- similar bill was introduced in the house, there's only a hearing in the judiciary committee, we have no hearing on the incidents of crime in our committee which i think probably would have provided some insight. i only bring this up, mr. speaker, to say that the process in passing legislation

should improve both houses and not just one house. but i find it rather curious in this instance where those on the other side are saying the senate did all of the work in this wonderful process. i wonder if anybody on the other side of the aisle feels the same way about the other issues pending here where we seem to have a problem getting concurrence like on major issues like the supplemental budget, for example, and a few other issues floating around. maybe we should just yield all the wisdom in the house to the senate as we have on this bill. now, i say that somewhat facetiously, mr. speaker, but i make a point of opposing this bill on the process. but we shall see if these other issues are taken up in a like manner in this house, and i won't hold my breath. with that, mr. speaker, i yield back my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from washington

yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from west virginia. mr. rahall: how much time do i have left, mr. speaker? the speaker pro tempore: you have five minutes. the gentleman has five minutes. mr. rahall: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. rahall: i appreciate my good friend, the gentleman from washington's, comments about the other body. however, every now and then some blaze of wisdom or light strikes over there and they do see their way to doing something that is good. and when they do it you have to give them credit for it. what else can you say? h.r. 725 as amended would mark the most significant stride forward in improving indian country in a generation. swift passage is not only critical to addressing the problem of unchecked balance in indian country but also to ensuring that the united states meets its sound, trust obligations to tribes. so, mr. speaker, in conclusion, i thank members on both sides of the aisle and our staffs as well who have worked cooperatively and in a

bipartisan fashion and i thank members of the other body as well for that light that they have seen on this particular issue, anyway. and with that i do urge my colleagues to support passage of the legislation and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the question is will the house suspend the rules and concur in the senate amendment to h.r. 725. 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 senate amendment is -- the gentleman. >> i'd ask for the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays are requested. all those in favor of taking this vote by the yeas and nays will rise and remain standing until counted. a sufficient number having arisen, the yeas and nays are ordered. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20 and the chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be postponed.

for what purpose does the gentleman from west virginia seek recognition? mr. rahall: mr. speaker, i move to suspend the rules and pass s. 1053. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: senate 1053, an act to amend the national law enforcement museum act to extend the termination date. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from west virginia, mr. rahall, and the gentleman from washington, mr. hastings, each will control 20 minutes. the chair now recognizes the gentleman from west virginia. mr. rahall: i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. rahall: and i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. rahall: mr. speaker, the 106th congress authorized the national law enforcement officers memorial fund to establish a national law enforcement museum on a site selected here in the district of columbia. the authority to begin construction, however, will

expire in november of this year and the project has yet to break ground. as 1053 will extend the sunset date for three years. given the enormous circumstances of the men and women who work in law enforcement in order to protect our safety and well-being this is obviously a worthy project and we support extending its authorization so this museum proposal may continue moving forward. i urge my colleagues to support this bill and reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from washington. mr. hastings: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself as much time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. haste thaste -- mr. hastings: thank you, mr. speaker. this has been adequately explained by the ranking member of the committee. we are pleased that despite the difficult economic environment the national law enforcement officer's memorial fund is committed to completing this project. i urge my colleagues to support this legislation and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance

of his time. mr. hastings: the gentleman has no further speakers, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from washington yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from west virginia. mr. rahall: i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from west virginia yields back the balance of his time. the question is now, will the house suspend the rules and pass senate bill 1053. those 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 and the bill is passed and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from tennessee seek recognition? the speaker pro tempore: madam speaker, i move to suspend the rules and pass h.r. 2693, the oil pollution research development program re-authorization act of 2010 as

amended. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 2693, a bill to amend title 7 of the oil pollution act of 1990 and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: presume, the gentleman from tennessee, mr. gordon, and -- pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from tennessee, mr. gordon, and mr. hall will each control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from tennessee. mr. gordon: thank you, madam 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. 2693, the bill now under consideration. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. the gentleman from tennessee. mr. gordon: madam speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from tennessee is recognized. mr. gordon: as we all know, on april 20, 2010, as explosion occurred aboard the b.p. deepwater horizon rig which claimed the lives of 11 men and resulted in the largest environmental disaster in our nation's history. while the flow of oil from the well might have stopped for now,

as long as our economy is dependent on oil we risk similar tragedy happening again and again. we have a responsible to ensure -- responsibility tone sure that the responsible relevant agencies are equipped with technology, intellectual and financial resources needed to prevent future oil spills and effectively respond when they occur. with that i am pleased to bring before the house two bills that enhance u.s. preparedness for future oil spills and improve worker safety. the first bill is h.r. 2693, the oil pollution research and development program re-authorization act of 2010 introduced by my friend from california, congresswoman lynn woolsey. and congratulate her for her foresight in introducing this bill. this bill was passed out of the science and technology committee last week by a voice vote after considering 21-member amendments and it incorporates a few additional changes partly to address minority concerns raised in the committee markup.

h.r. 2693 amends the oil pollution act of 1990 in response to the exxon valdez oil spill. o.p.a.-90 was enacted to improve the nation's ability to both prevent and mitigate oil spills. unfortunately little progress has been made since then and today's responders are left with virtually the same set of tools they had in 1989. ms. woolsey, i recognize this critical shortcoming in the response to the oil spill in her district in 2007 and she drafted this amendment to the open 90 to improve the interagency research program. the b.p. deepwater horizon tragedy has made the intent of this bill all the more relevant today. h.r. 2693 enhances the research and development activities, sets up a more efficient federal management structure and provides for more robust oversight and accountability of the interagency r&d program

established by o.p.a. -- opa-90. i would like to thank my ranking member from texas, mr. hall, and other republicans, colleagues, for working with us to improve this bill. also once again i commend ms. woolsey for her foresight and commitment to enhancing the nation's preparedness for oil spills through h.r. 2693 and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the chair recognizes the gentleman from texas. mr. hall: i yield myself such time as i may consume and i thank you, madam speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas. mr. hall: oil and natural gas are a vital part of our economy and will continue to be for the foreseeable future. in order to really ensure continued availability and access to the resource we absolutely have to develop our domestic supply of oil and natural gas whether it's on land or offshore. like any other complex endeavor accidents are going to happen. the most we can do is try to

prevent them from happening in the first place and then have the tools to, the technologies and resources to -- the tools, the technologies and resources to give quickly remove and mitigate any oil spill. this was the motivation behind the passage of the research and development title of the oil pollution act of 1990 and is our motivation again today. h.r. 2693 is reported as a good effort to address the many concerns that science committee members on both sides of the aisle had with the introduced version of the bill. it also is an attempt to deal with some of the shortcomings in the underlying statute. although we're all working hard and have worked hard to find compromise on some of the language, a few concerns still remain. i'm pleased that the legislation maintains the coast guard as the chair of interagency coordinating committee, as the onscene commander for oil discharge and water, coast guard leadership is necessary to ensure research and development

program, that it remains focused on relevance research. however, we have some reservations about streamlining the interagency committee by reducing the participation on the committee to coast guard, noaa, e.p.a. and the department of interior. while i understand the concern that the size of the interagency committee was unwieldy, we heard testimony that the current structure did work. so i'm left wondering if this is a case of a solution in search of a problem. i'm also a bit concerned that the direction of h.r. 2693 has shifted the focus of the underlying statute to concentrate much more on the environmental affects of the use of the cleanup technologies rather than the effectiveness of the technologies themselves. while researching and understanding the environmental effects of technology drve understanding the -- while understanding the effects of technology use is is important, -- important, it should not detract from the overreaching and overarching focus of

research, technology development and demonstration. republicans tried to recover some of this quib, an amendment, however the legislation still requires more balance. during the markup the committee adopted language greatly expanding the international coordination provisions of the statute. allowing the discussion illustrated our concerns of such an expansive role could divert the interagency committee from pry mae mare focus of research, and demonstration. i want to thank the majority for agreeing to temper their language to alleviate some of our concerns but i'm still hesitant that the vague provision could become a larger part of the program than was originally intended. coordination and collaboration with other nations and foreign research entities can be a useful part of the program. for instance, we've seen the assistance offed by other nations during the deep walter horizon incident was not accepted for various reasons including some technologies

failed to be exatble with our own. researching the compatibility issues, advanced technology development and coordinated research for field testing of equipment are all activities that should be considered under this provision. i caution against a broader implementation of the language. i have some reservations about a provision added during markup that would require any entity that receives federal funding for research upon request by the interagency committee to turn over the results that have research to assist in the response effort. in times of emergency it's vital that the response and decision making authorities have access to the most recent and vell rant information available -- relevant information available but the information included seemed broad and unclear. research that could be helped during a response to an oil spill may come from unconventional sources such as information or technology developments created for a completely different purpose. the language suggests that the

request for information would not be limited to those projects explicitly focused on oil spill research. such a data call could yield a substantial amount of information, easily overwhelming the interagency committee, much like we saw when b.p. was taking suggestions on how to stop their leak. we're pleased that the language has been modified to ensure better protection of this research. however it's still ambiguous as to how the information requests would be conducted. when the country is in the midst of a crisis and congress decides to act, it's possible for us to go too far to fix things, causing unintended consequences. acting deliberately and in a focused manner will help the current situation and ultimately prevent the necessity of having to go back and fix things that resulted unexpectedly. while h.r. 2693 progressed through commerce and through the committee process, my hope is as we move through the legislative process, including a formal

conference, some of our concerns and questions may be addressed. preparedness is defined as, quote, activities and measures that exist before an emergency and are used to support and enhance the appropriate response. research and development are key activities necessary for not only preparing for an event but also trying to prevent its occurrence in the first place. finally, after changes made, i'm comfortable with the bill and i thank you, madam speaker, i thank chairman gordon and woolsey who have been helpful and written a bill certainly better than we think it was to begin with. and i yield back my time. i reserve my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from tennessee is recognized. mr. gordon: madam speaker, i yield seven minutes to the gentlelady from california, the author of the bill, ms. woolsey. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from california is recognized for seven minutes. ms. woolsey: thank you, madam

speaker. i'd like to thank chairman gordon and chairman baird, the chairman of the energy subcommittee, and ranking member hall for leadership and for cooperation and for making a base bill even better. madam speaker, in 2007 the containership collided with the san francisco bay bridge. spilling 58,000 gallons of oil into the san francisco bay and causing great harm, great harm to the surrounding environment, great harm to the economy of my district and great harm to the surrounding bay area. although this spill was minor compared to the current gulf coast catastrophe, the impact to the bay area was widespread. thousands of birds, including 50

different species, were killed, coastal fish riss were impacted and marine -- fisheries were impacted and marine mammals died. more than 200 miles of coast line was polluted by the oil spill, costing more than $70 million in environmental cleanup costs. what occurred to me throughout the ordeal was the question and the confusion regarding who was in charge and what technologies were available to assess and clean up the mess. that's why i introduced h.r. 2693 last year before the catastrophe of the gulf of mexico to strengthen coordination of federal research and development of science and technologies that will prevent, combat and clean up spills. and that is why chairman baird held a hearing on the very issue.

madam speaker, if we learned anything from the costco spill it is that we need to strengthen leadership and coordination of response research and development. and everything that we learned from the b.p. gulf of mexico disaster magnifies my concerns. madam speaker, following the exxon valdez oil spill congress passed the oil pollution act of 1990 which created an interagency coordinating committee to coordinate research and development of oil spill prevention and response among 14 federal agencies. not one, not two, not three, not four. 14 federal agencies. it was confusing during the costco -- cosco busan disaster. chairman gordon, i want to thank you.

chairman baird, i want to thank you for helping me streamline the coordinating committee in h.r. 2693. and ranking member hall, i want to thank you for accepting the changes that we made and the improvement. i also want to thank the members of the science and technology committee and the staff who worked so hard to improve this legislation and ensure that it reflects recent developments in the gulf. madam speaker, h.r. 2693 streamlines the interagency coordinating committee to include representatives from noaa, the coast guard, e.p.a. and the department of interior while retaining the coast guard as the chair of the interagency committee. this insurance that the agencies with the most research expertise in oil spill prevention, detection and recovery and mitigation are working together for common solutions in an effective and

efficient way. additionally, the interagency committee is required to collaborate with the other federal agencies listed in the oil pollution act, and my bill now includes the national science foundation to this list. my bill increases the authorized level of funding for federal oil pollution research and development from $22 million to $48 million, all of which is drawn from the oil spill liability trust fund. this level of funding hasn't been changed since 1990. h.r. 2693 also authorizes $12 million in funding for regional research program to provide pier reviewed competitive grants through institutes of higher learning and research facilities to improve technologies used to prevent and respond to oil spills. following the coco busan oil leak, we heard that the

technology they were using was inadequate and was in fact almost the same technology used to respond to exxon valdez decades earlier. during the science committee markup of h.r. 2693, as the chairman mentioned, nearly 20 bipartisan amendments were adopted that strengthened this bill. with estimates putting the total amount of oil spill in the gulf at nearly 200 million barrels, it's essential that we have the best science and technology possible to deal with the disaster of this magnitude. as long as we use, transport oil in the united states there is a risk of oil spills along the shores. it's true that it negatively affects our fishing and tourism industry.

madam speaker, we must, we must do best to protect the public and the environment from future oil spills. this bill brings us closer to that goal to targeted and coordinated research, development and demonstrations that will help us better prevent, better combat and better mitigate future oil spills no matter the size. madam speaker, i urge my colleagues to support this important legislation, and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back the balance of her time. the gentleman from tk is -- texas is recognized. mr. hall: madam speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from tennessee is recognized. mr. gordon: i yield to the chairman of the energy and environment subcommittee, dr. baird. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. baird: i rise in support of h.r. 2693, the federal oil spill research and development program act and we will be

discussing h.r. 5716, the safer oil and natural gas drilling technology research and development act. i want to thank ms. woolsey and ranking member hall for two outstanding pieces of legislation that could not be more timely and that are tremendously important given not only the events that we're facing in the gulf today but towards trying to prevent these kinds of incidents from occurring in the future. i want to start by commending the many thousands, more than 33,000 people who are in the gulf today working on this cleanup effort. i had the privilege of traveling there recently along with members of our science committee staff. when i met with some of those folks i asked, what can we do to help? and they said the first we can do to help is tell people that we are working tremendously hard and making a difference. we have people working in more than 100-degree weather, in terribly difficult environment and they're working 12 to 14 to

16-hour days, seven days a week and they often feel that all they get is criticism. they are making a real difference. it's a heroic effort, an unprecedented scale, and we should be proud of them. and in that visit i met people from virtually every major federal agency, from noaa, e.p.a., national marine fishery services, the coast guard and countless others many of whom i'm proud to say are from my own great state of washington and they are very proud of the work they're doing. and i want to begin by acknowledging them. as we all know, open 90 came in response to the exxon valdez spill, and thanks to ms. woolsey's leadership we actually begun in our subcommittee to how to review how the research effort to prepare for and prevent these kinds of spills was going on -- was going forward. sadly, that proved to be very pressing because the spill that involved in the gulf is precisely the kind of effort --

event we were trying to prepare for. the average folks i represent say to themselves and they ask us a few simple questions. what went wrong that actually began this? how do we prevent future spills from happening? and if there should be a future spill, what can we do to clean it up and to better understand and mitigate the environmental impact? the legislation, both bills before us today, answer those questions. they extract material in a safe manner. one of the credible measures we're doing is reprioritizing some of the funding so there will still be an emphasis on the extractive technologies but with greater attention paid to the safety of those, both to the safety of the crews working on the vessels and the protection of the environment from environmental impact. at the same time we are trying to do measures to prevent accidents from occurring in the future. that includes implementing best

practices, reviewing the technologies, human factors, dealing with the communitycation and the training of the work force. some of the system we had suggested that the work force training has not kept up with technological developments, particularly in the specialized area of deepwater drilling. and this applies to the regulatory agencies which is essential they have personnel on the scene who are experts in the precise technologies that they are overseeing during their regulatory visits. we also spent a great deal of time looking at the environmental impacts of this, what is it that we know about how the environment is being impacted and what is it we need to know? this legislation before us will direct the research agencies to improve our knowledge, both of the research available to clean this up. we heard with mr. kevin and others on how to clean this up. additionally, i'm proud to have

authored an amendment, along with paul tonko, that would allow us to prestage both technologies for cleanup and research studies so that should there be an event we can make use of that event to fwear more knowledge on what we can reduce oil in the water and to mitigate the environmental impact. the other thing people are asking is what do we need to do to make sure we clean this up better? the areas we visited in the gulf, there are areas that are doing remarkable work to prevent oil from coming onshore. and trying to clean up the beaches when they've been contaminated. but one thing we know, this is going to be a long-standing impact and we need to not only research what's happening today, we need to continue to research what's going on in the future. and this will be a long-term research project. this legislation recognizes and supports that. and finally, i should say that this is an international issue and this legislation provides

for major collaboration with national entities. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. baird -- mr. baird: i ask one for minute. mr. gordon: i yield one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. baird: i want to recognize mr. hall, the ranking member, who has been instrumental in prior work to make sure we had developed competitive technologies to gain access to these resources for the benefit of our country. but the foresight of ms. woolsey and the outstanding leadership and bipartisan fashion of chairman gordon, the research and science committee has again led the way on an issue of major importance. i'm proud to have been a part of this and urge passage of both bills today. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. hall: madam speaker, might i inquire of the chairman, do you have any other speakers? fwoorned gordon no -- mr. gordon: no, sir. mr. hall: then i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the

gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from tennessee is recognized. mr. gordon: madam speaker, in conclusion, once again, i want to thank the gentlelady from california, ms. woolsey, for bringing this bill before us, dr. baird for getting it through the subcommittee, the 26 democrats and republicans on the scunes and technology committee that brought amendments to make -- on the science and technology committee that brought amendments to make a good bill better and the majority and minority staff for bringing this bill before us and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from texas seeks recognition. mr. hall: does the gentleman yield? mr. gordon: if i could reclaim my time -- the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman from tennessee -- the gentleman from tennessee, are you yielding to the gentleman? mr. gordon: i yield such time as he may consume. mr. hall: i want to congratulate you and ms. woolsey. this bill was improved by the history of the bad occurrence that happened in her district that she's trying to spare the rest of our districts. i want to thank her for the

good work on this. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas is -- mr. gordon: i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from tennessee yields back the balance of his time. the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 2693 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 tennessee seek recognition? mr. gordon: madam speaker, i move to suspend the rules and pass h.r. 5716, the safer oil and natural gas drilling technology research and development act, as amended. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 5716, a bill to provide for enhancement of existing efforts in support of research, development, demonstration, and commercial application activities to advance technologies for the safe and environmentally

responsible exploration, development, and production of oil and natural gas resources. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from tennessee, mr. gordon, and the gentleman from texas, mr. hall, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from tennessee. mr. gordon: madam 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. 5716, the bill now under consideration. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. the gentleman from tennessee. mr. gordon: madam speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentleman from tennessee. mr. gordon: advances in drilling technologies have allowed industry to venture in every -- into ever deeper waters in search of the enormous oil and gas reserves found there. operating in such extreme environments entails immense engineering and technological challenges, the complexity of which is encountered in few other endeavors.

in the hypercompetitive field of energy, the industry is naturally guarded about sharing information and collaborating on proprietary technology development. but safety is universal and it's time we utilize federal resources in pursuing the technology enveloped or pushing the technology enveloped toward safer oil and natural gas exploration. my bill, h.r. 5716, the safer oil and natural gas drilling technology research and development act does just that, by realigning the focus and funding of existing programs set up under section 999 of the energy policy act of 2005 on environmental and worker safety and accidental prevention mitigation. i commend this bill after close collaboration with mr. hall who has been a long-time champion of this program. as we look to federal resources to rapidly advance this field, it is somewhat fortuitous that the 999 program is already in

place. both the outside research consortium and the program at the national energy technology lab are well suited to take on challenges of r&d into the technology of drilling safety and accident prevention mitigation. as a d.o.e. lab for fossil energy, netl has an extensive research infrastructure and long history of expertise and excellence in this field and through the relatively new program, has 170 members from across the industry, academia and government research entities. furthermore, the program does not require new spending, since it's already funded from $50 million in royalty revenues. if properly realigned to meet the current challenges, this research program authorized by section 666 represents the department of energy's best resources for improving safety and reducing the environmental impact on offshore, onshore oil

and natural gas exploration and production activities. as i said, h.r. 5716 is the product of significant bipartisan collaboration and i want to thank mr. hall, his staff and the other members of the science and technology committee for their continuing good work as we move this legislation forward. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. hall: i yield myself such time as i may consume, madam speaker. and i rise in support of h.r. 5716, the safer oil and natural gas drilling technology research and development act. as we near the 100-day mark since the beginning of the deepwater horizon disaster, i understand the precise causes of the accident and the missteps in the days that followed remain unclear. however, regardless of the ultimate causes and best responses to the disaster, it makes sense to continue pursuing improvements to safe and

environmentally responsible drilling operations as well as effective spill response systems. the two oil spill-related bills under consideration by the house today represent the science and technology committee's contribution to this effort and are likely to have a significant impact on future drilling and response mitigation efforts. the program offered by this bill, h.r. 5716, was established in section 999 of the energy policy act of 2005. it supports through a collaborative effort between the department of energy and a university industry research cor consortium, cutting edge -- consortium, cutting edge technologies. the program has continued significantly to transformational advances in deep offshore and onshore drilling technologies that are helping to efficiently and responsibly recover energy supplies long known to exist but which were previously

inaccessible. the recovery of these resources has resulted in significant benefits to taxpayers in the form of domestic jobs and affordable energy as well as increasing royalties to the fund that pace for the program in the -- pays for the program in the first place. the changes to section 999 made by h.r. 5716 are a product of extensive negotiations with the majority to develop compromised legislation in response to the deepwater horizon disaster. specifically the bill makes three changes to the existing statute. first, it shifts the focus of each of the program's four elements toward advancing safety and accident prevention and mitigation technologies associated with oil and natural gas exploration and production. second, it adjusts the award allocations among these four programs, reducing deep water and natural gas programs by a small amount while increasing the allocation for department of energy, in-house research from

25% to 35%. and, third, it redefines and expands the scope of offshore r&d activities to those involving water depths of 1,000 feet or greater. a reduction from the 5,000-feet in current law -- 5,000 feet in current law and in doing so modifies the focus on ultradeep water activities to pertain simply to deep water activities. additionally the bill makes numerous additional minor changes to the management and structure of the 999 program, while preserving its original goals and objectives which recognize americans' domestic oil and natural gas resources are important national priorities that contribute significantly to job growth and to the economy while reducing dependence on foreign sources of energy. while this precise focus and detailed language in this bill is not ideal, it represents a fair and responsible and reasonable compromise that

preserves and strengthens the section 999 program. this is the only r&d program in the federal government capable of ramping up its activities quickly and effectively to address renewed interest in drilling technology research in the wake of the deepwater horizon disaster. given the administration's efforts to terminate any and all research and development relating to oil and natural gas this program is all the more vital. i want to again extend my thanks to chairman gordon for working with me and with us on this bill and the staffs working with one another. i look forward to continued bipartisan cooperation on this bill as the legislative process moves forward. and i urge members to support my bill and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from tennessee is recognized. mr. gordon: madam speaker, i yield two minutes to the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. murphy. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized for two minutes. mr. murphy: madam speaker,

excuse me, i thank the distinguished gentleman from the science and technology committee, mr. gordon, and i'd also like to thank both chairman gordon and ranking member hall for their generosity in letting me voice suggestions to this very important piece of legislation. as this legislation demonstrates, congress will not allow the deepwater horizon incident to end safe exploration for american energy resources. if america fails to produce our oil, we weaken our national security and lose good-paying jobs. i commend this and want to call particular attention to the work of the national energy technology laboratories. these workers have scientific expertise related to fluid flow, imaging, fire science and ultradeep water and can integrated research across academia national labs and industry. the labs have unique capabilities related to the containment of high pressure

fluids, gas under extreme conditions like prediction of material behavior. it has a critical role to play in the research of new drilling technologies, in representing the interests of taxpayers, the federal government is the fair arbiter weighing the risk of the environmental impacts unrelated to the value of economic return. the workers of these labs have demonstrated themselves to be responsible stewards of taxpayer money with respect to ultradeep water programs and i hope they'll continue to do so. although h.r. 5716 eliminates reference to technology labs, it is not the chairman's firm belief that this vital research that is so necessary tone suring america's energy independence will continue to be coordinated and overseen by the dedicated and experienced federal employees in the award-winning lab i.r.s. to in pennsylvania, west virginia and oregon. would that be correct, mr. chairman? mr. gordon: i certainly respect

the gentleman's opinion on this matter and foresee the employees at the national energy technology leb i.r.s. to will continue their work -- lab i.r.s. to will continue -- laboratories will continue the research. they've done an excellent job in the past and i'm sure they'll continue to do an excellent job. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. hall: madam speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from tennessee is recognized. mr. gordon: madam speaker, i yield three minutes to the gentleman from washington, dr. baird. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from washington is recognized for three minutes. mr. baird: i thank the chairman and i thank the speaker. earlier, in my earlier comments i acknowledged the many people who are working so hard in the gulf and i want to pay particular respect and admiration to a great public servant, admiral fat allen. as many of us know,ed that allen was essentially retired from the

coast guard but recognizing the importance of this mission and the urgency of his role there he has stayed on, working many, many long hours and in an incredibly complex endeavor and i have immense respect for him and hope that people appreciate the kind of contribution not only that admiral allen is making but that all of the coastees and other government employees are making down there as well as the many local residents as well. i also want to acknowledge the great work of the committee staff on both sides of the aisle in drafting this legislation and i particularly want to speak about an aspect of this legislation that i've worked on and that i think is particularly important and often overlooked in many other areas of -- overlooked in many other areas of activity, the role of human facters have been recognized as playing an increasingly important role. that's the case with nuclear power industry which realized in the post three-mile-island analyses that the complex

information that was being provideded to the operators of the plant was overwhelming and contributed to that disaster. it's been recognized for a long time by the federal aviation administration, indeed the tragic accident in which an airliner crashed into the potomac not far from this very building, was believed strongly related to ice on the wings but not just the ice on the wings but how the pilot and the co-pilot interacted in their discussion about whether or not it would be safe to fly under those conditions. >> would the gentleman yield? mr. baird: i would yield. mr. gordon: i yield an additional two minutes to you. mr. baird: i thank the gentleman. as they looked at that analysis, it became apparent that the rules for cockpit interactions and making decisions about safety needed to be changed. when we looked at this event that happened in the gulf and you follow the dialogue that has been reported between b.p. and the drilling operators, it is clear that human factors and

risk analysis needs dramatic improvement. witnesses to the committee hearing testified that we have to not only improve, as i mentioned earlier, the training of the personnel on the rigs but i think the management needs to be addressed and the decisionmaking process. if you can have a circumstance wherein someone says, we're going to go ahead with this operation as we deem appropriate and a person responds, well, that's -- effectively the response was, well, that's i guess why we have the blowout prevention devices. meaning somebody thought that if we do this, we're likely to have a blowout. now, when one looks at the history of safety and efficacy of those blowout preventers it's clear that they had a high failure rate. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. baird: request two additional minutes. mr. gordon: i yield two additional minutes to the gentleman. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is yielded two additional minutes. mr. baird: if we have an action

system where people are making decisions with a known possibility of a blowout and blowout preventers that have a fairly high probability of failure, somebody needs to intervene and say, what the heck is going on here that people can make these decisions when, and i want to underscore this, when the consequences is the loss of human life? 11 souls lost their lives on that rig that day. we talk so much about the cleanup and the environmental catastrophe that's resulted. let us not forget those 11 lives. when people's decisionmaking leads to the loss of human life and leads to an environmental and economic tragedy of this magnitude, we've got to make sure they make those decisions in the right way with the right information and the right communication strategies and as important as this bill is in improving the technology for drilling and drilling safety, essential to that technology are the human elements and i'm grateful that the committee saw fit to include those elements in this legislation. i thank the chairman again and with that i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: chau --

thank you. the chair would notice that the gentleman from tennessee has 6 1/2 minutes remaining. the gentleman from texas has 16 minutes. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. hall: thank you. may i inquire of the chairman as to whether or not you have other speakers? mr. gordon: i have no further speakers. mr. hall: i yield back my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from tennessee is recognized. mr. gordon: madam speaker, in conclusion i once again thank ranking member hall for his initiating this bill. he is the father of this bill and i think we all recognize his good work there and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 5716 as amended. those 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 on the table.

for what purpose does the gentleman from tennessee seek recognition? mr. gordon: madam speaker, i move to suspend the rules and pass house concurrent resolution 292, supporting the goals and ideals of national aerospace week and for other purposes and to thank my friend from michigan, dr. ehlers, for introducing this resolution. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the concurrent resolution. the clerk: house concurrent resolution 292, concurrent resolution supporting the goals and ideals of national aerospace week and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from tennessee, mr. gordon, and the gentleman from texas, mr. hall, will each control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from tennessee. mr. gordon: madam 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 292, the resolution

now under consideration. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the chair recognizes the gentleman from tennessee. mr. gordon: madam speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from tennessee. mr. gordon: no matter how many times you fly there is still something magical about the first moment of takeoff when acceleration gives way to the sudden lift and you soar into the clouds. behind that moment wander lies over a century of hard work, long hours and sacrifice spent uncovering the secrets of aerodynamics and mastering air flight. it should be pointed out with great pride that the united states was the leader in making aviation a reality. so in recognition of national aerospace week, we honor achievements in both air and space. from the very first heavier than air flight in 1903 to the moon landing in 1969, america has led the way in aerospace.

today we continue to move forward by sending robotic probes to the far reaches of the solar systems and leading the international team that constructs the international space station. america's superiority in space is which our security rests. satellites provides our troops in distant lands with everything from vital intelligence about local weather and terrain to updates on nba finals. unmanned ariel vehicles and communications and satellite-based navigation and positioning systems are essential tools that members of the armed services rely on to do their jobs safely and effectively. space systems like g.p.s. and weather satellites have become integral to civilian, social our society as well. the aerospace industry employs many hundreds of thousands of

americans and is one of the most innovative parts of our sector. seas is expect -- sales is expected to reach $100 billion this year. of those that work in the aerospace industry, for its contribution to science and engineering, to our national security and economy as well as the general well-being and progress of humankind, the aerospace industry deserves recognition. with this recognition we take a moment to remember the glories of the past and the anticipation of wonders for the future. i want to thank the sponsor of this resolution, dr. vern ehlers, for his long support of our nation's aerospace industry and for his support for science and technology, generally, during his tenure in congress on the science and technology committee. we think of him as the

conscience of science and we thank him for this good resolution today, and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. hall: madam speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas. mr. hall: i rise today, of course, in support of house concurrent resolution 292, designating the third week of september as, quote, national aerospace week, unquote, to recognize the contributions of the aerospace industry to the history, economy, security and educational system of the united states. this bill was introduced by my good friend, representative vern ehlers, who, as i'm sure many members know, is retiring at the end of this congress. i hate to lose this good man and will miss him very greatly. he's been a very steady voice of reason in the house of representatives and in the science committee. dr. ehlers has been a tireless and articulate advocate for

policies and programs aimed at attracting the talents of our young people into the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. he will be greatly missed. this nation's always been preimminent in the international aerospace industry and continues to lead the way through the support of the international space station, by offering cutting edge projects and services throughout the world and by fostering the development and operations of the largest and safest aviation system in the world. the united states' aerospace industry serves as a powerful, reliable source of employment for 831,000 people and supports more than two million other jobs in related fields. among its millions of its implications, the aerospace industry developed the global positioning system, sensors that give us the capability to make long-range, reliable meterological forecast, help defend our shores and tools to increase economic

productivities, improve our quality of life and save lives. the aerospace industry also assesses and protects members of the armed forces with communication systems. unmanned ariel systems, high-performance aircraft and navigation systems. first, let me add that high technology goods and services produced by the aerospace industry helped capture the people here at home and around the world. it gives them the opportunity to tackle the difficult class work and which in turn will ultimately help these young people to a much more enriching and rewarding life. i, madam speaker, urge my colleagues to support house resolution 292. and at this time i'd like to yield and yield the balance of my time to dr. ehlers. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. ehlers.

mr. ehlers: i thank my good friend for yielding to me. and as the author of this resolution and co-chair of the house aerospace caucus along with congressman norm dicks, who has just arrived on the floor, i rise in strong support of house concurrent resolution 292 which supports the goals and ideals of creating a national aerospace week. last year the house voice voted a similar resolution supporting an aerospace day. however, considering the aerospace industry's contribution to our history, economy, security and educational system, we believe an entire week is appropriate. last year we celebrated the 40th anniversary of the apollo moon landing, and this year we celebrate the 10th anniversary of continuous human presence in orbit on the international space station. these important achievements are made possible by the

aerospace industry. in addition to landing on the moon, living in space, innovative developments in satellites, meterological forecasting, national defense and communications, the united states has maintains the largest, most complex and safest aviation system in the world. our aviation system, especially business aviation, allows u.s. companies to stay competitive because our workers can be more productive and efficient. in fact, aviation is becoming so widespread that this evening i'll be taking an examine to work toward my own pilot certificate, and i hope to spend the remaining years of my life learning more and more about aviation. the united states' aerospace industry is a powerful, reliable source of employment, innovation and export income, employing more than 840,000

people in the united states and supporting more than two million jobs in related field. although unemployment remains high, especially in my home state of michigan, these high-value, good-paying jobs continue to be in demand because of the shortage of qualified workers. therefore, in order for the united states to remain at the forefront of aerospace development, we must do a better job of educating our children in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, commonly referenced to stem education. flying and space exploration remain a powerful inspiration that captures the interest of young people, and i applaud the efforts by the aerospace community to get involved with children and schools to nurture this interest and improve our stem education programs. i hope my colleagues will join me in honoring the aerospace

industry by designating the third week in september as national aerospace week. i urge all members to vote for h.con.res 292. and let me also express my appreciation to both the chairman of the science committee, mr. gordon, and also to mr. hall, the ranking member of that committee. they have done an excellent job of leading the committee this year, and we have accomplished great things in the science committee. i also wish to thank them as friends for the kind words they have just uttered about my departure. in fact, i'm receiving so many accolades for my work in the congress that i've decided i may retire again and again. but i suspect i'm willing to do it only one time. but in any event, i have deeply appreciated my time in the congress of the united states, and i strongly support the aerospace industry and what it

means to this country and, frankly, to this world. and we pray that we will continue to serve well in exploring this marvelous universe that the lord has given us to explore. with that i will -- i yield back the remainder of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from tennessee is recognized. mr. gordon: thank you, madam speaker. let me say all the accolades that dr. ehlers has received has been well, well deserved. he has left a thick trail of accomplishments in this body. now, i yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from washington state, the chairman of the defense appropriations subcommittee, mr. dicks. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from washington is recognized. mr. dicks: thank you, mr. chairman. i want to also say we have appreciated the service of bart gordon as chairman of the science committee and technology and mr. ralph hall

for allowing this bill to come to the floor. i want to congratulate dr. ehlers, my colleague and co-chair of the house aerospace caucus, on introducing this important resolution. i strongly support the goal of this legislation to call attention to the importance of the aerospace industry in our nation. the aerospace sector provides our economy over 840,000 jobs and constitutes over $210 billion in annual sales and $700 billion in exports. it's something we appreciate more when other segments of the economy are struggling. because i come from the puget sound region in the state of washington, it's hard to not have an awareness of the aerospace industry. in my state there are many companies developing and producing a wide range of aerospace products, but, of course, the dominant presence is boeing. the boeing company directly employs over 72,000 people in washington state, and they draw

an over 2,700 suppliers in the state while buying over $3.3 billion of goods and services per year. i want to note that just this past december 15, boeing's 787 dreamliner made its first flight. this revolutionary aircraft is the first major airliner to use composite materials throughout most of its structure which will yield significant 50'ses, reduction in fuel consumption -- significant efficiencies, reduction in fuel consumption. i am keenly aware of the role that aerospace plays for the national security. we rely on the military advantages that we enjoy over potential adversaries. and aerospace is an area where our technological advantage gives us unmatched capabilities and systems such as air-to-air

missiles, stealthy platforms, supersonic fighters and satellites that can detect missile launches. the technologies that are used for our national security are unique because only the military has a use for it. however, i want to point out that it is also not unusual for military technologies to eventually have wide and dramatic benefits in our lives. one example is the global positioning system, g.p.s., first developed for military purposes but now in use and constantly range of applications across the entire world. g.p.s. now is a vital part of the safety and efficiency of the world's transportation systems, the productivity of our farms, the management of our resources and the protection of our environment. in closing, i want to mention that despite our national successes in aerospace, there are a couple of issues that we are a couple of issues that we must pay attention to if we are