point marines their due. they fought an enemy abrought and injustice at home. they served with great valor and distinction and loved their country more than their country loved them at the time. president roosevelt ordered in 1941 that the marine corps be opened to african-americans, but marines considered themselves the most elite branch of the military and the most traditional and many resented roosevelt's order that african-americans be accepted. the first african-american marines were hardly welcomed with open arms. their segregate the unit was stationed at montford point, north carolina, near camp lejeune. they could not go inside camp lejeune without a white officer. when they trained with white marines, which was rare, they waited until white marines had eaten before they went through the chow lines. the montford point marines went to a specific theater to serve behind the lines, not for combat for which they were

presumed to be unsuited. no one told the japanese. the montford point marines served in three of the ugliest battles in the pacific. they came under intense fire and showed great courage, earning the praise of skeptical white officers. african-american marines served side by side with white marines in korea and in every conflict since then. . the distinguished sr. viss of the month for the point point marines made that possible. the commandant of the marines says he wants every marine from private to general the history of the marines who fought enemy overseas and racism and segregation in their country. i want every marine and every american to know that history. semper fi, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from north carolina. mr. jones: i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from missouri. mr. clay: mr. speaker, at this time i'd like to yield one minute to the distinguished gentleman from ohio, mr. ryan.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from ohio is recognized for one minute. mr. ryan: thank you, i would like to thank the gentleman and the gentlelady from florida for making this recognition. and the gentleman from north carolina for all of his leadership in the house on this issue and a variety of others. and just rise here to say i want to be in support of not overwhelm this resolution but the eventual awarding of the congressional gold medal to the montford point marines. i think this is a great example of how we and in america sometimes it takes us too long but we try to rectify these problems. and i hope this is an opportunity for us to recognize discrimination when it's happening anywhere else in the military or across our country that we shouldn't have to wait to honor these marines 70 years later because of their commitment that they made. they were dedicated to this country. they fought racism, they fought segregation, they fought

humiliation all to try to serve this great country. i think they really embody what the marines stand for, the honor, courage, commitment, that is exactly what it takes to be a marine. let us learn this lesson and also honor these gentlemen here today. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from north carolina. mr. jones: mr. speaker, i would continue to reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from missouri. mr. clay: thank you, mr. speaker. at this time i'd like to yield three minutes to the gentlewoman from new york, miss ma lenny. -mrs. maloney. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from new york is recognized for three minutes. mrs. maloney: mr. speaker, i want to begin by thanking my colleague and very good friend, corrine brown, for her leadership on this and also the chairman, walter jones, and ranking member clay. and i am a proud co-sponsor and i rise in strong support of this bill and i am thrilled

that the montford point marines are with us in the gallery. and in 1941 president roosevelt issued an executive order which opened the door for the first african-americans to enlist in the united states marines. totaling approximately 20,000, these brave men faced segregated training at montford point, north carolina, while white recruits were trained at paris island in south carolina. among these distinguished marines was someone who later in life would become an outstanding mayor of the city of new york. my friend and now constituent, david dinkins. david dinkins, enlisted in the marines in 1945. immediately after grad waiting from high school -- graduating from my school and served until the end of the war. he told me of this story today how thrilled he was about this gold medal but he said one day

he went out and the drill sergeant announced, everybody get on your knees. thank the lord. the war is over. now get up, nothing has changed. mayor dinkins and the rest of the men in montford point marines served with distinction regardless of the prejudice and segregation they faced. fighting in the pacific arena during the second world war and three of the bloodiest battles. saipan, iwo jima, and okinawa. they fought with bravery and valor, overcoming the resistance to integration within the services at that time, and eventually earned high praise from the marine corps commander. the legacy of their service has endured beyond the battlefields of the second world wars as they opened the door for generations of african-americans in the marine corps. these brave men advanced the cause of civil rights while simultaneously protecting the

freedoms of our country. and for that we owe them a heartfelt deep thanks. congress has already recognized the first african-american service members of the army, navy, and air force. and this bill to award the same honor to the montford point marines is well deserved and i'm so proud to be a co-sponsor and to be supporting it. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. members are reminded that the rules of the house prohibit the introduction of occupants of the gallery. the gentleman from north carolina. mr. jones: i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from missouri. mr. clay: thank you, mr. speaker. at this time i'd like to yield two minutes to the distinguished gentleman from illinois, mr. davis. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from illinois is recognized for two minutes. mr. davis: thank you very much, mr. speaker. i want to thank the gentleman from missouri for yielding.

i also want to commend and congratulate representative corrine brown for her introduction of this legislation and for the tremendous work that she did to get it to the floor this soon today. and i commend you for that. i had an uncle who was at okinawa, and of course he talked a great deal about his experiences. but i also remember being a young boy during korea and two or three of our older guys went and joined the marines. and how proud they were to come home wearing their dress uniforms. all of the younger people were running kind of behind them, looking at them when they'd come to church or dress up. i have a large montford point marine association in my congressional district that i

visit quite frequently, especially veterans day and other times, memorial days when we pay tribute to veterans. so i simply come to say thanks to all of them who have helped to make america what it is. and helped to keep our country strong. i urge passage and yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from north carolina. mr. jones: mr. speaker, i will continue to reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from missouri. mr. clay: mr. speaker, at this time i'd like to first thank my good friend from north carolina, mr. jones, for his leadership on this issue. and i know that he represents camp lejeune and he has certainly been a friend to the marine corps. and we are all indebted to him

for that. mr. speaker, the bill calls for the treasury secretary to strike a single gold medal of appropriate design in honor of the montford point marines, collectively, in recognition of their personal sacrifice and service to their country. the bill authorizes the speaker of the house and the president pro tem on the -- of the senate to make arrangements for the award of the medal on behalf of the congress and authorizes the secretary of the treasury to strike and sell duplicates in bronze at a price sufficient to cover overhead expenses. mr. speaker, to me this is the least we can do for a group of men who served a grateful

nation so well. and during april of 1943, the first african-american marine drill instructors took over as the senior drill instructors of the eight platoons then in training. the 16th platoon, the 17th headed by thomas brokaw, the 18th headed by charles e. allen, and the 19th headed by gilbert h. johnson who was mentioned earlier. mr. speaker, how much time is remaining? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from missouri has one minute remaining, and the gentleman from north carolina has 15 1/2 minutes remaining. mr. clay: if i may inquire of

mr. jones. mr. jones: i will close on our side. mr. clay: all right. at this time, mr. speaker, i'd like to yield one minute to the the gentlewoman from california , ms. pelosi. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from california is recognized. ms. pelosi: i thank the gentleman for yielding. i thank you, mr. speaker, for recognition. and i'm pleased to join my colleagues, congresswoman corrine brown, who has been relentless in calling for this day, our colleague from missouri, mr. clay, thank you for your leadership on all of this as well. to our colleagues on the other side, the ranking member on the banking committees, and then mr. pearce as well who spoke about this. we have come together in a

bipartisan way for a very patriotic occasion for our country. what a thrill it will be when we can tell our constituents we were there to vote for this important resolution which will, as we all know, call for the striking of a gold coin directing the treasury secretary to strike a single gold medal of appropriate design in honor of the mon for the point marines. how exciting. -- mon forward point marines. how exciting. i know many of those marines are here on capitol hill today. we look forward to welcoming them to a ceremony where these medals will be bestowed. i only wish all of the marines who ever served, sacrificed, were willing to sacrifice their lives for our country, some of them did, some have left us since then, all of them the subject of the respect and honor that we pay. it's just another example of some of the inequality that has

existed in our country earlier on. long overdue time for us to redress some of that. we have had occasion in the rotunda over the last few years to recognize the work of president truman when he called for the desegregation of the military. general, secretary, national security advisor, many titles, powell was here with us that day. we had occasion to honor our tuskegee airmen on another occasion. so it is long overdue to again take this other step to recognize the important work that all americans play in our most important responsibility to protect and defend. i will say this to all of the marines who approached me about this legislation outside the

congress, that every time they did i said corrine brown has already gotten to it. lacy clay has gotten -- corrine was absolutely relentless on this and we are all here because of her leadship of the work and members of our congressional black caucus and the bipartisan support we have. and of course we wouldn't be on the floor without the leadership of our speaker who enabled this bill to come to the floor. it's a proud day for the congress. look forward to an even prouder day when these medals will be bestowed. with that, mr. speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. soil the gentlelady's time has expired. the gentleman from north carolina. mr. jones: mr. speaker, just a uple comments. does the gentleman have any more -- some the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from north carolina is recognized. mr. jones: mr. speaker, at this

time i'm going to yield two minutes to the gentlelady from texas, miss sheila jackson lee -- ms. sheila jackson lee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from texas is recognized for two minutes. ms. jackson lee: mr. speaker, i ask to revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. ms. jackson lee: i want to thank the gentleman from north carolina and the gentleman from missouri for their courtesies. this is an emotional time for all of us and we must pay tribute first of all as we pay tribute to the montford point marines, we must pay tribute to congresswoman could are in brown. -- corine brown. we thank you, first of all, for

restoring our faith in this country and showing us that we can work together as members of congress. to be able to honor the congressional gold medal to the montford point marines is something that we would want to be the first legislation of this week. it awards a gold medal to the first african-american marines. and then, of course, it acknowledging their personal sacrifice and their service to the country. my father-in-law was a tus key i go airman -- tuskegee airman. how long it took to honor them. as we begin to mr. this country on a more solid ground -- build this country on a more solid ground, it is important to acknowledge the first african-american to receive the congressional medal of honor was sergeant william harvey carney.

and he received it during the civil war. then of course we noticed that the marines started at its inception, the marine corps refused to recruit african-americans from 1775 until 1942. but immediately after the racial restrictions were lifted, nearly 20,000 african-americans signed up to become marines and began their basic training at the segregated camp montford point during world war ii until 1949. yet they were still faced with segregation and racism. we all know that the marines are the first in and as the marines are the first in, then others follow. we're known and they are well known for taking the bullet first in many instances, as they worked with other members of the united states military. so today it is more than appropriate, mr. speaker, to be able to honor these fine heroic

individuals. i salute them, i thank god that we have the opportunity to honor them in this time. isn't it great that america can unite together and go forward under a unity of understanding the dignity of all people. thank you marks are ins, the montford point marines, and this is an honor. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. the gentleman from north carolina. mr. jones: i'd like to yield three minutes to the gentleman from georgia, mr. bishop. mr. bishop: i thank the gentleman for yielding. mr. speaker, i come to the house floor today to pay tribute to a remarkable group of african-american trail blazers and patriotic servicemen, the montford point marines. these distinguished veterans did not just defend our nation at a time of war, they helped to spearhead a movement where the goals of achieving equal opportunity and respect for universal human rights are now more intricately woveg noon our society -- woven into our society. in 1942 president roosevelt

established a presidential directive allowing african-americans to be recruited into the united states marine corps. these african-american recruits were trained in a segregated compound known as the montford point. a facility at camp lejeune in north carolina. over 20,000 african-americans bravely served in the marine corps during world war ii and they selflessly voluntarily put themselves in harm 'as we -- harm's way to protect our homeland. this past summer, mr. speaker, i had the honor of attending the reburial ceremony of montford point marine private james benjamin. private benjamin's remains and surviving family members were escorted to the patriot guard riders and members of the veterans of foreign wars from the west monch wear in georgia and he was laid to rest with full military honors at the national cemetery this past memorial day weekend. he was disintered from a segregated cemetery because at the time of his service he could not be buried where white

service men were buried. when it comes to rounting our nation's history and looking back at the trials and tribulations that were endured by the montford point marines, i doubt there's a generation or group of world war ii veterans who had it tougher than they did. people sometimes forget that they were fighting two wars, both foreign and domestic. but i would like to commend the spirit of these brave men, because they guide me in my duties to maintain our government's commitment to fighting our -- fighting for our troops and for helping the troops who protect our freedoms at this time. not only does that mean that we have to today maintain adequate salary and benefit levels for the military, but we've got to keep our promise to our veterans, our armed service retirees and their families. mr. speaker, i want to commend my colleague, corrine brown, who

has championed this issue and brought the story of the montford point marines to the attention of our entire nation. i commend the marine corps for their efforts in making sure that our nation doesn't forget. and i urge my colleagues therefore to support h.r. 2447 and to honor the first black marines with the recognition that they deserve and that they have patiently been waiting for. i urge the adoption of this bill and i thank you and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from north carolina. mr. jones: mr. speaker, i think this has been a great debate. i want to thank congresswoman brown for bringing this h.r. 2447 to the floor. i think any time that the house of representatives can debate and bring -- soothe the pains of yesterday with the glory of today by honoring these marines

who served at montford point. so, mr. speaker, it is long overdue that we honor these marines for their courageous service to our country, these men are a very important part of our country's history and i hope that each and every one of our colleagues in the house today will join ms. brown in saluting these great marines. with that i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. all time having expired the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 2447. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative, the bill is passed. the gentleman from north carolina. mr. jones: mr. speaker, i want to 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 further proceedings on this question will be postponed.

for what purpose does the gentleman from new mexico seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, i move to suspend the rules and pass h.r. 2527 as amended. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 2527, a bill to require the secretary of the treasury to mint coins and -- in recognition and celebration of the national baseball hall of fame. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from north carolina -- new mexico, mr. pearce, and the gentleman from missouri, mr. clay, will each control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from new mexico. mr. pearce: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all maybes -- members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to have extraneous material on this bill. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. pearce: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. pearce: mr. speaker, baseball truly is the american sport. from the earliest age we begin enrolling our children in peewee baseball leagues. we take our children to games at

the ballpark, eating hot dogs and cracky jacks. that's because baseball is america's -- cracker jacks. that's baseball is america's national pastime. that's why i'm proud to ask for consideration of the bill before us. this was introduced in july on the same day of the 50th congressional baseball game by mr. hanna for himself and 296 others. this bill was also introduced from mr. batterman and doyle who managed the republican and democrat teams in the baseball game. h.r. 2527 gives special recognition to a place that honors baseball, a game which, since the time of the civil war, has occupied our leisure hours. the bill calls for the minting and issuing in 2015 of a limited number of gold, silver and so-called clad coins commemorating the 75th anniversary of the national baseball hall of fame museum in cooperstown, new york. the hall of fame and museum opened and admitted the inaugural class of ball players

in june, 1939, as war clouds gathered over the world. in the 72 years since, -- in the 72 years since its opening, the baseball hall of fame has served as a home base detailing the rich history of our national pastime. more than 14 million people have visited the hall of fame. this commemorative coin program, which will be conducted at no cost to the taxpayer, will also operate in accordance with all the statutes covering these types of coin programs at the u.s. mint. further, the program has the potential to raise several million dollars to help finance the operation of the hall of fame through surcharges on the sales of these coins. notably to claim the surcharges, the hall of fame must raise matching funds from nongovernment sources. the bill ensures that all three coins will have common designs. for example, the bill requires that the reverse side, sometimes referred to as the backside, of each coin, is to be in the image of a baseball. the bill further requests that the u.s. mint try to produce the

coins in such a way that it makes the reverse side rounded like a baseball. the passage of this bill, the commemorative coin bill, is one of those exceptional pieces of legislation that brings the house together in bipartisan fashion, particularly at this time, a bill that can garner nearly 300 significant in a tures of support from house members on both sides of the aisle is a good thing. i am pleased to be a co-sponsor of this bill and i urge all the members to support this coin act today. mr. speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from missouri. mr. clay: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. clay: mr. speaker, i rise in support of h.r. 2527, the national baseball hall of fame commemorative coin act. this legislation would honor the 75th anniversary of the major league baseball hall of fame. h.r. 2527 calls for the treasury secretary to issue in 2015 no

more than 50,000 $5 gold coins, 400,000 $1 silver coins and 750,000 half-dollar clad coins in recognition of the national baseball hall of fame in cooperstown, new york. the program would be operated at no cost to the taxpayer and would be budget-neutral. currently h.r. 2527 has 296 co-sponsors and i urge all of my colleagues to support the bill and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from new mexico. mr. pearce: mr. speaker, at this time i yield five minutes to the gentleman from new york, mr. hanna. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york is recognized for five minutes.

mr. hanna: i thank the gentleman from new mexico for yielding. mr. speaker, i rise today in proud support of h.r. 2527, the national baseball hall of fame commemorative coin act. first i need to thank several of my colleagues for their help in bringing this bill to the floor. congressman joe barton and mike doyle respectively, the republican and democratic managers of the congressional baseball teams and the original co-sponsors of this bill. financial services committee chair spencer bachus and ranking member barney frank for their support on this bill. and each of the 296 co-sponsors who together joined to commemorate our national pastime. i am privileged to represent cooperstown, a picturesque village in upstate new york and hope of the -- home of the national baseball hall of fame. as a 10-year resident of cooperstown, sponsoring this bill is especially meaningful for me. i urge all citizens of the world and baseball fans or not to visit cooperstown at least once.

cooperstown is a fine example of the beauty and grace of smalltown america. mr. speaker, the national baseball hall of fame museum has spent the last seven decades celebrating and honoring the history of our national pastime. this bill will celebrate and honor the 75th anniversary of the hall of fame. the u.s. treasury will produce an official united states mint commemorative coin featuring the baseball hall of fame. importantly there will be no cost to the american taxpayer associated with this bill. the coins are legal tender but will be produced in a limited quantity. they will become available in 2015 to mark the 75th anniversary of the opening of the hall of fame in cooperstown. mr. speaker, the story of baseball is a story of america. baseball is a game of skill, from the most precise pitchers to the heaviest hitters.

in the late 1800's men of all ethnic backgrounds joined together on the diamond to play the game that would become america's sport. germans, poles and italians, irish, jews, native americans and more formed teams. a hodgepodge of americans. immigrants, all of whom found acceptance on the field. this game broke barriers long before the civil rights movement began. . while much of america was segregated in the 1940's, jackie robinson in 1945 was signed to play major league baseball. integration began on the baseball field. the examples go on. from the stories -- stories of babe ruth, joe dimaggio, to the modern day legacies of derek jeter baseball touches the lives of everyday americans and fans around the world. i cannot imagine a more timely

occasion than now during the 2011 world series to honor baseball and its wonderful hall of fame in cooperstown, i udge all my colleagues to support me in joining this cost free, bipartisan legislation. thank you, mr. speaker. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from missouri. mr. clay: mr. speaker, being from st. louis, missouri, and going through this time with the fall classic, the st. louis cardinals happen to be in the world series, and hopefully we can bring home a victory. speaking of victories, i would like to yield five minutes to my good friend and the manager of the democratic baseball team, mike doyle. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. doyle: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today to express my support of this bill. i'm happy to support

legislation that would designate a commemorative coin for the baseball hall of fame. i want to thank my colleague, richard hannah, for introducing this legislation, and working to get strong bipartisan support in the house of representatives. i also want to thank my good friend, joe barton, for his work not only in the congressional baseball game itself but working with me to help bring legislation to the floor. the baseball hall of fame is more than just a shrine to the nation's pastime. the baseball hall of fame is proof of shared american values. that baseball is not merely a part of american history, but has tracked the pikes of the american experience. baseball is a game with roots in both england and the united states which signifies the dual roots that define the birth of this country. major league baseball players like joe dimaggio and dead williams gave up years in their prime to fight against fascism and future of democracy in world war ii. jackie robinson broke the color

barrier in 1947, seven years before the supreme court desegregated schools in brown vs. board of education and nearly 20 years before the civil rights act. and the entire world, even arizonans, rooted for the yankees as they played in the world series just weeks after the country was attacked on september 11. i'm also a supporter of the bill because baseball is an essential part of the experience of my district. more especially the city of pittsburgh. the pirates are one of the original major league baseball teams, founded in 1887, and played in the first ever world series. as someone who has lived in pittsburgh my entire life, i have experienced the thrill of victory and more recently the agony of defeat as i watched my beloved pirates. as a young fan i had the honor of watching my most favorite person ever to wear a baseball uniform, roberto clemente, a 12-time al stire, a 12-time golden glove winner, m.v.p.,

and impressive .317 lifetime batting average. he was not only a great baseball player but a great humanitarian. after roberto single-handedly helped the pirates win the world series in 1971 over the heavily favored baltimore orioles, roberto was tragically killed in a plane crash a few months later bringing relief supplies to victims of the nicaraguan earthquake in 1972. he was forever be remembered and beloved not only by his native homeland of puerto rico and his adoptive home of pittsburgh, but by baseball fans across the world. you know, other sports may have more followers or more revenues or more popularity. but no other sport is so tied to the core of american experience as baseball, and now because of this bill americans as well as international visitors can be assured that they can visit the baseball hall of fame in cooperstown. commemorative coins celebrate and honor american traditions

as well as commemorating important aspects of american history and culture, these coins help raise money for important causes. this coin will raise funds to ensure that cooperstown will not only be opened to the nation and world now, but also for generations and generations beyond us and will cost the government and the american taxpayer absolutely nothing. this bill couldn't come at a better time. we are at a point in our history when the defining standards of american life can seem lost. the idea that hard work ensures a decent life. that the future is always better than the past. that what unites us is always stronger than what divides us. there was a time when these notions were not just truths but reliable truths, they were promises. we are now at a time when people feel a little less secure about the truth of american greatness. i still believe in american greatness and i think most americans still believe in american greatness, and i believe we need to celebrate that greatness wherever possible. this bill does just that.

the baseball hall of fame has personal importance for me because it reminds me of a time when the country's game was defined by great teams and great players, not large bankrolls and corporate named stadiums. it's a reminder when the game was ruled by talent and love of the game. that's why we need the hall of fame. that's why i'm proud to support this bill. and that's why i ask all my colleagues to vote for it. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from new mexico. mr. pearce: mr. speaker, after last night's game in the world series, most americans understand the t is for texas. i would like to recognize the manager of the republican team, mr. barton from texas. yield him three minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas is recognized for three minutes. mr. barton: thank you. i want to thank the most valuable player for the republican baseball team this year for the time. i want to commend mr. doyle, the manager of the democratic congressional team for his victory. and commend mr. clay,

congressman clay, whose st. louis cardinals are playing my texas rangers in the world series who proudly wears the st. louis cardinal uniform in the congressional game that -- and the next -- wednesday and thursday night at least one of those games, the rangers win, so that they can get their first world series championship in history. and once that happens between them, the rangers and the cardinals will have 11 world series championships. i want to thank congressman hanna for his excellent work on this bill. i am a proud co-sponsor of it. i have the congressional -- not the congressional baseball but the cooperstown hall of fame baseball cap on my head which i'm violating the rules of the house so i have to take it off immediately, but it is a great institution. 14 million americans have visited it in person since it was established in 1939. i hope to take my son or sons,

i have two sons, and two grandsons, to that hall of fame in person in the very near future. it truly is a history of america from babe ruth ofester year, to my -- of yesteryear, to my childhood heroes, nolan ryan, current general manager of the texas rangers, to last night's heroes. mike napoli who hit the home run in the bottom of the eighth inning. hit the double. hit a home run earlier. or albert pujols who had three home runs saturday night. i think 14 total bases, an amazing player who will certainly be in the hall of fame. this is truly a win-win for everyone. there is no cost to the taxpayer. the coin self-generates its funding. we can all celebrate the 75th anniversary of the baseball hall of fame by supporting this

legislation and at the appropriate time i would encourage all the members of the house of representatives to do so. again go rangers, let's win the first world series in texas ranger history this week. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from missouri. mr. clay: let me thank my friend from texas first, mr. barton, for his encouragement for his home team. we are certain that the better team will prevail in this fall classic. at this time, mr. speaker, would like to recognize the gentlewoman from new york for two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from nork is recognized for two minutes. mrs. maloney: as the representative from the proud city of new york which is the home of the new york yankees and the new york mets, i rise with strong enthusiasm in support of the national baseball hall of fame commemorative coin which was introduced by my friend and colleague from new york,

congressman hanna, and also congratulate mike doyle not only for his work on this bill but his winning work on the field of baseball here in congress. sales of the coin will go to the baseball hall of fame to finance its operations with matching funds raised from nongovernment sources. the program will be operated at no cost to the american taxpayer, but will help the baseball hall of fame to do its important work not only now but into the generations to come. since the hall of fame and museum opened in june of 1939, 14 million people have visited the site which houses more than 38,000 3-d artifacts, 500,000 photographs, and 12,000 hours of recorded media on our nation's most favorite pastime.

coopersville also claims to be the home of the original baseball game here in the united states. it truly is an institution in itself and serves as an educational tool in the classroom through videoconferences, technology, and interactive lessons across the nation. a coin to commemorate the hall of fame will ensure that it can continue to do the good work it has been doing for over 70 years. so i am so proud that it's located in my state and we have finally found something we can all agree on. our favorite pastime in america, baseball. i also want to note -- if i could get additional minute, please. mr. clay: i yield an additional one minute. mrs. maloney: i think it's important given that we just passed the important and historic gold medal for the montford point marines and

recognize their fight in promoting and protecting human rights and civil rights, literally integration began on the baseball field. there on the mound people come from across the country from all ethnic backgrounds, sometimes from foreign countries, to come together and support and work together in this wonderful sport that is truly an american sport. and i would say the nations of baseball hall of fame and museum has spent many decades celebrating and honoring baseball. this bill will be able to continue their good hard work and i urge all my colleagues to join me in supporting this cost-free, bipartisan legislation that hopefully every one of us can agree on. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. the gentleman from new mexico. mr. pearce: mr. speaker, the competition between the gentleman from texas and the

gentleman from missouri notwithstanding, the bipartisan effort is moving slowly forward, i would yield two minutes to the gentleman from new york, mr. gibson. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york is recognized for two minutes. mr. gibson: i thank the gentleman for yielding. mr. speaker, i rise today in support of this legislation to provide a commemorative coin for the national baseball hall of fame. sponsored by my friend and colleague from new york, mr. hanna. tourism is one of the most important drivers of our local economy in upstate new york. many jobs tied to it. and the over 350,000 visitors to the museum each year provide a much needed, important boost for the economy in the greater cooperstown area. baseball's america's pastime. the sport i played growing up in my hometown and one that our son, connor, plays now. on columbus day, just passed, i visited the hall of fame with connor. it was a very special bonding

moment for both of us and one that millions of american families have had the opportunity to do over the last 72 years. this legislation will help promote the hall of fame, will help provide a boost to our local economy that tourism effort, and do so without costing the taxpayers a single penny. it's good legislation and we should all support it. i urge my colleagues to do so. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back his time. the gentleman from missouri. mr. clay: mr. speaker, at this time i have no further speakers . i certainly think the national baseball hall of fame is deserving of this recognition. i urge all of my colleagues to support this legislation. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from missouri yields back his time. the gentleman from new mexico. mr. pearce: mr. speaker, the original sponsor of the bill, mr. hanna, would like to go into extra innings.

i would like to recognize him for one more minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york is recognized for one minute. mr. hanna: i thank the gentleman from new mexico. every student of baseball knows, including my sister, robin, who has told me many times that the new york yankees are the finest team in the history of baseball. i would like to take this opportunity to wish good luck to -- in the world series to the texas rangers and the st. louis cardinals. i urge my colleagues to support h.r. 2527 and i yield back the balance of my time. . the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from new mexico. mr. pearce: mr. speaker, i have no other speakers and would yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 2527. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative -- yes, the gentleman from missouri. the gentleman from new mexico. mr. pearce: i have a couple of letters here that i'd like to

ask unanimous consent to insert into the record. the speaker pro tempore: does the gentleman from missouri request a recorded vote. mr. clay: yes, i do, mr. speaker. i request the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays are requested. all those in favor of taking this vote by the yeas and nays will rise and remain standing until counted. a sufficient number having arisen, the yeas and nays are ordered. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20 further proceedings on this question will be postponed. for what purpose does the gentleman from new mexico rise? mr. pearce: mr. speaker, i'd like to ask unanimous consent that -- to insert two letters in the record. the speaker pro tempore: is there objection? without objection, so ordered.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from new york seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, i move that the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 2042. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 2042, a bill to require the secretary of homeland security in consultation with the secretary of state to establish a program to issue asia-pacific economic cooperation business travel cards and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from new york, mr. turner, and the gentlewoman from california, ms. loretta sanchez, will each control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from new york. mr. turner: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all

members have five legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include any extraneous material on the bill under consideration. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. turner: mr. speaker, i yield myself as much time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. turner: mr. speaker, i rise in support of h.r. 2042, the asia-pacific economic cooperation business travel cards act of 2011. this measure is needed to grant to the department of homeland security the authority to issue apac business cards, as part of their overall trusted traveler programs operated by customs and border protection, for expedited re-entry into the united states. the apac business card travel program -- apec business card travel program is an initiative of the asia-pacific forum and is

designed to facilitate commerce by promoting fast and efficient travel of eligible business people and government officials within the asia-pacific region. this legislation will allow eligible u.s. business travelers to apply for trusted traveler cards, for expedited entry to certain asia-pacific nations which are members of the apeck forum. -- ap, ec forum. at this transition, members of apec, the united states already provides foreign business travelers who have apec business travel cards with expedited scheduling visa interviews at u.s. embassies and consulates and use of dedicated lanes of expedited entry when traveling to the united states. however, since the united states has not yet issued carding for u.s. citizens who wish to participate in this program, americans are currently unable to enjoy the same time-saving benefits that some 70,000

foreign holders of apec business cards enjoy when coming to the united states. during this challenging economic times, we must all do what we can to facilitate business development and that includes encouraging international travel and negotiations. expanding u.s. participation in the apec business travel card is a simple way to support these goals -- goals and facilitate travel, whether it be through l.a.x. or j.f.k. note, this legislation will have no deterrent on the homeland security of the united states, as all foreign visitors who are citizens of a apec member economy must continue to do through the standard travel procedures of obtaining a visa or filling out the web-based lebling reason to -- electronic system of travel authorization for visa-waiver program

countries. currently 18 of 21 apec economies are full members of the apec business travel card program. the united states currently participates as a transitional member along with canada and russia. enabling this legislation will demonstrate the u.s. commitment to economic integration and engagement in the asia-pacific region. the measure has strong bipartisan support and enjoys the support of u.s. business community including the national center of apec, the u.s. chamber of commerce and the u.s. travel association. i urge members to support the bill and reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentlelady from california. ms. sanchez: mr. speaker, i rise in strong support of h.r. 2042 and i yield myself as much time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized. ms. sanchez: thank you, mr. speaker. as a member of the committee on homeland security and a

representative from the great state of california which has very strong economic ties to the pacific region, i am proud to be a co-sponsor of what i believe is one of the most important things that we can do with respect to trade and getting the american jobs going. the primary goal of the asia-pacific economic cooperation organization is to support sustainable growth economically -- growth, economic growth and prosperity in the asian-pacific region. the united states is among the group's 21-member economies which accounts for 55% of global g.d.p. they purchase 58% of united states goods, exports and comprise the market of $2.7 billion -- 2.7 billion consume ers. seven of america's top 15 trade partners are in apec. so, this bill would require the secretary of homeland security in consultation with the secretary of the state to

establish a program to issue apec business travel cards. to eligible u.s. citizen business leaders and senior united states government officials who are actively engaged in apec business. the apec business travel cards would expedite the individuals' international travel within the 21 apec-member countries. there are similar cards already available to apec travelers in the united states. h.r. 2042 would allow u.s. citizens to enjoy similar travel benefits abroad. it requires the secretary of homeland security to integrate application procedures for and issuance of apec business travel cards with other appropriate international registered traveler programs of the department of homeland security. such as global entry and nexus

and some of the other programs we already have to expedite travel from one country into the other. and finally the bill permits the secretary of homeland security, of course, to impose a fee that would cover the cost of issuing these cards. h.r. 2042 is supported by the obama administration. so next month the u.s. is hosting apec for 2011. it's the first time since 1993. it's going to include meetings in washington, d.c., in big sky, montana, in san francisco, california, culminates in the apec leaders meeting in honolulu, hawaii, in november. so i think it would be appropriate that the house pass h.r. 2014 in advance of this meeting this next month. and with that, mr. speaker, i

reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady reserves the balance of her time. the gentleman from new york. mr. turner: mr. speaker, i yield two minutes to the distinguished gentleman from the state of texas, mr. brady. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas is recognized for two minutes. mr. brady: thank you, mr. speaker. and i rise in support of h.r. 2042, the apec business travel card and appreciate working with my counterparts, congressman larson, on this legislation. this bill provides the security -vetted american business and government travelers the same sometime--- time-saving benefits as their counterparts in other asia-pacific economic cooperation countries. the bill is supported by leaders in both parties, including the chairman of the homeland security committee, representative peter king, and i appreciate his leadership in this bill, provision was included in the authorizing bill recently reported by the house committee on homeland security.

the card was originally created to increase the economic engagement in the region that continues to grow and grow and to expedite secure business travel for those who make frequent business trips in these economies. but today the united states is only one of three economies within apec that hasn't yet provided these travel cards to their frequent business travelers. this bill would allow customs and border protection to issue the travel cards to our citizens after conducting background checks, confirming frequent travel to the apec region and collecting fees to cover the full cost. the two big benefits beyond increased security is equal treatment for americans, our counterparts, frequent business government travelers who do business within these countries in the region already enjoy these benefits. this provides it to united states citizens. and then basically it create -- make sure we stay ketexethive in that region, that region is -- competitive in that region, that

region is growing economically. they represent half of the world's economy. they buy almost 58% of what america tells and they are, as -- sells, and they are a major new customer as far as farmers and ranchers, our tech nothing companies, our -- technology companies, our manufacturing companies and our services workers as well. so i fully support this bill. it's important that our business travelers in america get out there to sell american products throughout this important region. it has strong business support and i urge member support as well. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentlelady from california. ms. sanchez: mr. speaker, i'd like to yield three minutes to the gentleman from washington state, mr. larson. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from washington state is recognized for three minutes. mr. larson: mr. speaker, i rise today -- mr. larsen: mr. speaker, i rise today in support of this bill. since joining the apec business

travel card program as a transitional member in 2007, the u.s. has been extending the benefits of having an apec business travel card to foreign business men and women in 18 other can economies but not -- other economies but not to our own. these benefits include being permitted to use the crew or designated apec business travel lanes in airports when entering a country and expedited visa processing. as of october 12, 2011, there were over 100,000 foreign abtc holders, but no americans. today's legislation simply levels the playing field by directing the department of homeland security to establish an apec business travel card that will allow americans to use the card to gain expedited entry into participating apec economies when they go abroad and use customs and border protections or c.b.p.'s global entry program for expedited re-entry back into the united states. this will make travel throughout the asia-pacific region easier

for american business men and women and help them to more efficiently sell their products overseas. i want to thank my good friend, the gentleman from texas, mr. brady, for his hard work on this bill. as well as fellow apec caucus co-chairs, the gentleman from new york, mr. krouly, and mr. herger as well. the future of the united states is tied to the asia-pacific region. with the hosting of the apec summit by the united states in less than a month, it's important that apec business travel card program is established. i urge my colleagues to support this bill, as well in inclusion i want to thank the leadership of this house for working with me and the gentleman from texas to get this bill scheduled for the house's consideration. with that, mr. speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentlewoman from new york -- the gentleman from new york. mr. turner: mr. speaker, i have no more speakers. if the gentlelady from california has no further speakers i'm prepared to close once the gentlelady does. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york reserves his time. the gentlelady from california. ms. sanchez: mr. speaker, i have

no more speakers and since the gentleman from new york is ready to close, then i am prepared to close also. i would yield myself as much time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized. ms. sanchez: thank you, mr. speaker. . this bill facilitates travel and enhancing business ties with our asia pacific region and i urge my colleagues to support this legislation. with that, mr. speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back her time. the gentleman from new york. >> thank you, mr. speaker. in closing this is an opportunity to facilitate travel, promote economic growth, and enhance security. i urge my colleagues to support this bill and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. all time has expired. the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 2402. so many as are in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 of those voting having

responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed, and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. the chair lays before the house the following enrolled bill. the clerk: h.r. 1975, an act to designate the facility of the united states postal service located at 281 east colorado boulevard in pasadena, california, as the first lieutenant oliver goodall post office building.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from utah rise? mr. bishop: madam speaker, by direction of the committee on rules i call up house resolution 444 and ask for its immediate consideration. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the resolution. the clerk: house calendar number 82, house resolution 444, resolved that at any time after the adoption of this resolution the speaker may, pursuant to clause 2-b of rule 18, declare the house resolved into the committee of the whole house on the state of the union

for consideration of the bill h.r. 1904, to facilitate the efficient extraction of mineral resources in southeast arizona, by authorizing and directing an exchange of federal and nonfederal land, and for other purposes. the first reading of the bill shall be dispensed with. all points of order against consideration of the bill are waived. general debate shall be confined to the bill and shall not exceed one hour equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the committee on natural resources. after general debate, the bill shall be considered for amendment under the five-minute rule. it shall be in order to consider as an original bill for the purpose of amendment under the five-minute rule the amendment in the nature of a substitute recommended by the committee on natural resources now printed in the bill, modified by the amendment printed in part a of the report of committee on rules accompanying this resolution. that amendment in the nature of a substitute shall be considered as read. all points of order against

that amendment in the nature of a substitute are waived. no amendment to that amendment in the nature of a substitute shall be in order except those printed in part b of the report of the committee on rules. each such amendment may be offered only in the order printed in the report, may be offered only by a member designated in the report. shall be considered as read. shall be debatable for the time specified in the report equally divided and controlled by the proponent and an opponent. shall not be subject to amendment. and shall not be subject to demand for division of the question in the house or in the committee of the whole. all points of order against such amendments are waived. at the conclusion of consideration of the bill for amendment, the committee shall rise and report the bill to the house with such amendments and may have been adopted. any member may demand a separate vote in the house on any amendment adopted in the committee of the whole to the bill or to the amendment in the nature of a substitute made in order as original text. the previous question shall be considered as ordered on the bill and amendments thereto to

final passage without intervening motion except one motion to recommit with or without instructions. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from utah is recognized for one hour. mr. bishop: madam speaker, for purpose of debate only, i yield the customary 30 minutes to the gentlewoman from new york, ms. slaughter, pending which i yield myself such time as i may consume. during consideration of this resolution all time yielded is for the purpose of debate only. and i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks. during which they may -- madam speaker, this resolution provides for a structured rule for consideration of h.r. 1904, the southeast arizona land exchange and conservation act of 2011. makes in order every amendment that was filed with the rules committee. so this is like the texas victory last night a very fair rule and continues the record of the rules committee in this congress of making as many amendments in order as possible which otherwise conform to the

house rules. that's been the goal of chairman dreier and his continuing record of fairness and openness in the formulation of this particular rule. madam speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentlewoman from new york. ms. slaughter: thank you, madam speaker. i thank the gentleman for yielding me the customary 30 minutes and i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. ms. slaughter: madam speaker, today's bill continues an effort started by the republican majority earlier this year. an effort to give away valuable american resources to foreign companies. today the majority's proposing to take sacred land from native american tribes and give it away to two foreign corporations, one of which is partly owned by the chinese government. i stand here today in fierce opposition to this attempted fire sale of american resources that is being conducted under the guise of job creation. today's bill is not written for the american worker. it was written for foreign mining giants that hope to

profit from our generosity. these firms are hoping this congress will be charitable enough to give away millions of tons of copper to foreign companies that have no responsibility to create american jobs. indeed, one of those companies is a leader in robotics and say they can control a mine from 600 miles away. the likelihood they will plan to create a number of jobs i think -- does not hold together. copper is one of the most scarce resources on the globe. and yet the majority's proposing to give this asset away. let me say that again, give this asset away. under this bill the united states receives no royalties from these foreign companies for any copper found in our soil. furthermore, today's bill is not the solution to our jobs crisis. the proposed legislation gives federally protected land to companies that specialize in replacing miners with robots

that do the same job. the majority hopes this will create jobs at some unnamed point in the future. but in addition to this approach being naive, the majority could be doing more to create jobs than simply relying on hope. the truth is we could be standing here today actually doing job creation. we could be voting to put money directly into the hands of firefighters, the police officers, or the teachers. we could be investing in new roads, rail roads, and schools. and creating showses of jobs for construction workers across our country. but once again the majority seems to believe that their job is to help foreign corporations grow the bottom line. it is not. giving away our natural resources to foreign companies will do nothing but leave american workers in the dust and we much poorer. i strongly oppose today's proposed legislation. i urge my colleagues to vote no on the rule and the underlying legislation.

more than ever we need to take tangible action to create jobs not sell our national interest to the highest foreign bidder. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman reserves the balance of her time. the gentleman from utah. mr. bishop: reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman continues to reserve. . the gentleman from new york is recognized. ms. slaughter: madam speaker, i would like to yield to mr. hastings to take my place. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from florida is recognized for what time period? mr. hastings: thank you, madam speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. hastings: madam speaker, i'm so accustomed to coming here and making repeated assertions regarding my friends on the republican side, but today we

are really about the business of undertaking added emphasis on regulation and doing nothing about jobs. let me refer to an article that occurred in "the new york times" on october 4, written by bruce bartlett. an editorial opinion. mr. bartlett held senior policy roles in the reagan and the george h.w. bush administration and served on the staffs of the distinguished former member of this house of representatives, the departed jack camp. and on the staff of ron paul. he says, republicans have a problem. people are increasingly

concerned about unemployment but republicans have nothing to offer them. and i hope my friends on the other side don't jump up and start talking about their 15 forgotten bills, they're not only forgotten their featherble. and they're forgettable -- forgettable. and they're forgettable for the reason they don't create jobs. but here we are today dealing with three suspensions and one other measure and we've been out almost as much as we've been in session and we still aren't addressing the subject of jobs. continuing with mr. bartlett, he says, the g.o.p. opposes additional government spending for jobs programs and in fact favors big cuts in spending that would be likely to lead to further layoffs at all levels of government. he goes on, but the specific takeaway that impressed me in his article that i wish to share is, in my opinion regulatory uncertainty is a canard invented

by republicans that allows them to use current economic problems to pursue an agenda supported by the business community year in and year out. in other words, it is a simple case of political tunism, not a serious effort to -- opportunityism, not a serious effort to deal with high unemployment. and i want to address the subject of revlation because it seem -- regulation because it seems that someone -- i keep hearing this thing that the business community needs certainty. well, the american people need certainty as well. and certainty about their health and certainty about employment and certainty about housing and toward that end i don't just distinguish one little category, it's a whole -- hole here in this country and in the period when we did not have regulation,

my recollection of the no-regulation period led us to what we see and have experienced on wall street when there is no regulation. what do we think caused this great downturn in the economy? was it because students weren't going to jobs? to school? was it because people weren't going to work? was it because we had coal ash gas or did it occur because we didn't have regulation that we should have had that would have manifested itself? madam speaker, i believe i may be the only speaker and toward that end, rather than continue, i will reserve the balance of my time at this time and have my colleague on the other side know that i'll be prepared to close when he's finished. the speaker pro tempore: without

objection, the gentleman will control the time and the gentleman has reserved the balance of his time. the gentleman from utah. mr. bishop: you know, thank you, madam speaker. as the gentleman from florida knows, i do like baseball this time of year. one of the statistics that i saw the other day is that pete rose had 29 of his 4,000-plus hits off pitchers who would eventually become dentists. it is a true statement. it has almost no impact on anything, but it is a true statement. some of the rhetoric we've heard so far are true, but have no impact on what we're talking about. madam speaker, 15 different times republicans have come on the floor of this house and have introduced job bills. those job bills are still sitting over in the senate. thousands of jobs would be up and available right now if the senate were actually to move on any of those 15. this is the 16th job bill that we have brought to the floor. look, one of the issues we have

here is that there is a need in our lives for comfort. the business community needs copper. individuals need copper and our personal lives we need copper. if you want to build a three megawatt turbine for wind generation power you need five tons of copper to do that. if you want to build a hybrid car or an electric car you need at least 55 pounds of copper to build a car. the average home has 435 pounds of copper in that home. in fact, the study i looked at said each individual in his lifetime will consume 935 pounds of copper. i'm not quite sure how we do that, i certain he will hope the word consume was not a literal word, more than a hypothetical word, because i have not had much copper on my cornplakes -- corn flakes lately but we will consume copper. whether we produce copper or not, we consume copper. we need copper. the fact of the matter is the united states now imports 30% of all the copper.

we are relying upon other countries to produce copper. why is this a jobs bill? for those people who vote for this bill, we will be establishing the opportunity to develop a mine that could produce a quarter of our needs for copper for the next 40 years. we will move us to sell sufficiency -- self-sufficiency and more importantly we will create jobs with this particular bill. direct and indirect jobs are 3,700 for this mine. 3,000 jobs for the construction of this facility. 500 who are already in the pre-permitting stage right now. that's what the opportunity is. and if we vote against this bill we'll still be providing jobs. but jobs overseas. for miners in chile, for the smeltering factories in china where they have to send the stuff because we don't have enough smelters right here to do it. we will produce jobs, but we can either have the choice of producing jobs here in america so that we can create american jobs and have american self-sufficiency or we can create jobs abroad.

it's our choice on this particular bill. this is the jobs bill, whether you vote for it or against it, it is still a jobs bill. i just hope we vote for it because i hope our priority is creating american jobs for american need of copper which there is no way to get around, we have to have this crucial mineral. and this is the place in which to do it. this particular bill will be a land transfer in which the federal government works out like a bandit in it, the federal government will get 5,400 acres of land, the industry gets 2,000, -- 2,400 acres to try to get this production going. the city of superior gets 500 acres, 30 of which goes to their cemetery. that's the purpose of this bill. this bill is viable for our economy, for our job creation, for natural resources, it does it in a responsible way and all the scare tactics out there that have been waved about before don't exist. there is not one single solitary

environmental rule that is waived for the creation of this mine. not one. twice this bill has introduced -- been introduced before in congress by a democrat sponsor. it's the same bill. except this one doesn't provide a rock-climbing park for the state of arizona. other than that it's the same bill with the same considerations and the same restrictions and the same guarantees. madam speaker, i am ready to reserve my time if the gentleman has another speaker or wishes to take some time, then i will reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from florida. i thank my good friend and colleague for the information. and i would like to ask my friend a question. is there anything in this measure that requires the copper that you just spoke about, and i don't disagree with many of the facts that you put forward, but

is there anything in this bill that requires that copper to remain in the united states of america? mr. bishop: the gentleman will yield his time? mr. hastings: i would yield. mr. bishop: i want the sponsor to respond specifically to that in just a second but the answer is clearly, we have a desire for copper, we have a demand for copper, the concept of free enterprise and the balance of trade that we need will demand that the majority of that copper will be used here. if you want to try to come up with amendments to try and mandate that, there are some potential amendments that will be debated on this floor in this very good, fair, structured rule. however, you have to be very careful that sometimes when you try and make these mandates and put them in law it makes it very difficult to enforce those particular mandates. and i will tell you that one of the amendments that will be debated here on the floor has wonderful intention but is almost impossible to force. so, will it happen? of course it will happen because we have that need, we have that desire right now. mr. hastings: i appreciate the

answerer and i'll take that as a -- answer and i'll take that as a no. there's nothing to cause the copper to remain in the united states. what i really want to address -- yes, i'll yield to my friend. mr. bishop: there is nothing in statute, only in reality that will force it to be used here. mr. bishop: i -- mr. hastings: i understand. when you step up to the plate, you have to hit the ball, you can't fake like you hitting the ball. i don't know whether he has a dog in the world series fight or not, but i appreciate he and i going back and forth on that. but i do recognize that you did respond as i thought you would about the america's job creators provision that occurs and i do encourage that people -- i normally don't advertise for the other side, but you have

jobs.gop.gov and what it says is, empower small businesses and reduce government barriers to job creation. fix the tax code to help job creators. boost the competitiveness for american manufacturers. encourage entrepreneurship and growth. maximize american energy production. and pay down america's unsustainable debt burden and start living within our means. all of that is practkl. all of that seems to make sense -- practical. all that have seems to make sense but in the final analysis it's not putting a teacher, a firefighter or a police officer to work and we're talking about right now is when we have this problem. we don't have this problem by the time we empower small businesses. then let's empower some of them, then. let's do some things to make sure that some money gets in their hands rather than dance around this issue. we need some direct programs from the united states federal

government to help states, counties and municipalities in this country and to help individuals, particularly those that are on the frontlines dealing with these particular issues. which haven't done anything, am ths almost laughable, to come put on your website that you have 15 forgettable bills. i guess what we're trying to do, and it does make a little bit of sense to me, that we should point to the other body and say that we have passed measures here in the house of representatives that have gone to the other body and not become law. well, my last recollection is that we passed over 400 measures when we were in the majority and they went over to the u.s. senate and here's where the catcher is that people don't seem to understand. the arcane rules of the senate require that they have 60 votes and the majority does not have

60 votes. and the republicans almost every measure that may have helped this country stood in opposition and quite frankly obstructed the passage of legislation and i guess now you are joining us and saying that they're doing the same things to you in the house of representatives. well, i accept that if that's your argument. but let's make it very clear that it is in the united states senate and that here we're not originating or evidently working with them to address the subjects of the need for jobs, housing and education in this country. after another week away from washington, thanks to my republican friends, we're back here considering this bill on an issue that i think very few of my colleagues, me included, fully understand. the republicans have been in charge for 294 days and they have not brought one

job-creating bill to the floor in that time. not one. i do make an exception that i believe all of us recognize that has been in the works through several administrations and that is the various trade agreements which in some respects are going to create jobs but in another respect are going to cause the loss of jobs and i don't think that that equation is full yet but, yes, that did pass the house of representatives. while americans continued to struggle to find work, this republican majority has been more interested in going on recess than in passing legislation. . the the truth is, mr. speaker, the house has been in session only 109 days and we are almost in november. 109 days. during this limited time my friends on the other side haven't found time to send a single appropriations bill to the president.

not one. when we were in washington look at the bills my colleague have debated passionately. defunding planned parenthood. defunding the national public radio. promoting the use of inefficient light bulbs. madam speaker, this would be comical if it weren't so serious. let me also remind my colleagues that only a paltry 43 bills have been signed into law this year. less than half the average for a session for congress since 1991, even compared to other years following shifts in control of the house. i believe that americans want action to help our economy. now, they want us to consider the president's jobs bill now. they want us to quit wasting time on trivial issues that are only meant for 30-second political sound bites. they want us to do our jobs.

but these friends on the other side just don't get it. four years ago their presidential nominee talked about country first. but in the house of representatives time after time we see the republican leadership ignore the needs of out-of-work americans. the bill before us today is more of the same. another enormous rip-off for struggling american workers disguised as a jobs bill. in fact, this time it's not even disguised very well. the underlying bill is a massive land give away to fund companies, looking to mine copper on american land. and that's why i put the question to my good friend about whether that copper was going to stay in the united states. let me repeat that. this bill benefits foreign mining giants first and foremost at a time when millions of americans are unemployed and families right here in this country are struggling to pay their bills.

the two companies that stand to benefit the most from this bill , british owned rio tinto, and australian owned b.h.p. biliton, are highly profitable titans in the mining world. as the bill is currently written, american taxpayers will receive no share of the expected billions in profits generated by this mining. all profits will be enjoyed by foreign companies. and claims that h.r. 1904 will lead to the creation of thousands of good-paying american jobs are dubious at best. both companies, the two i mentioned, are pioneers in developing automated and remote control mining technology. seriously? we are creating jobs for foreign robots instead of american workers? no offense to r-2 dmplet-2,

there are american workers who need help. on top of that any american jobs that may be created will be years in the future. this bill does nothing to create good jobs right now when we need them the most. my friends on in the majority want this process to seem fair. yes, they made in order all the amendments submitted. but that's not the same as an open rule. let me be crystal clear this is not an open rule. once again the rules committee is breaking the promises of this new majority. clearly the republican leadership is more interested in shutting down debate and fostering a more closed house rather than living up to their campaign promises of a more open house of representatives. despite these broken promises, madam speaker, i'm pleased that the democratic amendments that my good friend mentioned are

made in order will insert some common sense into h.r. 1904 if they are, in fact, adopted, and as i heard him say, that they will be debated and what have you but they are not real in terms of their mandates. mr. grijalva and mr. garamendi have offered an amendment to try to create more than just jobs for robots. their amendment would create -- require that these foreign companies actively recruit and hire local employees. i hope everybody votes for that amendment. that all the oil produced, they say, from the mine be processed in the united states. and that all equipment used at the mine will be made in the united states. i hope everybody supports that amendment. mr. markey's amendment would require that these foreign companies pay a simple royalty to the united states often all

minerals extracted from this site. if mining is done on u.s. land, the american people should be able to share in the profits. finally, what's most disturbing about h.r. 1904 is a complete lack of respect for sacred native american sites. that will be swept into mining operations. native people won't even be able to comment on the land transfer until after it has occurred. now, i have seen that often in our area. i represent native americans, seminoles and others, and repeatedly where developers have gone forward not just in mining but the artifacts of our great history in this country have caused us to pause. and we should be very careful with this particular measure

because we don't want to repeat that that i have seen happen time and again in florida. that's insulting and completely disrespective -- respectful to native traditions and culture. and my friends on the other side of the aisle should be ashamed by the blatant mistreatment of native americans by this bill. mr. lujan's amendment to exempt all native american sacred and cultural sites from land conveyance under this bill is not just commendable, it is crittably important and deserves the -- critically important and deserves the support of every member in this body. madam speaker, this is not a jobs bill. and there is no effort by this republican majority to bring up a jobs bill. we shouldn't be wasting our time. we should not be wasting the american people's time with trivial bills that benefit

foreign countries while our own citizens struggle to find work. i urge a no vote and on this business of the forgettable 15, i urge that we do something to create jobs and not just try to give the impression that we are creating jobs. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from utah. mr. bishop: i continue to -- thank you. you know minnesota twins pitcher jim koch who should be in the hall of fame, so today we'll call it copper's town hall of fame, once said to reporters he was working on a new pitch. he called it a strike. you have heard a lot of accusations so far about this particular bill. most of which are balls low outside and in the dirt. i now yield four minutes to the sponsor of this bill, the representative from arizona,

mr. gosar, to actually pitch some strikes about what this bill actually will do. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from arizona is recognized for four minutes. mr. gosar: thank you, mr. bishop. i appreciate the house spending time to consider this important jobs bill legislation this week. the need for this land exchange legislation and ensuing copper mine was one of the very first initiatives brought to my attention by the people of my district. the folks are excited about the economic development and sustainable growth this project will bring. they are anxious for these high priority conservation lands to be placed in federal stewardship and they are sick of waiting for congress to act. h.r. 1904 may be new legislation, but this initiative is not. over the past six years this land exchange has been subject to intensive review, public consideration, and modification. it has been introduced in four separate congresses, twice by democrats, twice by

republicans. this proposal truly has bipartisan support on the ground in our state and across the country. the mayor of the town of superior, an elected democrat, testified in support of h.r. 1904. democrat and republican county supervisors in each affected economy endorsed my bill. the governor supports my bill. this legislation is a win-win. h.r. 1904 specifically facilitates a land exchange that will bring into federal stewardship 5,500 acres of high priority conservation land in exchange for 2,600 acres of national forest system lands containing the third largest undeveloped copper resource in the world. it is the richest copy orr body -- ore body in north america ever discovered. the united states imports over 30% of the country's copper demand. this could produce enough copper equal to 25% of our demand, contributing significantly to the u.s.'s energy and mineral independence. let me be clear, this is not going to be a new mine.

the majority of the infrastructure is already in place. we are simply opening up the resource to the country's vital needs. today more than 500 employees and contractors are at work in arizona on this project. as they prepare to take full action on this bill. upon passage, the private company will be able to employ 3,000 workers during the six-year construction period and ultimately the project will support over 3,700 jobs providing for 220 million in annual wages over the life of the project. these are good-paying jobs. this is good old superior right here who needs this. the total economic impact of the project is estimated to be over $61.4 million. over $1 billion per year. and another $19 billion in federal, state, county, and local tax revenue. $14 billion in federal tax

revenue. in these tough fiscal times i think we can all agree the treasury could use that. this bill is not only a jobs bill, it's a conservation bill. in exchange for opening up the third largest undeveloped copper resource in the world, the federal government acquires 5,500 acres of high priority conservation lands containing endangered species, sensitive echo systems, recreational sites, and historical landmarks. many of the lands being convened are land locked by federal land and the consolvation of the federal lands will contribute to better, more economically, efficient land management. today the arizona republic, the largest newspaper in the state, issued an editorial in support of h.r. 1904. in that article the editorial board highlights the big benefits of my legislation. jobs, tax revenue, and conservation. in the article they state, quote, the combination of benefits has every reason to get borte support, end quote.

they continue, quote, in today's economy it's hard to imagine that members of congress would fail to give this bill a resounding approval in the house, end quote. madam speaker, i would like to submit the full editorial article for the record. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. gosar: my legislation strikes the right balance between resource utilization and conservation. we could preserve lands and advance the important public's objectives of protecting wildlife habitat, cultural and historical resource, while enabling an economic development project to go forward that will generate economic unemployment opportunities for the state and local residents. vote yes on h.r. 1904. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yield back. the gentleman from florida. mr. hastings: thank you very much, madam speaker. i would ask my friend when he finishes distributing the papers to the clerk if he would stay by -- mr. gosar. when you finish i would just like to ask you to respond.

is he leafing me? i'm going to yield to you to respond to -- rio tinto, the company from australiaa, has a mine that is controlled by people that are 800 miles away from the mine. i urge you distinctly, let me make it very clear, i remember this measure being offered by the lady that you won office from previously as well, and i'm one who seriously encourages that we protect our congressional areas, but when you say it's going to create 3,000 jobs, let me give you a poor example of how the local community does not work and then ask you to respond. in the everglades we, many members of this congress,

rightly have dealt with trying to preserve this area, so we have with the army corps of engineers and a variety of other people, a lot of earth moving and a variety of undertakings that are taking place and in the meantime one of my cities has gone almost out of business. they are doing a remarkable job trying to stay afloat, and the area has diminished while all of this work is going on around them. . now, how are you going to stop rio tintow who can operate mines with robots, how are you going to stop them from binging -- bringing their australian people, how are you going to stop the british from bringing their workers? because as in my city and county that i'm talking about, when theast big companies come in to do all of this work, they bring their workers with them and we

don't have the kind of jobs that are needed. and in this instance you're talking about robots running large measures of it. so how does that create jobs? i'll yield to the gentleman. >> what i'm talking about is trust. trust is a series of promises kept. and what we see is right here in this picture. we have over 500 jobs that have been established here. we have seen the investment of this company in the local communities. helping job creators as far as truckers, independent construction organizations, trying to stay in business because, as you saw before, this is superior, arizona. this is what we've done to america's main street, america. you see all the boarded-up streets. all the buildings that are here. what they've done is come in and establish trust because what they've done is actually put people back to work. you talk about robust, but what i'm talking about is trust is what's -- robots but what i'm

talking about is trust is what's happening on the ground. mr. hastings: taking back my time and i yield to you. you address how you are going to cause these foreign companies, i'm not talking about that immediate amount of cement and i'll grant you 500 workers, but i heard you say 3,000. i'll also grant you that it's temporary and i'll make you a bet and i hope you and i are here, that when and if this measure passes and it does all of the things that you say it's going to do, i'd like for you to come with me and i'll go with you, you come with me to where we passed all these things and all these people came from other areas and they made money, but the people in the area didn't. now, i understand that you have to have somebody to hammer a nail and to drive a truck to get something put up. but when it's all said and done, your area isn't going to have anything other than robots that are going to be controlling

this, with the exception of a handful of people. i yield to the gentleman. >> yes. i think that's a little absurd because we're seeing right now, i've taken place, gone into the mine, seen the company. i've seen the work forces in here. i've gone down to the bottom of the mine. mr. gosar: i got suited up and have been part of that. that's not -- mr. hastings: you mean a copper mine or rio tinto? mr. gosar: i've been in this mine. mr. hastings: you mean the one in arizona? mr. gosar: yes. mr. hastings: i'm not quarreling with that. i'm talking about when rio tinto comes and this bill allows them to go forward in a way that allows them to robotize -- look, i'm not against technology but i'm saying to you is i don't see how ultimately that foreign companies are going to cause local communities to have increased employment that's sustainable. do you understand what i'm saying? mr. gosar: but i'm pointing back to the same purpose that i've seen trust exibbletted here where they've hired people -- exhibited here where where

they've hired people. that's a part of trust that we have to get back to in this country. mr. hastings: all right. at least we had a fair exchange and perhaps if we had more time with measures like this we could do similar. but i would hope then my argument about the native american measures does not fall on deaf ears when you take into consideration the need to preserve our cultural heritage and the artifacts that might be swept up in mining. mr. gosar: would the gentleman yield? haste hay i yield. mr. gosar: we spent time trying to discuss this with our native americans. we have law that we've gone through the area in exchange. this shows no actual artifacts at all. so the thing about it is that we want to make sure that that's occurred and for the better part since the 109th congress we've dialogued with the native americans and what we've seen is an over and over exchange. so what's been transpired is actually that -- mr. hastings: reclaiming my

time. just ask you one more question that requires a yes or a no and that is you support mr. lujan's measure then that will make sure that that happens, an amendment that's coming up, you going to vote for that? mr. gosar: mr. lujan's amendment is immaterial because it's already been done. mr. hastings: so you ain't going to vote for it. mr. gosar: it's already been supported by the documentation reported. mr. hastings: i get the picture. thank you very much. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. ia. -- the gentleman from utah. mr. bishop: thank you, madam speaker. i'm just trying to envision all those robots that are working in the rio tinto mine in my state that have also developed the land plan that have dealt those communities there, they really have disguised themselves extremely well and wish to yield three minutes to the gentleman from arizona, mr. flake. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from arizona is recognized for three minutes. mr. flake: i thank the gentleman for yielding. i thank the chair for bringing this measure to the floor and the sponsor, mr. gosar. this is an extremely important measure for the state of

arizona. i would invite those opposed to this legislation to walk down the streets of superior or walk down the streets of globe or miami, arizona, and see those empty streets, empty classrooms, and to try to say that these jobs aren't real, that mining jobs are not real. or to meet the hundreds of people as i have as well who have gone to this mine and have toured it and not one robot did i meet, not one that i'm aware of. and the notion that a mine is going to be operated by robots owned by some foreign company somewhere rather than local workers who will pay a lot of taxes, who will generate other jobs that are ancillary, is just unbelievable. the notion that a foreign company can't have a significant investment in this country just runs afoul of everything we know about what has gone on for

centuries here. the gentleman talks about a foreign company and they would only employ foreign workers. how about b.m.w. in south carolina, for example? do they only employ foreign workers? no. other car companies, other mining companies. part of the reason we have so few u.s. mining companies is because regulations here have driven them out of business. and so we're reliant on foreign mining companies to come in and actually make the investment to hire american workers and make no mistake there will be thousands of american workers hired here. walk the streets of superior right now. and meet the hundreds of people already working on this venture and try to convince them that these jobs are not real. i would invite anybody opposing this legislation, just try to do that. try to tell somebody who finally has a paycheck to take home that that is not a real job. or that other jobs that are going to be created here are not real.

it's all fine and dandy for people in washington to try to tell people in a local community that have seen mining jobs in the past that have gone, that when new mining jobs come that those jobs are somehow not real, or that because a foreign company hands to have some ownership here that that makes it less of a job for them. and that we should be able to tell them, i'm sorry, you can't have your job because a foreign corporation has made an investment here. how arrogant is that? that's just wrong. we shouldn't have that. so i applaud the gentleman for bringing this to the floor. this has been a long time in coming. many of us have worked for years on this, to get this land exchange to go. and the gentleman is right, this is a win-win for everyone. it's a win for the federal government and others who want to see pristine lands preserved because far more acres are actually preserved here, sensitive, environmentally sensitive acres, than are actually given up to the mine.

most of the mining here will take place between 4,000 and 7,000 feet underground. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for an additional 30 seconds. mr. flake: i thank the gentleman. so, this is good for everyone and it is real jobs, the notion that these jobs are not real, that this bill does not create jobs is simply not the case. it doesn't square with the facts. i urge adoption of this rule so we can debate this bill. and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from florida. mr. hastings: i continue to reserve my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman continues to reserve. the gentleman from utah. mr. bishop: i wish to recognize the gentleman from new mexico, mr. pearce, for three minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new mexico is recognized for three minutes. mr. pearce: thank you, madam speaker. i rise in support of h.r. 1904, southeast arizona land exchange and conservation act. it's one of the 40 bills that we have highlighted in the western jobs caucus, frontier report, the jobs frontier, as i report, of 40 different bills that will

create jobs immediately. i find the conversation curious, from my good friend from florida . i wonder, the administration has just approved for the sale of aviation that will be producing airplanes in this country owned by a foreign country. so maybe the argument could be made, well, maybe those jobs aren't created and run by robots, we now direct our attention to toyota, maybe honda, all have manufacturing facility here's and i know they use robots and i don't see the gentleman from florida trying to shut them down. what we are doing at this point in our history is driving the unemployment off the scale high because we're making ludicrous arguments against job creation bills across the spectrum. the -- in 1993 the u.s. accounted for 20% to 21% of all mining exploration. today we're at 8%. it's because people have blocked the -- block the new mines

throughout the west. all we're trying to do here is make a land exchange from -- and the company give up land is giving twice the amount of land as the receiving in order to account for the value of the copper underground. we're trying to put about 1,500 long-term mining jobs in place in arizona. those jobs are going to be in the 60 -- $60,000 to $85,000 a year range. they'll pay taxes, they'll come off unemployment, they'll come off of welfare, food stamps. so we cut the cost of government simultaneously with increasing the revenues. that's a business mod that will always succeeds. the price of copper is what's driving this to be a mine site that is now economic. previously 10, 15 years ago the price of copper was about 75 cents. today it's almost $4. so it's those economics that are encouraging us in this country to start producing from mines where we have not previously. this mine by itself would account for about 25% of the

production in this country needed -- in this country for the next 50 years. it's a good project, let's approve the rule, let's get onto debate of the underlyinging bill. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new mexico yields back. the gentleman from florida. mr. hastings: madam speaker, i have no further speakers and i'll be the final speaker. i don't know if my colleague has additional speakers. mr. bishop: we're done. mr. hastings: you're prepared to close? thank you, with that in my mind, madam speaker, i yield myself the balance of the time which i will not use. i want to make it clear to my colleagues that i'm not against foreign investment in the united states of america. i'm not against real jobs being created in the united states of america. including arizona, including superior. i'll tell you, i'll give you one superior and match you with one pay hokie and one south bay, florida, where the jobs didn't come when the other

circumstances that would take place in the community did. i respect the mining industry and i believe the mining industry can do their job in an environmentally and culturally sensitive way. and there are demons thattive evidence says that take place all over this nation that show that. but what i'm trying to get across here is that my colleagues on the other side are still not in the business of seeing to it that we immediately do something about firefighters, police officers and school teachers in this country and i assure you that that's something that we have not done in the 109 days that we have been here and the almost 104 days that we have not. please, let's get about the business of doing something about the massive unemployment in this country that is

desperately in need of the attention of this institution, the house and the other body. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from utah. mr. bishop: madam speaker, in closing, this is the map of the area in which we're talking about. everything that's orange or copper color are historic or existing mines in this particular area. the yellow one is where this mine would take place. this is the mining district of the state of arizona. actually, even arizona has the color copper in its state flag. and we are talking about jobs in arizona versus jobs in where we are importing copper from now. we're importing copper from chile, canada, peru and mexico, in that order. we either create jobs there or we can create jobs in arizona. we can either develop our own resources or we can allow ourselves to rely on resources from foreign places. we either go forward in what we

are trying to do here, realizing that even firemen and policemen need copper before they can actually do their work. that all of us are going to have to have this mineral, we might as well get our minerals here, develop our jobs here, use our future here. this is a great bill. and it is a fair rule in which all of the amendments, one technical, three which have nice sounds to them but are going to be very difficult to put into reality if they actually were to pass, they will be debated here on the floor. i wish to reiterate the fairness of this structured rule. i urge this rule's adoption. i urge the adoption of the underlying legislation and i yield back the balance of my time and move the previous question on the resolution. mr. faleomavaega: the gentleman yields back. all time has been yielded back. without objection, the previous question is ordered. the question is on adoption of the -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. all time has been yielded back. without objection, the previous question is order. those in favor say aye.

those opposed, no. the ayes have it. mr. hastings: i ask for the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: those favoring a vote by the yeas and nays shall rise. a sufficient number having arisen, the yeas and nays are ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. pursuant to clause 8 and clause 9 of rule 20, this 15-minute vote on house resolution 44 will be followed by one five-minute vote on suspending the rules on h.r. 2447. this will be a 15-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

guest: i disagree. as we significantly reduce the troop presence, they have managed to have a reasonably stable government. the things that i disagree with, this assumption that somehow the u.s. military might is similar to foreign countries. a foreign country where the people of iraq have mixed emotions. primarily, they are opposed to it. it is not clear at all that the president would magically make this go away. this notion that iran seamlessly moves in and controls

iraq ignores centuries and decades of history between the conflict of persian iran and arab iraq. certainly, i agree that it is a difficult time. i do not agree that a u.s. presence will make that go away. host: let's get to your recommendations for the reduction committee for defense cuts. what do you want them to do when it comes to the pentagon budget? guest: there was already an agreement to cut somewhere in the neighborhood of $450 billion. i say somewhere in the neighborhood because the language is not 100% clear. we have many national security needs right now. and it can be done. in light of the security

environment and the ranking needs. i care a great deal about making sure that entitlement programs are maintained. making sure that infrastructure is not affected. within that context, getting to $450 million is ambitious, but doable. it is appropriate and savings can be found by looking at what it is that we want to ask the military to do. to go beyond that, certainly to go to sequestration, it would be an entirely different story. then you are talking about significant reductions in the military force and equipment. an impact on the industrial base and a challenge to come up with a cohesive national security plan. it mandates across-the-board

cuts. every account line in the department of defense has to be cut by the same amount, eliminating any possibility for sequestration. it has to be avoided. further cuts in defense beyond the $450 billion already authorized would be deeply challenging. does that mean to you cannot cut beyond what has been authorized? i would not say that, but we must be aware of going beyond that. host: but if we really cut the pentagon budget -- host: this proposal, "what if we really cut the pentagon budget"?

host: the defense budget has doubled since 2001. guest: rightly or wrongly, that money has been spent in afghanistan. it is not quite the same as the reagan buildup of the 1980's. we had a lot of the equipment that was spent during the 1980's. there were horrific spending decisions on the acquisition side. spending an enormous amount of money to round up way over budget. in most cases, we wound up canceling the program.

it is frustrating, but the money is gone. we cannot get it back. leslie, i would say that we have fairly significant national security challenges -- last week, i would say that we have fairly -- lastly, i would say that we have vfairly significant national security challenges. let's have a strategic plan. why do we need this structure? what is it? what would it be capable of? we really need to have that broader, strategic discussion. not just on the numbers, but what are our national security needs? one legitimate question would be -- can we afford it? i do not agree with my republican colleagues in the armed services who said that costs should be an issue. costs are always an issue.

with a budget that is 40% out of whack on every dollar that we spend, this impacts the national security drive. if we spend all of the money on defense, but we have to cut infrastructure, devastate the economy, that is not a good trade. host: before we get to the phone calls, but defense companies and military facilities do you have in your district? guest: basically, is st. louis coord. i have a boeing plant at the north end of my district that makes the 737 and has military operations. primarily, subcontractors. host: have you ever calculated how many jobs we are talking about?

guest of the problem is, it is throughout the whole region. again, that is not all the fence. they do a lot of commercial aircraft. host: john, republican line. caller: obama might withdraw from a back, but then he would leave 100,000 civilians over there that the taxpayers are paying for? i heard this a long time ago. this libya war that they started, there will be reconstruction on them with taxpayer money in the u.s.. host: john said that he heard that a long time ago and that the president just made this new announcement. host: we will not have 100,000 civilians in the u.s. -- guest:

we will not have 100,000 civilians in the u.s. after this. this is between the department of defense, department of state, and others. we will continue to sell military equipment to iraq. we are not going to have tens of thousands of civilian contractors. it is not going to happen. host: what about looking at defense cuts and how much contractors are paid as a way to find savings? caller: -- guest: we can do a strategic view of the defense budget. you do not have to say the number has to be this, go below it and you jeopardize national security. there is way too much waste at the pentagon. for many years. certainly, over the last decade.

especially for these contractors. we fell in love with the notion that if you can make it happen on a computer screen, you can do it. way too expensive. host: you called for a strategic review. we have seen reports that the pentagon is incapable of telling congress what they are spending their money on. guest: you can do a strategic review, but yes, we have had the very in paris in situation of the armed services committee in a bipartisan way, structuring two a administration's, doing an audit, dollar for dollar, telling us how they spend their money. it is true that they cannot do it in a traditional way. secretary panetta just announced, i am not sure if it was 2013 or 2014, one of the

dates that they would actually do that with. host: any, democrat, riverside, ohio. guest: -- caller: you sound incredibly intelligent. let me ask you, often the u.s.- built military bases to protect our access to oil. after 911, -- 9/11, i believe that the u.s. closed military bases in saudi arabia and to move those two aircraft. so, could you -- i think i am right about this? guest: you are. caller: can you tell me how, when, and why they would close one place and moved it to somewhere else? how many bases are all around the world that are possibly not needed any longer? if you could also talk about the revolving door of defense

contractors with our representatives, as well as their staff, often moving quickly into executive positions with defense. guest: i should have been taking notes. [laughter] caller: 1, the military. 3, there has been a huge push for military action against iran. the everett's, both in the bush administration, they quit right before the invasion of iraq because they so disagreed with bush administration policy. you have a web site called race for iran, which i highly recommend it to the public, to get verifiable, legitimate arguments and information.

there is such a push for military action toward iran. guest: actually, the primary purpose of military bases is to make sure that our forces can be deployed so that we can be the global force that we are. we have been the guarantor of peace since world war ii in many places. we take about of criticism about our bases in europe. europe does not meet our protection, etc., but many of those bases are there because they are ready for deployment to different places throughout the world. we have a very strong naval presence in asia. part of the reasons the shipping lanes stay open. i think that it is worth stepping back and say that with the rise of china, european union, india, that it is the

same model or not. do we need to maintain our presence? certainly, in asia. as china rises, countries around them are nervous. is there going to be a counter- balance? the caller is right. part of it is to protect our energy needs. oil, natural gas, we need to make sure that there is enough stability out there that it keeps flowing. as far as why they moved, much of it had to do with local relationships with countries. we had a strong military presence in iran before the revolution. you have to sort of build your relationships where they are. i think that we have a tendency -- i made this comment earlier -- there is a tendency in the military establishment to fall in line with the notion of what

our military can accomplish. wherever there is a problem in the world, dropped down 20,000 marines and it can be fixed. that is not really true. there are strategic points, but it should be a last option. the limitations of that often need to be better understood. -- the limitations of that option need to be understood better. military action in iran would be a huge mistake. people in government, in the defense sector, whether you have been in government or not, we have very strong ethics laws. people have gone to jail. people who have taken kickbacks for defense contracts. you have to be constantly vigilant about that.

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote the yeas are 244 and the nays are 178.

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote the yeas are 245 and the nays are 178. the resolution is adopted. without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. members will please take their seats. take your conversations off the floor. please take your conversations off the floor.

does the gentleman from -- the gentlewoman from florida seek recognition? ms. brown: yes, sir. mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to speak out of order for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. the house will be in order. ms. brown: mr. speaker, as we approach the 235-year birthday for the marines, i want the amendments to note that in the audience is the montford point marine and we are honored them today -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady will suspend. the house will be in order. please take your conversations off the floor. the house will be in order. ms. brown: as i said before, as november the 10 will be 235 years for the marines. we're honoring them. and we're paying a special tribute today to the montford point marines.

they're in the house today. they're in the gallery. and i would like them -- the men and women of this body to give them a standing ovation for their service to the united states. we thank you. thank you. ms. brown: mr. speaker, this is one of the greatest bipartisan efforts. mr. bachus and both sides of

the aisle, the leadership and this is -- >> the house is not in order. ms. brown: i wish i could say what they say -- what is it y'all say? hurrah. anyway, let's pass this bill. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the lady yields back. rules of the house prohibit the introduction of occupants of the gallery. without objection, five-minute voting will continue. the unfinished business is the vote on the motion of the gentleman from north carolina, mr. jones, to suspend the rules and pass h.r. 2447 on which the yeas and nays are ordered. the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 2447, a bill to grant the congressional gold medal to the montford point marines. the speaker pro tempore: the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill. members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a five-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or

commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote the yeas are 418. the nays are zero. the speaker pro tempore: on this vote the yeas are 420.

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote the yeas are 422. the nays are zero. 2/3 having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed, and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table.

the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. the house will be in order. please take conversations off the floor. the house will be in order. the chair will now entertain motions for one-minute speeches. for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend.

the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the house will be in order. the house will come to order. the gentleman will continue. mr. thompson: mr. speaker, a lot of folks in this chamber talk about job creation which is important because jobs should and must be our nation's top priority but the solution to our economic woes isn't going to come from washington. it's going to come from domestic industries and small businesses across this nation. one industry that comes to mind is the energy industry. in particular the marcellus shell natural gas place which is in my district. during 2010, the marcellus shale supported nearly 140,000 jobs and is projected to generate $12.5 billion in activity in 2011. the washington myth that government creates jobs continues to be on the lips of many inside the beltway.

yet, the marcellus has been so productive in part because the federal government does not have direct involvement in regulation which remains largely in the hands of the commonwealth of pennsylvania. mr. speaker, the government shall be focus -- should be focused on removing barriers of growth, such as the 15 job-creating bills in the house and not passed in the senate. we have waited. it's time for our senate colleagues to act and to act now. and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from florida seek recognition? >> to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. >> mr. speaker, i rise to inform my colleagues of yet another ruthless murder by the castro dictatorship in cuba. and the loss of a tremendous hero. last friday, leader of the opposite group ladies in white died. for eight years she led the ladies in white, a group of wise sisters and daughters of the 75 political refuges.

following the death of her husband, she along with other women dressed simply in white, demanding the release of political prisoners. mr. rivera: she was hospitalized and suspiciously passed away days later following what the cuban dictatorship called a brief illness. throughout the more than 50-year reign of the castro dictatorship, suspicious and untimely deaths of opposition leaders are not unheard of. we will not forget laura's courage. she is yet another victim whose blood is on the hands of the castro brothers. thank you, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman from georgia seek recognition? >> to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized. mr. kingston: thank you, mr. speaker. the brains at the e.p.a. and all their wisdom came out with the conclusion that fat has oil

in it, therefore, milk is a hazardous substance. and so if a dairy farmer has a spill in a milk tank they have to have a hazardous substance evacuation plan. it was so ridiculous that democrats and republicans alike worked to repeal the law. this is just one of the crazy examples that we see day after day from the bureaucracy in washington, and it's one reason why businesses aren't investing in new jobs. there is a lot of money on the sideline right now because of regulatory uncertainty. businesses need to know the rules of the game in order to engage. right now there's no motivation to do it. there is a beer brewery and they came up with a beer called st. paulie's liquid wisdom, just a whimsical kind of name. but what did uncle manny say? you can't have that name

because it's a medical claim. that is the state of job killing in this administration. i invite you to go to jobs.gop.gov to learn more. thank you very much and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: are there further requests for one opinion minute speeches? for what purpose does the gentleman from new jersey seek recognition? >> to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. pascrell: mr. speaker, i just want to pause. i know my good friend from california this morning did mention this. but to say goodbye to trish matteson. this was her last day as chief journal clerk for the congress of the united states. she just walked out a second ago. she's been here 44 years, seven months and five days.

and, trish, thank you so much for your service to this institution. you are real -- you're a real humanitarian and you're sensitive to the needs of we folks who call ourselves congressmen. thank you for your service to your country. god bless you. thank you, mr. speaker. god bless. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. for what purpose does the gentlelady from texas seek recognition? ms. jackson lee: to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. ms. jackson lee: i said this early this morning and i want to reiterate my appreciation to congresswoman brown and to this resolution that was passed, to honor the montford point marines , 20,000 of them, african-americans that served their country in such esteem and

the fact that we have this gold medal. which causes me again to raise the coming home of our troops from iraq and again thank president obama for that decisive decision, recognizing that we are safer and securer as we protect the homeland and build up our military preparedness, bring our troops home and provide jobs for them and have them restored with their families. i just had an opportunity to meet with the texas air national guard reservists who have served well in iraq and afghanistan and met with their general and want to offer my deep commitment to them. that is why it makes no sense for the state of texas to issue a confederate flag for the license plate. let us get an understanding of what is an appreciation for our military, let us go forward. i denounce the issuance of a confederate flag. let's issue the united states flag for the united states of america. i yield back.

the speaker pro tempore: are there further one-minute requests? the gentleman from texas. >> thank you. permission to address the house for one minute, revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. green: thank you. thank you. i am honored to say that i was one of the co-sponsors of the request for the congressional gold medal for the marines and i did so for them, did i so because of the history that it represents, but i also did so because when you support any of our military people, you're supporting all of them. it was important to send a message that we support those persons who made it possible for others to have opportunities, but at the same time we're supporting those who are serving today, in far away places, who desire to be at home with their families. we support their families who are supporting them and regardless as to how people feel about various wars, every person

ought to want all of our troops to come home safely. i support them. i support what we're doing to let the world know that what they have done should be recognized with a congressional gold medal and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. are there further requests to address the house for one minute? under the speaker's announced policy of january 5, 2011, the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. tim murphy, is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader. mr. murphy: thank you, mr. speaker. this is a story about american jobs. this is the story about american jobs and the story of where our money is misspent. how it hurts states, the united states, and how we can change that trend. it's how some u.s. policies currently are hurting u.s. citizens and it's a story of how we can change policies, we can clean up our environment, create

jobs, have clean air, clean land and clean water. it's about growing jobs without increasing our debt, borrowing from china or raising taxes. this is a story of the new american dream, for the next generation. the story that says, if we have the with will -- if we have the will, we also have the way. the story that makes america back to work again. and best of all it's a story that can come true. we can do this because we have the road to energy independence and american prosperity mapped out with this bill, h.r. 1861. today a number of members from both sides of the aisle, the bipartisan working group on energy will describe america's needs and show how this bill provides the means to rebuild our aging infrastructure and meet america's growing energy

needs. and will grow millions of jobs. not for 90 days, not for one election season, but from 20 years into the future. this bill moves us towards energy independence, but first before we get into that i want to talk about the energy needs of the world. and what's happening with our own economy. we all recognize and every member of this house is concerned with the debt of this nation which is now $14.5 trillion. it's 97% of the value of our economy. it's -- $45,000 for each man, woman and child and growing at $58,000 a second. we are all concerned that more than 25 million americans are out of work or looking for more work. we are all concerned that we've lost five million manufacturing jobs to other countries in the last decade. we all know the global demand for energy is going to grow by

53% by the year 2035. and total u.s. con summings of liquid fuel, including both fossil fuels and biofuels is going to rise from about 18.8 million barrels per day to 29.9 billion barrels per day by the year 2035. now, we know that many people would like to have us get off of oil. but we are still going to need oil, not only for transportation, but for manufacturing, for plastics and for chemical development. it is not something we can turn our back on, but it's something we need to recognize, that this is a treasure out there that we can use not only to stop sending our money overseas but also to develop american jobs. keep in mind we can turn our energy around through energy because energy equals jobs. we import 65% of our oil and some of that from hostile regimes. the u.s. currently imports

roughly 20% or five million barrels a day from members of opec. the united states spends about $1 billion a day on foreign oil or $129 billion each year from opec nations. by converting to natural gas, 18 million diesel trucks and fleet vehicles which return to a central location every night would cut opec imports in half. choosing to enact no change in policy related to natural gas is the same as choosing to remain reliant on opec nations for an economic vitality. our bill helps finance this conversion. gas costs families about $2,200 more a year than it did in 2009. and this house, this chamber has talked about energy independence since the 1973 oil embargo, but the demand for energy is growing. and growing. and unfortunately opec exerts control over world oil prices and has asked that it someday be $200 per barrel. we think it affects our economy

at where it is, imagine what would happen whether it reaches that level. the department of interior however estimates that we have between 86 billion and 115 billion barrels on our outer continental shelf. on our outer continental shelf. that is enough oil and gas to replace imports from venezuela and saudi arabia for the next 80 years. extensive tracks of oil which by the way were last surveyed for the most part in the 1970's, and it's quite likely that also given areas that have not been reviewed or surveyed since then would have many times that amount. offshore exploration including the revenues that come from the leasing, from the royalties of about $440 billion a loan, when you add everything else that can come from this, with over a million jobs a year, with manufacturing, the economic impact of this exceeds $8

trillion overall for our country. and new federal revenues are estimated between $2.2 trillion and $3 trillion over the next 20 years. our option is to continue to buy from foreign nations which aren't friendly to us. think of what happens when this $129 billion a year we sent to opec nations that oftentimes we send blood and treasure of our soldiers and our money to go protect. and what do they do with our money as well? they build islands, great highways, palaces. and we recognize that many folks around the world are our allies. but we also have to recognize we are here to take care of our citizens and make sure our citizens have an opportunity to compete for jobs in america. alternately, here's the problems america faces right now in our

energy infrastructure. according to the american society of civil engineers, america's infrastructure is crumbling. it would take $930 billion to rebuild our roads and bridges. $87 for aviation. $12.5 billion to rebuild our dams that are breaking. $255 billion for sure and water -- sewer and water infrastructure, rebuilt in america where we're leaking massive amounts of water every year in our clean water. $75 billion for energy infrastructure in this nation. $50 billion for inland waterways. $50 billion for levees. $63 billion for rail and $265 billion for our transit system. what we would do is open up those areas for offshore drilling and quite frankly i trust our ability to do it. yes, there have been mistakes but they have been rare. and i certainly trust our folks to explore for offshore

resources and make sure they follow environmental laws to the letter. but in this process of creating jobs and dedicating the revenue from this act, keep in mind we do not raise taxes, we do not borrow from china and we do not buy this oil from opec. instead we create our jobs. we create our jobs. now and in the long-term. we build america's crumbling bridges and roads, we invest in clean american energy, not just talking about cleaning up our coal-fired power plants, not just talking about it would be nice to have nuclear power, not just saying, it will be great if people could conserve more energy because 40% of the energy of typical homes and buildings is oftentimes wasted through incredible energy inefficiency. we pay for that energy but we don't get it. we pay to heat our homes and light our homes and cool our homes and offices, but whatever we are wasting in that energy,

that's power plants we don't need to have built. there's also wasted energy in the areas that have to do with how our grid -- structure is so inefficient. but we can actually clean up the environment and conserve energy and we can do all of this without raising taxes, as we said. now, i said this is a bipartisan bill. and i'd like to turn to a number of my colleagues today to talk about how this can be done. and to hear the kind of support we have for this as we move through. i'd like to yield five minutes to my colleague from california, mr. jim costa. mr. costa: thank you very much. i thank the gentleman from pennsylvania for his explanation of what truly is a bipartisan effort. mr. speaker, i do rise like my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, to support h.r. 1861. titled the infrastructure, jobs and energy independence act of 2011. those of you that are watching

on c-span, take note. this is a bipartisan effort. it's the kind of things i think most of you in this country want us to do in congress every day. this measure and the four important points to note that we all concur in and what america wants us to do is provide us a path to energy independence. it revitalizes our nation's transportation, water infrastructure and our investments in our infrastructure -- other investments in our infrastructure that equal jobs, jobs and jobs. it reduces the deficit with no new taxes and it is a bipartisan effort. one that is supported on both sides of the aisle. several years ago i joined with my colleagues from both sides to develop this sensible energy policy, that acknowledges our challenges for our nation's energy both in the short-term,

the near term, the medium and the long-term, over the next 20 years. similar to what we have done in previous congresses, this bipartisan energy working group, which includes my colleagues, congressman -- representative tim murphy who just spoke, congress member tim walsh, and -- walz, and congressman bill shuster, and myself, and other members who you will hear talk about why we think this is the path we ought to pursue. the infrastructure and jobs and energy independence act was developed by members who are speaking here today, sitting down talking to one another. not by lobbyists. we hammered this plan out over a period of months, having worked off of previous efforts in legislation that was introduced in previous congresses. this is what's needed in washington, and unfortunately too often what doesn't happen, the art of the political compromise.

these are good, commonsense ideas that puts americans' energy future first. time and time again i see too many members rising on the house floor focusing on their talking points, giving the stump speeches. that's nice, but it doesn't export with the reality of the challenges -- comort with the reality of the challenges. this legislation, however, does. sound bites like drill, baby, drill, or use it or lose it may sound good to some constituencies but i do not believe they constitute an energy policy. this legislation, h.r. 1861, constitutes a real energy policy over the next 20 years. let me talk about what this measure would do to enhance our path. first it would expand domestic energy production on the outer

continental shelf. secondly, it would advance alternative energy including wind, solar, biomass, wave, geothermal and other clean alternatives. third, it would rebuild our nation's roads, bridges, dams, water and sewer systems that as congressman murphy indicated, today is estimated to be a price tag over $900 billion. fourth, it would develop clean coal energy technology which we have an abundance of supply on. fifth, it would develop ways in which we can finance nuclear energy technologies. sirks, it would expand the use -- sixth, it would expand the use of alternative fuels vehicles. seven, it would restore and protect our nation's wildlife refuges, national parks, lakes and waterways. and how would it do all this? it would help, also, to assist in paying off our national debt. why?

because the funds that we receive for energy on fossil fuels, both onshore and offshore on federal lands is the second largest single source of revenue that comes to the united states treasury outside of the taxes we pay. it's the revenue we would derive by expanding energy sources onshore and offshore, that would go to pay for these efforts. as a nation, we have to work towards a realistic energy policy. our economy needs it. we can no longer afford to take any energy sources off the table. and while we tackle these problems, we have to rebuild our aging infrastructure. h.r. 1861 does that by dedicating these funds to that effort without raising taxes. as many of you know, i'm a firm believer of using all the energy tools in our energy toolbox, conventional energy together with essential energy, a strategy for energy

conservation while upgrading our transmission lines will all best serve our long-term energy needs. in closing, i'd like to continue to work with my colleagues on this collaboration. as was noted, since our first energy crisis in 1973, we have had a host of energy plans by previous congresses and previous administrations. what's different between this and those efforts? i'll tell you what's different. we have not had the ability together in a bipartisan fashion agree on one energy policy, stick with it and implement it over the next 20 years. h.r. 1861 allows us the path to do that. i look forward to working with my colleagues in a bipartisan effort to ensure that once and for all we put america first, put our politics behind us, and introduce -- not only this introduction but do everything we can to enact h.r. 1861, both

in the house and in the senate, and get this to the president's desk. i yield the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: remarks should be to the chair and not to anybody outside the viewing chamber. mr. murphy: thank you, mr. speaker. and now i'd like to turn to the gentlelady from west virginia, mrs. shelley moore capito, for five minutes. mrs. capito: i would want to thank the gentleman from pennsylvania for discussing two important issues, america's energy, energy supply and infrastructure. i am pleased we have a bipartisan group here. it started two years ago. we kind of close ourselves in a room, members only, to discuss our nation's great needs. many of us share the same types of states, west virginia, pennsylvania, indiana, where we know energy production, we know the jobs that it creates. we know how valuable it is to our country.

but we also know that certain parts of our country are more reliant on certain sources of energy, particularly a state like mine and pennsylvania and indiana as well, i believe, with coal and other fossil fuels. so in concern of disadvantaging certain parts of our country because of our abundance of energy and reliance on certain resources we got together to try to solve some problems. so 1861 goes a long way. mr. murphy talked a lot about what this means in terms of our reliance on foreign sources of oil. he's talked a lot about how the direct translation of energy into jobs. we share a portion of our states' bordering one another where we can see the energy sector exploding around the marcellus shale. i'm from the northern part of west virginia that borders on the pennsylvania area where the shale is most prevalent, and just to see the creation of not just jobs in that industry but jobs at the -- in the car lots,

jobs in the county courthouse, jobs in local restaurants and hotels is exciting for a down part of our area. so we know that further exploration on our outer continental shelf will explode in terms of jobs. so he has a bill. i also have a bill out that has a little bit narrower focus, and it is h.r. 2983. i nicknamed it the rebar bill. good nicknames for bills is always catchy. what mine does is it has the same premise which is maximizing our energy resources in the outer continental shelf generate billions of dollars. but mine has a more nayo focus. because of the 9.4% unemployment situation we have ourselves in right now and in the near future, i focus mostly on -- or exclusively really on infrastructure development in terms of roads and bridges and then our water and inland

waterways. we also border -- i border the ohio river. we got aging infrastructure. some of our locks are over 100 years old. the inland waterways trust fund cannot possibly meet the demands of the need that is apparent on our waterways. we also have large estimates of $930 billion for roads and bridges. we all know the gas tax is not going to meet this demand. we have been funding the trust fund for our highways for years, recent years to the tune of billions of dollars every year to meet the shortfall. states can't plan. companies can't hire. equipment makers can't produce. there's all kinds of stalling that's gone on because of the uncertainty in our highway trust fund. we set up a structure where you have a bill that lasts for six years so that you can plan, so you can look at the future of all of our transportation needs, but if we don't fund that, we aren't going to go anywhere and we're not going to

create the jobs that are going to be immediately created by good and robust infrastructure bill. the president talks about infrastructure. many members talk about infrastructure, but the next question doesn't get asked. how are we going to pay for this? and that's what i think is particularly creative about this bill and i would say along the same lines that the bill that i had put in for consideration. so i think it's something that obviously crosses party lines. the urgency is there. the win-win situation for a bill such as this is apparent on energy production, job creation and infrastructure development. that's three pillars of a three -- i'm going to say it's a three-pronged stool. these are the three pillars that grows from this act. i think we should grow on this. i think we could push something like this through, but as a

member of the bipartisan working group, i will work with my fellow colleagues today to see we push this forward and that the american people understand the great importance and the great future that this would hold in terms of the growth of our country. and i yield back and i thank the gentleman. mr. murphy: i thank the gentlelady from west virginia. i might add, as she was speaking about the marcellus shale, this vast natural gas deposit which is underground in the states of new york, ohio, west virginia, pennsylvania and others, i know pennsylvania has realized revenues from that in the billions of dollars, the billions of dollars and direct jobs of 50,000 and also talking about a couple hundred thousands that could come from this and that we will the ben futures of that marcellus shale natural gas for the next 30 years. now, i bring that up because although that's being drilled now and being brought to market now, that is a tiny, tiny fraction of what we're talking

about in the coastal areas that we will drill in a responsible way and use it to create american jobs. we know one of the greatest threats to our country right now is poverty with the many millions of americans out of work who want to work and want good-paying jobs. well, the government can't provide all those. we can let the private sector grow and we can let these jobs come through so we begin to work on these many areas of rebuilding america. i'd like to turn to one of my colleagues, one of the prime sponsors of this bill, to talk about this issue right now, mr. tim walz of minnesota, and i yield him five minutes. mr. walz: mr. speaker, i thank you for the opportunity to speak and to the gentleman from pennsylvania, thank you for your energy, your passion, your vision and all the folks who gathered here. mr. speaker, you're witnessing an all too rare event in this house, a group of bipartisan legislators coming together and working for the common good, putting the -- and rejecting the politics of division, rejecting the politics of the false choices, the either ors and coming together with a

respect and understanding that this nation can innovate, can become energy independent at the same time we can protect those vital natural resources. you have a spectrum of folks that come from coal producing west virginia, from pennsylvania, from indiana, from california, from the plains of minnesota. you have members here who have a wide spectrum of political beliefs but you also have folks here who have been in the business of producing nrning and you got folks speaking that is being endorsed by the sierra club. mr. speaker, this is what the american public is asking for. they are asking for us to get together, use our knowledge, collect information, use that data, come up with a plan that will do the things you've heard talked about here. the very premise of this is just so simple. this land is your land. the idea that the richest of this land in the natural resource -- and the natural resources, if we use them wisely, if we take those resources and reinvest we can outinnovate, outmoving product to market.

we can do that and have the grand -- the natural park system that we have in this country, we can have it both ways if we're smart. but it needs to start here. it needs to start with a plan. it makes no sense to anyone i talk to in the plains of southern minnesota that we're spending over $1 billion a day and sending it to countries that hate us. they will hate us for free. we can keep the money at home, reinvest in the infrastructure, make sure the outdated locks and dams on the mississippi are up to where they need to be to quickly moves those farm products from the upper mississippi down to the gulf and to the markets around the world. those things can be done. the idea that we're reinvesting royalties. you heard each of our members talk about this nation needs to make sure we're more efficient. we need to conserve on our energy needs, but to do so takes research. to do so takes investment. we have to upgrade our power grid. we have to make sure we're using smart grid technology and using the software and the technologies available to make sure we're using every bit of

energy the most efficiently. we can take these revenues, fund the sale of the resources that are there, extract it in an environmentally sound manner and take those back and put them into the research, to the infrastructure, to the ability to move forward. my district, for example, in southern minnesota, we're very proud. we're the fourth leading producer of wind energy in this nation. you can see the beautiful windmills stretching across and producing a large amount of our power, but the reality is minnesota's one of the most coal dependent states in the union because of the nature of where it's at. so we simultaneously need to make sure we're doing that in the most efficient, effective and environmentally sound manner at the same time we're being realistic about what our power needs are. this nation and the world will become energy hungry like it's never seen. 50% more energy will need to be produced by 2025. we need to be smart on how we do it. the country that harnesses the innovation, that harnesses the ability to be energy efficient

will lead into the future. we can't afford to fall behind. we can't afford to allow the resources we've been blessed with to be squandered and not used and invested for our children's future. i have to tell you, as this has been -- being worked on, one of the, i think, to me one of the most reassuring things about our great democracy is how this committee and in this bipartisan working group has got together outside the constraints of existing policies and brought members, new members, seasoned members, more liberal members, more conservative members but with a very clear idea, making sure that we use our resources effectively, we become more energy independent, we diversify our energy portfolio and we do so without raising a single tax and making sure our infrastructure is modern, making sure it is efficient and effective and in the long run making us more competitive. .

the jobs that will be created by this, the ability to pay down the deficit that will be created by, the sense of pride as a nation. president obama challenged us to reduce our oil imports by a third over the next 10 years. to meet that challenge, there's only one plan sitting on the table right now that has the ability to do that, that is this piece of legislation. i have to say, it's very gratifying to work on this i feel very much the american people are hungry for a bipartisan, common sense ability to compromise where we need to, the ability to bring the right research to bear, the ability to inspire the american innovative spirit to get there and to do so with a set outcome. this is real. this isn't talk. this isn't like, oh, we should become -- i hear a lot of people complain about coal all the time. the reality is if you're here today complaining about coal, let's turn the lights and microphones off, they're being powered by that. without a solution to that,

we're not going to get any closer to what we'd like to see, affordable, clean energy powering our homes. this could become a reality. again to my colleague, i thank you for putting the energy and effort into this. i thank the jell for continuing to hold this together. i thank him for being ahead of the curve as this group has been for the last couple of years. i encourage my colleagues, mr. speaker, and their constituents to continue to engage on this, to talk to their representative about becoming part of this group. if you're really tired of the bickering and really tired about the gridlock and really tired of us not spending our energy at home on our jobs here, this is the solution. you've got the spectrum of folks, it's not a democratic issue or a republican issue. with that, i yield back to the

gentleman with greet appreciation for the work you're doing. >> i thank the gentleman for his comments. as he was talking about cleaning up the environment this bill pays for those things. mr. murphy: the waterways, just the great lakes alone is a $30 million problem that has to be compleened -- cleaned up. we know our coal-fired power plants, 40% of them have inadequate or no scrubbers, we need to shut them down. that's not going to reduce the cost of electricity or provide jobs when those go overseas to places where they have little or no controls. this bill does not raise taxes, does not borrow from other countries, doesn't buy from opec. i'm going to yield to the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. shuster, first i want to yield to another one of our new

colleagues here, mr. meehan. mr. meehan: i rise in support of the jobs and energy independence act. let me start with the element of process. i want to follow up on where the gentleman from minnesota was so articulate in explaining. on the merits, we can speak to why this is right for america. but today we're seeing scrutiny of the inability of the congress to come together for common sense solutions that address the real needs of the american people today that will help us put people back to work today. and here right before us, we have just such a bill. one that enjoys bipartisan support. in which you have leadership

from both sides, identifying the ability for us to use existing resources, much like the way today we use the tax on the gas, this allows us to generate the revenue to support the creation of a real commitment to infrastructure. as a member of the transportation committee, i struggle with the reality of the tremendous challenges we have from bridges to roads to waterways across the nation. we have an opportunity to address that need, we have an opportunity to do it without having to continue the greatest wealth transfer in the history of america, the petro dollars we are sending to foreign nations. it is time for us to join together and support the infrastructure jobs and energy independence act. i yield back. mr. murphy: i thank the gentleman from pennsylvania and what he's referring to also is cleaning up or taking care of our infrastructure which has aged so much and is a massive

problem. i know it's something the transportation and infrastructure committee is committed to finding some solutions. one of the great leaders of this is congressman bill shuster of pennsylvania, and his commitment is second to none with trying to find some solutions to rebuild america. i yield five minutes to my colleague from pennsylvania, mr. shuster. mr. shuster: thank you. thank you for bringing us together on the floor this evening to talk about such an important issue. h.r. 1861, the infrastructure jobs and energy independence act is a bill whose time has come. we came together, republicans and democrats to figure out ways to find the funds without raising taxes, to invest in america's infrastructure. this bill does that from investing in clean energy, rebuilding america's aging locks, dams, bridges and roads, creating jobs which all the american people are very focused on how to create jobs

and this bill will do just that, invest in cleaning up our environment and it has one of the largest infrastructure investments in the united states, with this bill we can do that and it doesn't raise taxes. by opening up our offshore resources and bringing that energy to bear to make us less energy independent is critical. in pennsylvania we know firsthand with the marcellus gas shale that's there, it gives pennsylvania a second chance to revitalize our economy in pennsylvania and become one of the driving states in the economy of the united states of america. we know that firsthand. it was pennsylvania 150 years ago with its coal and oil that was found there that made pennsylvania so key in the growing and building up of america. i want to focus on the funding that would go to transportation. my colleague has a great visual aid up there talking about the needs, almost $1 trillion we need to invest over the next 15

or 20 years in our roads and bridges. aviation, $87 billion. our dams which are very much in need. sewer and water, we have about a $300 billion back log to rebuild the infrastructure to get rid of sewage waste and make sure we have clean drinking water. $5 billion in inland waterways and locks an dams which are so critical this country grew up, became a power because of our waterways, being table move goods at a very inexpensive rate. we need to revitalize those and continue to use the waterways we have natural but it takes money to rebuild locks and dams. when you look around america, i think everybody has driven across a pothole or sees a bridge that's crumbling or many of us live with tremendous congestion. in fact, the congestion is crippling america. it costs american commuters approximately $115 billion a

year because of weaed time and fuel. those numbers continue to rise. $4 -- 4.8 billion hours per year americans are stuck in traffic. we need to -- we have to find a way to reinvest in the infrastructure of this country. when you talk about trade, how can you talk about trade and increasing trade if you can't figure out how to get those bulldozers, those caterpillar tractors that are going to be shipped overseas if you can't get them from peoria, illinois to the port of philadelphia and port of los angeles to send them over there, they're going to sit in those yards. we have to figure out a way to get commerce not only in foreign markets but coming into this country. it's the transportation system that's vital to that. today we currently are spending about $40 billion on our transportation system, highways, bridges, transit system, when we should be spending at the federal level about $62 billion. that number is going down because of the constraints of

our -- our budget constraints. we have to find new rev news and congressman murphy's 1861, this plan we've supported in a bipartisan way is going to do just that. get the funds to be able to invest in our infrastructure. our infrastructure that, by the way, when you look back to the constitution of the united states, a lot of people say, well, government shouldn't be investing in a lot of things. i i gree there's a lot of things we do in washington, d.c. that we shouldn't be investing in. transportation is not one of those from the time of our founding fathers in article 1 of the constitution, it talks about the federal government regulating commerce with foreign nations and among the several states, regulating and encouraging commerce to build post offices and post roads. the post roads of the 1800's are the highways and byways of today this nation wouldn't be the great nation it was if we weren't connected. james madison, the father of the constitution, i want to read one of his quotes, the power of establishes post roads

must in every view be a harmless power and may through judicious management become a great part of public conveniencing. nothing that helps communication is bad. madison made that quote. the $140 billion of route 40 which went from baltimore to the ohio territory, they authorized it under jefferson and the construction was completed under madison. it opened up the ohio territory to be able to produce commerce an prosperity through america. -- through america. early on, our founding fathers knew the importance of waterways, building roads and connecting the country. i can say it's been a republican tradition in the united states government and united states congress. abraham lincoln built the trance continental railroad not in the middle of a recession

but in the middle of the civil war. he knew how important it was to move commerce in an efficient and safe way. teddy roosevelt building the panama canal that connected the two by water. then eisenhower, coming back from world war ii, seeing what the germans did, being able to move their troops around, had the idea that not only would it be good for america's security but it would be good for america's commerce to connect this country. that's exactly what he went about going in the 1950's. we built the interstate highway system. i talked to my colleagues who said, the roads have been built, we don't need to spend on them. but they're crumbling, we need to rebuild them. it took us 265 years to go from 200 million to 300 million people. it's only going to take us 30

years to go from 300 million to 400 million. we've got to be able to move people and products to be able to trade globally. this is something that has to become a national priority and i believe that this bill, 1861, will help it to become a reality. the funding levels needed to invest in our transportation system, which again, when you invest in transportation, you can see the return on investment, whether it's economic development or jobs created in the short-term from building it or the long-term in the commerce that it produces and the efficiencies that allows our business to have. i thank the gentleman for bringing us together on a bipartisan basis. i would hope more of our members would sign up for this bill to push it to the finish line. thank you again, mr. murphy. i yield back the balance of my time. mr. murphy: i thank my friend from pennsylvania for his comments and laying out how we need to clean up our infrastructure and environment without borrowing or buying

more from opec. another -- also to speak on this issue is the gentleman whose district is just north of mine, mr. altmire. mr. altmire: i thank the gentleman from pennsylvania. mr. speaker, we should do this more often have a bipartisan discussion on the floor. we have debates, we have bipartisan interaction, but we don't have this type of situation occur very often where we have members from all across the country, from all political points of view, that have come together in support of a piece of legislation that is going to impact the country, it's going to impact all of our districts. there's no district in the country that's not going to see a positive benefit from the legislation we are discussing here. h.r. 1861. when i'm home, i hear from constituents all the time about infrastructure. and in southwestern pennsylvania, we have a thousand structurally deficient bridges.

we have roads that are in great need of modernization, improvement. and we need to invest in our locks and dams. the district i represent, along two different rivers in southwestern pennsylvania, has six locks and tams that average more than 84 years old. and they're -- and dams that average more than 84 years old. and they're crumbling. we have a discussion every day in this congress about the importance of federal investment and the wisest use of money and taxpayer funds. yang of anything we could be doing in this country that's more importantly domestically than improving our infrastructure, repairing our roads and bridges, locks and dams, our airports. the waterways commerce that's been discussed here tonight needs billions of dollars in southwestern pennsylvania and it's critically important for the entire country. our roads and bridges need to be repaired. i talked about the thousand bridges in southwestern pennsylvania. we have 6,000 just in

pennsylvania as a state that are in need of repair this bill takes a critical step in answering the fundamental question we all deal with every day, ok, that's great out here, that's fine, we need to improve our infrastructure, where is the money going to come from? where will we get the funds to do this investment? hundreds of billions of dollars are required to complete or even make a dent in the work that needs to be done with infrastructure in this country, how will we pay for it? . that trust fund annually runs out of money fiscally every year. we find ourself scrambling just to maintain our current infrastructure. and what the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. murphy, has done in introducing h.r. 1861, is come up with an alternative source of revenue that does not include raising taxes. it does not include finding

revenue from some other program or transferring funds from some other priority for the country. it increases the amount of money that's available by doing something that i think we all agree we need to do in this country and that's explore our domestic resources for energy because if there's any issue that i hear about as often or more often than transportation infrastructure it's energy. it's this country's energy resources and why aren't we tapping into our own reserves. why aren't we exploiting the use of coal and natural gas and in this case offshore drilling to increase our domestic energy supply? we've had many discussions and will in the future on this floor about the necessity of getting ourselves off of foreign oil, of increasing our domestic energy reserves, and what this legislation does is increase the supply of our own domestic resources. yes, which is critically important. but it then takes the royalties, it takes the money that's generated from that and

applies it to our much-needed infrastructure repair. so what does this bill do? it expands offshore drilling and use the royalty to fund infrastructure improvements and clean nrning technology -- energy technology. wind, solar, hydro, the thing everybody in this country wants to support but there hasn't been the money to maintain and upgrade that technology and do the innovations that are necessary in the future. the revenue goes towards repairing roads, bridges, locks and dams, developing that renewable energy structure, as i've discussed, developing clean coal technology, something critically important in south pennsylvania. 20% of the domestic energy supply with electricity comes from the nuclear technologies, and it helps develop alternative fuel vehicles. i hear all the time, the internal combustion engine is a

century old-plus technology. can't with all the wonderful things we've done in this country, can't we find something else we can run our car other than gasoline? this bill helps us get there. whatever that technology may be. whether it be electric, natural gas. some advocate hydrogen. but it does the r&d necessary to pursue those technologies. and 10% of the drilling revenues are set aside to pay down the national debt. nobody can argue with that. so it creates a new -- a new pot of money that doesn't exist currently that's going to be used to pay down our debt, to expand our energy resources and so repair our roads and bridges and locks and dams. mr. speaker, i just can't imagine that there's a more worthwhile piece of legislation than a piece of legislation that impact everybody in a greater way in this congress. so i would say to my friend

from pennsylvania, thank you for your leadership on this issue. and to the members from across the country who have spoken here tonight, i hope that is a message not only to this congress but to the entire country that, yes, we can come together as a congress. there are thention that we agree with on -- there are things that we agree with on a bipartisan basis and there are things we can to improve the financial situation in this country, to improve our roads and bridges, to get ourselves of our dependence on foreign oil, to cultivate our own domestic resources and we are going to get this done. so thank you to the gentleman from pennsylvania, and i would yield back my time. mr. murphy: i thank the gentleman from pennsylvania for his support and insight into this. several of my colleagues have noted that this is a rare moment on the house floor where you actually have people from both sides of the aisle coming together during this special orders hour, mr. speaker, and talking about an issue where we have to find agreement. now, if this was one of those times when we were in disagreement and insults were

being hurled back and forth, the gallery beheend me, mr. speaker, would be filled with the press reporting on this, probably this bill -- this special orders won't be reported on much at all because members are actually coming together with a common plan and a common goal. to say we recognize we need jobs, we need to clean up our environment, we need to have an energy source, we need to do this without debt, and as my colleague from pennsylvania pointed out, this money reduces the debt by a percent every year. the speaker of the house, mr. john boehner, talked about this concept of energy paying for transportation. when he said on september 15 in an address in front of the economic club of washington, d.c., he said the following, and i quote, i am not opposed to responsible spending to improve infrastructure. but if with dough it in a way that supports long-term economic growth and creation, let's link the next highway bill to an expansion of american-made energy production. removing some of the unnecessary government barriers

that prevent our country from utilizing our vast energy resources could create millions of new jobs. there's a natural link between the two as we develop new sources of american energy. we're going to need modern infrastructure to bring that energy to market. now, talking more about this bill and issues on how this will help us throughout the nation, i turn to another one of my colleagues from pennsylvania who is here, mike fitzpatrick, and i yield to mr. fitzpatrick for five minutes. mr. fitzpatrick: thank you and i thank my friend from pennsylvania for your leadership on this legislation, and i think you're absolutely right. this is a bipartisan moment here in the house. members from both sides of the aisle coming together for a common goal. many from pennsylvania who recognize this bill, if it becomes law, will not just be great for the commonwealth of pennsylvania but we'll see jobs created in the private sector and will be good for our great nation.

and so i rise in support of one of the few bipartisan plans for energy independence, job creation and infrastructure, h.r. 1861. it addresses america's energy problems. it puts in place a plan to start rebuilding our nation's aging infrastructure and most importantly it creates american jobs. from the gas pump to electric bills, increased energy costs are strange american families and -- straining american families and hurting american businesses. the cost of heating our homes and offices will undoubtedly rise this winter. bernard crandly, richard barkman, constituents of mine from the eighth district of pennsylvania, have recently contacted me and shared their concerns with these increased costs as winter approaches. in just the last two years, families are spending over

$2,000 more on fueling their cars. moreover, the population of the united states continues to soar above 300 million which means traffic congestion will only get worse, especially in our area of the northern section of the united states. the 2009 urban mobility report finds that traffic congestion in the top 437 urban areas resulted in major choke points and bottle next, causing americans to lose 4.2 billion hours and 2.9 billion gallons of fuel sitting in traffic jams. congestion hinders our progress in improving air quality as vehicles caught in stop-and-go traffic emit far more pollutants when they do without operating without freak brake and acceleration. this means our energy costs will only continue to rise. the focus in washington over the last several months has been our nation's $14.8 trillion debt and the growing

annual deficit. the current magnitude of our debt crisis has forced us to address these concerns with a renewed sense of urgency. our national debt is growing at nearly $60,000 per second, and with each second that passes, our children and grandchildren inherit more of this burden. of course, the issue of our nation's fiscal health and job creation go and in hand. with unemployment hovering steadily at 9% nationwide and our manufacturing sector waning, the number one issue at hand now is how to put people back to work. at town hall meetings across the eighth district of pennsylvania, i've been listening to thousands of people, including small business owners, unemployed workers, families struggling to make ends meet. the consistent message is that washington must provide certainty and stability before our economy can begin to grow again and start adding new family sustaining good-paying

jobs. h.r. 1861 provides solutions to these problems in several ways. first, it addresses the need to lower energy costs by authorizing the responsible and environmentally sound leasing of federal lands on the outer continental shelf for oil and gas exploration. the u.s. department of interior estimates that we have between 86 billion and 115 billion barrels available off our shores. this is enough oil and gas to replace imports from venezuela and saudi arabia for the next 80 years. in addition to oil and gas exploration, the bill would invest in energy efficiency for our buildings and factories which wastes between 20% and 40% of the energy they consume and invest in alternative energy sources and technologies like responsible wind power, solar, hydrogen fuel cells and electric vehicles. h.r. 1861 moves us toward energy independence without

paying hundreds of dollars per barrel of oil to opec and other hostile countries, spending billions daily on importing foreign oil, raising taxes or increasing our national debt to china and elsewhere. second, this bill will take billions in proceeds and fund much-needed infrastructure projects. in my own state of pennsylvania our infrastructure is in desperate need of repair. we have bridges and roads that date back to the civil war and traffic congestion is a daily hassell. there is near unanimous agreement that we must invest in our infrastructure, but the question remains how to pay for it. the president and some democrats in congress have suggested that we use taxpayer dollars in the form of a second stimulus package. this bill funds infrastructure investment using private sector dollars, not taxpayer money or borrowed chinese dollars. this innovative approach will allow for the private sector to help fund our recovery without

adding to the deficit. and most importantly, h.r. 1861 would put countless americans back to work. offshore oil exploration is estimated to create 1.2 million quality jobs annually and for every $1 billion invested in our infrastructure, an estimated 30,000 good-paying, long-term jobs are created for contractors, for construction workers, engineers, steelworkers, building trades and others. since the beginning, i've made jobs my top priority. supporting legislation designed to incentivize hiring and create an atmosphere where small businesses will grow. i welcome president obama's recent interest into the work already being done by the house of representatives to address the unacceptably high unemployment rate. it is important that congress put aside partisan politics and put america back on the track to prosperity. i call on the senate and the president to pass the jobs bill that the house of

representatives has already passed with bipartisan support. as the congress debates various methods of economic growth and job creation in the coming weeks, i'm hopeful that we will take an approach which incorporates the common sense outlined in this bill. doing so will require spirit of bipartisan cooperation to be successful. it will not be easy, but i will continue to focus my energy on creating a strong american economy and a brighter future for our children and grandchildren. i yield back and i thank my friend from pennsylvania. mr. murphy: i thank the gentleman from pennsylvania. i know a lot of members will want to speak. i'll yield three minutes here to the gentleman from indiana, mr. joe donnelly. mr. donnelly: thank you very much, mr. speaker, and thank you to my esteemed colleague who also serves in the naval reserves and we thank you to your service in that role as well. this is an extraordinary bill that is about jobs, jobs, jobs, energy independence, a stronger america. it cuts across party lines and

solves so many problems that we face, including bringing our deficit down. it is a commonsense piece of legislation that puts the united states first. . we have vast energy resources and should be using them. instead of sending $5 billion a year overseas, as my friend from minnesota said, we don't have to pay them to make sure they like us, they'll not like us without any payment at all. what we need to do is stand up for america, not worry about whether or not we can keep other countries happy in order to obtain their oil, we need to stand up for america. our own natural gas, our own ethanol, our own bio' dee sell, our own nuclear, our own wind, our own solar. in doing that in all these air cras, you put other people to work. in the steel mills of northern indiana where i live, that

there are -- these mills are pumping out products for the oil patch, they're pumping out product to make the wind turbines. across the board, you see jobs created in indiana. but that applies to all 50 states. you have almost $1 trillion for roads and bridges that'll be built throughout our country. when you look at this, this answers the call when folks say, how can we get america to work together, how can we get america to stand up for itself, this answers the call. people going back to work. the deficit being reduced. manufacturing here in the united states, across the board, it strengthens our nation. so instead of wondering about how we can move forward, we have an answer as to how to do that. i'm thrilled to be working with my colleagues to work together to strengthen our nation, to reduce our deficit, to make it in america and to become energy

independent. we have enough natural gas in this country, just natural gas alone, to run our vehicles for the next 100 years. if we go across the spectrum, we can create incredible wealth and an incredible future for our nation. thank you, mr. speaker, i yield back my time. mr. murphy: i thank the gentleman. i'd like to yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from minnesota, mr. walz. mr. walz: mr. speaker, you just witnessed something. an hour-long discussion on energy policy that did not demonize producers or energy, did not demonize environmental groups. it put out solutions, answers, workable, backed by facts and ready to be implemented. we can do this, the american people deserve us to do this and i encourage you and everyone in the chamber to get behind this. i yield back to the gentleman. mr. murphy: i thank the speakers.

in pennsylvania, we're the headquarters of nuclear, we have a responsibility to the country to take care of our environment. we have to make sure we are creating jobs in america. but i want to tell you something else. while people are crit sidesing oil, i still believe we can do it better. one of the things to keep in mind is when we're sending $129 billion in foreign aid every year to opec, we're paying for their bridges and their highways. that opec money has a way of finding its way to countries like iran and fund terrorists, hurting our soldiers and maiming them. i've seen enough of them in the hospitals i work with in the navy. that alone, mr. speaker, is reason to pass a bill like this and stop harming our soldiers and our citizens and paying for terrorism. instead, let's pass the energy independence infrastructure jobs and energy independence act. let's keep our money at home.

let's create jobs. let's keep america safe. let's do this right. i thank all the speakers tonight and with that, mr. speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, by direction of the house republican conference, i send to the desk a privileged resolution and ask for its immediate consideration. the speaker: the clerk will report the resolution. the clerk: house resolution 447 resolved that the following named member be and is hereby elected to the following standing committee of the house of representatives. one, committee on natural resources, mr. amday. -- mr. amaday. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the motion -- the resolution is agreed to and the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. under the speaker's announced policy, the gentleman from

texas, mr. green, is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader. mr. green: as a compliment to my colleagues who just left the floor, i would like to compliment them for the bipartisanship that was shown and perhaps bipartisanship is becoming in vogue because this is a bipartisan effort as well. it is my firm believe that our nation -- belief that our nation, while we have differences on many issue, we want to unite on issues that are crucial and critical to all of us. i salute what they have done and look forward to this hour of bipartisanship as well. i'm honored to be joined today on the floor by my colleague, the honorable ted poe of texas. he and i have been sponsoring this resolution on domestic violence for some years, since 2005, i believe. and i am honored that he's here with us today. i will be giving a statement

and after my statement, i will yield to my good friend from the state of texas and the houston area, thereafter, we have other members who are present who would of course want to weigh in on the subject. but before i do, let me thank the leadership on both sides of the aisle for making this time available to us. it's important that we have this opportunity to address this issue, not only here in congress, but address it in such a way as to make it clear to our friends and our constituents at home that this is something that's exceedingly important to us, the issue of domestic violence. so mr. speaker, i thank you for the time. i thank the leadership for the time. i thank all the members who will be appearing today for the time they will share with us. i'd like to at this time present my opening statement, thereafter, i will yield as i have indicated. mr. speaker, there are several federal actions that have been

instituted over the past 20 years to combat the issue of domestic violence. i shall highlight some of the many actions that have been taken. domestic violence awareness month was first observed 22 years ago in the month of october. this month provides an opportunity for our communities to recommit themselves to keeping the victims and the families of domestic violence safe while holding the perpetrators accountable for their actions. i'm honored to say that the violence against women act of 1994, which was championed by then-senator joe biden, has created a new culture for police officers, judges, and those who work in the courthouse to treat this crime as a serious crime -- as the serious crime that it is, and it is a serious crime. i look forward to supporting the re-authorization of the

violence against women act and i want to say by way of a little bit of commentary that i was a lawyer, practicing before we had a change in this culture. i saw how this culture that existed at that time devastated the lives of many persons who were vims of domestic -- victims of domestic violence because there was a thought that this was something that was a family issue that it was something that people should resolve themselves, they should try to work things out. i thank god that that attitude no longer exists and that if it does exist in some quarters, we are working to chang it. i would also add that the family violence prevention and services act supports emergency shelters, crisis intervention programs and community education about the -- about domestic violence. this congress has done much to try to reach out not only to the vims but also the various communities across the length

and breadth of the country to make sure that communities are well prepared and equipped to help those in need of assistance. the american recovery and reinvestment act provided law enforcement with the tools it needed to protect families. it specifically included $225 million for violence against women programs and $100 million for programs that are a part of the victims of crime act. these funds will supplement federal dollars so that local providers can retain and hire the personnel to serve victims and hold offenders accountable. we also provided critical funding for law enforcement to keep cops on the street and to support law enforcement programs that services -- and services through the burn grant

program. in 2010, 854 local domestic violence programs received stimulus funds from the american recovery and reinvestment act which allowed them to maintain our create 1,384 jobs. awareness of domestic violence is growing. all over this country, and over the last several decades, the work of many individuals and organizations has created a sea of change in the way we as a society look upon the issue of domestic violence. police, courts, and the public used to consider it a private family matter, as i indicated previously. not surprisingly, domestic violence was close to, if not the number one underreported crime in this country. today, there is much more awareness and we have started to pass critical legislation at both the state and federal levels so that we can combat

domestic violence properly. we have made a substantial impact on the lives of domestic violence survivors through laws, programs, services and funding. but our jobs are not yet done. we have seen much progress, however, there is still much more to be done. in the year 2010, a survey was done by the national network to end domestic violence. this survey found that in one day, while more than 70,000 people received help from domestic violence programs, over 9,000 requests for help went unanswered because of a shortage of resources. many victims continue to suffer in silence and for many others who do not come forward, there simply are not enough resources available. victims of domestic violence should have access to medical and legal services, counseling,

transitional housing, safety planning and other supportive services so that they can escape the cycle of abuse. the problem of domestic violence is not confined to any one group of people but crosses all economic, racial, gender, educational, religious, and societal barriers and it is sustained too often by societal indifference. make no mistake about it, when domestic violence occurs, it has a long-term, damaging effect and it has this effect on the victim but not only the victim, also it leaves a mark on the family of the victim, the friends and the community at large. in my home state of texas, according to the texas council on family violence, and this is a special report, it indicates that 37 women in harris county, a county where my district

happens to be, 37 women lost their lives due to domestic violence in 2010. 142 women were killed by their intimate partners in 2010. there were 56 occurrences of murder, suicides -- murder/suicides in texas which often left children without one or both of their parents. three 17-year-old high school students were murdered in texas in 2010. five pregnant women were murdered in texas in 2010. no year is a good year for the victims of domestic violence and 2010 was no exception. the current statistics are staggering. one in every four women will experience domestic violence during her lifetime. three women are killed by an occurrence or former intimate

-- by a current or former intimate partner in america each day on arch. the cost of intimate partner violence exceeds $5.8 billion each year, including $4.1 billion in direct health care expenses. domestic violence has been estimated to cost employers in the u.s. up to $13 billion annually. sexual violence is intolerable in our society because it creates a cycle of violence. as many as 15.5 million children witness domestic violence every year in our country. children are -- who are exposed to this sort of violence are more likely to attempt suicide, abuse drugs, run away from home, engage in teenage prostitution, and commit sexual assault crimes. men exposed to physical abuse, sexual abuse and adult domestic sexual abuse and adult domestic violence as childr