policy, a free standing policy. it starts today with 1-minute speeches. enjoy the rest of your day. .

the speaker: the house will be in order. the prayer will be offered by our chaplain, father coughlin. chaplain coughlin: lord god, in this season filled with your spirit, enable your people to

manifest love in their deeds. strengthen them to hold on to the truth both in their mind and in their speech. may their joyful convictions and personal commitment be proven in every decision and external behavior not nearly expressed in talk. no matter what conscience may charge them with, you, eternal god, are greater than any human longing. all is known to you both now and forever. amen. the speaker: the chair has examined the journal of the last day's proceedings and announces 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 new york, mr. tonko. mr. tonko: 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: the chair will entertain up to 15 requests for one minutes on each side of the aisle. for what purpose does the gentleman from new york rise? >> to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend. the speaker: without objection. mr. tonko: thank you, madam speaker. i rise and share a passage from proverbs 31, versus 8 through 9. a man will cry out and not be answered. madam speaker, let us heed that cry. i encourage my colleagues to open our ears today during this holiday season and hear the compassionate cry of the working poor and middle-income families back home. in my congressional district alone, some 6,400 people who lost their jobs through no

fault of their own will be without their earned unemployment lifeline at the end of this month if we do not act. at the same time, my colleagues in this chamber are worried about people who own estates and earn millions and billions of dollars each year. let us show compassion by standing up for the working poor and our middle-income families. we should continue to provide tax cuts for the middle-class community and extend unemployment insurance. with that, madam speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from nebraska rise? >> to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. >> madam speaker, i rise to recognize james wright for his 10 years of public service in my district staff. throughout his career in our office, james has shown a willingness to help others and improve our community. he's undertaken a number of projects, such as a program to teach financial literacy to young adults, a 5%

homeownership initiative under section 8 housing program, and a entrepreneurship program. mr. terry: he's taken on a leadership role in omaha small business initiative in north omaha. all of these actions are directed at providing quality assistance to the people of omaha. yet, his positive attitude, dedication are commendable attributes and we're certainly appreciative of his outlook. james is an outstanding member of the omaha community, loves our great city. he contributes to local and charities in the omaha community play house. he has a wealth of knowledge. we thank him for his public service. search for what purpose does the gentlelady from california rise? the gentlelady is recognized. ms. chu: madam speaker, last

year bobby, a beloved elected official in my district, was brutally murdered by the mexican drug cartels while visiting family in dur rang yo, mexico -- durango, mexico. while i'm saddened by his loss, his death led me to fight the drug cartels. that is why i under duesed the preserving foreign criminal assets forfeiture act a bill that will make it easier for federal please to seize the illicit assets of international criminal organizations. foreign criminals are able to protect hundreds of millions of dollars in dirty money by moving their proceeds abroad before u.s. police can use them. enabling them to continue their illegal activities. . with this bill we will cut off their lifeblood and allowing federal law enforcement officials to seize the illicit assets. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman

from arizona rise? >> to speak to the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. flake: madam speaker, i rise today in opposition to the tax deal negotiated between congressional leadership and the white house. although we get to see the language of the bill, it's clear it will represent a level of spending that should be unacceptable to those who are serious about our ballooning deficit. what is striking about this legislation is a failure of either party to make tough choices. where are the cuts. take the 2% payroll reduction. if it's a good idea to reduce the payroll tax, it's imperative that we couple it with a reduction in benefits on the other side. but we make no such choices here. again, we eat a meal and pass the bill onto our kids and our grandkids because we lack the decency to pay for it ourselves. if we can't make difficult choices now, madam speaker, when will we? are we waiting for ow new year's resolution to kick in? we are a few years away from

the fate of greece and ireland. we can and should do better. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from connecticut rise? >> to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. courtney: madam speaker, virginia judge henry hudson striking down one section of the health care reform act was a lot less than the noise in the last 24 hours. despite the attorney general's request, he did not strike down the whole law. he refused to delay its implementation. that's good news for millions of young americans now covered under their parent's health plans due to the health care laws. good news for millions of seniors in the medicare doughnut hole who will get a 50% discount on lifesaving medication. and medicare will finally cover checkups, cancer screenings and flu vaccinations. hudson did rule against all americans to have coverage

which will help stabilize a health insurance market and provide access to americans with pre-existing conditions. fortunately, two other judges have ruled the other way. one thing hudson did get right was his concession where he said, quote, the final word will reside with a higher court. thank goodness. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from indiana rise? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized. mr. pence: since last summer, i've urged this congress to prevent a tax increase that will affect every american in january of next year. so i rise with a heavy heart this morning to simply announce to my colleagues that i believe the short-term tax deal negotiated by the white house and congressional leaders is a bad deal for taxpayers, will do little to create jobs and i cannot support it. despite the fact that last november the american people did not vote for more deficits, more stimulus or more

uncertainty in the tax code, that's just what this lame duck congress is about to give them. you know, madam speaker, there is a reason why article 1, section 7 of the constitution says that all bills for raising revenue are to originate here in the house of representatives. it's because our founders believed that when it comes to the people's taxes the people's house should always lead. the process is wrong, the policies wrong. we perpetuate the uncertainty. it's built into our tax code. uncertainty is the enemy of our prosperity. frankly, we can provide assistance people struggling in this economy by making the hard choices to pay for it without adding to the national deficit. let's say no deal to this tax deal and get a better deal out of this congress three weeks from today. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from oregon rise? mr. defazio: to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. defazio: today, the senate with one vote will increase this fiscal year's deficit by

$430 billion under the pretense that it will get our economy back on track, create millions of jobs, and, yes, there is a santa claus. thank you very much. two years, $858 billion in total, financed with money borrowed in good part from china to pay for an extension of the stimulus tax cuts with a new twist, the money will be stolen from the social security trust fund, and a large dose of bush era trickled down tax cuts with new breaks for estates over $10 million. let's week the democratic caucus spoke almost unanimously against this. and this week under pressure from the white house and the republican leader of the senate, it appears our leadership is attempting to avoid our wishes and bring this bill forward without major changes. it will be a disaster for the american people, and it is a bad deal for taxpayers. people are unemployed.

and our kids and grandkids. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from south carolina rise? mr. wilson: madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized. mr. wilson: madam speaker, my home state of south carolina, along with washington state and the national association of utility regulators headed by commissioner david wright, scored a victory in the battle for the yucca mountain project. a federal court ruled in favor of a plan to continue the nuclear repository. the president's decision to abandon this project was editorially condemned. as breathtakingly irresponsible. as billions of dollars have already been spent to fund it. utility customers of south carolina have invested over $1.2 billion. the action also poses a security risk at dozens of nuclear waste disposal sites across the country. it means that vast amounts of nuclear waste will sit idle at the savannah river site. this is unacceptable.

nuclear energy is clean energy. it's provided my home state over 50% of our electrical power for 30 years. it's an important part of our nation's energy resources. in conclusion, god bless our troops and we will never forget september 11. my sympathy to the family of george campson of south carolina. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from new york rise? >> i ask permission to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. crowley: thank you, madam speaker. nearly one year ago the supreme court issued a ruling which drastically changed the electoral system. the courts citizens united citizens altered the political landscape that allows unprecedented, unlimited, undisclosed corporate spending that cannot be matched by private citizens. the 2010 election cycle was the most expensive in our nation's history costing hundreds of millions of dollars and misinforming millions of americans along the way. well, allowing corporations to

spend money on elections is the direct opposite of what our country was founded on. there is already too much money in politics and this decision only makes things worse. this year, my friends on the other side of the aisle watched as democrats took the brunt of this undisclosed corporate spending, but i promise you in the future you, too, will feel its lash. this is not good for our democracy. and i urge a legislative solution, and i yield back. . the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from texas rise? mr. poe: request permission to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. poe: madam speaker, i bring you news from the third front, the war zone that is our southern border with mexico. violent behavior is reaching new lows in the mexican border town of juarez. armed attackers busted into a kindergarten school and set it on fire. why? le with, the criminal drug cartels found out the teachers in juarez got a christmas bonus, so they set up an extortion

racket. these outlaw ban deetos demanded a protection fee from the teachers to keep the students safe. when the teachers didn't pay up, armed attackers broke into the school and set it on fire. juarez is the most violent city in all of mexico. and the violent cartels are bringing the war to the united states. just last night border patrol agent brian terry was murdered by bandits in the border town of rio rico, arizona. our wide open borders are facilitating violence on both sides of the border war zone. meanwhile the administration just whistles past the graveyard. that's just the way it is. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from kentucky rise? mr. yarmuth: request permission to yem. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. yarmuth: this week the senate and house will be asked to vote on a package of tax extenders and other provision that is will provide great benefits for many hardworking american families and for

low-income people. unfortunately this comes at a very high price to the american people and to the national debt. we are being asked by republican leaders in the senate to give benefits to the very healthiest americans, including an estate tax provision that will benefit only 6,600 families, the wealthiest families in america. this is like going to the hospital with a serious illness and the doctor saying to you, i'm going to give you $250,000 worth of care that's really going to help you, but in order to get it you'll have to eat $100 worth of candy that will do nothing for you but add weight down the road and that's o our children and grandchildren. this is a bad deal for the american people and i hope my colleagues will reject it. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania rise? >> madam speaker, request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized. mr. thompson: madam speaker, the army's third highest award for

combat valor is a silver star. today it's my honor to praise a recipient from state college, pad. chief warrent officer rolen. he received it against an enemy of the united states in august at fort bragg, commander of the u.s. army special operations commander at bragg, the award comes from the president of the united states. while serving as the intelligence sardwent for a special forces operational detachment in afghanistan, rolen cleared and destroyed enemy fires at close range, rescuing eight afghan soldiers and leading the actions of the die tatchment to a battlefield victory. he distinguished himself by inspiring those around him to extraordinary collective valor. his personal courage and commitment to mission accomplishment in a combat zone under extreme circumstances greatly contributed to the mission success. roland and all the other service members serving in iraq and afghanistan deserve our praise and gratitude for daily risking

their lives for freedom. a silver star's our nation's token of a greater thanks. i yield whack. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from tennessee rise? >> to address the house for one minute. revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized. mr. cohen: thank you, madam speaker. we'll be voting on the president's tax proposal this week, probably. very difficult vote. i really don't know how i'm going to vote. on the one hand i see the benefit of having timely, temporary, and targeted relief to people that helps the economy with unemployment compensation. unemployment compensation that's must needed to the people of purple hearts of this bush recession. on the other hand i see the money going to the upper 2% the billionaires and millionaires who get $700 billion over 10 years and put a deficit on our children and grandchildren for years to come. something we can't afford. and when it comes time to affording it, it's going to hurt people getting social security and medicare and medicaid. and that's something i can't

see. the estate tax will benefit 6,600 families to the tune of $25 billion. and i see that as wrong, too. but i understand the need to stimulate the economy and get middle class tax cuts to people earning less than $250,000. i ask my constituents to contact me at www.cohen.house.gov. www.cohen.house.gov. let me know what you think. thank you, madam speaker. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania rise? >> unanimous consent to revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized. mr. pitts: earlier this week a federal judge in virginia acted to defend the american people from an unconstitutional mandate to purchase health insurance. it really shouldn't be a surprise that a federal judge recognized what many of us noted months ago. the constitution does not give congress and the president to right to force americans to purchase a particular good or service. instead of finding ways to bring down the cost of insurance so that anybody can afford at least basic coverage, obamacare puts

the federal government squarely in charge of the health care industry and makes every american participate. the government defines what insurance is, what it does, what it covers, and doesn't cover, and then forces you to buy it. even with this unconstitutional mandate, health care costs will rise faster because of obamacare. the next congress will act to repeal this mandate and all the other bad ideas in obamacare because we, too, have a responsibility to protect the constitution of the united states. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from new jersey rise? >> unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized. mr. payne: madam speaker, i along with many of my democratic colleagues continue to fight for economic priority for middle class americans. and the provisions that will create jobs and grow the economy. however, the tax proposal announced by the president calls for sharp differences in policies and priorities of the

democratic and republican parties. for instance, the democrats continue to fight to maintain tax cuts on incomes up to $250,000 per couple and $200,000 per individual. while republicans continue to demand tax cuts for all incomes, including millionaires and billionaires. democrats also strongly support the extension ever unemployment benefits to help out-of-work americans make it through the recession. while the republicans are willing to hold the middle class and unemployed hostage to benefit the wealthy. the democrats are championing the needs of lower income families by extending the child tax credit and earned income tax credit. in addition we are fighting to continue the college tuition tax credit to help students of working families afford college. madam speaker, i urge my colleagues to support a tax cut proposal that will benefit our working class families and grow the economy. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the distinguished gentleman from california rise?

>> to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. costa: thank you very much, madam speaker. i rise today in support of the extended tax cuts for american families and businesses. this week we have a choice, congress can continue the campaign of politics of the past year, or republicans and democrats can setaside their talking points and get something done for the american people. i support the latter. in my district families are putting together their budgets and trying to make ends meet under difficult times. small businesses are trying to make hiring decisions for next year. family farms are scared of losing their operations due to a looming bump in the estate tax, their inability to pass the farms on to their children. in this struggling fragile economic recovery, we cannot afford to let this happen. after months of partisan gridlock, it's time for members of this house to listen to the american people and prevent their taxes from going up on january 1. delay is not an option. i call on the congress to send a commonsense compromise.

this is a compromise that by its nature there are things we like and things we dislike in the package. before us and send it to the president's desk. then we must get serious about addressing and putting our nation's fiscal house in order which is job number one. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from washington state rise? >> unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman -- without objection, the gentleman is recognized. mr. inslee: i rise to alert my colleagues to a very important job creation issue that resides potentially in the defense authorization bill that may come to the floor. we have the opportunity to do something right for the american worker and the american taxpayer by insisting that in the competition for new air force tanker, that we take into consideration the illegal subsidies that have been bin fitted -- benefited so extraordinarily the airbus competitor for the tanker contract. it is absolutely imperative at this moment when we are struggling to create jobs in this country that we take into consideration in this

competition the fact that our competitors in europe have received over $5 billion of illegal subsidies and we have to insist the pentagon take that into consideration. for those that share my view, i hope you'll join me in a letter to making sure an amendment we pass will become part of the defense authorization bill. it is the only way to make sure that we keep these jobs in america and build a u.s. air force tanker. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentlelady from nevada rise? >> i rise to address the house for one minute. and revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentlelady is recognized. ms. berkley: i rise to support the tax compromise that will be coming to the floor for a vote this week. i represent a state that has the highest unemployment rate in the country. and my district, almost one in five people that i represent, 20%, are unemployed. the extension of those unemployment benefits is critical to the survival of thousands of the families that

call las vegas home. in addition to that, i represent a working class town, people think of las vegas as glitz and glitter. but its glitz and glittery because of all the working men and women that call las vegas home. i represent waiters and waitresses and bus boys and keno runners and valley parkers and show girls. they are all middle income wage earners. and to extend that middle income tax cut is critical to them. the alternative minimum tax extension is important to 33,000 las vegasians that will be enshared by that town -- alternative minimum tax credit. the marriage penalty tax credit, the childcare tax credit for the people i represent so many of them single women with children and working. they need this childcare tax credit. let's all vote for it. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from california rise?

>> to address the house for one minute. revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized. >> madam speaker, later today we are going to vote on don't-ask, don't-tell. mr. garamendi: this is a personal thing. i know a young gentleman who was in the army, a graduate of west point, extraordinary african-american, he's had two tours in iraq, brought his company back safely from both tours without loss or injury to any member of his company. but he also honored the commitment of the military to not to lie and be honest and straightforward. he was gay. and he was drummed out of the military. it was an enormous loss to america. i have no doubt this gentleman would be a general and could probably rise to the highest ranks of the military. we have to change the "don't ask, don't tell" policy. later today we'll have a chance to do that. i'm sure our colleagues in recognition of the needs of this nation for well qualified men

and women in the military will do away with this policy and set in place an opportunity for every american to serve this country wherever and whatever their circumstances might be. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlelady from california rise? >> to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentlelady is recognized. ms. watson: madam speaker, the tax proposal announced by the president further defines the sharp differences in the policies and priorities of democrats and republicans. democrats are fighting for the needs of the middle class and for position that create jobs and expand economic opportunities. republicans are demanding tax breaks for the wealthy. democrats continue to fight, to maintain tax cuts of income up to 250,000. republicans continue to demand tax cuts on all income.

democrats made a priority of extending unemployment benefits to help out-of-work americans make it through the recession. republicans are willing to hold the middle class and the unemployed hostage to benefit the wealthy. democrats will continue to fight for the economic priorities of middle class americans, to create jobs, and to grow the economy. these are the principles that define the contrast between the republicans and democrats. . the speaker pro tempore: the chair lays before the house a communication. the clerk: the honorable the speaker, house of representatives. madam, pursuant to the permission granted in clause 2-h of rule 2 of the rules of the u.s. house of representatives, the clerk received the following message from the secretary of the senate on december 15, 2010, at 9:40 a.m.

that the senate passed senate 4005. with best wishes i am. signed sincerely, lorraine c. miller, clerk of the house. the speaker pro tempore: 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 mississippi seek recognition? mr. taylor: madam speaker, i move to suspend the rules and pass h.r. 6494 as amended. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 6494, a bill to amend the national defense authorization act for fiscal year 2010 to improve the littoral combat ship program of

the navy. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from mississippi, mr. taylor, and the gentleman from missouri, mr. akin, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from mississippi. mr. taylor: madam speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume and i ask -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. taylor: and i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks on the bill under consideration. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. taylor: madam speaker, the littoral combat ship program has started off as a very good idea. it's a single purpose, low-cost warship that will help our navy to get to the stated goal of at least getting back to a 313-ship navy. with that said, the program has had admittedly a number of problems. first of which is we were going to build it to specifications. that was a mistake that congress corrected because it was a warship. it needed to be built to

warship recommendations. you don't build disposable ships unless you want disposable crews and our nation will never settle for disposable crews. madam speaker, having solved that problem, we found that the two vendors took a ship that was supposed to stand for l.c.h. came to protest. and all because of the great work in my opinion, under secretary of defense shawn stackly in guyses a strategy about a year ago. they wrote a letter to both vendors and said they were going to do two things. one, they were going to submit a package to congress a proposal. they were going to send a technical data package that our nation, who was paid to develop these ships, would have the specifications to those ships so if either could underperform we could go out and seek additional vendors to build this ship if we felt our nation was not getting the ship we deserved at the price we need to pay. sick stackly came back and said

that -- secretary stackley came back and said we would give to one vendor a contract for 10 ships and then take that technical data package, put it out on the street and give a second vendor a contract for five. a win or take all strategy between an inner hall ship and outer hull ship and gave the vendors eight months to come up with a price. madam speaker, one of the few pleasant surprises of this congress, both vendors came back with remarkably good prices when given that all or nothing proposal. and i want to compliment, give credit where it's due to the secretary and give credit to the sea power subcommittee, the gentleman from missouri, mr. akin, the other gentleman from missouri, chairman skelton for allowing us to work with secretary stackley to get this program back under control. having said that, madam speaker , the secretary, once he looked

at those prices, and i deeply regret that the gentleman from missouri is right when he said what's the price? the public needs to know. unfortunately under the rules of our nation we are not allowed to divulge the information just yet. it is the fear that both vendors will drop their bids and come back later at higher prices. so one of the limitations we are going to be working under today is the inability to give the exact price to congress but to tell you that this ship that started to be about a $220 million ship, it grew to be a $720 million ship. we got the price a heck of a lot closer to the first number than the last number which is where we needed to go all along. the secretary is now asking since both prices came back and since there is a working ship out in the fleet that is performing well, has asked for permission to buy both ships to

the agreed price. i think he's right. also given the economic circumstances that the price of aluminum is down by half since about three or four years ago, the price of steel is about half than three or four years ago, that american vendors need work and they're supplying the prices that our nation should have been paying all along, that we can get the navy the ships they need that our forces need and build about 20 ships for about $2 billion less than we originally budgeted to build 19 ships. for all these reasons, madam speaker, i rise in support of this program. with that i recognize my friend and colleague from missouri, the future chairman of the sea power subcommittee, mr. akin, for what time he may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from missouri. mr. akin: thank you, madam chair, and reserving my time,

i'd like to yield two minutes to congressman wittman to speak on the gentleman from mississippi's amendment for his bill. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. wittman: thank you, madam speaker. i want to rise today in support of h.r. 6494 a bill that would authorize procurement for the littoral combat ship. i want to start by thanking chairman taylor who has been diligent in this effort, making sure that our nation gets the best deal on l.c.s., knowing there have been hiccups in the past. he made sure this process would happen properly, that it was going to be the best value for our navy and the best value for the united states. i applaud the chairman for his leadership therean and also to ranking member akin, who alongside the chairman, made sure that this process would happen properly and that the proper decisions were going to be made and that we were going to make the best decision on behalf of our navy. as we all know this legislation

would amend the f.y. 2010 national defense authorization act to authorize the procurement of 20 littoral combat ships which are absolutely needed these days in our navy. the bill would also allow the navy to enter into one or more contracts and allow the navy to conduct a competition for an additional ship yard for ship construction to be built to a design specification for that ship. so that technical data package will belong to the united states so if something doesn't go right with the two-ship acquisition we will have an opportunity to fix that and get it back on track. and it's imperative to ensure that our navy shipbuilding program remains on the right track and by procuring 20 littoral combat ships, that gives our navy the flexibility to increase its mission capability and project power throughout the littoral waterways throughout the globe. we need to do everything we can to get federal spending under control and this bill does that.

this bill, as chairman taylor says, cuts to the heart of reducing spending, gets us the same number, if not a little bit more, for $2 billion less. it's a good deal for this nation. the thing we have to keep in mind is in the future is looking at the operation and maintenance cost of two platforms, making sure we're holding the navy firm of holding the costs and the operation and maintenance cost. we have been assured by secretary stakly that that will happen. -- stackley that that will happen. i urge support of this bill and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from mississippi. mr. taylor: madam speaker, i'd like to yield two minutes to my friend and colleague, the gentleman from connecticut, mr. courtney. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. courtney: thank you, madam speaker. i rise in support of this legislation, which i think strikes the right balance in terms of the need for our navy to build up its littoral combat program but also addressing i think a lot of the problems which this program, which has been very troubled over the last few years in terms of

trying to get the cost per ship down. i'd just like to say, though, on a personal note, that the work that chairman taylor has done on this program, going back to 2007 with a series of hearings, looking at, again, the alarming increases in cost growth, has been an extraordinary contribution not just to this congress but to our country. there has been no one who has been more diligent in terms of trying to look out to the american taxpayer, there is no one in my opinion who has been more knowledgeable about every aspect of these vessels than the gentleman from mississippi whose departure in the next few days will be southerly missed by this country -- sorely missed by this country in terms of being chairman of the sea power subcommittee. in terms of ships, he has been there trying to advance this country trying to get to the goal of a 313-ship navy, which has been a struggle, protecting the manufacturing base from new

england to new mexico. and being accessible to all members across both party lines in making sure we achieve those goals and make sure that our country, which is still a great maritime power, is going to have a navy that can project our force that in a way that is adequate to the challenges of the 21st century. again, his service to this congress has just been extraordinary. it has been a privilege to serve with him over the last four years. passing this legislation i think will be, again, another capstone to a great career in congress and, again, i want to thank him for his service and yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from missouri. mr. akin: thank you, madam speaker. i would like to yield now two minutes to the gentleman who has been the ranking member on this committee a number of times, the distinguished congressman bartlett. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized.

mr. akin: two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. bartlett: thank you very much. i've been involved with the l.c.s. program from its very inception. and when the navy announced that they were going to do a downselect with this competition i was somewhat dismayed because these are two very different ships. an aluminum and more conventional ship for these special missions. and i didn't know if we knew enough about the potential to make this downselect during this competition so i was very pleased when sean stackley called and said they were surprised about the quotes that came in. competition really does matter. and when the downselect was threatened, each of these competitors came in with a really good price. so i was very pleased when the department decided that they would like to buy 10 of each of these ships. these are multimission ships. i'm sure one of these ships will be better for one mission than another. i'm pleased that we are taking

this route. i can't be more pleased. if we are going to get to the 313-ship navy, the l.c.s. will be a big part of that. half of that class will be bigger than any other class of ship we've had. so this is a win-win for everybody. i am pleased we are taking this route. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from mississippi. mr. taylor: madam chairman, i am going to reserve unless there are additional speakers. mr. akin: thank you, madam speaker. before i get into my comments, i think there are a couple of people that we as a congress and even we as americans need to be thankful for. and first is chairman taylor who've -- who i've had a chance to work with on the sea power subcommittee. i don't know if there's anybody in our country who is more committed to the navy or making

sure we use our money wisely. and to the overall security of our country. this is hours and hours of tours through shipyards, all kinds of details, talking to all kinds of people and trying to make sure that a program that was a little different as it started out got on track and now is not only on track but represents a significant opportunity for us to invest in the security of our country. and so hats off to chairman taylor, and i agree completely that we're going to certainly miss your expertise and your hard work, mr. chairman. i do yield. mr. bartlett: for four years i was the chair of the subcommittee. leadership in the congress

changed and for two years i was his ranking member and he was my chair. and then sadly our term limits on the republican side of the house i had to leave that subcommittee, but never left my strong interest in that subcommittee. i will tell you there is no person in the congress who has been more committed or more effective in making sure we have the right kind of navy, the right size navy. when i first came here i looked up gene taylor because we shared some social things. as a democrat he kind of shown out different than other democrats. he says we are joined at the hip. we are. your departure is a grave loss to this congress and to our nation. i've been honored to serve with you, sir. thank you and i yield back. mr. akin: thank you for those most appropriate comments, roscoe. the second gentleman i think we need to recognize is undersecretary stackley has

really helped tremendously with his level of detailed knowledge about how you work these contracts and he got the contracts as chairman mentioned reorganized to some degree a couple years ago and now we have two excellent bids before us. . congress has trouble making decisions rapidly or even wisely sometimes. i don't think that's the case today. today secretary stackly came to a number of us and said, look, there's two different ways we can go. the way we were planning to go which is we down select by 10 ships and resubmit bids to a number of different vendors. the other alternative which is very interesting is that we just go with both contractors and buy the 20 ships right off the bat. and so as we had a chance to ask some questions, though not to the degree that many of us would have felt comfortable with, it

became apparent that we could save money for the navy and we could project more sea power more rapidly by going with both contractors, buy 10 from each side. the ships are different as has been mentioned this morning. certainly an aluminum one is different than a mono haul. it has its difficulties in anchoring in certain places or docking because it's so wide. but each have their places overall in the navy. these ships to try to put them in perspective, there may be some people who are not immersed in the detail here, are -- we are not allowed to talk about the price that's been bid, but generally speaking you're looking at you could buy five of these for the cost of one nuclear powered submarine. so what we are talking about is a ship that is inexpensive enough, we have enough of them, that it allows america to project its sea produce pore --

power to little corners of the world where we don't have a presence we need to have. in about a year or so ago there was talk about pirates and everybody got their best pirate voice out and talked about the pirates that were seizing commercial shipping. some of that was allowed because of the fact that we didn't have as many ships as we might like in certain areas. this would be just one example of where these ships might become useful. they would become useful in hunting submarines and for all kinds of varieties of other missions. so this proposal that's before us is the result of some very good work by both undersecretary stackly, his coming to us and saying, look, there is a better way to do this but congress you have to be able to respond and be agile on your feet. fortunately there is uniform agreement across the people have been working these projects that in fact secretary stackly-is

right and this is what we have to do. hats off to the secretary and particularly chairman taylor for the good work that's been done. i'm obviously speaking in favor of the proposal before us here. and there was some sense of frustration early on in trying to get the numbers and to get through the details that we had to in order to make a decision here, but i'm very comfortable what we are doing is the right thing. the opportunity before us to pass this piece of legislation allows us to prove that it's wrong once in a while, that congress can't be agile and make wise decisions. we will look to the navy and to secretary stackly to help to continue to manage these programs, or this program, and make sure the bids come in as we expect and the navy gets a good buy and we work back to where we should be with enough ships to

secure and give americans the security that we believe is necessary and to provide a safe and peaceful world. with that, madam chair, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from mississippi. mr. taylor: madam speaker, to close the debate. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. taylor: first, madam speaker, let me thank again future chairman akin, former chairman bartlett. i believe it was clark who first proposed this program. the idea was to build the ship under the speed of light, an expensive ship that obviously didn't happen. we learned some very painful mistakes as a congress and i hope those few who remain on the committee remember those. we can make mistakes doing things too rapidly. we made a lot in this program. but the thing i want to most complement the armed services committee, and particularly the sea power, when we recognize those mistakes we admitted them

and we went as far as to threaten to cancel the program if it wasn't corrected. i think those threats, and again the phenomenal work of secretary stackly, secretary mavis in holding the vendors' feet to the fire, the fact that the navy needs the ships, that the frigates these ships will replace are getting to the end of their life, and the willingness of all members on both sides of the aisle to hold these vendors accountable was the key element in turning this program around. so i want to thank, again, future chairman akin, former chairman bartlett, mr. whitman, mr. kagen, mr. bonnor, mr. stupak and others for being co-sponsors of this measure. with that i close. 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. 6494 as amended. so many as are in favor say aye. 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, eanch without objection -- and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition? >> madam speaker, i move that the house now suspend the rules and agree to house resolution 1761. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: house resolution 1761, resolution congratulating auburn university quarterback and college park, georgia, native cameron newton on winning the 2010 heisman trophy for being the most outstanding college football player in the united states. the speaker pro tempore:

pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. altmire, and the gentleman from alabama, mr. rogers, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from pennsylvania. mr. altmire: madam speaker, i request five legislative days during which members may revise and extend and insert extraneous material on house resolution 1761 into the record. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. altmire: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. altmire: madam speaker, as a member of the higher education subcommittee, i rise today in support of house resolution 1761, which congratulates auburn university quarterback and college park, georgia, native cam newton, on winning the 2010 heisman memorial trophy. each year the most outstanding college football player in the united states is recognized by the heisman committee. mr. newton has earned the 76th such distinction this year. cam newton was selected as

winner of the heisman memorial trophy last saturday, december 11, live from times square. he became the third auburn tiger to win the heisman, joining 1971 winner pat sullivan, and 1985 winner bo jackson. he's the 31st college quarterback to win the heisman trophy. mr. newton became auburn university's starting quarterback just this season and with one very big game remaining, he has so far completed 165 of his 246 passes for 2,589 yards and 28 touchdowns. additionally, he rushed 242 times for 1,409 yards and 20 more touchdowns. both newton's passing and rushing touchdown totals are the best in auburn university's history and he became only the third ncaa major college player in history to have more than 20

rushing and passing touchdowns in the same season. while leading the auburn tigers to an undefeated 13-0 regular season, mr. newton was also named the southeastern conference offensive player of the year and led his team to a number one ranking and an appearance in the january 10 b.c.s. championship game. he was one of the four finalists for the 2010 heisman trophy and he was awarded that trophy in a well deserved landslide victory. for his outstanding performance he was officially honored 976th memorial trophy during dinner in new york last evening, last monday evening. mr. speaker, i would like to thank representative rogers who represents auburn university and representative lewis who represents cam newton's hometown, for sponsoring this resolution and once again express my congratulations and congratulations of everyone in

this house to cam newton as the 2010 heisman trophy winner and wish him continued success. i urge my colleagues to join me in support of this resolution and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from alabama. mr. rogers: thank you, madam speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. rogers: thank you, madam speaker. i rise today in strong support of house resolution 1761, a resolution congratulating auburn university quarterback and college park, georgia, native cam newton on winning the 2010 heisman trophy for being the most outstanding college football player in america. i'd like to thank everyone that came together to make this resolution -- bring this resolution to the floor today, including the leadership of both sides, the committee on ed and labor, and especially mr. lewis of georgia. madam speaker, cam newton is from college park, georgia, outside atlanta and went to west lake high school in mr. lewis' congressional district. from there he came to auburn earlier this year. cam quickly became a starting

quarterback. from his first few games with auburn it was easy to see that standing at 6'6", and 250 pounds cam is no ordinary quarterback. he can rush, throw, and even catch touchdowns from anywhere on the field if the ball was in his hands, he was a threat to score. needless to say cam has set many records in his long list of statistics that are down right unbelievable. if you saw his incredible performance against l.s.u., cam had 49-yard run for a touchdown, the miraculous comeback win in the iron bowl in the second half after trailing 24-0, or with 16 seconds left in the first half of the s.e.c. championship, the hail mary pass into the d zone for an unbelievable catch by darwin adams, you have seen why cam is such a driving force for the auburn tigers and why he won the heisman trophy. the one statistic that counts most to cam and most of the fans at auburn is the undefeated

record of 13-0 and in a few short weeks will play for the b.c.s. championship. and by the way if the gentleman from eugene oregon is here, watch out. madam speaker, in alabama we live and breathe s.e.c. football. saturdays in the fall are spent with families, friends, watching your favorite teams. regardless of who your team is, you can't deny that cam newton is the best college football player in america in 2010. to cam and the entire auburn university football team, i say congratulations and you deserve it. to everyone else i say -- with that i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from pennsylvania. mr. altmire: i have no further requests for time. will hold the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: is the gentleman prepared to close? mr. rogers: i would like to yield time to my friend and colleague from alabama, spencer baucus, such time as he may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. baucus: i thank the gentlelady and i thank the

gentleman from alabama for yielding to me. i think he and mr. lewis for bringing this resolution. on the way over to the floor, i was on the elevator with two of my colleagues, john culberson and jo ann emerson, the gentleman from texas and lady from missouri. and they both had the same comment when i told them i was coming to speak about cam newton. they said, he's a phenomenal athlete, but he gave glory to god. and he persevered. i think that cam newton is a reflection of each and every one of us. hardship and difficulty is a part of life. either we have experienced it or we will experience it. and we have seen cam newton and his family go through a challenging time. and in doing so he was not

distracted. he was persevered. he maintained the positive attitude and i think we have all seen his winning smile. wonderful smile. and that smile sustained him and i think encouraged a lot of us through some pretty difficult times. in fact, i think he used some of the criticism and some of the difficulty and some of the challenges as a motivation. he appeared to even play better on the field. . he is a phenomenal athlete. he is almost superhuman in what he does but in other respects he is she human. and the one thing i think is a

story for each and every one of us, and i think cam newton is a great example, is throughout it all he expressed his faith and his faith in god and his faith that god would see him through. our god is a god of second chances, a god of redemption. and i think it's important for us when we think about cam newton this think about a young -- to think about a young man who improved himself, that did better, that resolved to learn from the experiences he had, and to me cam is an inspiration and he ought to be an inspiration to each and every one of us. any of us that for whatever reason find ourself in a difficult or challenging situation, not to strike back at our critics but simply to

use it as a motivation. in such times that we do face difficulty, it's important to surround ourself with good people, people that can be mentors and encouragers and he found that in the auburn team. he expressed that in his heisman speech, that his teammates were a big part of his success and that it encouraged him. they had not lost faith in him. i believe the coaching staff and the atmosphere at auburn university provided a loving environment, an encouraging environment, and i commend coach for believing in cam, for giving cam an opportunity to better himself and to prove himself. as a graduate of that school, i'm proud of auburn university for providing support and

encouragement to cam. last year i introduced -- and i will close with this -- i had a bill who proceeded cam newton in winning the heisman trophy. and mark ingram and the university of alabama played and won the national championship. auburn university will try to attain that same goal. mark inram from alabama, cam newton from auburn, they highlight a very special relationship in the state of alabama between our two finest universities. they compete on the field. they compete intensely, and the fans come together, both wanting to win, but they take pride in the fact that our state and our universities do have a competitive spirit but also a spirit of friendship.

and i can tell you that the people of alabama take great pride in our state in the fact that our -- two of our finest universities have won consecutive heisman trophies and are competing for consecutive national championships. it once again highlights what is a wonderful and pens tense and enjoyable competition that our two -- a wonderful and tense and enjoyable competition that our two schools have. it's one reason why i am proud to call alabama my home. in closing, again, i thank the gentleman from anniston, alabama, mr. rogers, who represents auburn university well. and i say that to you as an alumni as auburn university. you're a credit to our university. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from alabama. mr. rogers: with that, madam speaker, i would just urge a favorable vote by my colleagues

and yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from pennsylvania. mr. altmire: madam speaker, i would recognize, also, the other three finalists for the heisman trophy and the schools, oregon, boise state and stanford. congratulations on great seasons. but without question, cam newton deserved the award. he's the best player in college football. we wish him continued success. congratulations, and i yield back the balance of our time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 1761. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 -- mr. altmire: madam speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from pennsylvania. mr. altmire: on that i request 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 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, further proceedings on this question will be postponed. for what purpose does the gentlelady from california seek recognition? >> madam speaker, i move to suspend the rules and pass the senate bill s. 4010. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: senate 4010, an act for the relief of shigeru yamada. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentlelady from california, ms. chu, and the gentleman from california, mr. poe, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentlelady from california. ms. chu: 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. ms. chu: i yield myself such time as i may consume.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized. ms. chu: s. 4010 is an immigration relief bill for shigeru yamada. the house passed a substantially identical version of this bill by voice vote in the 110th congress, but the senate was unable to take up the measure. i'm pleased to see the house will have an opportunity to vote on final passage today. shigeru was brought to the united states from japan when he was 10 years old. together with his mother and his two sisters, shigeru entered the country in -- on his mother's student visa. during this period, shigeru's mother became engaged to a u.s. citizen. had she married her fiance, she and her children would have been able to obtain lawful permanent residence in the country. however, in september, 1995, when shigeru was only 13 years

old, his mother was killed in a car accident. after his mother's death, shigeru and his sisters were raised by their maternal aunt and uncle in chula vista, california. shigeru's natural father was an alcoholic who was physically abusive to shigeru, his sisters and their mother. there was no other viable caretaker in japan. shigeru's aunt attempted to formally adopt him but was unable to compete the adoption before his 16th birthday. under current immigration law, virtually all adoptions of foreign children by u.s. citizens must be completed before the child's 16th birthday in order for the child to qualify for legal status in the united states. although shigeru's sisters obtained legal status through adoption and marriage, shigeru continued to reside here without such status. in the meantime, shigeru became a model student, graduating

from east lake high school with honors in 2010. yet, at east lake he served on student government, participated in numerous community service activities and excelled at football and wrestling. he was an all-american scholar and was named outstanding english student his freshman year. he was also voted the most inspirational player of the year in various sports, both at the junior varsity and varsity level. he served as vice president of the associated student body his senior year. shigeru also volunteered to coach the east lake high school softball team and obtained an associates degree from southwestern community college. it is through no fault of his own that shigeru was raised in the united states without legal immigration status. shigeru's mother died before she could regularize his status

and adoption proceedings by his aunt were completed too late to affect his immigration status. s. 4010 presents the only option for shigeru to remain in the united states. i commend representatives bill filner and senator dianne feinstein who each introduced their first private immigration bill on shigeru's behalf back in the 108th congress. i would also like to recognize judiciary committee chairman, john conyers, judiciary subcommittee chairwoman zoe lofgren in moving this bill to the floor today. i ask unanimous consent that the report prepared by u.s. immigration and customs enforcement on the beneficiary of this bill be entered into the record. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. ms. chu: i urge my colleagues to support this important legislation, and i reserve the

balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas. mr. poe: madam speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. poe: madam speaker, i'm pleased to support this legislation. shigeru yamada was born in japan in 1992. when shigeru was 10 years old, his mother brought him to the united states as a dependent on her student visa. in 1995 when shigeru was 13 years old, his mother was killed in a car accident. at the time of her death, shigeru's mother was engaged to be married to an american citizen. if his mother had survived and in fact married the u.s. citizen shigeru would have obtained legal permanent residence status through her. shigeru's natural father was an alcoholic and physically abusive to shigeru's mother and the siblings. after the mother's death, shigeru and the siblings were raised by an aunt in chula vista, california. although shigeru's aunt attempted to formally adopt shigeru, the adoption was not completed before the 18th

birthday. and under current immigration law, he would have had to be adopted before the age of 16 to obtain legal immigration status in the united states. shigeru's younger sibling was adopted by another family while yet another sibling was married to an american citizen. shigeru attended east lake high school and graduated with honors in the year 2000. this bill easily fits within the modern era private immigration bill precedent. private immigration bills have been enacted where the foreigners, the aliens have been abandoned by their parents or the parent had died. as this bill is consistent with private immigration bill precedent and the department of homeland security report revealed no adverse information about the beneficiary, i urge my colleagues to support it. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from california. ms. chu: i ask unanimous consent that the statement of my colleague, zoe lofgren, chairwoman of the immigration subcommittee, be entered into

the record at this point. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. ms. chu: i have no further speakers and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas. mr. poe: i have no other speakers. i reserve -- i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized to close. mr. poe: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from california. ms. chu: madam speaker, yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass senate 4010. 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. without objection, the title is amended. for what purpose does the gentlelady from california seek recognition? ms. chu: madam speaker, i move to suspend the rules and pass the senate bill s. 1774. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: senate 1774, an act for the relief of hotaru nakama ferschke.

the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentlelady from california, ms. chu, and the gentleman from texas, mr. poe, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentlelady from california. ms. chu: 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. ms. chu: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized. ms. chu: s. 1774 is an immigration relief bill for hotaru nakama ferschke. by now the story of mrs. ferschke and her late husband, marine sergeant michael h. ferschke jr., should be well-known to members of the house. the couple met in march, 2007, when sergeant ferschke was stationed at camp schwab in okinawa, japan. they dated for more than one year before sergeant ferschke was deployed to iraq. shortly before his departure,

they learned that they were going to have a baby. they spoke about getting married, moving back to the united states and raising a family together. two months after arriving in iraq, they were married through a ceremony conducted over the telephone. but just one month later, sergeant ferschke tragically lost his life in combat. the united states military recognizes the couple's marriage for purposes of providing mrs. ferschke with a death gratute, but our immigration laws recognize only proxy marriages that have been consummated, something this couple was never able to do following the marriage. . as a result she's been unable to move to the united states on an immigrant visa and her hopes of raising their son with the love and support of sergeant ferschke's family have been thwarted. last month the house passed h.r. 6397, the marine sergeant

michael h. ferschke jr. memorial act. the purpose of that bill was to fix mrs. ferschke's situation and to ensure that no other family is left in a similar situation. because that bill remains stuck in the senate, a relief bill for mrs. ferschke is the only way to right this wrong. i commend senators webb, alexander, corker, and udall for introducing this bill in the senate and representative john duncan for his work on a companion bill in the house. i would also recognize judiciary committee chairman john conyers, immigration subcommittee chairwoman zoe lofgren, and judiciary committee ranking member lamar smith for helping to move this bill to the floor. i ask unanimous consent that the report prepared by u.s. immigration and customs enforcement on the beneficiary of this bill be entered into the

record at this point. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. ms. chu: i urge my colleagues to support this important legislation and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas. >> madam speaker, i'm pleased to support this bill and i would like to yield as much time as he wishes to consume to the gentleman from tennessee, mr. duncan, for all of his efforts on companion legislation. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. duncan: thank you, madam speaker. i thank the gentlewoman from california, ms. chu, and the gentleman from texas, mr. poe, for their work in bringing the bill to the floor, this bill to the floor at this time. as has been described, this is a private relief bill attempting to allow the young widow of a marine who was killed in combat in iraq to bring the couple's young son and come to live with the marine's family in the state of tennessee in my district.

while everyone has support of this bill at every step of the way, it has run into some technical or procedural difficulties that has delayed it until this point. and has previously been stated, i would like, as ms. chu did, to thank particularly senator alexander and senator webb who have taken such a personal interest in this bill on the senate side, and i would like to once again thank the house for passing the general bill last month. mrs. ferschke, the mother of this soldier, first came to see me about this in december of 2008. early in this congress we introduced a private relief bill. it took a few months to get the necessary information and complete the required paperwork, but this private bill was taken up by the subcommittee on the immigration in the judiciary committee on july 23 of 2009.

at that time it received the support of both chairwoman lofgren and ranking member king, both of whom i would also like to thank. however, at that point there were some objections to doing a private bill in the other body, and so at the direction of the staff of the judiciary committee, both majority and minority, we attempted to do an amendment to the defense bill. however some of the people on the rules committee, while supporting the bill, did not feel it was germane to the defense bill which we also had to agree with, but we were doing that at the direction of others. but i also would like to thank congressman mcgovern, the gentleman from massachusetts, because hearing about this at

the rules committee he took a special and personal interest in this bill also. we then passed the -- we introduced a general bill, once again working with the staff of the judiciary committee, who i would also -- whom i would also like to thank, and that bill was passed last month in the house, but we ran into some objections here, and that's why we are back here today on this private relief bill. hotaru first can i is the late widow of michael ferschke of the marine corps. she was born on october 23, 1983, in okinawa, japan. in march of 2007, as ms. chu said, when sergeant ferschke was stationed in okinawa, he met at a mutual friend's party. they dated for more than a year before sergeant ferschke was deployed to iraq in april of 2008. shortly before sergeant ferschke

deployed, the couple learned that hotaru was pregnant. sergeant ferschke's parent and members of his family unit in iraq, military unit in iraq, have attested to the fact that the couple already had planned to marry before hotaru became pregnant and had decided to live and raise their future family in the united states. the couple was married by proxy by a telephone by a military chaplain in july of 2008, while sergeant ferschke was in iraq. one month later in august of 2008, sergeant ferschke was killed in combat. although the marriage is legally valid and recognized by the military, in order for mrs. ferschke to be recognized as sergeant ferschke's spouse for immigration purposes, the marriage itself would have had to have been consummated. and under the circumstances, this wasn't possible. and the law makes no allowance to the fact that mrs. ferschke was already pregnant with her husband's child before the marriage ceremony took place.

on august 5 -- i would go on and tell additional details, but i'll just leave those for the statement that i have. and say that this is something that i think everyone has wanted to support all through this and it is a great moment for this family to hopefully finally complete this at this time at the tail end of this congress. so i urge my colleagues to support this very worthwhile legislation and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from california. ms. chu: i have no further speakers. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas. mr. poe: madam speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. poe: madam speaker, i strongly support this legislation. i once again want to thank the gentleman from tennessee, mr. duncan, for his efforts in this. it's a perfect example of how

there is a problem, an issue with a constituent and a congressional district, and the gentleman from tennessee took the bull by the horn, so to speak, and solved this problem and brought it before the attention of congress in an effort to resolve this problem. i'd like unanimous consent to submit a full statement in the record. with that i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentlelady from california. ms. chu: madam speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass senate 1774. so many as are in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed, and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. the chair will announce the title of s. 4010 was not amended.

for what purpose does the gentleman from new jersey seek recognition? mr. pallone: i move that the house suspend the rules and agree to h.res. 1600, a resolution supporting the critical role of physician assistant. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the resolution. the clerk: house resolution 1600, resolution supporting the critical role of the physician assistant profession and supporting the goals and ideals of national physician assistant week.

the speaker pro tempore: does the gentleman include an amendment in his motion? mr. pallone: my understanding is that the h.res. 1600 as amended, yes. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from new jersey, mr. pallone, and the gentleman from nebraska, mr. terry, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from new jersey. mr. pallone: madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks an include extraneous material on the record. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. pallone: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. pallone: madam speaker, house resolution 1600 recognizes the critical role of physician assistant in our health care system by designating october 6 through 12 of 2010 as national physician assistant week. physician assistants or p.a.'s practice in a collaborative

setting with physicians, nurses, and other professionals to extend the reach of medical care to more patients. their role helps patients have access to high quality medical care. throughout the nation approximately 75,000 p.a.'s provide high quality and cost-effective care in various health settings. with the passage of health reform, millions of americans will enter our health care system and p.a.'s will play a vital role in helping our health care work force meet this challenge. i want to applaud the leadership of representative mccollum on this issue. i urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this resolution. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from nebraska. mr. terry: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. terry: as an original sponsor of this resolution, i rise in support of house resolution 1600, supporting the critical role of physician assistant profession and supporting the goals and ideals of national physician assistant

week. i would also like to thank congresswoman betty mccollum much minnesota for bringing to our attention the importance of physician assistant provide and congratulate her for getting this resolution to the floor. physician assistants practice medicine under a physician's supervision. a p.a.'s practice can include diagnostic, therapeutic, and preventive care. on any given day, a p.a. could proscribe medication, order and interpret x-ray's, attend surgery, give advice to patients, and many have also supervisory responsibilities. the p.a. is supervised by a physician but at facilities where the physician is present for only a few days each week, the p.a. may be a patient's principal health care provider. this increases the flexibility of the medical profession and ensures patients have access to quality care.

p.a.'s in every state are required to pass the physician assistants national certifying examination. in order to take this exam, a candidate must be a graduate of an accredited p.a. program which includes classroom, laboratory, and clinical training in several specialty areas. to maintain their certification, p.a.'s must complete many hours of continuing medical education and a recertification examination. p.a.'s are highly educated, highly trained, they work extremely hard, and they are a vital cog in our nation's health care system. i hope all will join me in saluting our nation's p.a.'s for their commitment and dedication and i urge your support for this resolution. thank you, madam speaker. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey. mr. pallone: madam speaker, i yield such time as she may

consume to the congresswoman from minnesota who is the sponsor of the bill, miss betty mccollum. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized. ms. mccollum: thank you, madam speaker. i'd like to thank chairman waxman and i'd like to thank representative pallone for their help in giving this to the bell as well as my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, congressman lee. house resolution 1600 acknowledges the critical role of physician assistants by designating a week in 2010 as national physicians assistants week. 40 years ago the position of p.a. was created in response to a national health care work force shortage. over 20 years ago i had the honor and privilege in minnesota of helping to right the rules for p.a.'s to function and providing health care in minnesota. i was a consumer member on the board and i had a great learning coifer working with doctors, p.a.'s, hospitals, health care

clinics, and patients from all over minnesota in making sure that p.a.'s were able to address this work force shortage. and today they continue to be an integral part of our health care system. practicing in all health care settings and specialties. physicians assistants service will be vital as more americans enter our health care system and we prepare for an aging population, the baby boomers. p.a.'s work as has been mentioned side by side with physicians, nurses, and other professionals in providing high quality, cost-effective health care. . ensure patients can receive the care that they need when they need it. i want to thank the physicians assistants, the american academy of physician assistants to do all the work that they do to care for patients and keep america healthy. lastly, i sincerely want to

thank my colleagues for their bipartisan support so that we were able to bring this bill forward. i want to thank chairman waxman for bringing this resolution forward and, madam speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from nebraska. mr. terry: i have no further speaking or speakers, so with this -- i would be remiss on a resolution recognizing p.a.'s not to recognize my brother-in-law's brother, val, value gorea. he was a p.a. back in the 1970's. val was instrumental in the state of nebraska in expanding the use of physician assistants, worked with the university of nebraska medical center and then on to l.s.u. to help create and expand the educational component for p.a.'s. and so at least in the state of

nebraska, val is one of our legendary p.a.'s. so just wanted to thank him and have this opportunity to recognize his accomplishments for the state of nebraska. with that i will yield back all of our time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey. mr. pallone: thank you, madam speaker. i would yield back and urge passage of the resolution. the speaker pro tempore: the question is will the house suspend the rules and agree to house resolution 1600 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 resolution is agreed to, and without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. for what purpose does the gentleman from new jersey seek recognition? mr. pallone: madam speaker, i move that the house suspend the rules and agree to s. 3036, the national alzheimer's project

act. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: senate 3036, an act to establish the national alzheimer's project. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from new jersey, mr. pallone, and the gentleman from nebraska, mr. terry, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from new jersey. mr. pallone: madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the record. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. pallone: and i would yield to myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. pallone: thank you, madam speaker. i rise in strong support of s. 3036, the national alzheimer's project act, as amended. last week the subcommittee on health and the energy and commerce held a hearing on alzheimer's disease and the many challenges associated with it. alzheimer's is an irreversible progressive brain disease that slowly destroys memory and thinking skills and eventually

even the ability to carry out the simplest task. alzheimer's can affect every part of the brain and rob its victims of their very lives and is fatal. alzheimer's is the sixth leading cause of death in our country. the disease, which is estimated to affect 5.1 million americans, has a devastating impact, not just on families, but on our national economy. it is projected that the national costs associated with those caring for alzheimer's exceeds $172 billion each year with a figure expected to rise to $1 trillion by 2050. these quotes represent the burden on medicare, medicaid, private insurance, caregiving and out-of-pocket costs for families. of this figure, $123 billion can be attributed to medicare and medicaid alone. the national alzheimer's project act will require the secretary of health and human services to create and maintain a national plan to overcome alzheimer's disease.

it will also create an advisory council on alzheimer's research care and services. i want to thank the sponsor of this legislation, representative markey, for his tireless leadership on this bill. he's also the co-chair of the congressional task force on alzheimer's disease and works hard on all aspects of trying to find a cure and do research with regard to alzheimer's. i urge my colleagues to support the national alzheimer's project act today, and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from nebraska. mr. terry: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. terry: thank you, madam speaker. i rise in support of s. 3036, the national alzheimer's project act. alzheimer's afflicts millions of americans and their families and friends. it's a personal tragedy for both patients -- patient and everyone who loves them. i had an opportunity to meet with the families during a support group just recently and

heard their stories about their loved ones slips away with this form of dementia and the sadness it places on all of the families. n.i.h. estimates that approximately five million americans have alzheimer's disease, most of whom are over the age of 60. so there's a good chance that you or a friend of yours has a relative suffering from alzheimer's. alzheimer's disease forces families and friends to watch as loved ones, once independent and vivacious, suffer personality changes, loss of independence and severe memory loss. such that they view those close to them as strangers. as difficult as it is to watch, it is that much harder on the patient. those with alzheimer's face an irreversible process in which they lose many of those things that define them as

individuals. while alzheimer's can affect people as young as in their 30's, most patients are over 60 years old. this age group doubles over the next 25 years to around 72 million, the number of people with alzheimer's will also increase dramatically. as with other diseases which also affect large number of people and cause profound suffering for patients, families and friends, we want to do whatever we can to eliminate them or mitigate their impact on people's lives. when congress re-authorized the n.i.h. in 2006, congress decided to put the question of which diseases define into the hands of experts. while it makes sense to let experts determine the best use of scarce resources for research, congress still has an important role to play in fighting alzheimer's and other diseases. specifically we must identify

laws and regulations that pose barriers to developing new treatments and diagnostic tests quickly and safely. most importantly, congress must ensure that our government is acting efficiently and effectively. we often hear concerns about a lack of coordination between government agencies. the government already devotes substantial resources to alzheimer's through such things as direct care, research at the n.i.h., and the activities of the administration on aging. however, it is imperative that these agencies coordinate nate their activities. the national -- coordinate their activities. the national alzheimer's project act would ensure that coordination. if these agencies have a unified mission with a coordinated strategy, we significantly increase the chances of beating this disease. mr. speaker, i urge all of my colleagues to support 3036, and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey.

mr. pallone: thank you, madam speaker. i would yield three minutes now to the gentlewoman from the virgin islands, who's been very much involved in this issue and who is also a physician, mrs. christensen. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized. mrs. christensen: thank you, mr. pallone, for yielding. i rise in support of the national alzheimer's project act. the affects of alzheimer's is devastating, devastating to the 5.1 million people with the disease, to the caregivers and to the nation as a whole because we all share the tremendous cost of contending with alzheimer's. by the middle of the century, as many as 16 million americans could have alzheimer's disease, putting it on the course to being the leading public health crisis and the defining disease of the baby boom generation. building on the recommendations of the alzheimer's study group, the national alzheimer's project act would create a national strategic plan and establish an interagency council to work with the secretary of h.h.s. to

comprehensively assess and address alzheimer's research, care, institutional services and home and community based programs. it would ensure strategic planning and coordination across the federal government as a whole. currently without a coordinated effort we have no way of evaluating outcomes or developing more effective ways to improve those outcomes. the national alzheimer's project act addresses this critical gap by establishing a national plan which would assess current federal initiatives, evaluate outcomes from these programs, prioritize future actions and set national goals. in addition, this legislation will work to reduce the tremendous costs associated with alzheimer's disease. the baby boomers are beginning to turn 65. without the discovery and delivery of an effective intervention, 10 million of us will develop alzheimer's. and the lives of many millions more will be upended by the emotionally, physically and financially draining toll of caring for us.

according to the alzheimer's association report, we are currently spending $172 billion annually on alzheimer's and other dementia care in america. $88 billion is for medicare alone, which is 17% of the total medicare budget. medicare beneficiaries with alzheimer's or another dementia costs the system three times as much who doesn't have dementia. for medicare it is nine times more. the report estimates that in the next 40 years, the costs of alzheimer's and our dementias will be in the trillions. the national alzheimer's project act will help address these costs by addressing and establishing an advisory council in which federal and private representatives will work to reduce costs for federal programs as well as the families while working to improve national health outcomes. the national alzheimer's project act also aims to decrease health disparities in

alzheimer's. 16% of women over the age of 70 have alzheimer's compared to 11% of men. and although underdiagnosed, african-americans are two times more likely and hispanic americans 1 1/2 times more likely to have alzheimer's or our dementias. the national alzheimer's project act will ensure the inclusion of those at-risk populations and clinical research and civic efforts. 30 seconds more. mr. pallone: i yield the gentlewoman an additional minute. mrs. christensen: thank you. so this act will ensure the inclusion of minorities and racial and ethnic minorities in clinical research and service efforts. h.r. 3036 makes significant strides in addressing one of america's most feared, costly and deadly diseases. i congratulate mr. markey for his work on this bill, and i urge its passage. i yield back my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from nebraska. mr. terry: madam speaker, at this time i yield to one of our great advocates for families

and individuals with alzheimer's, the gentleman from new jersey, four minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. >> madam speaker, i thank my good friend and colleague for yielding. madam speaker, as co-chairman, along with my good friend and colleague, congressman ed markey, of the congressional task force on alzheimer's, which we founded back in 1999, and as the lead republican sponsor on the companion legislation, this is a senate bill, of course, i rise in strong support and ask our colleagues to pass the national alzheimer's project act. mr. smith: this legislation is an important step forward in our battle against the crisis of alzheimer's disease. unfortunately, we know that the trajectory of alzheimer's disease over the next few decades threatens unparalleled tragedy and threatens to overwhelm society's ability to cope if mg is not done to change that trajectory. alzheimer's disease is both in the current and future health crisis of our nation.

about 78 million baby boomers were born between 1946 to 1964 which has been termed the single greatest demographic event in the united states history. in a couple of weeks on january 1, the first of those boomers will turn 65 years of age. today, 5.3 million people have alzheimer's, and another american develops the disease every 70 seconds. 200,000 americans under the age of 65 have early onset alzheimer's. alzheimer's costs medicare and medicaid alone approximately $122 billion. the average annual medicare payment for an individual, as the previous speaker pointed out, with alzheimer's is three times higher than for those without the condition. additionally, 11 million unpaid caregivers provide $12.5 billion -- or billion hours of care valued at an estimated $144 billion. this unpaid care, obviously, is

a huge drain on family resources. without effective intervention, the change in the trajectory, by mid century the number of individuals with alzheimer's will increase to an estimated 13 million to 16 million people, and the cost to medicare and medicaid will be staggering, over $800 billion in today's dollars. given these realities, it is astounding that there is no national plan to address the crisis of alzheimer's disease and the looming crisis. the national alzheimer's project act is dedesigned to help turn the tide by creating a national strategic plan to address this. it establishes a national advisory council to help the health and human services on how to comprehensively address the government's efforts on alzheimer's research, care, services, both institutional and at-home care. as a percentage of the

population, more women than men have alzheimer's and african-americans are about two times more likely to have alzheimer's or other dementias, yet, they are less likely to be diagnosed. it aims to address these disparities as well. . hopefully billions of dollars every year and trillions over the coming decade. it's a great bill and i hope the membership of this body will overwhelmingly support it. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey. mr. pallone: thank you, madam speaker. i yield one minute to the gentleman from iowa. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. pallone: i yield one minute to the gentleman from iowa. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. >> the prevalence of the disease is expected to increase rapidly as the baby boomer general

racial, my generation, begin -- generation, my generation begins to age. it affects memory and other cognitive functioning, alzheimer's can be very frustrating. mr. loebsack: both for the person afflicted and for family, friends, and caretakers. far too many of us have lost a loved one because of this disease. it is time we find a cure for alzheimer's. this bill is an extremely important contribution to the search for a cure. it will establish a coordinated national and international effort and accelerate research and development efforts for new treatments to prevent, stop, or reverse the course of alzheimer's disease. the information these efforts provide will in turn inform priorities for future work to end this disease. i wholeheartedly support what is clearly a bipartisan bill and i urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to do the same. thank you. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the

gentleman from nebraska. mr. terry: does the gentleman from new jersey have additional speakers? mr. pallone: i do not. mr. terry: at this time we yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from new jersey. mr. pallone: i also yield back and urge passage of s. 3036. the speaker pro tempore: the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass senate 3036. so many as are in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed, and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. for what purpose does the gentleman from new jersey seek recognition? mr. pallone: madam speaker, i move that the house suspend the rules and agree to s. 3199, the early hearing detection and intervention act. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: senate 3199, an act to amend the public health service act regarding early detection, diagnosis, and treatment of hearing loss. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from new jersey, mr.

pallone, and the gentleman from nebraska, mr. terry, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from new jersey. mr. pallone: madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the record. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. pallone: madam speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. pallone: thank you, madam speaker. i rise in strong support of s. 3199, the early hearing detection intervention act. last year the house passed the companion measure to this bill and we are pleased to pass it again with minor modifications. every year more than 12,000 babies are born with hearing loss. often their condition goes undetected for years and many of these children end up experiencing delays in speech, language, and cognitive development. however if the hearing loss is detected early, many of these delays can be mitigated or even prevented. for that reason early detection is critical to improving outcomes to these children.

the bill the early hearing detection and intervention act would improve services for screening, diagnosising, and treating hearing loss in children by re-authorizing the early hearing detection and intervention program which was first enacted in 2000. the program provides grants and cooperative agreements for statewide newborn and infant hearing services. these programs focus on screening evaluation, diagnosis, and early intervention. i want to particularly thank my colleague, representative capps, who is the vice chair of the health subcommittee, for her hard work on this issue. and on so many issues. she is a nurse by profession. i'm sure you have noticed that many of the health care bills that have come out of the last four years during the democratic majority have been from mrs. capps and she's always in particular looking out for children and senior citizens. so i urge my colleagues to support this legislation. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from nebraska. mr. terry: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized.

mr. terry: madam speaker, s. 3199, the early hearing detection and intervention act of 2010, has worthy elements. certainly we support the efforts of early recognition of hearing loss. as mr. pallone said and mrs. capps will reiterate, that it is not standard practice or was not standard practice to perform early detection for hearing loss on newborns. usually parents after about a year would recognize something isn't right, that maybe speech was delayed and that's when testing would occur. we found that early testing has benefits. however our side of the aisle must recommend a no vote at this time due to the authorizing of appropriations with the language of, quote, such sums as

necessary, end quote. this type of open-ended authorization advocates or duty to budget for programs responsibly. the bill would re-authorize the newborns and infants hearing loss program. it would enable the secretary of health and human services to assist and recruitment, retention, education, and training of qualified personnel in hearing and health care providers. unfortunately in re-authorizing this program, the bill contains no limits on authorization of spending for the program. as my colleagues know, authorizing, quote such time as necessary, end quote, in legislation is contributed to the fiscal crisis our country now faces. our country had a budget of -- budget deficit of $1.3 trillion in fiscal year 2010, and some are projecting that our country's budget deficit will reach $1.5 trillion this next year. we cannot continue this fiscal irresponsibility by voting for

open-ended authorization amounts. we need to include specific authorization amounts in legislation so we can set priorities if we are able to get our fiscal house in order. madam speaker, we recommend a no on this legislation so we can work in a bipartisan manner to include specific re-authorization amounts. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey. mr. pallone: madam speaker, if i could yield myself such tomb as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. pallone: i just wanted to address the gentleman's point with regard to the underlying bill containing the language such sums. the bill doesn't change anything from the current law. the 2002 early hearing detection intervention act which we are re-authorizing had that language in it and we are simply updating the authorization. it is not changing the language. and the same is true for the bill to pass the house last year, the house version

sponsored by mrs. capps. that didn't make any change, either. i just want to remind my colleagues that again we passed this bill in march, 2009, and then again on the floor i guess later that month and there wasn't any issue raised by the republicans at that time. so i just think to raise it now really makes no sense and we should simply move to pass this. it's very common sense legislation, it simply re-authorizes the current law. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from nebraska. mr. terry: the gentleman is correct in the sense that it is a re-authorization. it strikes the language of 2002 while leaving the prevention -- the language of such sums as may be necessary for fiscal year going forward. but we still have that open-ended language.

after hearing from the people for the last couple years, we have an additional emphasis on making sure that we are tighter in writing of these bills unlike what's occurring in the year 2002 when this was passed or in 2009 when it passed from committee. that's our only objection to here is the authorization of open-ended such sums as may be necessary. reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey. mr. pane loan: i now yield -- mr. pallone: i now yield three minutes to the sponsor of the legislation, the gentlewoman from california, mrs. capps. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized. mrs. capps: i thank my colleague for yielding time. i'm rising today in strong support of senate bill 3911, the early detection -- hearing detection intervention act. i'm very proud to introduce the house version of this bill with our colleague, congresswoman jo ann emerson of missouri.

the house did pass this legislation by a voice vote in march of 2009. and the senate version introduced by senators snowe and harkin was modified by senate health committee and passed by unanimous consent early this week. senate bill 3199 is noncontroversial and would make needed improvements to the early hearing detection program as recommended by experts. each year more than 12,000 infants are born with a hearing loss. if left undetected this condition impedes speech, impedes language, and cognitive development. i might add it was concern for the cost. the cost to taxpayers of not recognizing these needs and intervening, the cost in special education, in modified vocational goals for individuals who will be a burden to taxpayers the rest of their life, is unbelievably high. since the authorization of early hearing detection program in

2000, we have seen tremendous increase in the number of newborns who are being screeped for hearing loss. -- screened for hearing loss. back in 2000 only 44% of newborns were being screened for hearing loss. now we are screening newborns at a rate of over 93%, but you know our work isn't done yet. according to c.d.c., almost half of newborns who fail initial hearing screening do not receive appropriate follow-up care. as my work as a school nurse for over 20 years, i had much interaction with students who were lagging behind their classmates due to undiagnosed and/or untreated hearing loss. we can prevent more children from suffering in the classroom, from suffering throughout their lives, through better investment in follow-up and intervention as a part of the successful hearing screening program for newborns and infants. this legislation would accomplish these goals through re-authorizing this program's administered by c.d.c. and the n.i.h. providing grants to conduct newborn hearing

screening, provide follow-up intervention, to promote surveillance and research. so i strongly urge my colleagues to join me in voting in favor of senate bill 3199, to continue building on the great success of these programs. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from nebraska. mr. terry: reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey. mr. pallone: thank you, madam speaker. i'd like to yield two minutes now to the gentleman from massachusetts, mr. markey. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. markey: i thank the chair very much. i thank him for his great work. the poet robert browning once wrote, grow old with me, the best is yet to be. unfortunately the golden years

can be the worst years for americans afflicted with alzheimer's and their families. we have worked with the senate to put together a bipartisan bill that has just passed here in the united states house of representatives that i have worked on over the last two years that will put together a alzheimer's plan, a battle plan for our country. why is it important? i'll tell you very simply. four million americans have alzheimer's today. there are going to be 12 million to 15 million baby boomers with alzheimer's. they will have a spouse who also has the disease or some other family member because somebody in the family has to take care of that person. so by the time all the baby boomers have retired, there will be about 25 million to 30 million americans whose lives will revolve around alzheimer's.

we have to find a cure for it. we have to find a way of giving more help to the heroes, these families. my father was a milkman. my mother was a valedictorian. my mother got alzheimer's. my father kept her in the living room for 13 years. we kept her in our living room. my father always said it was abhonor that my mother had married him. a milkman. he also said if the strength of your brain determined who got alzheimer's, he said that he would have it and my mother would be taking care of him. but this is an equal opportunity disease. it's a epidemic. if we do not find a cure, if we do not find a cure, the budget problems for our country will be so explosive that it will be impossible to ever balance the federal budget. we are now spending a fortune on it and unless we cure it, we will never be able to deal with the catastrophic consequences personally for those families

and for our country in general. i thank the gentleman for allowing me this personal privilege because i was pulled away as the bill was being considered. i thank you. . the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from nebraska. mr. terry: thank you, madam speaker. i thank the gentleman from massachusetts for your efforts in fighting alzheimer's and working for their families. does the gentleman from new jersey have additional speakers? mr. pallone: i do not. i did want to make some closing remarks, but i have no additional speakers. mr. terry: we'll yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from new jersey. mr. pallone: thank you, madam speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. i just wanted to mention that the three bills today are just a small representation of many bipartisan public health bills that the majority and minority worked on together in the health subcommittee over the past two years. and i wanted to thank the ranking member of the health subcommittee, mr. shimkus, for his hard work and cooperation. in the summer and fall the house

passed 25 bipartisan health bills that came from our health subcommittee and i also want to thank the staff that worked on these public health bills this past congress, from the majority, ruth, steve, sara, emily, who is here with me, emily gibbons, tiffany, anne, camille, naomi, tim and karen and from the minority, ryan, clay, peter and chris. and with that i would ask -- yield back and ask for passage of the legislation. the speaker pro tempore: the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass senate 3199. 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.

>> madam speaker. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from virginia rise? >> madam speaker, i move that the house suspend the rules and agree to s. 3386, the restoring online shoppers' confidence act. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: senate 3386, an act to protect consumers from certain aggressive sales tactics on the internet. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from virginia, mr. boucher, and the gentleman from nebraska, mr. terry, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from virginia. mr. boucher: thank you, madam speaker. i ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous materials. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. boucher: madam speaker, i've yielded myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized.

mr. boucher: i'm pleased to rise in support this afternoon of s. 3386, the restore online shoppers' confidence act, the legislation makes essential protections to consumers in the internet marketplace. the rapid growth of online commerce has brought great benefits to merchants and consumers alike, creative retailers can reach a broader market while resourceful shoppers can compare deals and find exactly the right product for them. internet commerce is now a core part of the daily lives of millions of americans and overall more than 1/2 of all adults at some point have made an online purchase. but large percentages of consumers also report feeling frustrated, overwhelmed and confused by online shopping. often because they face unfamiliar, aggressive sales tactics online. last year an investigation by

the senate commerce science and transportation committee confirmed the pervasive use of misleading tactics by even some of the web's most prominent trusted retailers. the committee conditioninged that while consumers are heavily involved in internet commerce they're struggling to stay free of unwanted charges on their credit cards or their debit cards. the bill now before the house focuses on two common deceptive tactics. post marketing transactions and data pass. post transaction marketing occur when is a consumer purchasing something from a trusted vendor is presented with offers from unrelated sellers. promising savings on the initial transaction as well as future purchases. these third party sellers often do not make clear that they are distinct entities and that agreeing to their offer constitutes a wholly separate

transaction with an entirely new set of terms. the legislation would bring these transactions into the light and make them much easier for consumers to follow. it would also put an end to data pass during these transactions in which the first seller shares a consumer's credit card number with the third party seller without the knowledge or consent of the consumer. the legislation returns to consumers the power to control when and to whom their sensitive financial information is shared. the restore online shoppers' confidence act as passed by the senate serves to protect the consumer in the online marketplace. and i want to say thank you to senator rockefeller, the chief sponsor of the measure in the other body, and to his staff for their determined work as well as to congressman space on our energy and commerce committee for his sponsorship of this measure in the house. through this legislation consumers will be empowered to

make smart decisions online and protect their bank accounts. i urge strong support for the passage of the bill and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from nebraska. mr. terry: madam speaker, unfortunately i rise today in opposition of s. 3386, the restore online shoppers' confidence ability. this bill -- act. this bill would regulation e commerce and third party billing -- ecommerce and third party billing. the committee on energy and commerce has not held a single hearing or markup on this legislation or any legislation similar in concept. furthermore it has been less than two weeks since the majority first raised the issue with minority staff and informed us of their intentions to place this bill on suspension calendar. we have not held a single stakeholder meeting regarding this legislation, nor have we spoken with the federal trade

commission about how they would implement this legislation or if they feel it is necessary. in fact, we had not one single stakeholder call, email or letter or one single call, email or letter from the regulator on this issue until monday. since then we have received a number of stakeholder calls voicing concerns with the legislation, however without holding any hearings or meetings we can't properly evaluate these concerns. as has been ampley demonstrated by the majority's health care bill and the spfia, the consumer protection bill that we've had to make several changes to, the heavy hand of federal regulation is prone to producing unforeseen and unacceptable consequences on the nation's economy.

on its face this may not be something we'd oppose. if we had a record to prove its necessity and to inform us as to the proper way to address the potential problems that this bill is meant to solve. but we have absolutely no record on this matter and the house therefore cannot responsibly pass this bill to the president's desk to become law. house republicans are more than willing to work with our counterparts on the other side of the aisle and with our colleagues in the senate next congress to build a record and address this issue if proven necessary. based solely on a complete lack of process, not necessarily the merits, but on the process, i urge opposition to this legislation and reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from virginia. mr. boucher: madam speaker, i would inquire of the gentleman from nebraska if he has additional speakers. mr. terry: no i don't.

i do not have additional speakers but i would have additional comment. mr. boucher: why doesn't the gentleman go ahead and make his comments. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from nebraska is recognized. mr. terry: thank you. i yield myself as much time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. terry: madam speaker, i rise to continue the dialogue here, but only loosely connected to senate bill 3386. and that's to commend mr. boucher, the telecom chair. he's been an awesome chair for telecom. in fact i'd have to say in the united states house of representatives, and i'm even going to throw in the senate, he is by far the most informed and educated on telecom, internet issues. so when rick boucher stands up to discuss an issue that affects ecommerce and the internet, we

listen. it's unfortunate that we are having a debate on this bill on process and not on the merits because on the merits we're going to listen to rick boucher. and i just want to thank him for his service to congress, his tutelage toward me and on telecom issues in congress and i for one, and i can say all of us on the energy and commerce committee are going to miss rick boucher next term. with that i will yield back my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from virginia. mr. boucher: madam speaker, i yield to myself the balance of our time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. boucher: thank you, madam speaker. i want to express appreciation to the gentleman from nebraska for those very kind comments and i want to also say what a privilege it has been working with him. he and i together have instructtured a number of items

of legislation. for example we advanced to the energy and commerce committee a measure that comprehensively reforms the federal universal service fund and has obtained the endorsement of virtually all of the stakeholders who have expressed interest in that very complex subject. and it has been a pleasure working with the gentleman, as that work has been undertaken. his comments are really humbling to me and i want to thank him for saying those things and just express what a privilege it has been for me to work with the gentleman and with all members of the energy and commerce committee during these 28 years. it has been a service that will certainly be the high point of my career and i thank all the members for their many courtesies. madam speaker, i strongly encourage the passage of this legislation and yield back the

balance of our time. mr. terry: unanimous consent to withdraw my yield. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. terry: this time i will yield as much time as he may consume to the ranking member of the energy and commerce committee from texas, joe barton. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. barton: thank you. i apologize, i was in my office and listening to the debate, i heard my distinguished senior republican rise in reluctant opposition to the bill. i had had a conversation which mr. terry is not aware of with the chairman of the committee, mr. waxman, in which i expressed the same concerns that mr. terry expressed. but because of the policy implications of the bill, agreed that it should be supported, told him that i would encourage the republicans on the committee in the full house to support it.

mr. terry did not know that. and he was doing what we had decided before i talked to mr. waxman. so, it's with -- i would not normally rush to the floor but given that i had given my word to chairman waxman, i felt it a necessity to express to the subcommittee chairman, mr. boucher, that while we agree with all of the process arguments that mr. terry annunciated, we think they're very valid, the policy in the bill is good policy and i would ask that it be supported for that reason. and i thank the gentleman from nebraska for yielding such time. i yield back. mr. terry: i yield back. mr. boucher: madam speaker, i yield back the time we have remaining. the speaker pro tempore: the question now occurs, will the house suspend the rules and pass senate 3386.

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 -- suspended, the bill is passed and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. for what purpose does the gentleman from virginia rise in mr. boucher: madam speaker, i move that the house suspend the rules and agree to s. 30, the truth and caller -- the truth in caller i.d. act of 2009. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: senate 30, an act to amend the communications act of 1934, to prohibit in a niplation of caller identify -- manipulation of caller identity -- identification. the speaker pro tempore: mr. boucher and mr. stearns will each control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from virginia. . mr. boucher: i ask unanimous

consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material in the record. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. boucher: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. boucher: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. boucher: madam speaker, today we consider s. 30, the truth in caller i.d. act. it is the senate companion to house legislation that was introduced on a bipartisan basis by our colleagues, the gentleman from new york, mr. engel, and the gentleman from texas, mr. barton, ranking republican member of the energy and commerce committee. the bill directs the f.c.c. to adoption regulations prohibiting caller i.d. spoofing in which a caller falsifies the original caller i.d. information during the transmission of a call. with the intent to defraud, cause harm, or wrongfully to obtain anything of value. the bill makes anyone who knowingly and willingly engages in caller i.d. spoofing eligible

for criminal fines. spoofing has been possible for many years but generally required expensive equipment in order to change the outgoing call information. but with the growth of voice over internet protocol usage, spoofing has become easier and consider fully less expensive as the number of websites are now offering spoofing services. consequently those who want to deceive others by manipulating caller i.d. can now do so with relative ease. spoofing threatens a number of business applications, including credit card verification and automatic call routing because these systems rely on the telephone number as identified by the caller i.d. system as one piece of their verification and authentication process. it is also commonly used in the commission of frauds of various kinds. at other times, spoofing may be

used to protect individuals. for example, domestic violence shelters sometimes use spoofing to mask the identity of the caller for protective purposes. by prohibiting the use of caller i.d. spoofing only where the intent is to defraud, to cause harm, or wrongfully obtain anything of value, this measure addresses the in fairous uses of the technology while continuing to allow legitimate uses such as use in shelters for the victims of domestic violence. in the rule making that the f.c.c. will conduct pursuant to new subsection 227-e-3 of the communications act, the committee anticipates that the commission will consider imposing obligations on entities that provide caller i.d. spoofing services to the public. the widespread availability of caller i.d. spoofing services

presents a significant potential for abuse and hinders law enforcement's ability to investigate crime. the hint shun in this bill on the -- prohibition in this bill on the use of services with the intent to defraud, cause harm, or wrongfully obtain anything of value could be of limited value if entities continue to provide both services without making any effort to verify their user's ownership of the phone number that is being substituted. with our action today, this measure will be forwarded to the president for his signature. i want to thank and commend our colleague, mr. engel, and also mr. barton, for their commitment to the matter. and i want to commend senator nelson of florida and all members who on a bipartisan basis have contributed to and supported the legislation now before the house. madam speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from florida. mr. stearns: madam speaker, i yield myself such time as i may

consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. stearns: i rise in support of s. 30, the truth in caller i.d. act of 2006, which addresses an issue that mr. barton and mr. engel and the energy and commerce committee have been working on since the 109th congress. in fact, back in april of this year the house passed our version, h.r. 1258. the legislation protects consumers by prohibiting the deceptive practice of manipulating caller i.d. information and practice known as caller i.d. spoofing. everyone is now familiar with the caller i.d. product that provides to a consumer the name and number of who is placing an incoming call. madam speaker, unfortunately caller i.d. spoofing is yet another tool available to criminals to hydrogen -- hijack the identity of consumers. as with other scams, the internet is making caller i.d. spoofing even easier today. there are websites that offer subscribers for a nominal fee a

simple web interface to caller i.d. spoofing system that lets them appear to be calling from any number they so choose. some of these web services have boasted that they do not maintain logs and fail to provide any contact information. some even offer voice scrambling services to further the deception on the consumer. the f.c.c. has investigated this problem. currently there is no prohibition against manipulating caller i.d. information with i tent to harm others. today's bill remedies this problem. this bill specifically prohibits knowingly sending misleading or inaccurate caller i.d. information with the intent to defraud, cause harm, or wrongfully obtain anything of value. deception with intent is our target. we drafted an amended the language carefully to ensure we only prohibit those practices intending to do harm.

there's sometimes legitimate reasons why someone may need to manipulate caller i.d. for example, domestic violence shelters often alter their caller i.d. information to simply protect the safety of victims of violence. furthermore, a wide array of legitimate uses of caller i.d. management technologies exist today. and this bill protects those legitimate business practices. for example, caller i.d. management services provide a local presence for teleservices and collection companies. these calling services companies are regulated by the federal trade commission and federal communications commission which requires commercial callers to project a caller i.d. that can be called back. this bill is not intended to target lawful practices protecting people from harm or serving a legitimate business interest. my colleagues, this is a good piece of bipartisan consumer protection legislation and while

i normally hesitate to take the senate's work product without some kind of amendment on our side, i want to thank my friend on both sides of the aisle of this capitol on both sides here in the house of representatives, including the chairman, many chairmen over the years, including barton, dingell, waxman, and boucher and mr. upton who was also chairman of this subcommittee. also want to thank this congress' lead sponsor and hardworking member of the energy and commerce committee, my good friend, eliot engel from new york. i support this legislation. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from virginia. mr. boucher: madam speaker, at this time i'm pleased to yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from new york, mr. engel, the chief sponsor of the house companion measure. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. engel: i thank my friend from virginia for yielding to me. i want to thank my friend from florida, mr. stearns, for his kind words and also the kind words of the gentleman from virginia. and i rise today in strong

support of my legislation, the truth in caller i.d. act. this is about as bipartisan as a bill can be. we have passed this bill several times in the house only to have it not move through the other body. and i'm delighted that for the first time we have had it pass in the other body and so now when we pass this bill, hopefully, the president will sign it into law and we will finally have a stoppage of this fraud which is being perpetuated on the american people. i originally read an article in a newspaper on a plane talking about what was going on with spoofing. and i remember thinking, this is ridiculous. how could this be legal? how could we just turn a blind eye to it? and then i realized we needed to have legislation. we have been supported every

step of the way again bipartisan, by the gentleman from california, mr. waxman, the gentleman from texas, mr. barton. we have all worked on this legislation together. i introduced the bill because we needed immediate change in our laws to help prevent identity theft. to crack down on fraudulent phone calls, and protect legitimate uses of caller i.d. technology. we have seen as my colleagues have mentioned a large number of cases of caller i.d. fraud leading to illegal or even violent activities. last year the new york city police department uncovered a massive identity theft ring where criminals stole more than $15 million from over 6,000 people. they were able to perpetuate this fraud in many instances by using caller i.d. spoofing. in another case a person in new york called a pregnant woman who she viewed as a romantic rival

spoofing the phone number of the woman's pharmacist. she tricked the woman into taking a drug used to cause abortions. the caller i.d. fraud has even been used to prank call the constituents of a member of this body. with the caller i.d. readout saying it came from that member's office. just imagine if people committed this fraud in the days leading up to a lows election. you could see it ---close election. you could see it. you call someone at 3:00 in the morning. you say something obnoxious on the phone and the constituents are angry and not going to vote for that person. this is all perfectly legal. up until the passage of this bill. i have said again and again one of the most troubling aspects of caller i.d. spoofing is not simply that it's legal. what disturbs me is how incredibly easy it is to carry out caller i.d. fraud. criminals use a tool called a spoof card to change their outgoing caller i.d. so you could look at it and see a phone number, any phone number that

that person wants to put down. they can do it. and the person getting the call has totally no idea where it's coming from or thinks it's coming from a place where obviously it's not. this technology can even be used to disguise someone's voice in order to trick people. if it's a man doing it, he can change the voice to sound like a woman and vice versa. it can be done completely to trick people. this can trick people, corporations, or even banks. imagine senior citizens who see the number of their bank put up when they take a look and see who is calling and it's fraudulent or their doctor or pharmacist or a close family member or close family friend. this is terrible. and this, too, is available to anyone with access to a web browser. as was pointed out the technology has gotten easier and easier for someone to perpetuate this fraud. this legislation will outlaw

caller i.d. spoofing when the intent is to defraud, cause harm, or wrongfully obtain anything of value. let me say we have had many, many hearings on this bill. and the reason why it is outlawed, caller i.d. spoofing when the intent is to defraud or cause harm, as my colleagues have pointed out, we put that in the bill based on the hearings we had because we don't want some legitimate reasons to use this technology to be outlawed. it's only outlawed when the intent is to defraud, cause harm, or wrongfully obtain anything of value. we won't be challenging the rules for legitimate uses of this technology. for example domestic abuse shelter will still be able to change their number on caller i.d. to protect the occupants of the shelter. we have some scrambling here in the capitol as a result to protect very important private numbers. that won't be changed. again i'm pleased this bill passed the house in the 109th and 111th congress.

-- and 110th congress. this is the hencht and we are about to pass it. i look forward to the president the speaker pro tempore:ing this bill into law. i strongly urge my colleagues to support the truth in caller i.d. act to outlaw this type of fraud once and for all. i thank my colleagues again for their support and i yield back my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from florida. mr. stearns: i yield five minutes to mr. murphy, the distinguished hem who has also been active in this. has had a separate bill so he was sort of a forerunner to this issue. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. murphy: i thank my colleague. i rise to speak about s. 30, the truth in caller i.d. act of 2009, addressing the serious problem of caller i.d. fraud that allows a caller to hide his true identity. they do this through websites that will hit you choose any number to show up on a caller i.d. the websites even offer options to disguise your voice such as making a man a woman's voice. i'm glad to see the senate is finally acting on this issue i

first raised in 2006 when i introduced h.r. 5304 known as the phone act or preventing harassment through outbound enforcement act. my bill passed in 2006 while it didn't make through the senate, several members of the house pressed on. congressman bobby scott and i reintroduced this legislation in the 110th and 111th congresses. the house passed the bill in march of 2007 by a vote of 413 to 1 and i would like to thank my colleague in this session of congress for overwhelmingly voting for this act by a vote of 418-1. caller i.d. can have legitimate uses to protect victims over law enforcement who are trying to track down criminals. here we are concerned about illegitimate uses. . several problems were beginning to emerge. friends were using it to prank others and annoy them. on another level there were famous or infamous cases in which the harassment involved well-known personalities such as reports of paris hilton using

lindsay lohan's caller i.d. number to access voicemail. my own office experienced this when an organization used a phoner caller i.d. system to make it appear as though my congressional office was calling constituents. constituents were understandably puzzled and annoyed when bombarded by these calls. unfortunately we were not able to track down the perpetrators. in total we had 42 house republicans from 14 states were targeted in their home districts by similar harrising phone calls using call spoofing. although i believe that action alone constitutes a fraud imposing as a federal elected official's office, that's not the worst case. in several cases police and the f.b.i. have been subject to the so-called calls, when a caller uses another person's caller i.d. to phone the authorities, report a fake crime in process which draws a police and swat team response. luckily no one has been harmed in these cases but you can imagine the potential tragedies when a team of police with guns

drawn respond to what they believe is the scene of a dangerous ongoing crime. it is more than just a false alarm to a fire department. it can lead to serious injuries for police and the community and that's why we must pass this bill before someone gets hurt. here are some other reports. a woman from pennsylvania discovered her phone number had been appearing on other people's caller i.d.'s and it was being used as a vehicle to harass people. in the wake of the haitian earthquake, the virginia state police warned citizens to be vigilant against scam artists using phony caller i.d. numbers to attain donations. under such circumstances, perpetrators can pose as a legitimate charity to fool others. we've heard of cases where a county courthouse number appears as citizens are told they missed jury duty and are asked to give their credit card number to pay a fine. last december another case in pennsylvania occurred when a woman claimed to have shot her baby. it turned out to be a hoax. the police and detectives were forced to spend their christmas day wasting valuable resources investigating what was presented as a gruesome crime that was

never committed. these are but a few examples and if we do not enact this legislation into law, i worry we will read about many more cases of call spoofing, including some that will inevitably end up in tragedy. because of these i am still a supporter of enhanced penalties when caller i.d. spoofing is used in the commission of a crime. therefore we should not stop with this legislation. the truth in caller i.d. act provides for civil penalties under the communications act of 1934. my legislation, the phone act, which has already passed the full house, provides for criminal penalties under the u.s. criminal code. but i want to thank congressman engel and congressman barton for being leaders on this issue in the house of representatives in introducing their version. i urge my colleagues to vote for the truth in caller i.d. act and let's hope in the future we can pass enhanced criminal penalties such as those in my phone act bill. together these pieces of legislation would create a comprehensive set of civil and criminal penalties to enable us to effectively combat caller i.d. spoofing.

with that i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from virginia. mr. boucher: madam speaker, i would inquire if the gentleman from florida if he has additional speakers? mr. stearns: madam speaker, i do have an additional speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from virginia reserves. the gentleman from florida. mr. stearns: i yield the distinguished ranking member of energy and commerce, the gentleman from texas, mr. barton, for three minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. barton: i've caught my breath now so i'm in good shape. i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. barton: thank you. i rise for two reasons. one is to support this bill. i tallly thought it had passed and become -- i actually thought it had passed and become law because we pass it every congress and it goes into the other body and falls in the black hole over there. so it's good to know that they're bringing it back. i'm told there are two words difference between the bill that we sent to them and the bill that they sent back to us. so i guess we can accept two words difference. it is long overdue. i want to compliment mr. engel

for his hard work and perseverance, mr. stearns, mr. murphy, others on other side and of course mr. boucher for this bill. the primary reason that i am speaking, though, is that i want to say some heartfelt words about mr. boucher. sooner or later this congress is going to measuresfully adjourn and i hope sooner rather than later. so i don't know how many more times we're going to be on the floor but i wanted to say in his presence what an honor it has been to serve with him. he is a work horse member, he is not a show horse. he doesn't get involved in many, many issues, but when he does get involved he is meticulous in his preparation and in his understanding of the issue and his detail, his word is gold, it's always good.

on the rare occasions that i have disagreed with him, i have always been impressed by the merit of his argument. and he will be missed. he is one of the members that makes the institution work, he does it behind the scenes, he is always thoughtful and prepared and just a joy to work with. i had the privilege to work with him when i was subcommittee chairman and he was my ranking member and i've had the privilege to work with him while he's been in the majority as a subcommittee chairman and the work that he and congressman stearns have done on privacy is work that will bear fruit in the coming congress, i hope. and the work that he's done on energy issues and telecommunications issues is work that will stand the test of time. so i do want to support the pending legislation, but i also want to give the gentleman from virginia my very best wishes and

i look forward to working with him in whatever endeavors he pursues in the future. it has really been an honor to serve with you in the house of representatives. with that i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from virginia is recognized. mr. boucher: madam speaker, does the gentleman from florida have additional speakers? mr. stearns: madam speaker, i just would echo -- i ask for such time as i may consume. i just would echo mr. barton of texas' comments about mr. boucher. having worked with mr. boucher, he and i have co-sponsored many different bills across the spectrum. recently obviously we worked on privacy together and also we tried to hammer out some kind of compromise in net neutrality and net neutrality was difficult because the f.c.c. was attempting to move it to title 2 . we finally got them to stop that. in fact, the court stopped them. but again mr. boucher and i met

with the stakeholders across the board to try and see if there is some compromise. we both agree that it should be under the jurisdiction of the congress and not the f.c.c. acting unilaterally, as it appears they're going too to do on december 21 ch when they vote for net neutrality which i'm against. but i have to admire that his perseverance and stick-to-itness, whether it's trying to reach compromise on a different piece of legislation or whether it's his reachout to stakeholders, for example, in the privacy he a comment period on his privacy bill which i co-sponsored which is unusual around here. we lots of times say we can't even read the bills before we vote on them, but in fact under mr. boucher's leadership as chairman of the telecommunications committee he took his bill and offered it as a draft to get stake hofeders' comments -- stakeholders' comments which i think is a credit to his leadership. as mr. barton pointed out we're going to miss him. he's a very good, strong,

confident leadership and we wish him well and thank him for his service. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from florida yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from virginia is recognized. mr. boucher: madam speaker, i yield to myself the balance of our time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. boucher: and i do so to thank my colleagues, the gentleman from texas, mr. barton, and my friend, the gentleman from florida, mr. stearns, for their kind remarks. and i want to thank them for the collaboration and the friendship over the years. mr. stearns and i have participated together in developing the ideas, developing the legislation and bringing through the communications subcommittee all of the bills that that subcommittee acted on legislatively in this two-year session of congress. and i appreciate so much the good ideas mr. stearns shared, his work with me to assure that all of our legislation had a bipartisan foundation, and i

think that what we were able to do was a better product, by virtue of the fact that we worked together. it's been a privilege over the years to have the opportunity to work with him. he is an outstanting legislator and i want to commend him -- outstanding legislator and i want to commend him for the find work he has ans done and thank him for the friendship and partnership that he and i have enjoyed together and i want to say thank you to my friend, mr. barton, with whom i was privileged to work on the energy subcommittee when i was chairman and i was the ranking member, during the time he chaired the full committee i had the privilege of participating with him on a whole range of undertakings and i admire very much the leadership that he has provided as chairman of the energy and commerce committee and more recently as the ranking member. so, thank you, gentlemen, for those kind remarks. i'm humbled by them. and i appreciate very much your taking the occasion of our

debate on this legislation to make those comments. madam speaker, i have no further requests for time. i urge support of the legislation currently pending and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from virginia yields back the balance of his time. the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass senate 30. 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. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, proceedings will resume on motions to suspend the rules previously postponed. votes will be taken in the following order. h.r. 5446, house resolution

1759, both by the yeas and nays. senate concurrent resolution 72 and h.r. 6205 both de novo. the first electronic vote will be conducted as a 15-minute vote. remaining electronic votes will be conducted as five-minute votes. the unfinished business is the vote on the motion of the gentlewoman from california, ms. chu, to suspend the rules and pass h.r. 5446 on which the yeas and nays are ordered. the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 5446, a bill to designate the facility of the united states postal service located at 600 florida avenue in cocoa, florida, as the harry t. and harriette moore post office. the speaker pro tempore: the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill. members will record their votes by electronic device. this will be a 15-minute vote.

[captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]