that period was obama supposed to go down there and put it on right after he was elected? guest: the federal government is supposed to oversee its on public lands in the united states. i think ken salazar publicly said there is a new sheriff in town, and i will clean this up. he was lobbying about obama care on the hill. the focus was not there. both republicans and democrats in the end of ministration have their fingerprints all over this.

the american people need to know we will conduct a drilling in the united states and it will be responsibly done. we need to look at the environmental concerns. host: oklahoma, independent line. caller: i was a 40-year democrat. now i am an independent. president obama is record votes on postponed questions will be taken after 6:30 p.m. today.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from florida rise? >> mr. speaker, i move that the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 793. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 793, a bill to designate the facility of the united states postal service located at 12781 sir francis drake boulevard in inverness, california, as the specialist jake robert velloza post office.

the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from florida, mr. ross, and the gentleman from massachusetts, mr. lynch, will each control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from florida. mr. ross: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. ross: 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. mr. ross: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, h.r. 793, introduced by the gentlelady from california, ms. woolsey, would designate the facility of the united states postal service located at 12781 sir francis drake boulevard in inverness, california, as the specialist jake robert vello stpwhrmbings a post office. the bill is co--- velloza post office.

the bill was sent out of the oversight and government reform committee last march 10. it is fitting and proper that we name this post office in inverness to special velloza. jake robert vello stpwhrmbings a was born in 1986 -- velloza was born in 1986 in inverness. his high school football coach recalled after -- after his death that he was set on his goals. he was one of those young men who knew what he wanted to do and did it. service to his country is what appealed to him. specialist velloza enlisted in the army in 2006 and was assigned to the 12th by dalian, first calvary division based out of fort hood, texas. tragically on may 2, 2009, specialist velloza was shot and killed by enemy forces while on a second tour of duty in mosul,

iraq. he was 22 years old and left behind his fiancee, danielle irwin, whom he proposed to just six months prior to his death. for his bravery to his country, he was awarneded the bronze star and purple heart, both which were presented to his parents, robert and susan velloza. mr. speaker, having a father that fought and served in world war ii, including three brothers who were combat veterans of the vietnam war, it is a proud day to stand before this body and honor a true american hero. as representative of the 12th congressional district in florida, i am proud to serve the men and women in madill. they have much in common with specialist velloza. he promoted freedom and

protecting our great nation. i am grateful for the service of specialist velloza and for all those who serve and protect us each and every day. i urge all members to join me in strong support of this bill, and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from massachusetts rise? mr. lynch: mr. speaker, i yield myself -- i'd like to yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. lynch: i'd like to thank the gentleman for his kind remarks. as a member of the house oversight and government reform committee, i'd like to join my colleagues in supporting h.r. 793, which would designate the facility of the united states postal service located at 12781 sir francis drake boulevard in inverness, california, as the specialist jake robert vello glmbingsa post office. the bill is co-sponsored by all 52 members of the california delization.

further, h.r. 793 was reported out of the committee on the same day. mr. speaker, i'd like to briefly highlight some of the achievements of specialist velloza. the only son of robert and susan velloza, specialist jake velloza was a lifelong resident of inverness, california. specialest velloza graduated high school in 2004 and attended the college before enlisting in the army in 2006. he was a member of the first battalion, 12th calvary regiment stationed out of fort hood, texas. army specialest velloza was serving in mosul, iraq, when he was killed in action by enemy fire on may 2, 2009. mr. speaker, in recognition of this young man's bravery and accomplishments, i ask that we pass the underlying bill without reservation and pay

tribute to the commitment and sacrifice made by specialest velloza on behalf of our country. -- specialist velloza on behalf of our country. i urge passage of h.r. 793, and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts reserves his time. the gentleman from florida. mr. ross: mr. speaker, i have no other speakers at the moment and would reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from massachusetts. mr. lynch: thank you, mr. speaker. at this time i'd like to yield five minutes to the lead sponsor of this measure, the gentlelady from california, representative lynn woolsey. the speaker pro tempore: the lady is recognized for five minutes. ms. woolsey: thank you, mr. speaker. it has been my honor to introduce and shepherd to the floor h.r. 793, a bill paying tribute to an american hero in my home district. on may 2, 2009, army specialist jake robert velloza of inverness, california, was shot and killed during an attack by iraqi soldiers near the city of

mosul. he was 22 years old and on his second tour in iraq. he was the only child of bob and susan velloza. he was engaged to be married to danielle irwin, proposing to her on the golden gate bridge between deployments six months before his death. jake was a standout cheat at tomalus high school, like his father before him. -- athlete at tomalus high school, like his father before him. he knew from the time he was in his teens that he wanted to serve and he joined the army in 2006. jake knew that he might not make it back home. he left behind a moving poem full of courage and grace that was read at his funeral. in it he comforted his family and his friends by saying, "don't grieve for me now for i am free. be not burdened with times of sorrow.

i wish you the sunshine of tomorrow." mr. speaker, i think everyone knows my strong feelings about our nation's policies toward afghanistan and iraq, but my opposition to these wars is matched in intensity only by my admiration and support for the men and women risking their lives to fight them. and that's why members of jake's church approached my office of remembering his memory. we went right to work. he was proud to name legislation last month to name the post office located at 12781 sir francis drake boulevard in inverness, california, the specialist jake robert velloza post office. i'm grateful to all my colleagues in the california delegation for co-sponsoring and to the committee on oversight and government reform, especially chairman issa, ranking member cummings and member lynch for approving the bill last week.

i urge my house colleagues to approve this designation with the hope that the senate will soon follow, to make sure this proud soldier's service and sacrifice are never forgotten. please pass h.r. 793. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the lady from california yields back. the gentleman from florida. mr. ross: thank you, mr. speaker. i'm prepared to yield back if mr. lynch has no other speakers. mr. lynch: i have no further speakers and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts yields back. mr. ross: thank you, mr. speaker. i urge all members to support passage of h.r. 793 and i yield back, mr. speaker, the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: all time having been yielded, the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 793. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 having responded in the affirmative --

mr. ross: mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from florida. mr. ross: i'd 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 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 the question will be postponed. for what purpose does the gentleman from california rise? mr. lungren: mr. speaker, i move to suspend the rules and pass house concurrent resolution 27. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the concurrent resolution. the clerk: house concurrent resolution 27, concurrent

resolution providing for the acceptance of a statue of gerald r. ford from the people of michigan for placement in the united states capitol. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from california, mr. lungren, and the lady from california, ms. woolsey, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from california. mr. lungren: mr. speaker, i ask that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. lungren: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. lungren: mr. speaker, i rise today in support of house concurrent resolution 27, providing for the acceptance of a statue of gerald r. ford from the people of michigan for placement in the united states capitol. president gerald r. ford was a distinguished member and minority leader of this chamber, a man of the house. he was vice president of the united states and our 38th president. a proud citizen of the great state of michigan, president ford served this nation at a time of great national pain and

turmoil. he ablely served and held us heal our wounds. this resolution allows that the direction of the people of michigan, the rotunda be used for a ceremony for president ford's honor this year. it allows for the statue to be permanently displayed as part of the national staff wear hall collection. this bill, introduced by mr. upton, and our colleagues of the michigan delegation, should garner overwhelming bipartisan support. so i thank mr. upton for introducing it and i urge all my colleagues to support h.con.res 27. and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california reserves. the lady from california is recognized. ms. woolsey: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the lady is recognized. ms. woolsey: mr. speaker, gerald r. ford, republican of michigan, served as member of the u.s. house of representatives from 1949 to 1973, and also served as house minority leader from 1965 until

he was nominated by the president and confirmed by congress to serve as president richard nixon's vice president. representative ford was a highly represent respected member who was well liked by his colleagues. he was the first person actually selected to fill a vacancy in the vice-presidency under provisions of the 25th amendment. upon president nixon's resignation in 1974, mr. ford assumed the presidency and served until january 20, 1977. he is the only person to have served as president without first having won a national election. . title 2 allows each state to have no more than two statues to represent their state in the u.s. capitol. the ford statue, like that of other former u.s. presidents will be displayed in the capitol rotunda following the

presentation ceremony on may 3, 2011. h. con. res. 27 follows the customary practice of accepting the statue into the collection and setting the date for use of the rotunda for the ceremony. i urge all members to support this resolution. and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the lady from california reserves. the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. lungren: it is my privilege to yield four minutes to the gentleman from michigan, mr. upton. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for four minutes. mr. upton: i rise today in support of this resolution, which would authorize the placement of a statue of president gerald ford in the capitol rotunda with a ceremony on may 3. this has garnered the support of the entire michigan delegation who have lent their names as original co-sponsors.

this is president's highest esteem. as one who has the honor and privilege of representing some of the very same people in southwest michigan that president ford did during his tenure in the house and i would note that mr. huseninga is going to speak to me and mr. amash from michigan has some of that same district and mr. camp as well. it gives us pleasure to witness this fitting tribute to michigan's native son. president ford is a michigan original and model for all those called to public service. the american who unexpect he hadly found himself in the presidency at one of our nation's most troubling times. president ford led with honesty and integrity by standing above the political fray. allowed a wounded nation to

heal. his coffin actually passed through this chamber on the way to lay -- to lie in state in the rotunda. it is fitting for michigan to bring his statue here and for us to pass this resolution. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the lady from california. ms. woolsey: mr. speaker, i have the honor to yield as much time as he may concern to the dean of the democratic caucus, the gentleman from michigan, mr. dingell. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan, mr. dingell, is recognized. mr. dingell: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks and i thank the the gentlewoman from from california for her kindness in yielding me this time. i'm honored to be one of the sponsors of the legislation before us. i rise in support of h. con. res. 27, a resolution providing for the acceptance of the statue

of the honorable gerald r. ford from the people of michigan for placement in the united states capitol. it is an honor to be the lead sponsor on this resolution with my dear friend and colleague across the aisle, mr. up ton. it is a fitting tribute to the decency hes paused as a member of congress for 25 years and then as vice president and then president of the united states. the resolution has the support of the entire michigan delegation and of the people we in the michigan delegation serve here in the congress. the people of michigan chose a fine president, wise legislator and decent and extraordinary man to serve as one of the two statues representing the people of michigan in the united states capitol. millions of people each year will have the privilege of viewing the statue and be reminded of the thoughtfulness, courage and sincerity which he

led the nation during his presidency. indeed, much like today, president ford took office at a time of uncertainty and he helped to heal our nation and to bring us together. i was fortunate to serve with president ford in the house of representatives and although we disagreed on many issues, i was always able to say that i and my colleagues here respected president ford for his ability, for his decency and his ability to bring all people together at the table and the consensus across the aisle. when he became president, the congress helped work with him to enact a number of bipartisan laws, which is the privacy act, the federal elections campaign act, the housing and community development act, which established the community development block grant program, and many others. president ford and i worked particularly closely during his presidency on energy matters.

he was an honorable man whose word was good and his administration always kept in mind the best concerns and the best interests of the people of the united states. during that administration, we passed the energy policy and conservation act of 1975, which established the nation's first fuel economy standards. at a time when our country is deeply divided, i'm pleased to have this moment to reflect on gerald ford's legacy. he never bent in his beliefs and never based his decisions on anything except the best interests of the nation. he once said that our great republicans are of laws not men. we should remember these words and pay tribute by accepting his statue into the halls of this great institution. i urge my colleagues to join me in voting for this resolution. i thank the the gentlewoman from

for her kindness in yielding to me and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the lady from california reserves. the gentleman from california. mr. lungren: mr. speaker, i yield two minutes to mrs. miller, the gentlelady from michigan. political political i thank the -- >> i rise in strong support of this resolution, this house resolution that is going to put a statue of gerald r. ford in the united states rotunda. before i came to the congress i served as michigan's secretary of state and we did all the historic marker and i tried to get around the state of michigan to go to some of the dedications, particularly the ones i thought that were so outstanding and i recall with such a great amount of pride with having the historic marker dedicated for gerald ford's boyhood home where a couple of

young people had bought the home and completely refurbished it to the period when gerald ford was there. so i'm -- we are standing on the porch of his home in grand rapids and there was a very large crowd assembled of family, friends and neighbors who were there to see the president, both the president and mrs. ford came that day. and i had gotten elected as the secretary of state and here i was introducing him to this crowd of people there. and he couldn't have been more humble and more enjoyable to listen to because he was talking about playing football out in the streets there and how much he enjoyed that and the rough and tumble of playing football and he went on to a couple of national championships at the university of michigan, go blue. but from there, you think about where he came from and what achieved in his life and the humility and the honor that he had that took him from playing

football from those streets to a couple of national championships and then to historic and very remarkable and impactful legislative career, serving here in this house, in this chamber and on to to be the vice president of the united states and then the president of the united states, it is really an american story. it's an american story, true american success story. and president ford took over the presidency at a time when our fation was realing from the nightmare of watergate looking for somebody to give us some stability during those terrible times when the honor and the dignity of the office of the president had been so several damaged and managed to repair america's faith in our leaders because he was so clearly an honest man, a true american patriot, an honorable man. he was the right leader at a difficult time in our nation's history and reflected the humble

and patriotic honest people of the great state of michigan. so, mr. speaker, i rise today in support of this resolution. i think this statue of president gerald ford being joining the other statues is certainly fitting and appropriate thing. it reflects the will of the people of michigan and i think it's an honor that is long overdue to president gerald r. ford. thank you, mr. speaker. i yield back. the gentlelady yields back. the gentleman from california reserves. the lady from california. ms. woolsey: mr. speaker, i have no further speakers. the speaker pro tempore: the lady from california reserves. the gentleman from california. mr. lungren: i yield three minutes to the the gentleman from michigan. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. mr. huizenga: thank you, mr. speaker, and i appreciate the chairman from california allowing me this opportunity to

speak in house continuing resolution 27. this is a special opportunity for me as a freshman member of this body in many different ways. first and foremost, it's special to me because growing up in west michigan, my hometown, was represented by soon-to-be from congressman to vice president to president ford at various times. and my father, who is a city counselman for many, many years during that time had the opportunity to work with him and have a bit of a relationship. so i grew up around the dining room table, this lure about gerald ford and what it meant to be involved and to give back to your community. second reason why it was very important to me was because of that time and that era. some of my earliest memories being born in 1969, some of my earliest memories surrounded that turmoil of vietnam and of watergate and of that time when

at the time then congressman ford becoming vice president and then becoming president of the united states. it very much shaped me as i was interested in the political process. the third thing that really makes this special to me was later on, just prior to this, i was granted the privilege of serving my community in the michigan house of representatives, where i voted to replace zachary chandler who had been governor and the statue , voted to replace that with gerald ford. this was nothing against governor chandler. he was a great man at the time and was an a man who fought against slavery, but we felt this was a special opportunity to grant to president ford. so it was an honor to be able to do that. the other couple of things that make this special for me, i had the opportunity to attend his funeral here at national

cathedral. it was a moving time. it was especially interesting to see people from both sides of the aisle talk about him with such respect and the way he handled himself as such a gentleman, even though he was tough. he came in and did it in a respectful way and i thought it was a true honor. i flew back to grand rapids and was able to pass in front of his casket at the museum in downtown grand rapids, where there was literally hours and hours and hours of lines. i literally stood in line for over four hours at midnight as this line through the entire night snaked past his casket to pay honor and respect. and then the next day, as the burial was happening, crowds of tens of thousands of people literally lined the streets in honor of this man and mrs. ford as well. and now we arrive at this point. the true honor of being able to be in this body to have been an

orange co-sponsor of this legislation, to be able to be here to witness the placing of this statue here in this great capitol, where his heart lied place where he served as minority leader for a number of years in this very chamber and it's an honor to be here and be part of this historic time and we pay honor and respect to this wonderful man who served his country nobodyly. thank you very much. and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan yields back. the lady from california. ms. woolsey: mr. speaker, i urge passage of this resolution and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the lady from california yields back. the gentleman from california. mr. lungren: i yield myself such time as i may consume. president ford was a wonderful person. remarkable man and one of the most remarkable things is the

humility which he carried himself throughout his entire life. all-american football player, he was criticized being columnsy by the national press, but he had a trick knee as a result of injuries he suffered, but he never complained about that. i would like to mention one little thing that i think brings to the attention of people what a genuine person he was. . we knew that president ford pardoned president nixon. sometime after my father happened to be the physician attending to former president nixon when he was suffering from his flebite is attack which -- phlebitis attack when he was at long beach memorial

hospital. president ford heard about that and he was en route to california and he immediately summoned his aides to him on air force one and said i want to go visit richard nixon. his staff replied, "mr. president, we would advise against it. you already received political heat for pardoning mr. nixon." and a personal visit like this would draw attention to that and we would recommend against it. in response, gerald ford said, "richard nixon is my friend, he's in trouble, i want to see him." so his aide then said, "well, mr. president, perhaps he's not well enough to see you." and president ford said to his staff, "call his doctor, call pat nixon, ask whether it would

be good for me to visit him and i will abide by their decision." they called out and called mrs. nixon and called my dad and he said, it might be the best thing for his health if that happened. and when that was told to gerald ford he said, "make it happen," and he did. he came and he visited richard nixon at the hospital. after it was over he turned to his aide, chief of staff, dick cheney, and said, that's as close to death as i've ever seen anybody, because president nixon was very, very sick at the time. my dad called me up after that was over and said this was a wonderful visit. it will help the health of president nixon. and then he said to me this, probably incorrect to say today, but my dad said, "that president ford, he's a real

man's man." what he meant by that was that hes with a genuine person who irrespective of the political consequences decided to go forward with what most people would consider a genuine act of friendship, trying to help a friend in need, a friend who was in difficult -- who was in difficulty and in fact almost on the doorstep of death. but that was gerald ford. he acted the way we would all hope that we would act, without concern for the consequences politically. gerald ford was in fact a man's man. mr. speaker, with that i would urge our colleagues to support this resolution so that we might have the presence of gerald ford's statue here in our nation's capitol so that generations from now, children can come and visit, and ask

questions about who that man, president ford, really was and perhaps they'll get the real picture. with that i will yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: all time having been yielded, the question is will the house suspend the rules and agree to house concurrent resolution 27. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair -- mr. lungren: mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 having responded in the affirmative -- for what purpose does the gentleman from california rise? mr. lungren: mr. speaker, on that i would ask for the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays are requested. all those in favor of taking this vote by the yeas and nays will rise and remain standing until counted. a sufficient number having arisen, the yeas and nays are ordered. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, furred proceedings -- further proceedings on this question will be postponed.

pursuant to clause 12-a of rule 1, the chair declares the house in recess until approximately

the short term measures is not enough. >> would there be enough conservative republicans to when it comes up? >> no. it is not likely you'll get

enough conservatives who would vote no on this to defeat it. it is almost certain to pass the house and is likely to pass the senate. >> what about democrats? how do they feel about plans to cut spending by $2 billion a week? >> democrats are basically going along with it. a couple weeks ago when the last short term stopgap spending measure passed, there were more house democrats that voted for that against. it was close. in the senate, just about all the democrats and republicans in the senate voted for it. >> looking ahead, what is expected to happen in the senate once the short term bill comes there? >> it is a good question. assuming that house passes the

short-term bill tomorrow, it will go to the senate and the senate also is likely to pass it. there is probably some strong support but is always possible that something could happen and it would not pass it by midnight friday. in that case, the government could shut down next week. that is not likely. >> we appreciate your time. >> thank you. >> technology and silicon for presidentnications is on c-span2. >> president obama met with the danish prime minister to discuss foreign policy questions. on the agenda, the explosions at

a japanese nuclear plant, afghanistan, and the violence in libya. they addressed reporters afterwards but did not take questions. >> thank you. michelle and i have fond memories of the extraordinary hospitality that was shown to us when we travel. it was wonderful to return the favor. that are many rasmussens in denmark, but we appreciate his leadership. we appreciate the sacrifices

made by danish troops in afghanistan and the extraordinary leadership that denmark has shown as part of my staff -- isaf. they made as many sacrifices as anyone in helping to stabilize afghanistan and helped to effectuate a transition to afghan leadership. danish soldiers are fighting some of the toughest areas without caveat. we have discussed how 2011 will be a year of transition and under the prime minister's leadership, he has been able to build a consensus about how that would proceed. his model for our allies and participants in afghanistan.

we're grateful for the work he has done personally and grateful for the sacrifices of danish troops in helping to underwrite the security of all of us. we also discussed the situation in the middle east and the prime minister has been a leader in europe, making sure we fight tough sanctions against the gadhafi regime. we share the view that he has lost legitimacy and needs to leave and we have to speak firmly against any violence that is directed at civilians. we have to make sure to provide humanitarian assistance inside libya as well as along the border regions where so many people laughed and it will be important to look at a wide range of options and continued to tighten the noose along mr.

gaddafi and apply pressure. it will be interested -- important to look at every single option that is available to us in bringing about a better outcome for the libyan people. we discussed our cooperation, and counter-terrorism efforts and i appreciate the leadership that prime minister rasmussen has shown. we work together on a wide range of issues and denmark, despite being a small country as one that has been concerned about terrorist activity. we will continue to strengthen our counter-terrorism efforts. we had a wide range of discussion on energy. it is a leader in alternative

energy. the prime minister has put forth an impressive program for complete reliance on clean and alternative energies by 2050. in part because even if you do not believe in climate change and we both do, it is the right thing to do for energy independence and it is the right thing in terms of producing new jobs and new technologies. we discussed the situation in japan. i want to reiterate how heartbroken whereby the images of the devastation. although japan is a highly advanced economy technologically equipped to rebuild, at this moment of crisis, all of us join together in providing any help

and assistance we can in the days and months to come. i am in close contact with the prime minister and our teams are in close cooperation as is our military. we expect to continue to cooperate until we have some stabilization of the situation. prime minister rasmussen, thank you for the help you have provided to the u.s. and the leadership you have provided internationally. denmark is a country that punches above its way to. -- above its weight. we are glad about our relationship and we appreciate you took the time to visit us. >> thank you. thank you for your warm welcome and your great hospitality. i believe it is the true that

denmark in the u.s. are close friends and fa allies. the bonds are strung between our governments and our peoples. ey then ian is the kin was glad to inform the president about our position. the mission done. i informed the president that i paid a visit to our troops to weeks ago and talked to the governor in helmand province and he decided we have to do more in order to get rid of the negative impact from [unintelligible] in terms of lack of development and lack of governance and

security. i have decided to increase our assistance to alternative crops in afghanistan and we're working close together in that regard. we condemn the violence, repression to the libyan people. european leaders gathered last friday and sent a strong signal. legitimacy.lost his it is important that international society examine all options to protect the libyan people. changes going on in other countries in the middle east and north africa. we have an opportunity to discuss transition in egypt and tunisia. we agreed that one famed for closer cooperation should be job creation. -- won fame for closer cooperation should be job creation.

-- one theme for close cooperation should be job creation. it should be in the area of i.t. where we should establish closer cooperation. we share values, we're working together. we have increased our cooperation. i think our meeting reflects the fact that we have a common desire for taking our responsibilities in order to create a future with peace and prosperity. thank you very much. >> thank you. thank you, everybody. >> also at the white house, we heard more about japan after the earthquake and tsunami hit the country and got the the an

update on nuclear reactors. they had of the nuclear regulatory commission and the deputy energy secretary spoke to reporters for 20 minutes. >> good afternoon. over the weekend, the president was briefed multiple times on the situation in japan, in the wake of the tragic earthquake and tsunami there. usaid is leading the humanitarian effort with health and human services and the nuclear regulatory commission and others. homeland security -- the homeland security adviser is cordoning the process with regard to japan and engaging with officials across the government. we knew you would have a lot of questions especially with regard to nuclear issues. i brought with me today the

chairman of the nuclear regulatory commission and he can answer questions about safety in japan and update americans about the impact of the accident. or the aftermath of the tsunami and earthquake. i also have the deck -- deputy secretary of energy and he can outline everything we're doing to assist japan as it deals with the aftermath. i will ask these gentlemen to speak. if you could address the questions related to their areas to them and we will let them get out of here and get back to work and i will take questions on other issues. thank you. >> if i could start with a few points. first, based on the type of reactor design and the nature of the accident, we see a low likelihood of low probability

there is any possibility of harmful radiation levels in the united states or y.a. or any other u.s. territories. any other u.s.or territories. steps they're taking are consistent with the approach we would use here. reifies americans in japan to listen to and follow the instructions of the japanese government with regard to the nuclear facilities. the agency has been providing technical assistance to the japanese, read as their requesting and we have dispatched to technical experts to japan and are continuing to assemble a team of experts thought would be dispatched on in the near future. i will turn to our next speaker. >> thank you.

we have been working closely with our colleagues throughout the inner -- interagency process and we have been guided by secretary chu and we have been speaking throughout the weekend. john brennan has been coordinating and we have had frequent meetings. we have been in close consultation as they have been courting the american response we have been making sure we share information as appropriate with our colleagues at the nrc. we have consulted closely with our japanese colleagues and have

dispatch subject matter experts in an emergency response. we are in consultation and we will make sure that any requirement they have we're prepared to meet and we're talking with them on a real-time basis. we have technical expertise already there on the ground and we have additional capabilities as needed. the japanese government has tremendous capabilities on their own. because a matter of this nature requires our best efforts, we stand ready to assist. you give us a sense of how president obama is getting briefed about the crisis and the risks to the people there and can you describe the nature of what we're seeing and how bad is?

>> lumley say that the press -- let me say that the president was briefed multiple times and this morning and throughout the day. john brennan is assistant for homeland security and is taking the lead on that and gathering coordination and ratings on that. >> in terms of the second part of your question. it is a serious situation in japan. efforts of the japanese government with our assistance where there requested it is to continue to look for ways to provide the ability to keep their reactors cool. that is a process that has been ongoing for some time and we continue to provide assistance where we can. they have asked for additional types of equipment that will help provide water and other resources to assure the

reactors continued to be cool. >> is there a partial meltdown? >> we do not have detailed information about the nature of the corps and the reactor itself. it is a situation in which there has been all loss of the normal type of cooling mechanisms to the reactor. as the situation continues to develop and get better information, the focus has been to do everything possible to insure the reactor continues to be cool. >> hal[unintelligible] >> we are always focused on safety in this country and that is something we will do. if there is any new information, we always take that into consideration and make changes of necessary.

we believe nuclear power plants in this country operate safely and securely. >> is there any attempt at this stage to assess or carry out the study of the ability of these plants to withstand an earthquake, and also, one of directors uses the mox fuel. >> in regard to the u.s. power plants, they are designed to high standards for earthquake effects. all our plants are designed to withstand significant natural phenomenon. we have a very solid structure in place.

we always do. we will continue to take new information and see if there are changes we need to make with our program. with regard to the fuel, we are providing assistance to the japanese where the request our assistance and at this time, they have not asked for specific information with regard to the mox fuel. >> where are the differences between safety in what japan has and the u.s.? >> our focus is on keeping the nuclear power plant in this country secure. we are putting out a strong focus in providing technical expertise to the japanese as the requested. questions about the differences and what changes we might want to consider and look at our something we will deal with down the road. we believe that the planets in this country continue to be designed -- the planets in this

country continue to be designed to high standards. >> does the president know about these calls for the change in handling about these issues? [unintelligible] this is something americans are concerned about. >> we are will -- we will take steps to ensure the security. we have a strong program in place and as we get more information from japan as this crisis comes to a man, we will look at whatever information we can gain from this event and see if there are changes we need to make to our system. i would add as a similar scenario, following 2004 tsunami, we did follow

requirements and to wind and made sure our plans would be able to deal with that type of event. >> plants will be able to withstand an earthquake of this magnitude hear? >> i do not want to speculate. >> they try to estimate what they would be able to stand. in japan, this was built to withstand a 7.9. in the u.s., are they built to withstand a quake of this magnitude? >> at this point, we have a strong safety program in place to do with seismic events that are likely to happen at any nuclear facility in this country. as we get past this immediate crisis where we continue to provide support to the japanese, we will gather information about the specifics of the event.

i do not want to speculate about what were the relevant factors in japan at this point. >> the information about harmful impacts to the united states is based on the nature of these reactors. you just are not going to have any radiological material by the time it travels those large distances. >> even in a worst-case scenario? you're not going to have harmful radiation reach hawaii? >> based on the distances

involved, it is very unlikely there would be harmful impact. >> the gentleman worry about -- do you gentlemen worry about running away from nuclear energy in this country? >> we place a safety paramount when it comes to regulation in nuclear power plants, and we always will. we have to have an energy policy and a direction that is driven by an overall assessment of our country's best interest. in that respect, we're going to continue to diversify our energy supply, which are going to continue to make sure that each of those sources is as safe as possible, and we will continue to take all their earnings into account as we proceed from episode that happened, from hypotheticals we come up with. there is nothing new about that.

development of our safety resources to make sure they are done continuously and safely -- each event is taken into account. we do not change from day to day our overall approach. >> nuclear is a key component in your interest in diversification? >> nuclear power has been a critical component td and s energy portfolio -- to the u.s. energy portfolio. 70% of the carbon-free energy in this country comes particular power. we see this power as plain and important role in in building a low-carbon future. we will take the safety aspect of that as our paramount concern. the nrc, which is independent and at arm's length, will ensure

that we live up to those kinds of highs and -- those kinds of high standards that the president expects us to use. >> it is critical to reaching york mission goals? >> we view nuclear energy as an important component to our nuclear component to our clean energy future. >> the moratorium issue. what has gone on in japan but the brakes on nuclear power in america. does the united states ended the administration agree with that? -- states and the administration agree with that? >> every experience that we had with respect to it the power plants, we take fully into account. certainly at the time of the three mile island episode, there were a tremendous amount of things we applied to the safety

of our plants. power reactors are much safer today. we continue to apply unused in areas of different types and never stop our efforts to exercise our capabilities to assess the possibilities and to ensure that our reactors can operate as safely as possible. we will continue to do that. we will -- we know that is a responsibility that is proposed in the nuclear regulatory commission. from a policy perspective, we will continue to operate our reactors. we will continue to seek to build nuclear into our responsible energy future, and we have confidence in the nrc to

do this safely. >> i would just add that we have plants in operation with 20% of the energy in the united states. information is still coming in from japan. as we evaluate that information, it is clear that we will incorporate that into how we use safety and security of the nuclear energy as a resource. it remains a part of the president's overall energy plan. when he talks about reaching a clean energy standard, it is a vital part of that. as we get more information from japan, that can be incorporated. right now, we are -- we remain committed to the clean energy standards.

>> mr. chairman, do you have nrc in japan right now? >> we have two nrc technical experts in japan. they're working to provide information to the u.s. and deceit. -- u.s. embassy. is it as bad as it is going to get? >> i do not want to speculate on how this will progress. i will say this is a serious situation, and we continue to provide whatever assistance is requirerequested from us. i would add that japan is a technically advanced nuclear country, and they possess

significant technical resources and capability on their own. >> the president has not seen anything in japan that will lead him to change his position to continue to get power from the nuclear resources in the united states? >> information is still coming in. these gentlemen address the issues of safety and security in the american nuclear program. as more information comes in, it will be evaluated. 20% of our electricity is generated by nuclear power. it is already a major component of our energy in the united states. >> to reiterate, we are an independent regulatory authority, and we always keep the focus, on a day-to-day basis, and the safety of nuclear

reactors in this country. if we get information that causes us to take action, which will take action. at this time, we have no information that causes us to take -- causes us to do anything different. >> of those two technical advisor is there, how are they in tokyo, are they getting information from the japanese government, and how would you describe the japanese government's description of what is going on? are they being forthcoming with both the public and with you? >> are two experts are in tokyo, and they are providing an assistance to both the u.s. embassy and our japanese counterparts. we continue to provide resources. >> are they watching press

reports about what they're seeing? to what extent are they really hearing what is going on? >> they are providing a valuable resource to give us direct information from japan about what is going on. that is coming from a variety of sources, including our counterparts -- >> has the government of japan been cautious about what it is putting out publicly? they had no urgency at the beginning, and now it has gotten more urgent. >> from what i have seen, we continue to see a very aggressive effort to deal with what is a difficult situation in japan right now. >> could i supplement that by sending that we have been in continuous consultation with the chief cabinet secretary, and we had two subject matter experts over there as well. they are in communication with their counterparts.

>> have a requested anything? >> we are ready to provide equipment. as of this morning, there may be some additional information that the chairman may wish to comment on, but we are making sure that they have a lot of equipment on their own, and we have that is available. we have emergency response equipment. we're not starting from a blank slate because the japanese already have a lot of equipment. >> one question from the japanese media. >> has there been any direct impact from that on the u.s. support teams already in the area? have they had to alter their plans at all as a result?

>> i would defer that question -- they have better information about this. the two nrc officials in tokyo have not experienced any issues that i am aware of. their safety and personal safety is important to us. in tokyo, there is no direct impact from the nuclear in pact -- from the nuclear incident. >> what the challenges of going into an area with such unprecedented damage? >> i would defer some of those questions to the people we have been working with ataid. >> at the ambassador's request, we're sending and other technical expert to join the team. in the context of the

coordination that mr. brennan has been doing from a homeland perspective, we're making sure that any assets from the u.s. government perspective need to be brought in there. we make available whatever assets we have through them. >> i want to let these guys does it. go. >> is the u.s. reviewing its policy now? >> what they're doing -- the first focus in the crisis is getting the coolant to the course of the reactors. and making sure that the fuel

remains cololed. >> we are still evaluating our options here. secretary obama convene a high- level panel of distinguished americans chaired by mr. lee hamilton. that group is going to be looking at all the options for the united states of america. by july, they will be coming back with some interviews on the options we ought to think about going forward with. >> are you confident that -- > [unintelligible] >> we will move on to direct some of the briefing.

and you for coming. >> the house is in recess. members are coming back at 6:30 p.m.. tomorrow, it will consider another short-term sending bill to keep the federal government operating until april 8. the house rules committee just adjourned after approving rules for debate on the bill. up next, we hear from senator lamar alexander on nuclear plant safety. his remarks on the senate floor ofe after the iofnews explosions in japan. this is 15 minutes. >> the senators have done, in their ways, it eloquently. i would like to express on behalf of the people of tennessee my sympathy to the people of japan and the devastation they have experience.

i applaud the ministration and the american people for their immediate response to offer assistance, a charitable aid, and search and rescue teams to find survivors. there's not much more important than the two countries' alliance between japan and the united states. we will stand with the people of japan until they recover from this disaster. there is a special relationship between the japanese and tennessee. this is the location of some anti-japanese industries in the states over the last 30 years. we should also commend the japanese for their courage that they have shown in dealing with the devastation, particularly with their levelheaded response to the damage at their nuclear reactors. in this age, when instant

communication can sometimes create misinformation, the japanese leadership and nuclear scientists are working with scientists from around the world in responding to the danger and keeping the rest of the world informed. this is the largest earthquake in japan's recorded history -- 30 times more forceful than the san francisco earthquake of 1946, 700 times stronger than the 2010 earthquake in haiti, said the risk is known -- so the risk is not over. the safety systems appear to have done their job and withstanding the earthquake and explosions, and none of the reactor containment structures seem to have been breached. the lessons that americans can take away from this tragedy is this -- learn all we can from

the japanese experience to make the operation of american reactors as safe as possible. mr. president, i would ask for an additional five minutes. >> without objection. >> mr. president, since the 1950's, the united states navy has traveled more than 136 million miles on nuclear power. today, 104 civilian reactors produce 20% of america's electricity, and 70% of our clean electricity. that is without so far, without nitrogen, or without carbon. no one has ever died from a nuclear accident at any of our commercial or navy reactors. no one has ever died from a reactor accident at one of our navy or commercial reactors. without nuclear power, it is hard to imagine how the united

states could produce enough cheap, reliable, clean electricity to keep our economy moving and to keep our jobs from going overseas. here's what we know about what has happened in japan -- we have all seen the video of the explosion. i am sure that many of us have thought that those were reactors exploding. fortunately, that is not what happened. a buildup of hydrogen gas in the secondary containment structures led to explosions which destroyed the buildings themselves, but the primary containment structures inside appeared not to have been compromised. to reduce the resulting increase in containment pressure, a relatively small amount of radioactive vapor has been dispersed into the atmosphere. he took electric power company has told us that the highest level of radiation detected on site today is 155.7 milligrams per hour, and that level has

since been reduced to 4.4 milligrams per hour. what does that mean in regard to human exposure risks? to put that in perspective, here are a couple of facts. the average american receives 300 milligrams of radiation exposure each year from naturally occurring sources such as the sun, and another 300 milligrams of exposure for medical applications such as ct scans and x-rays. the ensuing tsunami crippled the backup generators and batteries needed to keep calling waters in the plants. this led to the last line of defense emergency -- core cooling system.

it flooded the courts with seawater. the possibilities of further damage ought to be halted. authorities are taking every precaution, and that is what we like to see. despite being one of the largest earthquakes in the world's history, multiple disasters compounded one on top of another, the containment at the reactors appeared not to have been breached, and the radioactive material appears to be minimal. this experience has brought back memories of the 1979 accident at three mile island in pennsylvania. although we remember three mile island as the worst nuclear accident in u.s. history, it is also the impact -- is also important to remember that no one was hurt at three mile island.

there has never been a death resulting from a commercial and the killer accident in american history. what happened the three mile island was an operator failure, and when the automatic safety mechanism taken, the operators overrode it because they became confused about the number of alarms. three mile island changed the american nuclear commission. the commission appointed by president carter analyze the problem and made recommendations, almost all of which have been put into practice. the meshach shares try to keep a system -- people in the nuclear industry just -- people in the industry just did not talk to each other. people in the industry practice best practices to achieve the highest level of safety. reactor's -- operators trained

for five years before they can take control in the operating room. nuclear companies have special emergency teams that can be dispatched anywhere in the country at a moment's notice. the nuclear regulatory inspector lives on-site practically. as you can imagine, they watch each other very carefully. i have talked with any number of navy veterans who had experience with nuclear command, and one reason i'm confident that there have not been any nuclear reactor accidents in the new killing 80 that killed anyone over the last half century is because the responsibility for the safety of that reactor does right up to the captain of the vessel. all this was not the same at chernobyl. chernobyl involved 60 and media?

deaths, and health concerns that resulted in cancer. the soviets had not built a containment structure at chernobyl. the containment structure at ease japanese reactors, 40 to 80 inches thick of concrete and steel appeared to have withstood an 8.9 magnitude earthquake, a tsunami, a power failure, and explosions. mr. president, there are gas and oil fires raging in japan. water and sewage systems are damaged. the possibility of disease and starvation is eminent. there are a great many things to worry about. there are tens of thousands of

people still unaccounted for. right now, the effort needs to be helping those who need help. then we can take the lessons learned from this earthquake and tsunami and apply them to make our nuclear plans as a as possible and help the world do the same. reactiors104 nuclear provide 20% of our electricity and 70% of our clean electricity. japan has 54 reactors and gets 30% of its electricity from nuclear. the united states invented it kilowatt-hour, but the nuclear regulatory commission has not issued a construction license for a new reactor in more than 30 years. their 65 reactors under construction throughout the world outside the united states, but only one of the 65 is in the

united states. that is the construction of a previously halted project at the tennessee valley authority. the japanese and the french had served -- have surged into the lead in terms of nuclear power. they are now being challenged iby korea and russia in the international market. china will soon join them all. nuclear power today provides about 15% of the world's electricity. there are always risks with every form of energy. it is important that we be clear about the risks that each type of energy poses. it is also important to remember that we do not abandon highway systems because bridges and overpasses collapsed during earthquakes. the 1.6 million of us who fly daily would not stop flying

after a tragic airplane crash. we cannot stop drilling after a tragic oil spill unless we want to rely more on foreign oil and turn it our oil drilling over to a few big oil companies and all our oil hauling over to more leaky tankers. in all of these cases, when there are accidents, we do our best to examine the tragedies and make our continued operation in our lives as safe as possible. that is what we need to do here. our reactors in the united states are built to the high standards in the world. the chairman of the nuclear regulatory commission said in a that theerencbriefing today

nuclear power plants operate in this country safely and securely. they are designed at very high standards for earthquake eventeffects. all of our plants are designed to withstand earthquakes, tornadoes, and tsunamis. right now, we believe we have a very strong program in place. as we get more information from japan, as this immediate crisis comes to an end, we will look at whatever information we can gain from this event and see if there are any changes we need to make in our system. the japanese secretary of energy says nuclear power has been a critical component of the united states energy portfolio.

thank you -- the white house press secretary says nuclear power remains a part of the president's overall energy plan. despite the fact that there has never been a death as a result of the operation of a commercial american reactor, nor in our nuclear navy, which has been using reactors in its ships and submarines since the 1950's, our goal should be to continue every effort to make certain that the operation of our existing and new nuclear power plants are as safe as possible. for example, some have suggested that passive cooling systems that operate on natural connection coolants would prevent the problems that arose in japan when the backup power was lost. mr. president, nuclear power is a demanding but manageable technology.

as we move forward, let us learn the proper lessons from this japanese experience, to make sure that in the united states and in the world, we are even better prepared for the unexpected events of the future. i yield the floor. >> tonight, technology and talent commission's policy with chairman of the house subcommittee on communications, representative greg walden. right now, you can listen to cease and signature program with itunes or on your nt 3 player -- mp3 player. listen to a variety podcasts whenever you want. everything you want is on line

at c-span.org. the house is coming back in now. rom the committee on rules for filing under the rule. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title. the clerk: report to accompany house resolution 167. resolution providing for consideration of the joint resolution, house joint resolution 48, making further continuing appropriations for fiscal year 2011 and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: referred to the house calendar and ordered precipitationed. -- printed. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, proceedings will resume on the motions to suspend the rules previously postponed. votes will be taken in the following order. h.r. 793 by the yeas and nays, h.c.r. 27 by the yeas and nays and approval of the journal de novo.

first electronic vote will be conducted as a 15-minute vote. the remaining electronic votes will be conducted as five-minute votes. the unfinished business is the

illinois for today. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the request is granted. the house will be in order. members, please take your conversations outside or take your seats. the house will be in order. the house will be in order. the chair is prepared to entertain one-minute requests.

the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. staff, please take your conversations outside. for what purpose does the gentleman from south carolina rise? without objection, the gentleman is recognized. mr. wilson: mr. speaker, citizens who cherish fairness in the media are rejoicing that jerry balloon, editor of "the lexington county chronicle" has been named journalist of the year. the coveted honor was announced march 5 at the south carolina press association's annual awards luncheon held in columnia. balloon was recognized for his more than half century involvement in the industry. balloon and his wife and business partner have built the chronicle into one of the best local newspapers in america with more than 300 national and state awards.

their son is continuing the tradition of professionalism with its creed, a conservative choice, not a liberal echo. balloon has been a champion for taxpayers' dollars not being the government's money but clearly the people's money. his long-time crusade of posing -- of opposing excessive spending was endorsed last week by the student congressional advisory board of the university of south carolina student government which issued a thoughtful report to promote debt reduction as the student body's greatest concern. in conclusion, god bless our troops and we will never forget september 11 and the global war on terrorism. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentlelady from nevada rise? ms. berkley: i rise to address the house for one moment and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so recognized. ms. berkley: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise to call attention to the horrific murders that took place in israel this past weekend. late friday night during the jewish sabbath, palestinian terrorists murdered five members of a family including two young

children and an infant by stabbing them to death in their beds while they slept in their village in the northern west bank. this grizzly murder that young children can be killed along with their parents for merely living in a place they're not wanted, the world community must stand together in rejecting such violence and state unequivocally that negotiations are the only acceptable way forward to resolve this conflict. we must also reject the notion that the west bank must be rid of all israelis, jew-free, where have we heard that before? before peace can be had in the middle east. palestinian leaders have per pitt pet waited this dangerous myth while israelis by contrast have embraced their arab neighbors as complete an equal citizens since 1948. mr. speaker, the palestinians must not be allowed to cleanse the west bank of all jewish life before they will accept the peace agreement with israel. the world community must call on

them to condemn these horrific attacks and immediately return to the negotiating table which they have avoided for far too long. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from virginia rise? >> i rise to address the house for one minute, revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized. >> mr. speaker, the ninth congressional district of virginia and the law enforcement community suffered a terrible loss yesterday. i was deeply saddened to learn that two deputies were killed and two others were seriously injured in the line of duty in van sant, virginia. my condolences to g to the families of deputy william ezra still in her and deputy cameron neil justice who lost their lives yesterday. a 10-year veteran of the county sheriff's department, deputy justice is survived by his wife, daughter and step-son.

a seven-year veteran, deputy stillner is survived by his wife and his children, his two children. my prayers are with their families. also my continued thoughts and prayers are with deputy eric dwayne rasnick and deputy shane early charles as they recover from this horrific shooting as well as the county sheriff's department and the entire community. this act of violence is a reminder of the dangers our law enforcement officials face and that they face daily. as our community grieves, we will not forget these officers' service -- >> mr. speaker, the house is not in order. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is correct. the house is not in order. members, please take your conversations outside. mr. griffith: mr. speaker, as the community grieve we will not forget these officers, their service, their selflessness and their sacrifice. i yield back any additional time.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from arkansas rise? >> mr. speaker, i rise seeking permission to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized. >> mr. speaker, i rise today to congratulate the university of arkansas-little rock for earning both the men and women's ncaa basketball tournament. as champions of the sun belt conference. they're sweep of the sunbelt titles makes them the first school to do so since 2008. for the lady trogeans, this is their first sunbelt championship and second consecutive trip to the tournament. for the trojans this is also their first sunbelt championship and their first visit to the ncaa tournament since 1990. congratulations to coaches steve shields and joe foley as well as athletic director chris peterson for their leadership this championship season.

congratulations also to the young men and women of ualr basketball. thank you for representing your school, the city of little rock and the state of arkansas. we are rooting for you. mr. speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from texas rise? for what purpose does the gentleman from texas rise? mr. poe: request permission to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. poe: mr. speaker, in the days of merry old england, king james commissioned the translation of the bible into english. he made it possible for the common man to have access to the scriptures. this is the 400-year anniversary of the 1611 translation of the king james version of the bible. those seeking religious freedom carried the king james version to the new world. millions of american school kids used the king james for decades as a basis for learning english. pioneers carried it in covered

wagons in the west and some family, the only bible they had or the only book they had was the king james bible. u.s. military took pocket copies of the version in both world wars. and hundreds of courtrooms use the bible to swear in witnesses. and presidents still place their hand on a king james bible at their inauguration. for 400 years the king james bible has made it possible for the judo christian beliefs of the good book to be read and studied in the english language and that's just the way it is. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from minnesota rise? >> unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. paulsen: mr. speaker, i rise to congratulate the eden prairie high school boy's hockey team on winning the a.a. state championship. it's the team's second state title in three years. the eden prairieles were well matched in the game against the duluth east greyhounds. with the game heading into triple overtime, the eagles came

out on top 3-2. this game would actually prove to be the longest game championship game in the 67-year history of the minnesota state hockey tournament. i also want to recognize eden prairie senior kyle who was named minnesota's mr. hockey by a group of ncaa division i coaches and nhl scouts. there's no doubt that kyle's 41-season goals including five in the state tournament played a strong role in the eagles' championship victory. so congratulations to coach smith and eden prairie student athletes. we're all very proud of you. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from georgia rise? >> thank you, mr. speaker, request permission to address the house for one minute, revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. >> thank you, mr. speaker. in the classic movie by frank capra called "it's a wonderful life," the main character, the hero contemplated the question, what would the world be like if you had not had lived?

mr. kingston: in his case what would his town have been like? i ask the question we 345 members of congress have to answer, what would congress be like if you were not serving? would you go on spending money right now, borrowing 40 cents for every dollar we spend? a national debt of 96% of g.d.p.? a deficit right now of $1.6 trillion. what if you had not served? would it make a difference? that's what the debate is about right now. 87 new members who came to congress to change this spending habit to say no and democrats and republicans had their fingerprints on overspending but it is now time for changing. there's another popular movie called "the blind side" in which the main character was drafted by ole miss university to protect the quarterback on his blind side.

that's what these members need to do, mr. speaker. is protect the blind side of the taxpayers from absolute disaster. thank you and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from texas rise? >> ask to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. gohmert: thank you, mr. speaker. tomorrow we're going to take up another short-term continuing resolution. in the meantime today, tomorrow, the next day we will be borrowing $4 billion a day that we don't have to pay the deficit that this administration is running. and we're going to debate tomorrow about $6 billion here, there's a day and a half deficit. we'll bring in about $2.1 trillion this year and we'll spend $3.6 trillion. it is irresponsible, it is

reprehensible. for years, we have heard, for the good of the children. by golly, it is for the good of the children that this body man up across the aisles and quit spending money that our children don't even have. let's vote no until we do some real saving. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. are there further one-minute requests? under the speaker's announced policy of january 5, 2011 the gentleman from texas, mr. carter, is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader. mr. carter: thank you, mr. speaker. i thank you for yielding me the time. my friend, mr. king, are you ready? i would like to yield however much time he needs to consume

to my good friend steve king to talk about an american hero. mr. king: thank you, judge carter. it is with honor i take the floor tonight and i appreciate you yielding and i understand your great respect and love for our troops an the pain you suffered down at fort hood and the involvement that you had in each and every engagement, standing up for our military, standing up for our country, standing up for our national security. tonight, i step to the floor with your acknowledgment, judge carter, to honor a real american hero. and this american hero that we honor tonight here on the floor of the united states congress is an american hero, corporal john michael peck who is with us here in the audience tonight, up in the corner. watching the proceedings here in the house of representatives.

corporal peck is a united states marine, third battalion, first marine division. mr. speaker, i rise to honor this american hero, he's from rockford, illinois, corporal john michael peck is a member of the third battalion, first marine division, and his mother lisa peck is here with us tonight. she was a single mother for 16 years. but michael was born in daytona beach, florida, grew up in rockford, illinois, after graduating from ant oklahoma high school, he went into the marine -- from antioch high school, he went into the marine corps. after serving in iraq, he received his first purple heart for a t.b.i. injury. then in 2010, he was in afghanistan, reseved a second purple heart after an i.e.d. explosion nearly cost him his

life. he lost all four of his limbs. against all odds and with the help of his mother, he climbed into the light. his progress has been incredible and his fellow marines talk about his prowess in the weight room. his attitude and courage have meat all the different -- made all the difference. like all these men and women, those who do the best are the ones whose loved ones are with them from day one. lisa has been. there should be a medal of honor for those who put their life on hold to help their loved one regain theirs. two other marines have been john. i ask that this poem, penned in honor of corporal peck, be placed into the record, mr. speaker, and i ask that this nation continue to stand with and for those troops who stood

up for us, those who gave the ultimate sacrifice, those who -- those heroes such as corporal john michael peck who paid such a high price an rewards us with his indomitable spirit and the strength of family and the love of a mother all here in this story, however sad, however tragic, it lift misheart to know we have americans that will serve us in this way and americans who inspire us with their spirit in the aftermath of such a service. god bless you, corporal. i yield back to the gentleman from texas. mr. carter: thank you, congressman king. that was a wonderful thing to do. that's a wonderful american hero, mr. peck, and we're very

proud to get to know him. we wish him well. we're grateful for his spirit. tonight, we're going to talk again about the regulations going on in this country and i am real pleased to be joined by congressman geoff davis of the great state of kentucky, my father's home state, and he is going to join us and we're going to talk about a one-two punch we hope we put together for regulations. right now, as we've been talking about in the past, we have a tool which allows this congress to review certain major pieces of regulation to come out of the regulators, that is the departments and agencies of the federal government. it's called the congressional review act. it allows congress to review every new federal regulation, major regulation issued by the government agencies and by

passage of joint resolution override that regulation. the process you go through is federal agencies submit to each house of congress an to the comptroller general of the u.s. a comprehensive report on any major proposed rule. congress has 60 days, that's 60 legislative day, pass a joint resolution disapproving the rule. the senate must vote on a c.r.a. resolution of disapproval. that's where this thing is right now. that's the tool we have. we've been talking about that as we talk about the massive number of regulations that have just inundated this country since the beginning of this administration and before i yield to my friend for a conversation about the reins act, which will be the reverse of that and a new tool, i'll let him explain it, let me tell

you about the amount of regulations that have been placed into effect during though because ma administration and -- through the obama administration and it's epidemic. the government has issued 3,350 new rules and regulations, an average of 13 new rules a day. 78 of those new rules last year were major rules. a major rule is a rule that, as i said, may result in an annual effect on the economy of $100 million or more, a major increase to the cost or prices for consumers, or significant adverse effects ott economy. by the way, we are just getting started, it seems -- started see -- seeing what obamacare is doing, it's going to be the mother of all rule making instruments. but geoff davis, congressman

davis, had a new idea, a better idea, i think, though this is a great tool, a tool that i think will function even better. i'll yield to mr. geoff davis whatever time he needs to consume to start us talking about the reins act. that's not rain like we pray for in texas all the time, is it? mr. davis: i think it's more the reins to pull back on the bull or horse getting away. appropriate to kentucky too, with our equine culture. when we talk about bills like the health care bill that was forced through last year that has so many new rules that are going to be propagated over time, the challenges that we're facing with increasing complexity of government, all these rules and placing a burden on the consumer with virtually now recourse for voters no recourse for our

communities, the operationalized term would be unfunded mandates but i think what we have to come down to is look at this as costs that are being levied that affect every area of our life. the last probably five or six administrations have seen a tremendous amount of growth in the amount of regulations. you mentioned over 3,000 new rules and regular ligses came up last year. -- regulations came up last year. this affects all of us. if you think about education and the channels schools have today. no child left behind, which was a well-intentioned bill in terms of -- goals of improving student performance, when it was written into enough compromising or general language to be thrown over the wall, the detailed regulations moved to place a massive unfunded mandate under the individuals with disability in education act for disabled

children or children who fall into that category, it was supposed to be funded at 40% of the expected level, it's never gotten above 2% in any school district in kentucky, in my congressional district, and those are funds that have to be re-allocated from elsewhere. we're seeing schools lay off teachers, cancel other programs deem nonessential for federal compliance. it doesn't help our students or those who it's intended to help. when we think about the e.p.a., certainly we can talk about greenhouse gas regulations. there's a case where there's a move on the part of an executive brasm, regardless of whether a person is democrat, republican, libertarian or independent, the constitution mandated that the legislature, both houses of congress had power of the purse and power to held the executive branch accountable. the executive branch was to execute the laws, not make the

laws. when there was a democratic supermajority in the house and senate, the cap and trade, energy tax akes on the production of energy in this country, was not able to be accomplished because there were not functional majorities in either chamber for the president to sign a bill which would necessarily cause utility rates to skyrocket. now we hear the announcement that we're going to do this anyway. then it comes home full circumstance until a way that's hit almost every community in the country in one way or another, that's e.p.a. compliance with stormwater or drainage mandates. they could be well-intentioned but we have to look at the regulations in context. in my own area, in my first year in congress, i've been in congress about two months, the e.p.a. imposed a consent decree on three kentucky counties for $800 million. in effect, an $800 million tax on one water and sewer district

for upgrades which frankly in most cases were entirely unnecessary, a standard way beyond what reality was and one that imposed a huge burden on working families and on the poor. this bothered me for years. we looked at different ways to deal with that. the congressional reform -- review act was a good attempt but the challenge we've had with the c.r.a. is it's only worked one time to repeal a regulation, that was the clinton era ergo no, ma'amics rule, in that case the stars all lined up, we had a pass that could pass it, a senate that could pass it and a president willing to sign the regulation from a prior administration. here you have working families where the compliance cost with the stormwater decree are more in some cases than the actual revenue of the congressional district or the budget of the town. we went back and forth with different ideas and in august

of 2009, a constituent of mine came into my office as we were working for different ways to reduce and relieve the regulatory burden on businesses, on citizens, let's have regulations in context of their cost and also one with scale. and this gentleman said to me, how come you all can't vote on these things? and the light bulb went on. we went back to work and came up with the reins act, regulations executive in need of scrutiny act. it was h.r. 3765 in the last congress. we started with a simple premise, for major rules, rules that have an economic impact of $100 million or more qume la tyly, once the of-day comment period is over, instead of being enforced as they are today with very little interaction with industry and very little heeding of industry in the comment areas or communities, with this -- what this would do, things like that

stormwater bill, things like no child left behind, things like net flew neu centrality, things like doing card check by regulation, frankly, versus going against the will of the people's elected representatives, what that would force is force that rule back up to capitol hill under a joint resolution. it's constitutional. it would have to pass in the house, pass in the senate and then go to the president's desk for signature. what that would do is be able to give people back in the united states, washington, d.c. was at one time described as 10 miles by 10 miles square surrounded by reality, back in the real world, where taxpayers live, they would have people to hold accountable, the men and women in the house and senate if these large rules that are imposing significant economic burdens were impose on them. as we move forward, got a tremendous amount of support for that, across the business community, across the legal community, citizens and frankly local governments have lauded

this. we're looking forward to moving that forward. there was so much moment um at the end of the last congress that this was put into the pledge to america and was reintroduced, let me back up, senator jim demitt introduced the senate version and in the new congress we introduced a slightly improved version of the legislation in the house and the identical bill was introduced by our new junior senator from kentucky, rand paul work 23 additional senate co-sponsors, we're up to 134 co-spobsors in the house of this bill and it had two hearings in the judiciary committee about it where the discussion on ultimately accountability is there. the one thing i would share with you also is this is not a partisan bill. the opponents of the bill have tried to say it's antiregulation or it's an attempt to go after the administration. it is not that at all. in the bush administration, in the clinton administration, in the reagan administration, in the carter administration we can

keep going on back finding rules and regulations that were implemented out what the original intent of the congress had been. you know, in the past we could work around these rules and regulations. economically now things are so tight and so tough we cannot afford to burden the competitiveness of our businesses any longer. when we come back i'll give you examples that have that will specialize this to an additional degree but i'm glad you're holding this hour tonight to discuss the critical impact of regulations, a cost that's approaching $2 trillion a year on the american economy, frankly the cost of regulations is substantially more than the annual tax revenue that is collected by the government and i yield back to the gentleman. mr. carter: reclaiming my time, i thank the gentleman for explaining this to us and he hit upon some points that i think we need to keep reminding the american people, because, you know, we've all been out there living our lives, raising our

kids, doing the things with our wife and just getting caught up in living and on the periphery we hear of something that may interfere with our little business week forums or may interfere with a big business we got a job in that's going to cause issues that we -- and we just tend to say, congress did it. when in reality most of the things i believe that people hear those things about, some rule that requires them to put up a barrier or like i had one guy tell me, they made me put up water retention barriers in the desert in new mexico where it hadn't rained in four years. and he thought that was ridiculous. i said, well, i kind of have to agree with that but i guess there's some reason for it. but the point is that wasn't done by congress. that was done by one of these regulators you're talking about. and when you write a rule or regulation that would require --

would cost this country, this society $100 million, then that has a major affect on some human beings that live in this country. and we need -- i think we have the responsibility as the representatives of the people to take a look at that thing and decide if that's the right thing to do. and the way the congressional review act is, they file it and then we have to take aggressive action to get a vote on that issue. by the reins act it would be mandatory that it be filed and it must have a vote. there is no exception, as i understand it. so if something's going to change $100 million or more of your life, you would think the guy you elected, you voted for, or gal, that you voted for can to come here to speak on your behalf ought to have something to say about it. that's why i like the reins act.

it puts a responsible party responsible for things that bureaucrats do. bureaucrats have the ability to make these fancy rules that they're not responsible for. they write them but then, you know, they got a paycheck, they're civil servants, their job is protected with what i would argue is a tenure after a period of time, they maybe -- may be even represented by a labor union. when they write that regulatory act, they don't answer to any voters back home to decide whether they keep their job for writing a good act or a bad act. they get to make -- they have probably a panel of people they work with to decide this is a good idea. but here's what's going on right now that has many of us very concerned. a lot of issues that are now -- we're facing with regulations were issues we voted on in this

congress, we discussed in committees in the last two years when the democrats were in charge of this house, and the senate, and the presidency, and those things they were not able to get passed through both houses and signed by their president, the democratic president, mr. obama, and yet now they're trying to do those same things by regulation. and the perfect example is co-2. the whole issue of greenhouse gases. basically they could not get a vote by both houses of congress to support calling greenhouse gases knoxic gases that should be regulated or should be eliminated. so now they just pass the rule. they're passing the rule at the e.p.a. and declaring it. they got one court to make a ruling in their favor and with that they're going forward on it. but that issue's a debate in

this house today and it will be in debate when the reins act brings it before this house for a vote. and that's why this, if we can get this passed, and i believe we'll get support, bipartisan support, by both sides of the aisle, both in this house and in the senate, and i'm very hopeful that the president will sign it, because it's a tool that works for -- it doesn't matter what party you're in because, hey, i'm not going to sit here and tell you that republican presidents or republican administrations haven't proposed bad regulations. because they have. and it's not a party responsibility here, it's a individual members' responsibility to make sure we don't write regulations that are going to in such a way hinder our ability to do the things of commerce that keep jobs being created and so forth that we let the bureaucrats run the country.

we didn't elect them to run the country, they got hired for a job. and i think that anything that has this kind of influence on the economy requires a vote of the people who said, i will take responsibility for making the voice of the people in my district heard in washington. you're not going to get that voice heard by the regulators. it's going to have to be here in congress. so i commend my colleague, mr. davis, for a good bill, well done. and a concept that enhances the liberty and freedom of the american citizen. i yield back for your comments. mr. davis: thank you, judge carter. the real question when it comes down to presidential support of this, presidents, regardless of party, don't tend to want to relinquish power but i think from a congressional prerogative there's so much importance in changing the dialogue, the dye

dialogue between the house and senate on capitol hill, but also the dialogue between the executive branch and the legislative branch. and to this point the thing that i would share, president obama during his campaign called for a post partisan era. and then as soon as his legislative agenda did not pass he moved to want to implement everything but regulation that could not get through the house and the senate. the reality is to get to the postpartisan era and restore balance between the congress and the executive branch is to pass a bill like this. a senior e.p.a. executive who has to remain nameless because who have this person is shared with me, he thought a concept like reins was a great idea for two reasons. not from a partisan perspective. and this is somebody in an agency that's regulating. the first thing that he shared with me was his unutterble frustration that the congress

often sends overly generic or nonspecific or in fact many times contradictory titles in bills. health care being a specific example of that. where it is so difficult for the regulators to try to determine what the intent of congress was, often times in order to get that interpretation they come out with something entirely against the intent of what people wanted who were supporting the bill. the other thing that happens in that same vein is, legislation is often crafted to get a majority of votes in each chamber and to get a conference acceptance between the house and senate with language that creates holes, that creates opportunity for the executive branch to legislate. or tax by regulation versus working through the regular order of the house and senate to. me that's not constitutional. -- to me that's not constitutional. i'm not an attorney but the one thingky say is the constitution reads pretty clearly on who is supposed to legislate. congress has abdicated in the

past its responsibility to maintain that control because it was easier. usually in a crisis, this really began in earnest during the depression, growth in the regulations related to national security began during the cold war. we've seen the great society programs where many other agencies began to grow. and it affects us in a huge number of ways. the second reason that this gentleman was supportive of a concept like the reins act was this, it would force a dialogue for clarity between the agency that would have to implement regulations under rules that were being written in the house of representatives and in the senate, it would force that dialogue to make sure that the intent of congress is clear. instead of having 2,700-page bills that show up hours before a vote, the dialogue could be ongoing, reduced down to a concise piece of legislation that had very clear intent, very clear expectations and a clear outcome to maintain context for citizens. i'd like to touch on a couple of these that affect all citizens.

the first one, people like to have their privacy protected, the health insurance portability or health insurance privacy protection act in the late 1990's that was enacted into law was intended to protect patient privacy. it was intended to make sure that people's most intimate information would not be freely available outside of very legitimate and necessary venues or where that person gave permission. that law known as pipa, it has accomplished vastly more than the original intent of the law and mostly damage. i can give you an example. i was doing what's called a mini internship at st. elizabeth's medical center in northern kentucky the week that hipaa implemented. and i watched in the space that have time, not the internship was an opportunity for peist people in the business community and come in and learn more about how the health care infrastructure works. business practices that are being implemented, it foresters

a dialogue between health care professionals. hipaa ended that because of liability concerns. just simple interaction that had taken place before. more importantly than that, every doctor's office that i had visited, every department of the hospital suddenly saw their paperwork overnight double in dealing with the same patients, with the same procedures. so the cost of actually getting the treatment people ared was in effect doubled. we're seeing nurses no longer do nursing and it's now the patient care assistants. we're seeing doctors no longer doing medicine, it's charge nurses and senior nurses on units because again, the amount of documentation that's required in order to cover the bases on this rule have had an impact far out of proportion to the original intent of simple privacy protection that could have been accomplished in other ways had congress been more clear. on transportation there's always interest in discussion that, as you well know, coming from texas, texas is different from kentucky, is different from new york and everybody's different

from california, from a trend set. we all have uniquenesses in this nation and it's what makes america great. in my part of boone county, kentucky, where i live, we had to experience a tremendous amount of growth. a new elementary school, commerce that was going up and down highway 237 known as north bend road. a little two-lane road that would snake and curve up to the most northern part of the commonwealth of kentucky. well, originally in our six-year road plan it was supposed to be a four-lane highway that was going to be built to support all of this new traffic. however, some of the new transportation rules got in place about green space and bike paths and this is what we got at the end of the day. after tens of millions of dollars, 2 1/2 years of construction work, what we got was a beautiful two-lane highway with bike paths and green space in between. where a public safety vehicle can't be turned around and two traffic circles.

now the traffic is just as bad as it was before all of these millions and millions of dollars were spent in order to comply with federal regulations. to me things like that don't even need to be levied at the federal level, that can be decided at state and community level if we want to do things like bike paths, if we want to do things like traffic circles and put green space to use federal transportation dollars that are appropriated to the state. another example that comes to mind, a place that i've dropped off suits and shirts this morning or my wife did after i came to washington, d.c., early this morning. nick bell is an entrepreneur in boone county, kentucky. years ago he started a dry cleaners known as braxton's dry cleaners with some friends. they have top notch customer service and they go out of their way to grow their business and in the late 1990's nick had a vision to expand. his service was so effective and the quality of care he gave his customers was so good that he grew to a point where he more

business than his current physical plan could handle in this small dry cleaner. he did what any entrepreneur would do, he pooled his money and the sided to get another dry cleaning machine. he found out that the clean water rules changed after 1986 and he was under a whole new set of mandates. he was informed he would have to do about 18 bore holes into the concrete pad of his little dry cleaner to test for tars no generals. dry cleaning fluid is listed as a potential carcinogen. potential, i might add. one oncologist told me you'd have to drink gallons of it on a daily basis to induce the toxicity level in your body to cause cancer to grow but nonetheless, the rule was the rule. environmental inspector came

out, he did the bore holes and then an interesting thing happened. on one of the bore hole that discovered one teaspoon of ground water under the pad for the business. they've created numerous jobs for our country. -- county. in that teaspoon of water was a little bit of dry cleaning fluid. if we spilled windshield washer fluid on our driveway, or maybe paint falls off a window sill when we're painting the outside of our house, we clean it up and move on. he was informed he had to remediate that teaspoon of water. he said, sir, i can't afford that i won't install the dry cleaning machine. then, the full encounter with the regulatory state came into being. he was told, no, if you don't fix it if you don't remediate it to standard, we'll shut down your business. there was no environmental risk, there was no true remediation risk, i'm speaking

as an engineer, there was no risk. what was at risk were the jobs of the people threrk closing of the folks that were trapping in there and what mr. bell had to pay was $60,000 in remediation fees for one teaspoon of water. it might have been different in dow chemical had a major spill, but this was a dry clean for the boone county, kentucky. it made him an activist. these examples are rife. i live in the longest river district in the united states, along the ohio river. we have a lot of flooding today that's going on. people can't pick up the trash that comes up on their properties on the river banks. you know why? under the rules that are laid forth in implementing the legislation under the clean water act, and under the core of -- corps of engineer, you reach down and take hold of any inform the detry tuss, you own that for liability purposes and are responsible for the reed

re-mediation costs. hence, businesses up and down the inland waterways, you see this fwar badge, this waste that's washed up because by our own law, people who want to clean it up, free of charge, to the federal government work no overhead to the state or local communities, think of the boy scouts who want to go out on the weekend, they're stepped -- stopped from doing thnd will not do it. finally the last point i would make, we talk about the issues of clean water, i care about clean water. i want to see our water clean, our water pure, but we need to take a look at what standards are again in context. an enterprising new county executive, thomas mas see a brilliant m.i.t. graduate, pat ened many technology devices, came back home to settle down, to bring these practices back home, he's an expert in sustainable nrnl. -- sustainable energy. we're from a coal state he wants to build in this county

that doesn't have inherent natural resources but is a loing a long section of the river, wants to wall up the large draws with the large hills that come down to the river's edge and create a hydroelectric generating capability with two largeres. vaws. the proposition was simple, fill them with water from the highway river and they could be drirnede refilled based on precipitation and evaporation but it would be largely sustaining and generate electricity around the area. he ran into the environmental protection agency because the clean water says if i take one gallon of water out of the highway river, i cannot put a gallon of ohio river water back into the ohio river unless it is purer than drinking water. this is an issue that's completely out of context. this is part of the challenge i think we face, that many sints don't realize, we encounter this regulatory culture, these are rules that hit the

pocketbooks of people. it's not an issue of big business. it's working family the elderly, the working poor, our farmers, our small businesses that create jobs are all affected by the $2 trillion in regulation and ultimately, if we're going to compete in a global environment, not that we want to stop regulation but bring it into context, make it concise, make sure there's real impact and make sure there's not something that prevents us from creating jobs and keeping our country strong in the 21st century. i yield back. mr. carter: reclaiming my time, you're exactly right. so that people understand, many of these regulations are, as they look at things, they don't look at the big picture of what that regulation was meant to do. in fact they don't -- i don't think they consider just how far-reaching what they're doing is going to be. i would venture to guess that when they wrote that regulation concerning that particular

chemical that had leached down through a crack and gotten parts per billion or whatever it was into the dirt, that they were probably envisioning some big factly dumping major chemical deposits out on the ground they never thought of a mom and pop cleaners that might have a slight crack in the foundation which causes a very minute amount to fall down there an then say, you've got to remediate like monster company who dumps all this trash in there, that's what you have to remediate. i don't think the people writing it were thinking -- i think they were thinking about the big guy, never realizing what they're doing to the little guy. last night, i had a really nice invitation from some people, there's an event in austin, i'm going to plug for them, it's a great event, called south by southwest.

many people think of it as a musicfest value, there's lots of bands that come in, they have lots of live music, austin is the live music capital of the world, but there's also a lot of entrepreneurs, high tech innovators, and all sorts of people come there to share ideas, to go to seminars about how to -- how we're going to thrive in the 21st century. it's a great, i believe week-long celebration, maybe longer than that. last night i was invited to a private meeting between, i'd say at least 100 to 150 people with ideas and what they call angel investors, that is people who are willing to look at these ideas and maybe be willing to loan startup money to get these companies started. first thing i want to tell you,

i don't believe i've ever walked into a room where there were more enthusiastic people who thought they had a great idea. i mean, it just felt good talking to these young people. many of them, you wouldn't be able to pick them out on a college campus. and they look like all the kids on the college campus. and many of them were. but they had ideas, come up with an idea. these were the michael dells and bill gates' of the -- bill gates of the future. they had an idea. they were gathering with other people with ideas. when we think of this, when we mention michael dell and bill gates and the people in the high tech industry, but in fact some of the ideas were petty simple but somebody had a good idea. one of them i thought was innovative was a rolling kitchen.

these were gourmet chefs who said, you know, i want to cook, i've got good food but i don't want to buy a facility, i want to have, immaterial to have a winnebago with a full kitchen in it and a way to sell my food outside the door and i'm going to sell gourmet foods on the street like a street vendor. and it's an interesting concept. seems to be, as described to me, the beginning of a successful idea. these ideas were there and there were people coming to invest in those things. i met one guy who said, yeah, sometimes you pick a winner and sometimes you don't. but i picked a couple of winners, one of them was netflix, i got in the first dion netflix, now we're doing pretty good. what this was, this was the

seed corn, if you will, of capitalism in america. this is what it's all about. but most of the people that had projects there had something to do with a tool we all are learning about and that is the internet. now we have rules coming down from the federal government, f.c.c. is to create the federal government new power to regulate the internet, restrict access, thus staaling this type of -- stalling this type of innovation of the dynamic young men and women i met last night. with their great concepts on how to improve life and create a business. you know, liberty, by its very nature, our founding fathers were very smart. they realized if you give us liberty, from that will come

new ideas, from those new ideas will come entrepreneurship, entrepreneurs. from that will come jobs. capital to reinvest. to grow a thriving economy. and we have been living on that basic system, private enterprise in this country now, since the inception of this country. and these young technocrats have learned how to use the internet as a tool to make life better for people. and yet -- and if you ask them what they don't want, they don't want the federal government regulating them. now the people that are wanting to regulate, they're looking at some things they see as problems. i don't know what problems they are. maybe they think somebody is using it to enhance politics other than theirs and they're worried about the other guy having access for political reasons, maybe they're worried about some of the bad things

that are on the internet and there are bad things. terrorists are learning how to make weapons to kill other people on the internet. but they're not realizing that as they take something that's working, stick the federal government in there, probably isn't going to be working as good. the federal government doesn't do a whole lot to make things work well. so unintended consequences of that is they will basically destroy this exciting, innovative industry that's being created in this country to come up with new ideas make, hopefully make life better and more convenient for all of us. and in turn, hopefully generate wealth for those who have the idea. because that's what we're all about. right now, using this tool, until we can get mr. davis' reins act, which i'm a

co-sponsor and almost everybody i know is, we're going to try to get this thing passed in this session of congress, signed into law by the president of the united states as a tool that all members of congress should respect. until that time, we use the congressional review act. here's some of the things we are looking at in the congressional review act. the e.p.a. rule disapproving the state of texas' flexible permitting system under the clean air act, we filed h.j.res. 21, john carter sponsors that. f.c.c. net neutrality rule, h.j.res. 37, greg walden is using the congressional review using the congressional review act to look into that.