difficulty with social security. basically, they have cut it to 60. i told them repeatedly that we need the money because we are a circling family. excuse me. get a's just, when you job, they cut your social security because you are getting money but it is a school program. host: if you receive social security benefits -- guest: i do not understand your personal circumstance completely but i would contact your congressman or senator. what state are you from? host: he was from indiana. guest: i would make sure that they intervene with the department of social security. one of the most important roles

that can be played is to intervene with the departments and agencies that we have. that sounds like a problem that could be worked out. i can tell you from my own experience in my district, we spend a great deal of our time focused on all of those issues whether it be social security or medicare. he is right. we have to deal with bureaucracy and making it more efficient. that is part of our role. host: we have to go because the house has already started its session for the day. thank you for being here and think you for watching this friday morning. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] may the members realize that your congregation is wider and

broader than ever we could have ever measured or determined. help us all, o lord, to put away in the judgments that belong to you and do what we can to live together in peace. as we approach this next recess, bless our great nation and keep it faithful to its ideals, its hopes and its promise of freedom in our world. bless us this day and every day and may all that is done within the people's house be for your greater honor and tpwhrory. amen. -- glory. amen. the speaker pro tempore: the chair has examined the journal of the last day's proceedings and announces to the house his approval thereof. pursuant to clause 1 of rule 1 the journal stands approved. the pledge of allegiance will be led by the gentleman from south carolina, mr. wilson. mr. wilson: everyone, including our guests in the gallery,

please join in. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. the speaker pro tempore: the chair will entertain up to five requests for one-minute speeches on each side of the aisle. for what purpose does the gentleman from texas rise? mr. poe: i ask permission to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. poe: mr. speaker, in the piney woods of east texas, the small town of athens in henderson county is getting ready for the holidays. a group of local volunteers with keep athens beautiful has placed a nativity scene on the corner of the courthouse square. it has been there for the last 10 years with no complaints from residents. but a group of out-of-towners, not from athens, not from texas, but 1,000 miles away in

wisconsin has self-righteously objected to the nativity scene. the anti-religious hate group demands that baby jesus be evicted from the courthouse lawn. he said no local citizen has complained about the scene, the judge said, and he doesn't care what someone from wisconsin thinks. he even invited other religious groups to use the courthouse square but no one has asked to do so. the county officials do not appear to be succumbing to the intimidation tactics to the groups that want to censor the action. one said, we will remove the nativity scene when hell freezes over. it's not going anywhere. and that's just the way it is. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman from rhode island seek recognition? mr. cicilline: i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from rhode island is recognized for one minute. mr. cicilline: mr. speaker, congress should not be waiting until the 11th hour to act on behalf of the american people. and yet here we are with the federal unemployment compensation program and the

payroll tax cut to end in a few weeks that will cause tremendous harm to the american people. thousands of rhode islanders will wonder if they will be able to stay in their homes, go grocery shopping and be able to pay their heating bills. it's a shame that extending emergency unemployment compensation and the prux have become the latest victims -- payroll tax cut have become the latest victims. the families need to be able to meet their basic necessary its in the weeks to come. i heard from many of my constituents about the devastating impact that ending the tax cut will have. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from south carolina seek recognition? mr. wilson: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. wilson: mr. speaker, in 2003 the united states military and its allies began operations

to remove saddam hussein from power who was a ruthless dictator and a threat to stability in the middle east undermining world peace. yesterday the united states military successfully concluded its military involvement in iraq. we have victory in iraq for the people of iraq to build upon. as the proud father of two sons who served in iraq, i want to offer a heartfelt thank you to every service member who served there and their families. i want to make sure that the services members who lost their lives, exexemplified by major mccloud and those who are wounded warriors fighting for freedom that their sacrifice and their military families will always be cherished. secretary leon panetta in baghdad said iraq has made remarkable progress over the last nine years. army general lloyd j. austin iii, commander of forces in iraq, praised service members and their families for meeting our national objectives and giving hope for iraq for a

prosperous future. in conclusion, god bless our troops and we will never forget september 11 and the global war on terrorism. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from new york seek recognition? >> to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. higgins: mr. speaker, yesterday we marked the end of the war in iraq. i join with all of my colleagues in expressing our gratitude to those americans who served when their country called. we owe it to our returning veterans to do everything we can to make sure that the economy they're returning to is strong and prosperous. the united states spent $62 billion nation building in iraq. the end of the war will generate enough savings to put a down payment on nation building we need to do right here in america. an aggressive investment in infrastructure, rebuilding our roads, bridges, rails and water systems can generate the economic activity we need to reduce unemployment. a $1.2 trillion investment will

create 27 million jobs over five years. this growth will both reduce the debt and deficit. we have defered infrastructure investments in america for too long. we get a degrading from the society of civil engineers, the chamber of commerce predicts a $362 billion in loss growth over the next five years will occur unless we repair our infrastructure. mr. speaker, we need to do everything we can to ensure that our returning veterans have an opportunity to work and to rebuild this nation here at home. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from california rise? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. >> mr. speaker, tomorrow boy scout troop 121 of granite bay, california, will conduct its 200th eagle scout corps of honor and induct its 213th eagle scouts. mr. mcclintock: troop 121 has produced an entire generation

of young men who have gone on to become upstanding family men, respected businessmen and leaders of our community. and that's why i want to particularly salute today, the work of the boy scouts of america is exemplified by troop 121. the hiking and camping and outdoor activities might make boy scouting appealing and enjoyable, but what makes it admirable and elevated is not that it produces good campers, but that it produces good citizens. it has timeless values and virtues that forge solid citizens who contribute far beyond their numbers to the strength and stability of our society. troop 121 has done this for 43 years, and it's my pleasure and honor to commend them on their good work and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman from georgia rise? >> i ask permission to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. barrow: mr. speaker, we all

know that many senior citizens in our country have trouble getting the social security and medicare benefits they paid for throughout their working life and many veterans have trouble receiving the benefits they earned through their service and sacrifice in protecting our country. however, because of the hard work of my district staff, folks in my district recovered over $3.5 million in benefits that they were entitled to but were not getting from the federal government in just the last year alone. this shines a light on a big problem with our federal government. our constituents shouldn't have to appeal to their congressmen to get the benefits they are entitled to. we need to work together to make the social security administration and the department of veterans affairs work better so that none of our constituents will have to get their congressmen to help them get their benefits. until we get to that point i'm proud that i have a talented and hardworking staff who may report to me but who work for the people of georgia's 12th district. with that i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from louisiana rise? >> 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 highlight a new technology called enhanced oil recovery. when an oil well runs dry, half as much oil reminds underground and able to be extracted. this is where enhanced oil recovery comes in. e.o.r., as it's called, pumps co-2 into the ground and oil can be extracted safely and cost-effectively. now, enhanced oil recovery is not hydraulic fracturing or fracking. it allows it to be extracted. the department of energy states that enhanced oil recovery can yield as much as 80 billion barrels of oil, decreasing our needs to import by as much as a third. and for those seeking to reduce atmospheric co-2, it provides the sequestration in carbon capture of sequestration.

enhanced oil recovery employs thousands of americans while generating royalty payments to state and local federal governments. it creates jobs, increasing energy security and potentially benefits our environment, a technology to be supported as much as we can. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania rise? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. >> mr. speaker, over the past several weeks we've heard a lot of rhetoric about how this house has passed so many jobs bills that are sitting in the senate waiting for action. but i want to talk about one bill that actually passed the senate, it is waiting in the house for action and that is going after countries that manipulate their currency of which china is the largest violator. the bill's been sitting in committee since february with no republican action. a discharge petition has sat at this desk for the last five months with no republican action. it remains just 30 signatures shy of forcing action on

chinese currency manipulation which estimates show could create 1.5 million jobs in this country. so i want to urge the citizens of this country to call their republican congressman, to urge this republican house that as they open their presents over this holiday season and they open those boxes and find those little boxes saying made in china, call this republican congress and republican house and say thank you, thank you for putting party before country. tell them, put country before party, don't put china's economy before the united states' and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from illinois rise? >> to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. dold: thank you, mr. speaker. as a small business owner i know that it's tough to get access to capital. if a company doesn't have the resources it needs to grow and expand, then it's virtually impossible to hire new workers. yesterday, the financial services committee had a

hearing where we examined a bipartisan bill, h.r. 3606, which would make it easier for companies to access capital markets and ease the overwhelming regulations that these young businesses encounter. this is exactly the type of bill that both sides can agree on and i certainly urge my colleagues to support it. without a doubt by allowing companies access to the markets we give them the opportunity to succeed and in turn they will have the opportunity to create additional jobs which is what we desperately need. bill after bill has been passed out of this body and goes over to the senate. over two dozen bills wait in the designate which each and every one of them is bipartisan and -- senate which which each and every one of them is bipartisan and would create jobs. with 9% unemployment for 28 months, it's time we move forward on the jobs package we are trying to push in the house. we need to step up and get america back to work and with that i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the

gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from new york rise? >> i rise to ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. tonko: thank you, mr. speaker. as we come to the close of yet another calendar year and as we move well into the federal fiscal year, much work remains to be done for america's hardworking middle-class families, the working families of this country that make our economy work. . we need to respond with a payroll tax holiday. this house knows that is an important business. we know the president present a plan before congress that would ask for a surcharge on the most upper income strata in our country. to bring about fundamental fairness. to address social and economic justice. we know that the hardworking

middle class has taken it on the chin with tax cuts of a decade and a half ago that have really caused hardship with the recession in this country. where we lost 8.2 million jobs. we could go forward and do the right thing. we can extend that payroll tax holiday and pay for it in a meaningful way, in a balanced way. we can then go forward with investments that middle class america truly deserves and requires. with that, mr. speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back.

pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, the chair will postpone further proceedings today on motions to suspend the rules on which a recorded vote or the yeas and nays are ordered or on which the vote is objected to under clause 6 of rule 20. recorded votes on postponed questions will be taken later. for what purpose does the gentleman from michigan seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, i move to suspend the rules and agree to the senate amendment to h.r. 1892, the intelligence authorization act for fiscal year 2012. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 1892, an act to authorize appropriations for

fiscal year 2012 for intelligence and intelligence related activities of the united states government, the community management account, and the central intelligence agency retirement and disability system, and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from michigan, mr. rogers, and the gentleman from maryland, mr. ruppersberger, will each control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from michigan. mr. rogers: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i might consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. rogers: thank you very much. this is a good day for the united states. certainly a good day for the men and women who serve so proudly in our intelligence services that work tirelessly to keep america safe. this is a good day to bring the fiscal year 2012 intelligence authorization bill to the floor today. this will be our second intelligence authorization bill since january of this year when i became chairman and my ranking member took his position as well. for the house intelligence

committee. it will be the 29th bill in our committee's history. this bill is a vital tool for congressional oversight of the intelligence community's classified activities and is crittal to ensuring our intelligence agencies have the resources and authorities they need to do their important work. passing an annual intelligence authorization bill is vital to keeping the laws governing our intelligence operations up to date. the fiscal year 2012 bill sustains our current intelligence capabilities and provides for the development of future capabilities all while achieving significant savings. the u.s. intelligence community plays a critical role in the war on terrorism. in securing the country from many threats we face today. effective and aggressive congressional oversight is essential to ensuring continued success in the intelligence community. the intelligence authorization bill funds u.s. intelligence activities, spanning 17 separate agencies. this funding totaled roughly $80

billion in fiscal year 2012. -- 2010. the current challenging fiscal environment demands the accountability and financial oversight of our classified intelligence programs that can only come with an intelligence authorization bill. the bill's comprehensive classified annex provides detailed guidance on intelligence spending, including adjustments to costly programs. this bill funds the requirements of the men and women of the intelligence community both military and civilian, many of whom directly support the war zones, are engaged in other dangerous operations to keep america and americans safe. provides oversight and authorization for critical intelligence activities including the global counterterrorism operations such as the one that took out osama bin laden. cyberdefense by the national security agency. global monitoring of foreign militaries and weapons tests. research and development of new technology to maintain our bins

agency's technological edge, including work on code breaking and spy satellites. this has been a strategy for a tough fiscal climate. after passage of the budget control act, the committee revamped the bill it reported out of committee back in may. to double its budget savings. as a result, the bill is significantly below the president's budget request for fiscal year 2012 and further still below the levels authorized and appropriated in fiscal year 2011. these savings, this is important, mr. speaker, were achieved without impacting the intelligence community's important mission as we did in the 1990's. the bottom line is that this bipartisan bill preserves and advances national security and is also fiscally responsible. the agency -- the secrecy that is necessary part of our country's intelligence work requires the congressional intelligence committees conduct strong and effective oversight on behalf of the american people.

that strong and effective oversight is impossible, however, without an annual intelligence authorization bill. i want to thank both the staffs for the republicans and the democrats and the members from both republicans and democrats on this committee to coming together in a bipartisan way on the important issue of national security. and thank my friend, dutch ruppersberger, the ranking member, for his leadership on getting us not to one but to two authorization bills within just 10 months. that's no small accomplishment as you might know, mr. speaker. with that i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from maryland, mr. ruppersberger. mr. ruppersberger: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. ruppersberger: i rise today in favor of the intelligence authorization act of f.y. 2012. when chairman rogers and i took over leadership of the house permanent select committee on intelligence, we made a commitment to work together to ensure the intelligence community has the authorities it needs to effectively protect

america. this intelligence authorization bill achieves this purpose. it gives our intelligence professionals critical resources, capabilities, and authorities. we passed f.y. 2011 earlier this year and now we can see the finish line for f.y. 2012. for five years there was -- were there no intelligence bills there was a gap in oversight. when this bill is signed into law, it will be the third time in three years that the intelligence committee has passed an intel authorization act. i strongly believe that passing the authorization bill is critical to national security. the intelligence committee wants to strengthen the intelligence community and give them the tools they need, however, it is also our job to conduct thorough, effective oversight and provide budgetary direction. this bill does that. this bill makes smart choices. it trims and eliminates duplicative efforts wherever possible. we made careful decisions and we are mindful to protect the current and future cape inters

-- capabilities that protect our nation. this bill aligns our resources with our current threats and makes important vin hements in space, satellites, and cyber. this bill is even more important today with the 10th anniversary of 9/11 fresh in our minds. when it comes to terrorism, osama bin laden may be gone, but radical extremists still have the united states as a target. intelligence is clearly the best defense against terrorism and this bill makes our defense stronger. this act is bipartisan and bicameral. the members of our intelligence committee worked not as democrats or republicans or as the house or senate, but as americans protecting our country. this billle is proof that congress can work together to do good things. i fully support this bill and urge my colleagues to do the same. thank you. i also want to acknowledge the leadership of chairman rogers for helping put this bill together. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from michigan is recognized. mr. rogers: continue to reserve my time, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the

gentleman reserves. the gentleman from maryland. mr. ruppersberger: yes, mr. speaker. i yield three minutes to my distinguished colleague from the state of california, mr. thompson. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. mr. thompson: thank you for yielding. mr. speaker, i rise in strong support of h.r. 1892, the intelligence authorization act for f.y. 2012. as the ranking member of the subcommittee on terrorism, human intelligence, analysis, and counterintelligence, i'm pleased that we are able to work together to bring a bipartisan, bicameral intelligence authorization bill to the house floor for the third year in a row. this is a testament to the hard work and leadership of our chairman, mr. rogers, and ranking member, mr. ruppersberger. this bill will increase information sharing throughout the intelligence community. it includes the provision that is important to my home state of california requiring the director of national intelligence to compile a threat assessment of foreign drug

traffickers, they are destroying our public lands here in the united states and causing unacceptable levels of vens because of their drug growing operations in our public parks and public forests. this bill requires the d.n.i. to share this information with federal land management agencies like the forest service so that we can take back our public lands. the bill also includes a provision that i authored working with my friend and former committee colleague, representative anna eshoo from california, requiring the director of the central intelligence agency to provide a full report on the events surrounding the may, 2011 osama bin laden raid. we are all very proud of the intelligence community's extraordinary effort in carrying out this operation. we believe it's important that the intelligence community document this operation in our permanent record as to how the operation was conducted and its importance to our

counterterrorism efforts. mr. speaker, this legislation will improve our national security, will enhance the capabilities of the intelligence community, and will make our nation stronger. i urge my colleagues to support this bill. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from michigan. mr. rogers: continue to reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from maryland is recognized. mr. ruppersberger: i you i yield myself such time as i may consume. -- i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. ruppersberger: i think we really need to discuss the issue of cybersecurity. cyberthreat is the one thing i think that keeps a lot of us on the intelligence committee up at night. how serious a threat it is to our country. we are being attacked on a regular basis. and we as a country need to do what we have to do to go forward and deal with the issue of cyber. cyberposes one of the greatest threats to americans for both an economic and national security perspective. we are losing millions of dollars because of cyberattacks.

our intellectual property is being stolen daily just as we speak. our pentagon is being attacked as we speak. we have seen countless examples of cutting-edge u.s. ideas being stolen and used for foreign products. cyber is also a major national security concern. we only have to look at the attack on south korea banking system to realize the impact an attack can have on critical infrastructure. in south korea depositors lost access to their money and critical investment. data was lost. an attack like this could happen in the united states if we do not prepare and focus on the issue of cybersecurity. this bill strengthens u.s. cyberdefenses and again a very important part of this bill. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from michigan. mr. rogers: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. rogers: i appreciate the gentleman bringing up the issue of cybersecurity, an incredibly

important issue. one this committee spends a great deal of time. and the ranking member and myself and many members of this committee have co-authored a bill and many members of this house to give that first important step to protecting americans' networks from both economic espionage and attack of those particular networks. . i can't think of anything more pressing than that issue. i appreciate the gentleman working with us on that particular issue and being a leading voice in congress on that particular issue and i continue to reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from maryland. mr. ruppersberger: thank you. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. ruppersberger: i think another issue we have addressed in this bill is the issue of space. and years ago when we went to the moon, the whole country understood how important space was to the national defense of our country.

and in those days everyone knew the names of the astronauts, the same as they know the names of nfl quarterbacks today, and yet, because of the fact there hasn't been much in space, we as a country need to educate our constituents how important space is. we are the strongest country in the world and one of the main reasons is because we actively control the skies and yet right now our space program has to be invigorated and we have to refocus on that. america, again, controls the world because we control the skies. our investment in space keeps us safe. if we fail to make that investment other countries will move ahead and edge us out. as an example, china is going to the moon. they are spending time and research and development to go to the moon. we rely on the russians to get to the international space station. we must rely on the capabilities that give us the edge in space. we must think about different ways to get ahead. the bill breaks down barriers

of our launch industry. all options need to be on the table as we talk about keeping america's edge in space. i yield myself such time as i may consume. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from michigan is recognized. mr. rogers: i would yield myself as much time as i might consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. rogers: the ranking member brings up an important point about how complex this bill is and the level of threats and the degree of threat that this great country faces every day. and really the importance of our investment in the technology that we need to keep ahead of enemy nations who seek to do us harm. in this bill embodies the fact that our -- there will be members of the intelligence community whose job it is is to find those russian spies like the illegal russian -- illegal alien russian case that was here that are attempting to do bad things to the united

states. same with chinese spies and iranian spice and the list is very long. -- spies and the list is very long. it's not a spy novel. it's not a movie. this is real. it happens every day in the united states and we are the target of those nation states as they try to steal from us. this bill provides us the security. it means we have to invest in cybersecurity. we need to recruit others who will help identify and seek out those who want to do us harm. we have the challenges to make sure that al qaeda, who's expressed an interest in a radiological bomb, don't get their hands on those types of materials. it means that we have to be careful about nuclear weapons being proliferated around the world by either poor security or worse yet nation states who encourage that type of activity. it is no simple job being an

intelligence officer or being in the intelligence community here in the united states. i think this bill is an accurate reflection on how we move to the next place, but an important reminder of the important work that they do often in the shadows, the men and women who conduct this important work certainly deserve our support and all of the resources that we can muster to make sure that they're successful in their endeavors. with that i will continue to reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from maryland. mr. ruppersberger: yes, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. ruppersberger: i think it's extremely important that we look back where we've come from since 9/11. during 9/11 or before 9/11 we had agencies, intelligence agencies that just were not working together. there was not a team work approach. as a result of not working together, the attack of 9/11 occurred. the 9/11 commission made numerous recommendations and allowed -- a lot of those

recommendations were very positive and were implemented. as a result of the bin laden raid and bringing him to justice, i think it showed the teamwork that is needed, especially in the intelligence community, to work together, whether or not it's n.s.a., n.r.o., the intelligence community coming together to work as a team. and we would not have had the success that we had with bin laden if it weren't for that teamwork approach. i think now we have to learn about the teamwork approach and working together in congress also. you know, we as members of congress need to do our job and come together and do the people's work. and the partisan politics has to stop. and what i'm leaning to is i think this bill and the previous bills that we passed and the leadership of chairman rogers and the open-mindness of every member, whether it democrat or republican on the intelligence committee, has allowed us to come together and have a bipartisan bill.

and we would hope that what is happening here today and the bills that we passed will be looked at as an example for the future. again, chairman rogers, thank you for that commitment. again, we made a commitment when we first came that the stakes are too high, national security is too high and we must work together. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from michigan. mr. rogers: i continue to reserve the balance of my time, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. mr. ruppersberger: i'd like to yield three minutes to a member of the intelligence committee from california, mr. schiff. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. mr. schiff: i thank the gentleman for yielding and i want to thank the chair and ranking member for the extraordinary job that they've done on the intelligence committee. this committee i think has been more productive that it's been in years and owing largely to the efforts of these two gentlemen as well as all the members of the committee. i'm greatly appreciative of the spirit of cooperation and

nonpartisanship that prevails on the intelligence committee and i want to thank both of these gentlemen. i also enjoy working with joe heck, the chairman of the technical and tactical subcommittee, and as ranking member i appreciate the opportunity to work on our overhead architecture issues. i remain concerned that we are largely investing in some systems that are important but very expensive and can often crowd out new innovations and new technologies that are worthy of investment, that provide the potentially game-changing capabilities, but i look forward to continuing to work with the chair and ranking member to advance the science and technology that helps us stay one step ahead of our adversaries and help us keep an eye on some of the bad actors around the world that pose a potentially great threat to the united states. but once again, i'm greatly appreciative of the efforts of the committee and our leadership. i think this is a superb bill and moves our intelligence

capabilities forward. i urge my colleagues to join in support and yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from michigan. mr. rogers: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. rogers: i appreciate the gentleman, look forward to continuing to work with the gentleman from california on those activities when it comes to our overhead architecture. there are programs worthy of investment and the technology that we apply to this particular effort is incredibly important. we always need to stay ahead. america needs to be number one. and this bill reflects that. i think the work of the gentleman is certainly reflected in this bill as well, and i look forward to continuing to work with you to make sure that we don't have crowd out when it comes to future technology. i think it's incredibly important, and i would continue to reserve my time, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from maryland. mr. ruppersberger: i yield

myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. ruppersberger: i do want to acknowledge the technical tactical committee and the work done by mr. heck and mr. schiff. i served with mr. schiff andess -- and i'm ready to close. mr. speaker, again, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. ruppersberger: it took a long time for us to get to this point here today. we spent days in important hearings analyzing the intelligence community, making sure we focused on what the intelligence community needed. we know this country has issues with the deficit and we need to do some cutting. we wanted to make sure that the cuts we made in this bill would not affect the mission or the national security of our country. we spent time before the bill passed, hours and hours

working, staff working, coming together. what's very unique also about this committee is both the democrat and the republican staff worked very closely together, and i hadn't seen that in the past as a member of this committee for over nine years right now and that's one of the main reasons we have such great, effective staff to work together as a team and come together to make sure we had to do what we had to do. now we're here today to finish the job. republicans and democrats have come together to make important choices and do what's right for the intelligence community and this country. this bill makes america safer. again, i appreciate everybody, including the bipartisan leadership of chairman rogers. the other members of the intelligence committee and the leadership of senators feinstein and chandler in the senate foreign relations committee. we need the senate to come together and we did and we now have the product here today. i want to thank again both the democrat and republican staff for the countless hours they

spent. i fully support the f.y. 2012 intelligence authorization act and urge my colleagues to do the same. thank you and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. the gentleman from michigan. mr. rogers: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. rogers: again, i want to thank the members of the committee, both republican and democrat, for their fine bipartisan effort on this national security bill of real significance. many, many hours on behalf of both the democrat staff and the republican staff to get this right. when we had to trim back some finances from the community without impacting the mission, that is no small challenge, and i think this product is a testament to all the work on behalf of all staffs and both members, republican and democrat, to get us here. i want to take thank senator feinstein and senator chambliss. we wouldn't be here today if it weren't for that bicameral and

bipartisan bill. i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill, h.r. 1892, just as it will be adopted. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. rogers: and with that, mr. speaker, i will yield back the remainder of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the question is will the house suspend the rules and concur in the senate amendment to h.r. 1892. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the senate amendment is agreed to and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. mr. rogers: mr. speaker, i will call 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 andrew.

pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, further proceedings on the question will be postponed. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from florida seek recognition? robbie: thank you, mr. speaker. i move -- ms. ros-lehtinen: thank you, mr. speaker. i move to concur in the senate to h.r. 2867, the united states commission on international religious freedom reform and re-authorization act of 2011. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 2867, an act to

re-authorize the international religious freedom act of 1998, and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from florida, ms. ros-lehtinen, and the gentleman from california, mr. berman, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from florida. ms. ros-lehtinen: i thank the speaker. i ask unanimous consent that members may have five legislative days to insert remarks and extraneous materials on this measure into the record. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. ms. ros-lehtinen: thank you, sir. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized. ms. ros-lehtinen: mr. speaker, the right to free religious belief and practice is a fundamental human right, but with other religious minorities can attest, that right is frequently and tragically denied. it was for this reason that congress established the united states commission on international religious freedom, an independent, bipartisan federal commission charged with monitoring and

protecting and promoting religious freedom abroad. our state department prioritizes an array of diplomatic, economic and other issues that sometimes keep it from speaking and acting boldly against religious suppression. for this reason alone, the single-minded role of the u.s. commission on international religious freedom as a truth-telling watchdog and policy advocate remains critically important. the commission's annual report, its list of countries designation and its special reports push american foreign policy to better reflect america's most cherished liberties. for example, in spite of longstanding abuses, vietnam has not been redesignated by the state department as a country of particular concern, c.p.c., for religious freedom violations, but the commission has built a compelling case for

vietnam's c.p.c. status, reporting on the repression of protestants in the central highlands, unregistered buddhist groups and others, a call that was echoed by our foreign affairs committee earlier this year in our state authorization bill. yet, the commission will soon have to shut its doors unless congress acts immediately to re-authorize it. . for this reason the house overwhelmingly passed h.r. 2867 back in september. this bipartisan bill would reform and re-authorize the commission and in recognition of the fiscal challenges we face, included funding that is a 30% cut from current year funding levels. finally, three days ago the senate unanimously passed h.r. 2867, along with a brief amendment which is before us today. the senate amendment adds a few additional reforms, including standard federal regulation of commission travel to those

required by our house bill. i want to thank my good friend from virginia, mr. frank wolf, for his indispensable leadership in authoring this bill. i also want to thank my ranking member, mr. berman of california, and our senate colleagues for their cooperation. i urge all of our colleagues to join us in voting aye and sending h.r. 2867 to the president's desk as soon as possible. let us remind the world that we stand as one against the persecution of religious believes -- believers anywhere, with that i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman reserves. the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. berman:thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. berman: mr. speaker, i rise in strong support of h.r. 2867, the united states commission on international religious freedom reform and re-authorization act of 2011, and the senate

amendments to the bill. i want to initially start out by thanking the sponsor of this legislation, the gentleman from california, frank wolf, for his leadership on the issue of international religious freedom. senator durbin for his efforts to strengthen the bill, my chairman, ileana ros-lehtinen, for her management of this whole process, it's finally going to get this re-authorization hopefully passed and sent to the president. we are fortunate to live in a country that was founded by religious refugees on principles of tolerance. and we strive to adhere to article 18 of the universal declaration of human rights, which states that, quote, everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion. this right includes the freedom to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and observance. but elsewhere around the world, religious freedom and human rights are routinely violated.

countless men, women, and children face violence, persecution, and discrimination because of their faith. unfortunately intolerance is not restricted to just a few countries. violent extremists attacks have taken place in the middle east an south asia. the regimes in north korea and iran actively repress religious freedom. blasphemy laws fueled discrimination against religious minorities in afghanistan, pakistan, and saudi arabia. other religious minorities like the tibetan buddhist, the uighur muslims, the baha'is face violence in government restrictions. anti-semitism is still prevalent around the world. more than ever, we need the us us commission on international religious freedom to -- u.s. commission on international religious freedom to continue its important to work to practice one's religion freely around the world. this bipartisan bill before us today re-authorizes the commission known as userf for

another three years. the bill also contains some sensible reforms that will strengthen's efforts to monitor and report on the status of freedom of religion abroad. these reforms include the process of selecting the chair, term limits for service for members of the commission, travel regulations, and a g.o. study on improving the effectiveness and coordination of all the u.s. government bodies that focus on international religious freedom. in particular, i would like to thank mr. wolf for agreeing to include a provision that clarifies that it's subject to the same war place protections and civil rights laws as the rest of the federal government. with this piece of legislation, it will be able to more effectively carry out its mission and be the commission it was intended to be. i urge my colleagues to support the legislation and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: does the gentleman reserve his time?

the gentleman yields back. the gentlelady from florida is recognized. ms. ros-lehtinen: thank you, mr. speaker. i'd like to yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from virginia, mr. wolf, he's the chairman of the appropriations subcommittee on state, foreign operations, and the author of this bill. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. wolf: i thank the chair very much. i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. wolf: i want to thank ms. ros-lehtinen and her staff for really being very doinged and persistent. -- dogged and persistent. i want them to know how grateful i am. as people are for this bill they should know had it not been for them we would not be here. i also want to thank mr. berman and his staff, mr. cantor and his staff for scheduling this. i want to single out speaker boehner and his staff because they were part of this effort for the last several months and they were faithful. i want to thank them also. i want to thank my staff for being involved in this for well

over a year. the coptic christians are going through a very difficult time. the iraqi christians are being killed and difficult things are happening to them. and tibet, the buddhists are setting them selves aflame because of the persecution of the chinese government. the catholic church in china is under stress, 25 bishops are under house arrest. the protestant house church in china is being squeezed and persecuted. the christians in sudan and in the blue nile area are being -- going through genocide or being killed because of their faith. and interesting enough the original bill passed on the very last day of congress a number years ago and history is repeating itself. the commission has been a beacon of hope. with that i just want to again thank all those who helped us get here. and yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back.

the gentlelady from florida. ms. ros-lehtinen: thank you. mr. speaker, i'd like to yield one minute to the gentleman from california, mr. dreier, the chairman of the committee on rules. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. dreier: mr. speaker, i thank the distinguished chair of the committee on foreign affairs for yielding me the time. i rise to congratulate my very good friend, frank wolf, who has just talked about both the sudan and china as very key areas where the religious persecution has taken place and continues to be a threat. i have been working with the chair of the committee on foreign affairs and other members in a bipartisan way on the situation that exists in egypt. one of the reasons i wanted to offer remarks is when she stood up and talked about the coptic christians in egypt, we obviously know that there are challenging days ahead. i think it's very important for us to do everything that we can to encourage those who may have had a history of engaging in religious persecution in the past to recognize religious freedom, the human rights, the rights of women, the rule of

law, and all of the other very critical items that are a key part of the development of democratcy. so many people believe that you have a democracy if you hold an election. mr. speaker, as you know very well one election democracy does not make, and there are other very important aspects of the development of democracy. and religious freedom is a key part of that. i thank my friend for yielding. ms. ros-lehtinen: thank you very much. mr. speaker, with that we have no further requests for time. and we yield back the balance of our time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back. the question is, will the house suspend the rules and concur in the senate amendment to h.r. 2867, those in favor signify by saying 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 senate amendments are agreed to, and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table.

for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? >> thank you very much, mr. speaker. mr. dreier: by direction of the committee on rules i call up house resolution 500 and ask for its immediate consideration. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the resolution. the clerk: house calendar number 101, house resolution 500, resolved, that upon adoption of this resolution it shall be in order to consider the conference report to accompany the bill h.r. 2055, making appropriations for military construction, the department of veterans affairs, and related agencies for the fiscal year ending september 30, 2012, and for other purposes. all points of order against the conference report and against its consideration are waived. the conference report shall be considered as read. the previous question shall be considered as ordered on the conference report to its adoption without intervening motion except one, one hour of

debate and two, one motion to recommit if applicable. section 2, upon adoption of this resolution it shall be in order to consider in the house the bill h.r. 3672, making appropriations for disaster relief requirements for the fiscal year ending september 30, 2012, and for other purposes. all points of order against consideration of the bill are waived. the bill shall be considered as read. all points of order against provisions in the bill are waived. the previous question shall be considered as ordered on the bill to final passage without intervening motion except one, one hour of debate equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the committee on appropriations, and two, one motion to recommit. section 3, upon adoption of this resolution it shall be in order to consider in the house the concurrent resolution, house concurrent resolution 94, directing the clerk of the house

of representatives to make directions in the enrollment of h.r. 3672. all points of order against consideration of the concurrent resolution are waived. the concurrent resolution shall be considered as read. all points of order against provisions in the concurrent resolution are waived. the previous question shall be considered as ordered on the concurrent resolution to its adoption without intervening motion except one, 20 minutes of debate equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the committee on appropriations. and two, one motion to recommit which may not contain instructions. section 4, the clerk shall not transmit to the senate a message that the house has passed h.r. 3672 until notified by the speaker or by message from the senate that the senate has taken the question on adoption of house concurrent resolution 94 as adopted by the house. section 5, it shall be in order

at any time on the legislative day of december 16, 2011 for the speaker to entertain motions that the house suspend the rules as though under clause 1-c of rule 15 relating to a measure continuing appropriations for the fiscal year ending september 30, 2012. section 6, the requirement of clause 6-a of rule 13 for a 2/3 vote to consider a report from the committee on rules on the same day it is presented to the house is waived with respect to any resolution reported through the legislative day of december 31, 2011, providing for consideration or disposition of any of the following measures. one, a measure relating to expiring provisions of the internal revenue code of 1986. two, a measure relating to the medicare payment system for physicians. three, a measure relating to appropriations for the fiscal year ending september 30, 2012.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california is recognized for one hour. mr. dreier: thank you very much, mr. speaker. for the purpose of debate only, i yield the customary 30 minutes to my very good friend from rochester, new york, the distinguished ranking minority member member of the committee on rules, pending which i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. dreier: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. dreier: mr. speaker, h.r. 500, house res. 500 provides for consideration of three measures that will ensure that the government is funded through the end of the fiscal year, and this rule as was outlined by the reading clerk, provides very important tools to deal with important issues that have yet to be resolved. now, mr. speaker, we all know that as we sit here at three minutes to 10:00 this morning, we are faced at midnight tonight

with the prospect of a government shutdown. and there is a bipartisan consensus on the need to ensure that we don't face a government shut down, and it's very important that we take action to prevent that from taking place, and that's exactly what our opportunity is here today. . at the same time it's important for us to realize it's absolutely imperative if we want to get our economy going and create jobs for us to reduce the size and scope and reach of the federal government. that's the message the american people have sent to us overwhelmingly, and that's why i have to say that i believe this bipartisan, bipartisan compromise, which has been worked out with members of the house and the senate and the white house moves us in the direction of doing just that. why? because we are actually bringing about in this

conference report a $95 billion reduction in discretionary spending. merely a drop in the bucket. we all recognize that it's not enough. we all recognize that much, much more remains to be done, but, mr. speaker, this is an important first step, and the fact that the been done in a bipartisan, bicameral way, working with not only the first but second branch of government as well is i believe a positive indicator for us. now, as i think about the challenges that we have and i said this during management of our jobs bill that we had, the so-called extenders measure that deals with the question of extending unemployment insurance, doing everything we possibly can to keep taxes low by extending for a year the payroll tax holiday, ensuring that people have access to medicare dollars and of course focusing on job creation by pro

-- prosiding with the keystone pipeline. our job is jobs. i believe that this bipartisan, bicameral compromise will help us in this quest. it hasn't been pretty getting here. we all know the famous line, you don't want to watch sausage or laws being made. this is ugly. actually i wasn't going to say what i am being to say, mr. speaker, but i'll proceed and i'll explain why. it's been a painful and difficult and ugly and messy process which frankly is exactly what james madison wanted when he's looking down on us saying the process is working just as i envisioned it because he wanted to be this clash of ideas and struggle but at the end of the day he wanted a compromise and he wanted there to be an agreement at the end of the day recognizing that needed to be done.

we know that the chairs of the committee on appropriations, messrs. rogers and inouye, shook hands and had an agreement. i was not going to say this but the rules committee completed its work early this morning and i got a few hours' sleep and i woke up to national public radio which i do. that's what makes me up in the morning, mr. speaker. i know there are some of my republican friends who are not fans of national public radio and i like to watch msnbc tv and listen to n.p.r. it keeps my blood circulating, mr. speaker. i woke up this morning to listen to a report on this conference agreement and, again, i will say and i'm very happy to see my good friend from seattle, the distinguished ranking member of the appropriations committee, arrive on the floor. i wasn't going to say this but because of this report on

n.p.r., i am going to share it. tamara key, the congressional corporate -- correspondent characterized why we are here on friday rather than having met the three-deleover requirement and all these things that we want to do when the agreement was struck on monday. and what she said was that senate democrats held this bill hostage. those are not my words again, mr. speaker. those are words of tamara keith who reported on national public radio that said this bill was held hostage by senate democrats. and she said finally the hostages have been released. again, those are not my words. those are the words of national public radio. and so some people wanted me to say it. i decided not to say it myself but when i heard it earlier i couldn't help but say it.

that's the reason that i am looking across the chamber right now at 3,000 pages, 3,000 pages stacked this high right next to the distinguished ranking minority member of the committee on rules right across the aisle from the distinguished ranking member of the committee on appropriations, mr. dicks. and, mr. speaker, we've had to waive the three-deleover requirement because, -- three-day layover requirement because, according to n.p.r., we had this conference report held hostage. now that we've gotten here i will say because i am not ecstatic with every measure in it and i know that mr. dicks is not ecstatic with every measure and i know ms. slaughter is not ecstatic with every measure in here. we are here because it is absolutely essential that we not see the government shut down in several hours, midnight tonight.

and so i believe that we need to realize, and i know mr. dicks and i have had this conversation repeatedly, along with our friend, mr. rogers, the chair of the committee on appropriations. we want a clean slate as we head into next year so that mr. dicks and mr. rogers will be able to go through regular order, bring the appropriations bills to the floor and we hope and pray get each bill done the way they're supposed to be done rather than dealing with what has been characterized as an omnibus, a minibus, a megabus, the term that i like that was given by the distinguished chair of the committee on appropriations last night was this is the rest of the bus. and that's really where we are, but it's essential for the american people, for those who are representing us so diligently around the world and

conflicts, in afghanistan, iraq and other spots, for people who rely and need to have support from government programs that do exist, it's essential we get this measure passed. and pass it with what i hope will be strong bipartisan support. and so, mr. speaker, i'm not going to say that i'm happy that we're doing the things that will be outlined, i know, very thoughtfully by the distinguished chair -- excuse me -- former chair and the ranking member of the committee on rules that will say we got 3,000 pages. by the way, i should say -- i should say before my friend begins this that on monday, on monday, virtually all of that was available and it was put online at 12:30 wednesday night right after midnight wednesday, it was made available online. while we've not actually met

the exact three-day layover requirement, i should point to the fact that we always said, and i'm so proud of the fact that we've been able to do it, but when we faced a very, very important deadline, that being the closure of the government that would take place 10 hours from now, i think it's important for us to do everything we possibly can. 14 hours from now. it's very important that we take this action and do it as quickly and as well as we possibly can. with that, mr. speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentlelady from new york. ms. slaughter: good morning, mr. 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 gentlelady is recognized. ms. slaughter: mr. speaker, my distinguished colleague is absolutely right, this is the rest of the bus but it's going to be a little while before we realize whether we are on that bus or whether we've been thrown under it. obviously, as mr. dreier called

attention to it, this is the bill we have today. nobody will make any pretense of having read it. now i have been around long enough to know this is the way things happen. the agencies are all prepared to close and we can't have that. and so we find ourselves confronted here today with this completed and going through this conference. and a lot of people are breathing a sigh of relief this morning, frankly, particularly federal workers will not be faced with a shutdown of the federal agencies. we have been able to avert that crisis today. the 3,000-page package is not a cause for celebration, and i don't believe mr. dreier thinks it is either, but it is a demonstration of failure. as i said, i have known cases and been participants in cases like this before. but to a congress that has promised at the beginning part of the campaign and what we

were promised at the beginning of this term in a this would not happen any more. instead, it has happened over and over again. over the past 12 months we have witnessed the utter failure to responsibly legislate, a failure that has led to this massive bill that we are considering today. you've heard all this before but in the fall of 2010, when the majority took over, speaker boehner said we'll do away with the concept of comprehensive spending bills. he knows there are times that this happens. nonetheless, he made this promise. despite the call for deliberate appropriations process, the house was recently asked to consider $180 billion minibus totaling 354 pages of legislation. and today, less than 24 hours, about halfway, i think, we are

offered a $1 trillion megabus appropriations bill that was given to the members of the house today and we're asked to vote on that. we will, of course, do that because, as i said, the looming layoff and shutdown of the federal government is something we cannot stand at this juncture or at any other time. so despite the earlier promised by the g.o.p. to separate controversial legislation from must-pass bill, the megabus was delayed by a battle over controversial riders. we know this could have been done much sooner, but there were five riders that had to be resolved. everything from the reproductive rights of the citizens of the district of columbia to energy saving light bulbs. mr. speaker, this house has spent more time debating light bulbs than we have putting the american people back to work. it's really been an outrage. we talked about this so many times before, but none the

place, all contemplations, all the conference work, light bulbs have survived. i know that's a sigh of relief for those in america who don't know that we have been micromanaging their light bulbs. but this is a sign of a larger failure. it is based on brinksmanship and threats, a game of chicken with the american people and everybody is exhausted from will we do it, won't we do it, can't we do it, must we do it. part of that has resulted in a lessening of the credit rating of the united states of america for the very first time. so instead of spending the year finding common ground with their democrat colleagues, republicans dismantled the e.p.a. and to talk about light bulbs and i find in my

constituency the idea we were going to give land to russia around the grand canyon to mine for uranium is mind-boggling to people. we really ought to be worried about that. this is a very serious problem. instead of spending the year finding common ground, as i have said we have done nothing about that. the majority pushed forward with this ideological battle at the expense of the nation's welfare and what we see this morning is the result of their divisive efforts. what we know is the process that begins with brinksmanship and threatens with this 2,000-page, $1 trillion megabus crammed through the house as the clock hits zero is all we have. this is our chance to keep the government from shutting down. with proper priorities and a serious effort to engage legislatures from both sides of the aisle, we could truly have a process and a product that

would make the american people proud. but that's not what we have here today. it's not what's been done this year. i hope sincerely and i know that many people on both sides of the aisle hope sincerely that as the calendar turns to 2012 we can put an end to the zero-sum leadership that has been provided and finally give the bipartisan leadership they want and deserve and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california. mr. dreier: mr. speaker, as my good friends from the appropriations committee, mr. rogers and mr. dicks, congratulate each other in the well, i'll ask them to move out of the well so that i'm able to yield three minutes to my good friend from grandfather community who left the rules committee at 1:00 this morning, mr. speaker, and went to her

office to work before going down to the white house at 7:30 for a tour for her constituents. and so i underscore the fact that virginia foxx is extraordinarily dedicated and for that reason and many others i'm happy to yield her three minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from north carolina is recognized for three minutes. ms. foxx: thank you, mr. speaker, and i want to thank the distinguished gentleman from california, the chairman of the rules committee, to whom we all look for wisdom, especially at times like this, and i think he's been extraordinarily generous in his comments this morning in talking about the bipartisan approach. we all praise the chairman and the ranking member of the appropriations committee early this morning when the rules committee was meeting. . it is important that wele is brown-waite the bipartisan nature of this bill. as everybody will say i'm sure today, it's not a perfect bill that's coming up.

it's not pleasing everybody. it's pleasing very few people, but it is sausage making and rule making at its finest. now, i do want -- and i appreciate the fact that it's the christmas season and we want to be a little friendlier to each other during this time as we are when we are in our home districts. we are here in congress, too. so i'm mindful of the season and i'm mindful of the fact that we have reached a bipartisan agreement. but i do want to say to my colleagues across the aisle, there is an old saying that people who live in glass houses should not throw stones. again, as my colleague from california said, we are not happy that we have a rather large bill, and somewhat short perspective in time to deal with

it, but this bill was out there on monday, as he pointed out, and were it not for the dilatory tactics of the senate, we could have had this bill -- we could have had this bill on the floor earlier this week, and it's certainly been out there for everybody to read. and i want to say to my colleague from across the aisle from new york saying, a lot of waste the time on light bulbs. mr. speaker, light bulbs are a symptom of the problem with this executive administration and our friends across the aisle. talk about wanting to micromanage. they want to control what kind of light bulbs we have. it was a debate between the senate democrats and the president of the united states on whether we are going to continue to control the kind of light bulbs we have that delayed this process yesterday for many, many hours. but we need to talk about some positive things that the republicans in this house have done this year.

we have stopped spending money we don't have. we have cut discretionary spending for the second year in a row for the first time since world war ii. thanks to the changes in the way this congress works that republicans brought here under the leadership of our speaker, instead of shoveling ever larger piles of money into the federal government black hole, this bill represents another step toward reducing the size, scope, and cost of the federal government. we have been working hard to cut spending, grow the economy, and create jobs. we protected hardworking taxpayers from washington's waste by eliminating 42 government programs, and thanks to republicans' efforts to stop wasteful pork barrel spending, while the democrats included 18,000 earmarks in their final two years of spending -- would the gentleman yield 30 seconds more? mr. dreier: happy to yield additional 30 seconds. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized for 30 seconds. ms. foxx: thank you, mr. speaker. thank you, mr. chairman.

house republicans fulfilled our pledge to americans by including no earmarks, no earmarks in the 2011-2012 spending bills. this is a huge success. after years of status quo, pork barrel spending, republicans have changed the culture of spending in washington. there is much work to do, but this bill takes us in the right direction. and that's why i am urging my colleagues to support this rule and the underlying bill. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. the gentlelady from new york. ms. slaughter: mr. speaker, i'm pleased to yield two minutes to the gentlewoman from california, ms. lee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from california is recognized for two minutes. ms. lee: thank you very much. thank you, mr. speaker. let me thank congresswoman slaughter, the gentlelady from new york, for her leadership and for yielding. this it might be an open and transparent process the republicans have promised the american people. instead we have had a closed door process that has packed this critical spending bill, a

bill that is necessary to make our government and our nation function, with a bunch of special interest riders. for example, gutting the i.r.s., that will not reduce deficit caused by the bush tax cuts for the 1%. and that's in this bill. helping to spread h.i.v. and hepatitis c through dirty needles will not help our economic recovery. yes, that will happen in this bill. denying the women of washington, d.c., the right which other women have throughout the country, the right to health services, the right to have an abortion with the city's own money, not federal funds, mind you, not federal funds, but other funds, we are denying again, low-income, mostly african-american minority women, that right in this bill. why in the world would we want to include this type of a rider

in a bill to fund our government? it makes no sense. it's mean-spirited and it's wrong. also, why would we want to continue to have provisions to pollute the air we breathe and water that we drink? that's in this bill with some of these riders. that will not raise the failing median income of american workers, unfortunately, again this bill does that. funding absinence in only sex education. we know that failed. that won't create the millions of jobs necessary to grow the american middle class and to help more people from falling deeper into poverty. this recession and for many it's still a depression is hurting millions. half of all americans are either in poverty, near poor, or low income. we should be focused on lifting these families up and reigniting the american dream. may i have another 10 seconds?

ms. slaughter: absolutely. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized for 10 seconds. another 30 seconds. ms. lee: in this bill we should have focused on creating these ladders of opportunity. removing barriers, helping to reignite the american dream for all americans. instead we are scoring, i believe, bill points on the backs of -- political points on the backs of washington d.c. women and millions of poor and struggling individuals and families in this country. the process that this bill would -- underwent as we brought it forward to this floor was not a good process. i think had we had regular order , due process, we would have been able to figure some of these issues out. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. the gentleman from california. mr. dreier: mr. speaker, i yield myself one minute. to simply make a couple of very important points and that is we are here faced with this

situation because of the inability of our colleagues in the other body, the united states senate, to act. now, just looking at the list of the conferees, and i listen to my friends criticize the bill, and i actually don't know whether my friend from rochester is going to end up supporting the conference report or not. i didn't get a conclusion on that, but i will say that every single house member, democrat and republican, every subcommittee chairman, every ranking member of a subcommittee, the so-called cardinals, the chairs of the subcommittees, signed this conference report. it is bipartisan. unfortunately in the senate we have a number of members of the senate who didn't sign the conference report. but i believe that we need to realize that we went for 963 days, nearly 1,000 days, mr. speaker, without a budget having passed from the united states senate. we know, mr. speaker, that we didn't have any appropriations bills done last year. we are trying to clean this

process up. and with that, mr. speaker, i'd like to yield three minutes to a very thoughtful, diligent, new member of the committee on rules, the gentleman from lawrenceville, georgia, three minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from georgia is recognized for three minutes. mr. woodall: thank you, mr. speaker. i thank my chairman for yielding the time. want to thank my chairman for his work on opening this process up in the house. he's teamed up with our new speaker to say that regular order is the better way to do things. i want to say that -- it needs to be said, it's too easy when all you do is read the headlines in this town, to start pointing the finger of blame. here's national journal, one of our dails, dems sign conference report, the white house and senate majority leader harry reid had blocked passage of the measure. it's not about where the blame is. it's about where the successes are. when you look behind me, mr. speaker, at this stack of pages that represents this bill, what that represents is the work that didn't get done last year but

that norm dicks and hahl rogers have come together to get -- and hal rogers have come together to get done this year. when we talk about regular order and the regular order that hasn't happened this year, what we need to talk about is the fact that we had no regular order on appropriations bills last year. we got six of them passed through appropriations -- the regular order process this year. that's half. that's 50% of the way there. and i know we have a commitment from the appropriations committee to get the rest of them there next year. this is a success story, this is not a failure. this is the way that i wanted to legislate. 2,300 pages? no, it's not. it's not the way the appropriation committee wants to legislate and it's not the way any member of this house wants to legislate. and it's 50% better than what we did last year. we are going to get back to regular order. we are going to get back to regular order by clearing out the work from 2012 -- i'm sorry

2011, this year, we are now finishing 2012 today. we are going to be able to start 2013. i sit on the budget committee. my commitment to my friends on the appropriations committee is we are going to move that budget. we are going to move it early, we are going to move it on time, we are going to be done by the end of march so you-all can begin your important work. it's not just about the spending of the money, it's about the oversight of how the money is spent. that's why regular order is so important. you know there's only one committee in this house that comes to the rules committee day in and day out and says this. i want an open rule on my bill so that all members can be heard. and i do not want waivers to go along with it. i want the house to operate under regular order. there is only one, and it's the appropriations committee. when you see what's going on today and what we are doing in the name of completing our business for the year, understand this is the one committee in the house that

wants to give everybody a say. this is the one committee in the house that tries to make every members' opinion count. and if we can successfully deal with this in the same bipartisan way that we have been throughout the year, we can move this business today and begin anew as we all want to on january 1 of next year. i thank my chairman. i thank the appropriators for their very hard work. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentlelady from new york. ms. slaughter: mr. speaker, i'm pleased to yield four minutes to the gentleman from massachusetts, a member of the committee on rules, mr. mcgovern. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. mcgovern: i thank the gentlelady for yielding to me. mr. speaker, let me begin by thanking chairman rogers and ranking member dicks for their tireless work on this bill. and i'm pleased that we are finally going to finish the appropriations process for this year. i especially want to thank the white house and senator reid and other key senate and house negotiators for removing the house cuba provision from the final conference report. not only was it a direct attack

on the prerogatives of the executive, but it was cruel and inhumane and would have ripped apart cuban american families from their relatives on the island. family communication, connection reunification have always been a cornerstone of u.s. foreign policy. it has promoted great good in the case of cuba, and it deserves the support of this congress. hopefully someday soon we can scrap our whole cuba policy and open up -- lift the travel restrictions so every american can visit that country. mr. speaker, i cannot let this opportunity go without commenting a little bit on the process. my friend from georgia talked about regular order. regular order my foot. i mean, all points of order were waived. half of the bills that are in this, this is pretty heavy, no one had an opportunity to offer a single amendment on. read the bill. that's what my republican friends shouted last year. read the bill. they used this rallying cry to

promote their pledge to america where they promised to read the bill. no one read that bill. at all. where are the tea party people? when you want them. when i'm finished, i'll yield. we will ensure that bills are debated and discussed in the public square by publishing the text online for at least three days before coming up for a vote in the house of representatives. that's directly from their pledge. yet here we are today considering a 2,300-page bill that was introduced at 11:45 p.m. last night. that's not three days. that's not even 12 hours. 2,300 pages presented to this house in the dead of night. the rules committee didn't finish until close to 1:00 a.m. this morning. here we are. who knows for sure what's in this bill. who in this body has had the time to read this bill as it is currently drafted? this is not the way my friends promised to run this house. mr. dreier: will the gentleman

yield? mr. mcgovern: i said to the gentleman i won't yield until i finish and i keep getting interrupted. this is not the way you promised to run the house. this is not the way you said you would do the people's business. you said you would bring every appropriations bill under an open rule, but you barely managed to bring up half of them. half of the appropriations bills were never brought up before members of this house. what happened to the labor-hhs bill? what happened to the transportation bill the financial services bill? the interior bill? the state of foreign ops bill? the c.j.s. bill? that's not the senate's fault. that's not barack obama's fault. you are in control of this house of representatives. you have the power to bring bills up to the floor. you couldn't be bothered to bring them up. sure, you found time to bring up bills to defund planned parenthood and national public radio. you had time to bring up bills that would allow unsafe people to carry concealed weapons from one state to another. oh, my favorite, you found time to reaffirm our national motto.

that's all the american people are worried about whether we are going to reaffirm our national motto. you couldn't find time to kuwait bills funding our nation's roads, bridges, national park service, and community health centers. you couldn't find time to do your job. i'm glad the appropriators reached an agreement, but it's sad that this republican congress is once again broken the promise they made to the american people. a 2,300-page bill, something this important detail can't be red and examined in a few hours. that's why you promised three days. but you couldn't keep that promise. i remember when they were in charge in an early time when immunity for prescription drug companies was inserted into an appropriations bill without anyone knowing about it. can i ask an i ask for an additional one minute. ms. slaughter: i yield one minute. govecombove i have the utmost respect for the chairman of the appropriations --

mr. mcgovern: i have the utmost respect for the chairman of the appropriations, there was nothing snuck here at the last minute. i am a trusting guy but i want to verify things because in the past things have been snuck into these bills without us knowing about it. but look at this bill. look at this bill. it's 2,300 pages. it was just introduced in the dead of the night. it was reported out of the rules committee almost at 1:00 a.m. in the morning. and this is different than what was posted a few days ago. read the bill, mr. speaker. the new republican congress promised that we could read the bill. too bad they are breaking that pledge to america. i hope, mr. speaker, that next year we will go back to regular order where all the appropriation bills will come to the floor and they will all be debated individually under an open process. i hope we get to that point. but i want to say finally that the fact that these bills were not all brought up has nothing to do with the senate, has

nothing to do with the president. it has everything to do with the leadership of this house. mr. dreier: will the gentleman yield? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. depovegove i yield to the gentleman. mr. dreier: -- mr. mcgovern: i yield to the gentleman. mr. dreier: i thank the gentleman for yielding. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. dreier: would you engage -- yield -- ms. slaughter: is it -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts' time has expired. mr. dreier: may i inquire how much time remains? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california has 13 1/2 minutes remaining and the gentlelady from new york has 16 1/2 minutes remaining. mr. dreier: mr. speaker, i'd like to ask -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman will suspend. the chair will receive a message. the messenger: mr. speaker, a message from the senate. the secretary: mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: madam secretary. the secretary: i have been directed by the senate to inform the house that the senate has passed without amendment h.r. 3421, cited as the fallen heroes of 9/11 act. the speaker pro tempore: the

gentleman from california is recognized. mr. dreier: mr. speaker, i'd like to yield to my friend from worcester. mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. dreier: i'd like to yield to my friend from california to engage -- would the gentlewoman like me to yield? i'd like to yield to my friend from rochester. would the gentlewoman like me to yield to her? the speaker pro tempore: who seeks time? the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. dreier: will the gentlewoman from rochester like me to yield to her? would the gentlewoman from new york like me to yield to her? ms. slaughter: i do not. mr. dreier: reclaiming my time, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from new york is not recognized. mr. dreier: i'd be happy to yield to my friend from rochester. i'd be more than happy to yield to her, i'd say, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. dreier: in the spirit of bipartisanship, in the spirit of recognizing that we need to ensure that the government doesn't shut down at midnight, i'd like to engage in a discussion with my friend from

worcester, as i was trying to when he was in the well, to say a few things. first of all, as we all know, last year no appropriations bills were passed. nothing was completed in the last congress. nothing at all. and we have spent with mr. rogers and mr. dicks virtually this entire year cleaning up the work of the last congress. and the gentleman will recognize that, i'm sure. the gentleman acknowledges that, mr. speaker, that we have spent this had year working to clean up the fact that no appropriations work was done last year? i'll yield to my friend. mr. mcgovern: i think we're talking about this year, aren't we? mr. dreier: yes, absolutely. reclaiming my time, mr. speaker. i'll say absolutely we are talking about this year and the responsibility was thrust on us this year was so overwhelming because last year nothing was done, nothing was accomplished. and so what's happened, mr. speaker, is we are in a position where the appropriators have been shouldering this responsibility and unfortunately our colleagues in the other body,

the majority leadership there, senator reid and others, according to the national public radio report as i discussed this morning and as others have acknowledged, was pointed out in the publications out this morning, this was held hostage and that's why we are where we are. now, my friends are enjoying holding up the 2,300-page conference report and the additional 700 pages of the joint manager's report that is included in there, but guess what, mr. speaker, all that was available, all of that was available on monday, five days ago, and the only exception in this measure is one item has been pulled out. that one item pulled out happens to be the cuba language that was there. and there was obvious a lot of concern about that. that was pulled out. then, one item was added and that has to do with the commodities futures trading organization. as our colleagues hold up the thousands of pages, we have to realize this has been available since monday. this is friday.

that's more than the three-day layover requirement. we point out those. with that, mr. speaker, i'd like to yield two minutes to the chair of the committee on appropriations, my very good friend from kentucky, mr. rogers. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from kentucky is recognized for two minutes. mr. rogers: i thank the chairman for yielding. and i want to thank the members of the rules committee, chairman dreier, and all of the members of that committee are required to work at all hours of the day and night. in fact, we were testifying before the committee at 12:30 seeking the rule on this bill. but that's par for the course for the rules committee who worked long, laborous hours with very little thanks. i want to thank them. i want to say to chairman dreier and to the gentlelady, ranking member, there's got to be a special place reserved in heaven for those that labor in

this vineyard so thank you for the hard work that you do. i want to say thanks to my colleague, my ranking member on the full committee, mr. dicks, who's with us in the chamber. he and i worked hand in hand in this process all year long. it's a very productive relationship. i value his advice and his help and he has been free to give that advice and help all year long and this is the product of our work. a bipartisan, comprehensive effort to fund the government, and we want to get us back to regular order. for the last several years, before we took over this body, appropriations was a mess. we didn't do any appropriations. we lurched from one continuing resolution to another, leaving the public bewildered. and so mr. dicks and i have determined, along with senator

inoue and with our colleagues in the senate to restore regular order, bringing one bill at a time, letting it be amended and to conference with our colleagues across the way. that's what we want to get back to. now, this bill that's before us today, it's a huge bill. i do not like a omnibus bill. neither one of us does. we are not going to have them. but in order to clean up the mess that was left us, we had no choice. mr. dreier: i yield my friend an additional 30 seconds and i ask my friend to yield to me if he would. mr. speaker, i thank my friend for yielding. i misspoke. the agreement was reached between mr. rogers and mr. inoue on monday, and the pages were not made available until it was followed at 12:27, 12:27, just after midnight on wednesday. but the agreement -- excuse me -- it was after midnight -- the speaker pro tempore: the

gentleman from kentucky has extired. -- the time of the gentleman from kentucky has expired. mr. dreier: i yield to my colleague. the agreement was struck on monday. it was made available after wednesday. i yield 30 seconds. the speaker pro tempore: 30 seconds. mr. rogers: we're here because this is the product of our committee and our subcommittees, republicans and democrats. they are the ones that put this bill together collectively, all of those nine subcommittees are represented in this package here. it's been vetted by republicans and democrats, house and senate, all the way. there are no earmarks here. there are no airdropped provisions in this bill. it is a good bill. it's not perfect. i don't like omnibus bills. but in cleaning up the mess left us, this is a good-faith effort to get 2012 out of the

way so in 2013, january, we will be able to go to work getting the 2013 bills done in the regular way. i want to thank the staff for all the hard work they've done all year long, and i thank our colleagues. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentlelady from new york. ms. slaughter: mr. speaker, let me take 30 seconds to say that all they are trying to do is mr. dreier's 16 minutes -- i would be able to please to yield to--- yield to him one of my 13. i want to yield to the gentleman from washington, mr. dicks, who's worked so hard. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from washington is recognized for two minutes. mr. dicks: i thank the member of the rules committee for yielding me two minutes. i just want to say that this has been a collaborative, bipartisan effort to put this bill here. mr. mcgovernor and others have explained some of their

concerns about -- mr. mcgovern and others have explained some of their concerns about the process. i am committed to working with the chairman to bring all 12 appropriation bills to the floor separately next year so that we can exercise regular order. we did have to do h.r. 1 in the spring which took -- all 12 bills from 2011 and we had -- we spent a week on it, and we also had over 500 amendments. it just showed you that the members want to have a chance to amend these bills. and if you don't bring them to the floor like under regular order you don't have an opportunity to do that. and so we're going to try to improve on our record. we got six to the floor this year. i think we can do better next year if we get started early. so we make a pledge to work on that. i want to compliment our chairman, mr. rogers, for his openness, his willingness to

consider all points of view. he could not have done a better job. and to have the patience of jobe to listen to everybody and still debating the last few items in this bill this week. now, my good friend, mr. dreier, who i have enormous respect for, we work together on trade issues all the time, the only thing i would say about the other body is that they weren't doing something that was evil. they were trying to get an unemployment compensation bill enacted. they're trying to get an extension of the payroll tax bill. and some other important provisions that are crucial to the american people. and so what they did by throwing us down a little bit was to give an opportunity to get that work done. and as much as i would have preferred to go forward -- 30 seconds? ms. slaughter: i'd be pleased

to yield 30 seconds. mr. dicks: would have preferred to go forward, we had to acknowledge that this was important work that needed to be accomplished. mr. dreier: will the gentleman yield very briefly? mr. dicks: i yield to the chairman. mr. rogers: today is sort of a special day for the gentleman. is it true that a few years ago you were born on this date? mr. dicks: it was not just a few years ago, mr. chairman. since it's my birthday, we didn't plan it this way. i want to make sure that the chairman of the rules committee -- mr. rogers: happy birthday. mr. dreier: will the gentleman yield? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from washington's time has expired. mr. dreier: i yield myself 15 seconds to say to my friend, happy birthday, and the great present is we will not shut the government down and we will obviously see this measure passed today. i also wanted to say to my friend that i believe we made history here. to have any member of the house stand up, especially on his

birthday, mr. speaker, and speak in complimentary ways of the other body is in fact historic in and of itself. the speaker pro tempore: the time of the gentleman from california has expired. mr. dicks: i want to make sure everybody got the full picture. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california. mr. dreier: mr. speaker, may i inquire of the chair how much time is remaining? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california has 7 1/4 minutes, and the gentlelady from new york has 13 1/2 minutes remaining. mr. dreier: in light of that, mr. speaker, i'd like to reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from new york. ms. slaughter: i'm pleased to yield three minutes to the gentleman from massachusetts, mr. markey. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized for throw minutes. mr. -- the speaker pro tempore: for three minutes. mr. markey: we need a few presents for the oil industry, for the coal industry, and that's what this final weekend is all about, how do we get those presents? and so they tried and tried in this bill to roll back many,

many environmental laws, but they have been unable to do so, but what they have said is, just give us one thing, give us one trinket, perhaps, a symbol of our success in rolling back the laws of energy efficiency in our country and so within this bill the republicans have now successfully inserted a provision which rolls back the light bulb efficiencyy law. . which the companies of our country and the rest of the world must comply with. what does that mean? for consumers in our country it will be $6 billion per year that they will have to pay in higher electricity bills every year that they are alive. what else does it mean? well, it means that the coal industry is happy because they generate half the electricity in our country. so they'll burn more coal in order to generate that

electricity in order for the american people to use less efficient light bulbs. that greenhouse gas will go up in the atmosphere, since the republican don't believe the planet is warming, what do they care? roll back the light bulb efficiency standards. what's the next bill that's up? that's on can we give a payroll tax break to the ordinary americans? can we have unemployment insurance for the millions of people unemployed? they are saying, well, we'll consider it. but you can't tax billionaires to find the money for that. by the, we want a trinket there as well. let's make sure that final bill, therg saying, has an exemption for environmental laws to build a huge pipeline, the keystone x.l. pipeline, extra large pipeline, right through the middle of america waiving the environmental laws, and, ladies and gentlemen, at the same time having no guarantee that the oil that comes from canada through

the united states will be sold in the united states. they won't accept that provision . neither transcanada nor the republicans even though they say we would do it for our national security. here we are at the end of the year, light bulb efficiency out the door. they would like to do the same thing for increased efficiency in the vehicles which we drive, the planes which we ply fly in, the boats which we sail here in the united states, as we watch the middle east in turmoil, as we see iran and iraq perhaps growing closer together. they are trying to reduce the efficiency of our country by making it more likely we consume oil. more likely that we -- could i have 30 additional seconds? is that possible? ms. slaughter: i'm pleased to yield another minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. markey: here we have again a misunderstanding on the part of the republicans on our key national security issue. and that is changing our relationship with the energy

sources which we consume because it comes disproportionally out of the straits of hormuz, out of the middle east into our country. so this issue goes right to the core. this light bulb efficiency. it's a small symbol of all the other things in terms of increasing the efishen siff our society and it's stuck right in the middle of this so-called omni -- omnibus bill. and they wouldn't be happy unless they got it. mind you this attempt was defeated earlier this year on the house floor when members could vote for it. it must be snuck into the omnibus end of the year bill. whether it be the x.l. pipeline for the oil industry, whether it be the light bulb bill for the coal industry, whether it be the billionaire tax breaks, staying on the books rather than helping to make sure ordinary people get tax breaks, billionaires, oil -- the speaker pro tempore: time of

the gentleman from massachusetts has expired. the gentleman from california. mr. markey: i urge a no note. mr. dreier: thank you very much, mr. speaker. at this time i'm happy to yield two minutes to my good friend from banebridge township, ohio, mr. latourette. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from ohio is recognized for two minutes. mr. latourette: i thank the chairman and i thank the speaker for the recognition. you know, one of the useless sort of pieces of trivia i carry around in my head is the originator of superman comics was from cleveland, ohio. i think he sold the rights to it for a pittance and very sorry after that. one of the things i could never get my arms around in the superman series was the bi st. zaro superman. as i listen to this debate i think i have landed in a bizzaro world. to go to another children's story, everybody knows the story of the three little pigs, those who are criticizing the process, or criticism of the process, that has brought this bill to the floor, is a little bit like there is a fourth little pig that didn't even bother to build a straw house or a wood house, but gets to the brick house where the wolf can't get in and

is complaining that the brick furniture is too hard. now, listen, no budget was produced in the last congress. not one. and so for the process lovers around here, you know where all the numbers came from that we had to deal with in the appropriations committee in the mind of one man from wisconsin who is now retired. that didn't happen. the budget was passed. you know what else? the budget this year gave lower numbers for the second time straight under this majority. and it is a little more difficult to spend less money than more money. it's easier to spend more money, but mr. dicks and mr. rogers did something that was never done under the stewardship of the previous speaker. and that is we had bills come up in subcommittee. you know what? any member could offer an amendment, could amendments, bad amendments, stupid amendments, wonderful amendments, and we voted on them. they went to full committee, the same thing occurred. i'm going to tell you the bills came to the floor.

under open rules. i think i could count on -- i wouldn't have to take off my shoes to figure out the number of open rules that occurred under the previous speaker's administration. as they privatize the nation's health care. 1/7 of the economy of the united states. as they put in place national carbon tax with no amendments. so for those who are squealing about process, it's really an inappropriate exercise. and relative to the other body, i have nothing but respect for mr. dicks, but to say that the senate wasn't doing anything in fairous by lippinging this bill that was -- nefarious that was linking this bill and shut down the government at midnight tonight and link that to the payroll tax cuts and others, listen, the senate hags become a -- has become again and again and again the place where legislation goes to die. it is not enough to sit over there in the lofty senate chamber and say we don't like what you did, house, and not

produce a product. the time has come for them to pass a bill and then the process is, we are only 1/3 of the government. you can't have this bill unless the senate passes it and the president signs it. so again, merry christmas to all. we should get on with this. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentlelady from new york. ms. slaughter: mr. speaker, i yield two minutes to the gentleman from mississippi, the ranking member on homeland security, mr. thompson. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from mississippi is recognized for two minutes. mr. thompson: thank you very much, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, i rise in opposition to the rule and underlying measure, the conference report of h.r. 2055. 1,219-page funding bill. it's hard to know where to start. as the ranking member of the homeland security committee, i choose to start by looking at how it will affect our nation's first responders and the communities they protect.

this package, 10 years after the attacks of september 11, 2001. is a dangerous departure from the path we have been on as a nation to build up our preparedness and our response capabilities. it abandons the men and women we count on to save lives. since 9/11, there has been a general recognition that as a nation we are dangerously unprepared for the emerging threats we face. that is why past congresses established an array of federal grant programs targeted to specific homeland security gaps and needs. across the country, we have seen the benefits of the path laid by the congresses toward preparedness as evidence by the response to this year's waive of disasters. today, however, this congress not only strays from the path, but bulldozes it. the conference report slashes more than $2 billion from first responder funding.

last year $3.38 billion was provided to communities across the country under fema's grant program, most notably, the state homeland security grant program, urban area security initiative, metropolitan medical response system, operation stone garden, citizen corps program, port security grant program, transit security grant programs, interop prohibit emergency communication grant programs, and emergency operations centers. this year under this package just $1.35 billion is designated for all the grant programs. another 30 seconds. ms. slaughter: i would like to yield the gentleman another minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. thompson: thank you very much. that is less than half what we have provided this last year. to make matters worse, this package punts the responsibility for the tough decisions about funding levels for each program

to secretary napolitano. tough decisions about funding have been punted throughout this session and as a result the congress has moved from shut down crisis to shut down crisis. if this package is enacted, the congress will be punting responsibility for meeting the homeland security challenges of a post 9/11 world to state, local, and tribal governments. the timing of the shift of responsibility could not be worse. we must not ignore the calls from public safety and first responder organizations that have warned us about devastating effects of cuts. for this reason and probably 100 more i oppose the conference report. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from california. mr. dreier: mr. speaker, i'd inquire of my friend how many speakers she has remaining on her side? ms. slaughter: we have no further speakers. may i inquire if my colleague has any? mr. dreier: i plan to close and

move the previous question to ensure we don't shut down the government. ms. slaughter: i'm prepared to close with one small statement. urging my colleagues to vote no on the previous question and the marathon martial law rule and yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california. mr. dreier: mr. speaker, i yealed my southwest balance of the time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. dreier: mr. speaker, we are all know that the american people are hurting. we have a protracted unemployment problem that has gone on for an extended period of time. the longest period of time since the great depression. and it's important for us to realize the reasons for this. one of the very important reasons for this is we have seen a dramatic expansion of the size and scope and reach of government. during the four years that my friends on the other side of the aisle were in the majority, we witnessed an 82% increase in

nondefense discretionary spending. an 82% increase. we now have a $15 trillion national debt. and i think democrats and republicans alike acknowledge that that cannot be sustained. as i have been saying throughout this week, our job is jobs. right now our job is jobs. we need to have a laserlike focus on creating job opportunities for our fellow americans. people who are so frustrated they have given up even the -- given up the effort to look for work. and so that's why the things that we are dealing with today are so critically important to address those needs. since there has been bipartisan recognition that we can't continue down the road with an 82% increase in nondefense discretionary spending, which we witnessed over the past several years, it's important for us to come together. and that's exactly what's

happened. this is norm dicks' birthday and we are very happy about that. we are happy that on his birthday we are going to see a bipartisan agreement that will bring about $95 billion reduction in nondefense discretionary spending. a $95 billion reduction and that's what this work product does, mr. speaker. and again bipartisan recognition and even bicameral recognition, and even recognition from down pennsylvania avenue with the second branch of government that we are right now altering the course that we have been on of dramatically increasing spending. and we are doing it, mr. speaker, in a very fair and balanced and open way. i don't like the process that got us to where we are right now. i said earlier that i believe that the -- this multithousand page package was available on monday. it was agreed to on monday.

it wasn't made available until early wednesday morning, thursday morning. but we are where we are. and there was an agreement. mr. inouye and mr. rogers came to this agreement on monday. we could have done this earlier, but we know our friends in the other body chose, as has been characterized in the media, i wasn't going to say it earlier, it's been characterized in the media as having held hostage this very important appropriations bill, and we dealt with the threat of a government shutdown that would take place 13 hours from now. . we are not going to see that happen. we are not going to see that happen because mr. dicks and mr. rogers and other members of the appropriations committees in both bodies and the leadership came together to ensure it doesn't happen. we still have a long way to go. we still have much work that needs to be done. but by passage of this measure today, mr. speaker, we are going to do exactly what is

necessary. we're going to finally have a clean slate. we've all commiserated other the fact that we had this mess to clean up of the past and it's been ugly and it's been difficult but we have in fact by virtue of this agreement cleaned it up so that we can continue to work down this path toward balancing the budget, getting our fiscal house in order and doing what we need to do, and that is our job is to create jobs, i think we have a chance to do that. mr. speaker, i urge support of this rule and i urge support of the previous question, that we cab move ahead and make sure that we have what's necessary to meet this very important deadline by midnight. with that, i yelled back the balance of my time and yield the previous question. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back his time. the question is on ordering the previous question. those in favor say aye. podsepose. -- those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it.

ms. slaughter: i request the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: a recorded vote is requested. those in spoth of the yeas and nays will rise and be counted. a sufficient number having risen, a recorded vote is ordered. the yeas and nays are ordered. this vote will be followed by a votes on senate amendment s. 1892 and senate bill 278 if ordered. this is 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.]

the speaker pro tempore: the yeas are 179. the previous question is ordered. the question is on adoption of the resolution. so many as are in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair. the ayes have it. the gentlelady from new york. ms. slaughter: mr. speaker, on that i request the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays are requested. those favoring a vote by the yeas and nays will rise. a sufficient number having arisen, the yeas and nays are ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. this will be 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 251, the nays are --

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote, the yeas are 252, the nays are 164, the resolution is adopted and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. the unfinished business is the vote on the motion of the gentleman from michigan, mr. rogers to suspend the rules and concur in the senate amendment h.r. 1892 on which the yeas and nays are ordered. the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h r. 1892, an act to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2012 for intelligence and intelligence-related activities of the united states government. the community management account and the central intelligence agency retirement and disability system and for

other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: the question is will the house suspend the rules and concur in the senate amendment. members will record their votes by electronic device. this will be 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 393, the nays are 23. without objection the -- the speaker pro tempore: on this vote, the yeas are --

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote the yeas are 396. the nays are 23.

2/3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative shall the rules are suspended, the senate amendment is agreed to, and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. the unfinished business is the question on suspend the rules and passing s. 278 as amended. which the clerk will report by title. the clerk: senate 278, for the exchange of certain land located in the arapahoe roosevelt national forest in the state of colorado and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: the question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill as amended. 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 -- >> mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from washington. the yeas and nays are requested. will hastings: recorded vote. the speaker pro tempore: a sufficient number having arisen, a recorded vote is ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. this will be 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 413. the nays are zero. 2/3 of those voting having responded in the affirmativer the rules are suspended, the bill is passed, and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. the house will be in order.

will members take their conversations off the floor. for what purpose does the gentleman from kentucky seek recognition? mr. rogers: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the conference report on h.r. 2055, h.con.res. 94, and h.r. 3672, and that i may include tabular material on the same. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the clerk will report the -- for what purpose does the gentleman from kentucky seek recognition? mr. rogers: mr. speaker, pursuant to house resolution 500, i call up the conference report to accompany the bill h.r. 200 -- 2055, a bill making appropriations for military construction, the department of veterans affairs, and related

agencies for the fiscal year ending september 30, 2012, and for other purposes. and for its immediate consideration. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 2055, an act making appropriations for military construction, the department of veterans affairs, and related agencies for the fiscal year ending september 30, 2012, and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to house resolution 500, the conference report is considered as read. the gentleman from kentucky, mr. rogers, and the gentleman from washington, mr. dicks, each will control 30 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from kentucky. mr. rogers: may we have order, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. the gentleman from kentucky. mr. rogers: mr. speaker, i rise today to present the final fiscal year 2012 appropriations

legislation, which includes the conference report for the remaining nine appropriations bills. as well as two other bills we will consider later that provide funding for disaster recovery and assistance. for the second year in a row, mr. speaker, the appropriations committee, along with the body, has achieved significant reductions in federal government spending to the tune of some $95 billion in reduced spending. never before in recent history has congress cut spending two years back-to-back. the republican majority is truly living up to our commitment to slice federal spending. getting our budgets back into balance. and living within our means. the legislation also includes absolutely no earmarks, zero

earmarks, abideling by the house rule--abiding by the house rule. this report and the disaster aid spending package signify the end of the road for the fiscal year 2012 appropriations cycle. helping to avoid a potential government shutdown and supporting vital programs and services the american people rely on. in particular, mr. speaker, this bill provides funding necessary to support our national security , including funding for our military engagements abroad, and our domestic obligations, benefits, and programs for our veterans, active military, and their families, and homeland security efforts to keep our borders and communities safe and sound. in addition, this legislation includes policy provisions targeted at reining in harmful government interference and

protecting life, liberty, and the constitution. mr. speaker, after weeks of arduous negotiations on this package with our senator counterparts, we struck fair bipartisan compromise. no party got everything they wanted. but we have found a reasonable, responsible balance between reduced spending, wise federal investments, and policy changes that american businesses need to thrive. with christmas coming on, it's time we complete this important legislation and go home to our families and our friends. we don't have much down time before our work will begin again on fiscal year 2013. and i'm hopeful that with the groundwork we have laid this year, cleaning up past years' messes, clearing the table for

next year when we can bring these bills separately and individually to the floor, for members to debate, amend, and vote on, that's the goal. so i'm hopeful the groupedwork we have laid this year will be able to -- groundwork we have laid this year will be able to work through next year's appropriations in regular order. and most importantly on time so that we don't find ourselves in this situation next december. one last note, mr. speaker, this result today would not have happened without the good will and the good work of the committee's ranking member, mr. dicks. who's been a great partner throughout this process. while things have been difficult and we haven't always seen eye to eye, his knowledge of the process and his commitment to a fair and positive outcome have

been a huge asset. his leadership has been critical to the bills we passed and certainly the one before us today. along with mr. dicks i must thank the cardinals and the ranking members of the subcommittees where we -- to whom we turned to produce this bill that's before us today. . chairman young, ranking member dicks on defense, chairman frelinghuysen and ranking member viscloskied on energy and water, chairwoman emerson and ranking member serrano, chairman aderholt and ranking member price on homeland security, chairman rehberg, ranking member delauro on labor-hhs. chairman crenshaw, ranking member honda on legislative branch, chairman culberson, ranking member bishop on milcon

-- they worked through these bills with a sharp eye and respect for the taxpayer and the programs that they dealt with. time and again, mr. speaker, throughout this year, we've faced difficult and arduous tasks head on. met every challenge before us. without the leadership of these subcommittee chairmen and ranking members, we would not be here today. they made up the package that's before us today. finally, i want to thank the staff, both sides of the aisle, majority and minority, hard work this year beyond anything i've ever seen. it's been a tough year. with h.r. 1 in the spring that took so much time and effort, 500-plus amendments, and then 150 hearings that our subcommittees have conducted,

making up this year's propings bills. and then after that, the effort that took place on the debt ceiling increase and the time and distraction that it took from the rest of the work we were doing and then finally the concoction and the makeup of this bill before us today. it has been a long, tough year. we have appropriated in one year for two years. both for 11 and now for 201 -- and 2012, all in one year, to us back to where we can go on regular order next year. the staff has been arduous and dedicated, week in, week out, day in, day out, night after night, holidays included, they've just been terrific and i want to thank -- i want to thank our staffs on the committee, both sides, for all the hard work that's taken place.

billingley, the chief clark on the committee and david, on your side, mr. dicks, what a terrific team we have backing us up. we are deeply indebted to these wonderful staff workers for us that have us where we are. finally, i want to say this. today's sort of a special day, mr. speaker, for any number of reasons. i think we're going to wind up with a good bill here that will get the appropriations process over with finally for this year. but it's also a very special day for two members on the floor with us this very minute. one of them is my ranking member, mr. dicks. who is celebrating a birthday, today. and also -- yes. happy birthday.

and also, another gentleman is celebrating a birthday today, that's mr. bill young, the chairman of the defense subcommittee, happy birthday. and with that, mr. speaker, i reserve the plans. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from washington. mr. dicks: i yield myself two minutes. mr. speaker, the conference report before us contains nine separate bills, defense, energy and water, financial services, homeland security, interior, labor, h.h.s., and education, legislative branch, military construction and v.a. and state foreign operation. it is a bipartisan agreement reached after many hours of deliberation and debate. it reflects the fact that neither party can pass this bill on its own in either the house or the senate. the conference report is a

remarkable product of the hard work of all members of the appropriations committee and as the chairman mentioned, especially the ranking members and the cardinals, the chairman of the subcommittees, an i'llest -- and i especially want to congratulate the staff. i was a staff person myself and as the chairman has said, i have never seen people work harder than the staff on the house appropriations committee and i want to commend bill and david for their work all during this year, their cooperation, which was -- and their leadership of the staff and we have a great staff, i mean, you know, these people have enormous experience, they have great background, and we're proud of all of them. i also want to congratulate bill young, my chairman on the defense subcommittee, former chairman of the full committee, we've been good friends and i want to wish him a happy

birthday and it's kind of ironic that here we are on the last day, getting this big bill passed, on our -- on both of our birthdays. so there's so many smiles on us, maybe it was the other body by slowing things down, but anyway, i want to yield back my time. we're going to have our ranking members present their statements after the chairman on the other side. i yield back my time. i want to thank mr. rogers again for his courtesy and great work. he had to have the patience of job in order to get this thing done but he did it and i commend him for his -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman has expired. i assume you're reserving your time. mr. dicks: i want to commend him for his patience and determination. next year we're going to get all 12 bills to the floor. i reserve the plans of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the quelt from kentucky.

mr. rogers: i thank the gentleman for his words. i yield three minutes to the chairman of the defense appropriations subcommittee, mr. young of florida. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. young: mr. speaker, i want to thank the gentleman, the chairman, for yielding the time. it's not ealy adequate to explain this defense bill, the largest part of this omnibus or minibus, call it what you will. thank you, chairman rogers, especially for bringing back regular order in the appropriations process, which we haven't done for a while. you've done a great job in leading this committee to get this job done and my friend mr. dicks, i've already wished him personally a happy birthday, but we appreciate mr. dicks' relationship with the congress, owur subcommittee, with the full committee, together they made a great team and have done a good job. as i said, the defense bill is

the biggest part of this bill. it is actually $21 billion less than was requested in the budget. we were given a number, we were instructed to make reductions. the subcommittee, the members and staff worked diligently to make sure that any reductions that we had to make would not affect the readiness of our nation or would not adversely affect any of our troops. we successfully concluded that task, we kept our commitment to maintain readiness and to remain strongly in support of our troops. it makes me feel good that we have an agreement that was agreed upon by the moneys an the democrats in the house. and the plups and the democrats in the senate. we will get a unanimous vote on this package tissue we won't

get a unanimous vote on this package but we worked together. people have wondered and i'm sure all of us have been asked by our constituents, why can't you guys in congress work together and get things done? you know, when congress acts as a congress and avoids a lot of outside political influence, it's amazing what we can do. i want to call attention to the fact that we just concluded the intelligence bill. bipartisan basis. we did the national defense authorization act last week. on a bipartisan basis. this omnibus bill we pass -- that we will pass today on a bipartisan basis. we worked together and got things done when we were able to work as a congress. i'm happy to be supportive of especially the defense part of this bill and i want to congratulate chairman rogers and ranking member dicks for

their strong leadership in getting us back to regular order and as mr. dicks said, next year, we'll do all the appropriations bills one at a time, just like it's supposed to be done. with that, mr. speaker, there is so much more to talk about this bill, so many details, we have written copies of the report on what it does and what it doesn't do. we'll be happy to provide that for any member who asks. other than that, let's vote for this package and let's get our job done. we want to wish you all a very merry christmas and hopefully won't have to wish you happy new year until we come back next year. we'll see how that is. thank you, mr. chairman, i yield back my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from washington. mr. dicks: mr. speaker, the department of defense appropriations bill is part of this package. this bill includes base funding

-- i yield myself as much time as i may need. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. dicks: includes base funding of $518 billion a reduction of $21 billion below the president's budget request. the bill also provides $115 billion for overseas contingency operations. $2.billion below the budget request. the bill balances funding essential for u.s. troops and their families with readiness, weapons acquisition, and technology development. for military personnel and family programs, the bill includes full funding of the military pay accounts including a $1.6 -- a 1 ppt 6% pay raise for our troops. for community support programs, the bill includes $40 million above the request for impact aid and $250 million to replace inadequate schools located on d.o.d. bases that are owned and

operated by our local educational authorities and the u.s. department of education. for ready n, the bill includes $163 billion for operations and maintenance with this account, the bill includes $150 million above the request for ship depot maintenance and $40 million to fund the officer training corps program. for other programs, it includes $55 million to prevent the shut down of m-1 tank production. $1 billion for national guard and reserve equipment, $200 million for rapid innovation funding, $230 million to procure equipment to enhance special operations, $130 million for ongoing weapons defense programs with israel and $100 million above the request to ensure technologiers in next generation bomber. for overseas contingencies, it includes $115 billion, $2. billion below the request and

$43 billion below the 2011. the decline compared to last year reflects the withdrawal of u.s. troops from iraq. the bill provides for the withdrawal of u.s. personnel from iraq by the end of this month, operation of u.s. forces in afghanistan, programs to train and equip afghan security forces so they're capable of assuming security responsibility. this bill is essential to maintain the readiness and capabilities of u.s. forces. it provides for the need of our mep and women in uniform and their families, the bill also includes responsible reductions from the budget request recognizes the fiscal realities that our nation faces. this is a must-pass bill which i support, i commend chairman young, again, and the staff of the defense subcommittee for its extraordinary work. this is the largest appropriations bill, it is essential to national security,

and with that, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from kentucky. mr. dicks -- mr. rogers: i yield three minutes to the chairman of the energy and water subcommittee on the committee, mr. frelinghuysen. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for three mins. mr. frelinghuysen: i thank the chairman for his support as we work through the appropriations process. this morning, i am pleased to support this appropriations bill that keep ours government open for business but also substantially reduces central spending in almost every department. special thanks to my ranking member and good friend vote visclosky for his hard work, his knowledge of our nrnl and water bill and his passionate support for so many priorities. our portion of the bill has an important national security component so we increase funding for the safety and reliability of our nuclear deterrent as well as for new generation of naval reactors. while dunding -- funding for

the department of o-- department of energy is below the president's request we continue to ensure our nation has a diversity of energy sfly and knew leer energy will be a critical part of that future and that important research and development will continue at a remark -- at our remarkable national laboratories. additionally, it provides funds for the army corps of engineer to provide for public safety, keep america open for business an meet emergencies. i'm pleased to support a bill that ensure ours national security, our safety, our economic security, with less taxpayers' dollars and i yield back. mr. dicks: i yield two minutes to the distinguished gentleman from indiana, mr. visclosky. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from indiana is recognized for two minutes. mr. visclosky: i thank the gentleman for yielding and will have remarks for the record. there is great substance in this bill but really want to

address the process. and to begin my remarks by saying how very proud i am of the appropriations committee of the house of representatives and the united states senate of this congress. the appropriations committee is composed of serious and intelligent people. our members and our terrific staff -- i was also on the staff at one time -- work hard to invest in our country and to improve the lives of the people we represent. as chairman rogers indicated, our members do disagree, but they thoughtfully consider the facts, they consider each other's perspectives and positions and reach reasonable compromises that improve the government of the united states of america. this is how this entire body should conduct itself. and i especially want to thank chairman rogers and mr. dicks and their staffs for leading the way. i also want to express my

gratitude to chairman frelinghuysen who is also my friend and a consummate gentleman, and our subcommittee members and our exceptional staff for their hard work in crafting a wonderful piece of legislation. the energy on water provides $9.3 billion, $30 million above last year's level ensuring the ability to counter the most serious threat confronting the threat of nuclear terrorism is adequately funded. the griment provides for renewable energy programs at level funding from last year, and the science council, critical to the competitive of our nation is $46 million above last year. arpa e drives innovation to support our scientific competitiveness. the army corps of engineers is funded at $5 billion ensuring

that some programs will not be terminated. we must invest in our infrastructure. while this increases funding for corps we are not adequately investing in infrastructure but i do support the legislation. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from kentucky. mr. rogers: mr. chairman, i yield three minutes to the chairman of the homeland security subcommittee, mr. aderholt from alabama. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. mr. aderholt: thank you, mr. speaker. i thank the gentleman for yielding and i ask for unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. mr. speaker, i rise in strong support of the conference report, and i want to thank chairman rogers as well as ranking member norman dicks for their leadership and their commitment as we went back to regular order, as we produce this agreement. we had a challenging negotiations with our colleagues from the other body, but i believe we aforged a disciplined agreement that puts the priority on limited spending and on true priorities

like border security, immigration enforcement, disaster relief, while at the same time instilling robust fiscal discipline and oversight. this conference report provides a total of $39.6 billion in discretionary spending for the department of homeland security. that is $4 billion below the president's request. 9.1%. it's $3 billion below the f.y. 2010, and it is $ billion below last year. -- $2 billion below last year. these are genuine reductions, not just budget gimmicks. while this contracted funding frontline operations are made a priority as well, including funding and direction to i.c.e. to maintain a daily detention bed capacity of 34,000 beds. that is the highest capacity in history. also, funding for the highest

ever level of staffings for border patrol agents, c.d.p. officers and i.c.e. agents. it has two departments at the office of homeland security. it has unprecedented oversight at fema, and it includes a statutory requirement for the secretary of homeland security to enforce the immigration laws that are on the books. finally, this conference agreement and the disaster bill that we are considering today fully funds fema disaster relief requirements for 2012. that means that all the devastated areas across the country will get what they need to get back on their feet, and this funding can be offset through reductions that will also be considered later this afternoon, which i support. let me close again by thanking all those involved in this process on the appropriations committee. i'd like to thank ben nicholson with the majority and the staff from the majority staff as well as stephanie guptka with the

minority and her staff and also to thank senator landrieu and senator coates and ranking member price, of course, who was my process in this -- colleague in this pros. thank you, mr. speaker. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from washington. mr. dicks: i yield two minutes to the distinguished gentleman from north carolina, the ranking member for the homeland security subcommittee, mr. price. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from north carolina is recognized for two minutes. mr. price: mr. speaker, i'm pleased that we're finally considering an omnibus appropriations bill for fiscal 2012 to fund critical federal agencies including the department of homeland security. after a year of lurching from one manufactured crisis to another, these stabilizing the american economy and sending congress' approval ratings to record lows. it's high time we restore some measure of regular order to this critical legislative

function and i applaud chairman rogers, ranking member dicks, my subcommittee chairman aleder holt for their commit -- aleder holt for their commitment of having bipartisan cooperation that distinguishes our committee, even in today's hyperpartisan environment. i want to thank our talented staff for drafting and negotiating for what was a very difficult package to put together. with respect to d.h.s., overall funding will drop for a second year in a row. but this drop is compensated for by the separate disaster relief bill we will be considering shortly. when these two measures are combined, fema will receive a total of $7.1 billion for disaster relief, ensuring that families and businesses affected by recent disasters will receive assistance vital to their recovery and rebuilding. beyond disaster assistance, the reduced allocation meant we had to make some tough decisions. i'm pleased the sufficient funding is provided in this

bill for our frontline d.h.s. employees to conduct critical operations along our borders, protect our nation's airports, sea ports, and thwarts cybersecurity attacks on our federal government. other accounts radcally underfunded in the house -- radically underfunded in this house bill has been nowhere near adequate levels. research and development funds hab been cut since 2010. targeted specifically at homeland security threats. and state and local grants have been reduced by more than 50% from the 2010 level, requiring our states and communities to delay or abandon vital preparedness efforts. mr. chairman, may i have an additional 10 seconds? the speaker pro tempore: does the gentleman from washington wish to yield additional time? mr. dicks: 15 seconds. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for 15 seconds. mr. price: these grant cuts will require states and communities to delay or abandon

vital preparedness efforts. we simply have to do better next year. while this is an imperfect bill, under the circumstances we know it could have been much worse. it's the product of bicammeral and bipartisan process. with that in mind i urge colleagues to support this omnibus bill. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from kentucky. mr. rogers: mr. speaker, i yield three minutes to the very distinguished chairman of the financial services subcommittee on appropriations, the gentlelady from missouri, mrs. emerson. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from missouri is recognized for three minutes. mrs. emerson: mr. speaker, i thank the chairman for yielding. i know he hasn't enjoyed an easy task, but he has done a tremendous job in bringing us to this point today so thank you very much, mr. chairman. i also want to express my appreciation to ranking member serrano and laura on their staff. they have been terrific to work with. even though we didn't agree on something we still had

dialogue. they were terrific. our own staff on the subcommittee, very ablely led by john martin and winnie kelly, ariana and karen have done a tremendous job. there are a lot of reasons to be happy about this bill and to vote for it. from the perspective of the financial services subcommittee , the bill reduces this portion of the president's budget request by $4.2 billion. compared to 2010, discretionary funding in this bill is reduced by 11%. we're heeding the american people's call for a more limited, more responsible government. the bill prohibits funds for certain white house czars, rescinds $25 million from a mandatory slush fund at the securities and exchange commission, and dead indicates much-needed resources for the counterterrorism activities at the -- and dead indicates much-needed resources for the counterterrorism activities at

the department of defense. our small businesses are critical to our economy, and this program extend accessible and affordable credit to help them grow. as fortunate as i feel to have reached agreement with my colleagues in so many areas, i'm still startled and a bit dismayed by the white house's refusal to submit the consumer financial protection bureau, an agency whose mission is to promote accountability and transparency in the financial industry to the usual and customary transparency measures accorded to congress and the american people. provisions in the house's bill would have limited the budget at the bureau and submit it and subject the cftb to congressional review. i am hard pressed to understand why a $200 million limit is not enough for a bureau without a director and why the

centerpiece of the dodd-frank act cannot withstand meaningful regular review by the congress which established it in the first place. the checks and balances envisioned by our founders apply to every other consumer-oriented agency in the executive branch of government. the cfpb ought to be treated no different than the federal trade commission, the securities and exchange commission, the commodities futures trading commission, the food and drug administration and others in this important regard. i can promise that the cfpb will be revisited again and again by congress. leaving that subject, though, for another day, i do urge my colleagues to support the bill and the savings it contains on behalf of the american people and yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from washington. mr. dicks: i yield two minutes to the distinguish gentleman from new york, the ranking member of the financial services subcommittee, mr. serrano. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york is recognized for two minutes.

mr. serrano: mr. speaker, i would like to thank congressman dicks for yielding me time so i can comment on the financial services and general government section of this bill. i'd also like to thank both him and chairman rogers for their hard work in bringing this bill to the floor. please, let me also express my appreciation to chairwoman emerson who worked so well with me and her staff throughout this process. unfortunately, because of the budget agreement and the allocation that was given to the subcommittee, there are significant cuts to many important agencies. however, this is a much better bill than what emerged from our committee markup, and we worked hard to provide sufficient funding in order to avoid layoffs of hardworking federal employees. i'm especially pleased that the health care repeal provisions and the many anti-dodd-frank provisions that were a part of the committee passed -- committee-passed bill have not been included in this final

conference agreement. i am, however, distressed that this agreement once again interferes in the local affairs of the district of columbia. although d.c. will be able to continue to use its own local funds for syringe exchange programs, this conference report prohibits them from using their own local funds for abortion services, a restriction that no other american city has dictated to it by the federal government. finally, i am pleased that the provision reinstating the harsh bush-era restrictions on cuban american travel to cuba and limitations on remittances was dropped from the conference report. had this provision stayed in the bill, there would have been an immediate shutdown of family travel to cuba which would have been particularly difficult just days before the holiday season. before i conclude, i would like to take this opportunity to thank the majority and minority subcommittee staff for all of

their hard work and to acknowledge the efforts of my own personal staff. mr. speaker, within the strict budgetary limitations that were given the committee and this section, an improved version, i am in favor of the bill and i would ask my colleagues to vote for it. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from kentucky. mr. rogers: i yield three minutes, mr. speaker, to the distinguished chairman of the state foreign ops chair subcommittee, chair of the subcommittee, the gentlelady from texas, ms. granger. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from texas is recognized for three minutes. ms. granger: mr. speaker, i rise in support of the state foreign operations part of this conference which contains $42.1 billion in discretionary budget authority. this means that since january, spending in this bill will decrease by $6.6 billion or more than 13%. the agreement includes overseas contingency spending to

implement in frontline states and conflict areas. these costs are temporary and extraordinary and will be reduced over time. this bill has been written to address our foreign assistance and state department funding through the lens of what is most important to our national security interests and the security of our allies and our neighbor, mexico. the bill provides security assistance for critical allies including full funding for the u.s.-israel memorandum of understanding. the bill also carries new language on the palestinian authority, cutting off their economic aid and stopping their ability to have a u.s. office if they attain member status at the united nations. adecisionally, it addresses concerns about assistance to egypt and pakistan. new restrictions are also placed on the up and other international organizations, for example, funds are withhold from thesing ornyizations until they publicly display their audit and financial reports.

-- reports. i want to thank members of the state foreign operations subcommittee and in particular my ranking member, mrs. lowey, who has been extremely helpful in developping -- developing this compromise. i want to thank my colleagues across the capitol who worked in good faith for the best possible outcomes. i believe we were successful in protecting our national security while providing appropriate oversight of taxpayer dollars. i want to sincerely thank the staff, from ms. lowey's staff, steve, aaron and talia and on my staff, ann marie, celia, alice, susan, craig, jamie, johnny, and matt. they all worked appreciable hours and with great dedication. with that, mr. speaker, i yield the floor. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back. the gentleman from washington. mr. dicks: i yield twowoman to

the distinguiswoman from new york, the ranki member of the state foreign operations subcommittee, mrs. lowey. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized for two minutes. mrs. lowey: as rank member of the subcommittee, i want to congratulate chairwoman granger, chairman rogers, ranking member dicks and the outstanding majority and minority staff. thank you all for working together with me on a bill that will help maintain our global leadership, protect national security, and promote economic growth. our wise investments in better health and education systems, economic opportunity in the developing world, humanitarian assistance, international financial institutions, development assistance, economic support funds, and international family planning will help to save lives, develop the next generation of u.s. trading partners, boost

job growth domestically, confront the conditions that foster radicalal -- radicalism and instability that threaten the long-term security of the united states this bill also fully funds our agreements with vital allies including israel, jordan, and egypt an supports governance and development activities in egypt to aid the transition to democracy. however, we do not write blank checks and stringent conditions on continued assistance for egypt, the palestinian authority, pakistan and afghanistan will help ensure accountability and responsible use of taxpayer dollars. this bill is aimed at advancing our economic and strategic interests around the world through effective and efficient diplomacy and development and i urge my colleagues to support it and i yield back.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from washington rise? mr. dicks: i rise to go out of order here for one second to yield as much time -- two minutes to the gentleman from maryland, the democratic whip, mr. hoyer, my good friend and a former member of the appropriations committee who has a -- who has worked very strongly with us all year to move these bills forward. the speaker pro tempore: the jell is recognized. mr. hoyer: i thank the gentleman for his comments and thank him for yielding and i rise in support of this legislation. but this ought to be a lesson for us in some humility. i was the majority leader, had i as majority leader brought that bill that sits on that floor, 712 pages, within the last 24 hours to the floor, i think the response from that side of the aisle would have been harsh, accusatory, and not helpful.

now why do i say that? because it happened. it ought a portion of humility for all of us to understand the legislative process is difficult. we bring different view, rewept -- we represent different constituencies, we have different priorities. i rise in strong support of this bill. and i urge my colleagues to support this piece of legislation. none of them have read it. not one of us has read every page in this bill. i see the chairman raising his hand and i take him at his word. that means 434 of us have to rely on his advice and i'm sure mr. dicks has read it as well my point is not -- we work by committees as president wilson said, and we worked hard on this bill through the year. my republican colleagues during the course of the last election said we're going to bring bills one at a time to the floor and

consider them. the labor-health bill included in a substantial portion of those pages has not only not been brought to the floor, it didn't pass the subcommittee, nor the full committee, nor this floor. but this bill has been worked on carefully and i want to congratulate mr. rogers and mr. dicks and all the subcommittee chairs for working out the differences that we had so we could do what the american people expect us to do. come to agreement on a bill that none of us perceives as perfect, but perceive as a positive step for our country. and -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is yielded an additional minute. mr. hoyer: i urge my colleagues to support this bill. yes, it will keep government open, which is essential. but it will also do the most fundamental job this congress has to do every year and that is to fund appropriately the priorities that this congress puts before the country.

so again, in closing, mr. speaker, let me congratulate my friend hal rogers from kentucky, with whom i served on the appropriations subcommittee for over two decades. and mr. dicks work whom i've served every day of my congressional career. both are decent, hardworking, conscientious representatives. they and their subcommittee chairs and ranking members have come together to present this product. it is time to act, it is time to act positively, and i will -- when the roll is called, i will be supporting this piece of legislation. and i yield back me balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields pack. the gentleman from -- yields back. the gentleman from kentucky. mr. rogers: i thank the gentleman for those comments. i yield now, mr. speaker, three minutes to the chairman of the interior subcommittee, the gentleman from idaho, mr. simpson.

the speaker pro tempore: mr. simpson is recognized for three seconds. three minutes. the gentleman is recognized for three minutes, maybe. mr. simpson: thank you, mr. chairman. let me thank chairman rogers and ranking member dicks. as i have told many members if this is your first term or second term or third term here in this bdy, this is actually the first time you've seen an appropriations bill come to the floor under an open rule. and i know that's something we both want. i know it's very -- the majority party want that, i know the minority party wants that also and while mr. hoyer was correct, we need to get them all done, we are moving in the right direction and we will get there, where every bill comes under an open rule so members have input into that legislation. first, let me thank my partner in this effort, mr. moran of virginia. he's been a great asset in work ought this bill. we don't always agree on every issue. i'm from idaho, he's from virginia, we sometimes have

differences of opinion. but we're able to sit down and work together to solve the differences and work out a bill that i think is in the best interest of the american public. the superior bill conference agreement -- agreement is $21 ppt 75 billion, below the f.y. 2011 enacted level. it funds the e.p.a. at $2.45 billion, $524 billion below the president's request. it includes a yen provision that amends the clean air act to transfer air quality permitting authority as of the date of this enactment from the environmental protection agency to department of interior this will provide parity for the planning areas with the western and central gull of of mexico planning areas. it funds the bureau of ocean energy management with $60 million to help expedite the review of offshore expeditions. it fully funds the newly

created of safety and environmental enforcement ars $76 million including $54 million for oil spill research. it provides authority for the collection of $62 million in inspection fee bus it dedicates funding for approving permits, expe dieting exploration plans and hiring much-needed inspectors an engineers. it fully funds wild fire suppression at a 10-year average, cuts n.e.a. and n.e.h. funding from the 2011 appropriation, it provides $4.3 billion to the indian health service. this has been a bipartisan effort with mr. dicks, when he was chairman of this committee, mr. moran when he was chairman of the committee and now with me that we fully fund the indian health services. this is a $5.8% -- this is a 5.8% increase to fund health

facilities and contractual obligations to tribes. it provides $10le knoll sithsonian for the museum of history and churl, it does several thing for westerners in public land states for grazing. it provides protection for trailing of livestock. this overall is a good bill. i think it's one we can all be proud of. i want to thank mr. moran for his dedication an work on this. i want to thank the staff on both sides of the aisle who work -- if you're not on this committee, if you don't work with this committee, you don't know how much time they put in. they do an incredible job for congress, for the american people and i thank you and yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from washington. mr. dicks: i yield two minutes to the distinguished gentleman from virginia, the raking member of the interior subcommittee, mr. moran. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes.

mr. moran: i want to join the chorus in commending chairman rogers and chairman simpson and our ranking member norm dicks and the phenomenal work of the appropriations staff on both sides. ritchie and shalonda have been working on this bill for the last several months, sometimes through the night but all the pros on the staff, led by dave, leslie, bill, they are pro, they all deserve special recognition. mr. speaker, this is a vast improvement over the interior and environment bill considered by the house in july. the agreement provides $1.7 billion measure the initial house allocation, $8.4 billion is provided for e.p.a., it's $1.3 billion over the house bill, it maintains level funding for the national parks service and restores funding for the science programs in usgs, land and water

conservation fund programs are increasededly 22 million over last year's level and it's important to note we have restored funding for endangered species and critical habitat listings. subcommittee chairman mike simpson spearheaded a bipartisan effort in support of funding for native american programs. and as a result, the indian health service has increased i by 6%, important increases in education, public safety and tribal government this agreement doesn't abandon our commitment to the arts, in fact, n.e.a. and n.e.h. reach $11 million, it's equal to the president's request. just as important, though, as what is included in this agreement is what isn't. the conferees dropped more than two dozen unacceptable environmental riders that were part of the house bill, gone are greenhouse gas, grand canyon uranium mining, mountaintop mining to name a few. this is not to say it's

destroyed of environmental restrictions but this is a compromise. i can say in nearly every instance what's been included is significantly been approved over what is -- what was proposed. can i have an additional 10 seconds? mr. dicks: i yield the gentleman 15 seconds. mr. moran: this is the way things were meant to be done in this body. politics was meant to be the art of compromise with people acting in good faith for the betterment of their country. that's what this omnibus appropriations bill is all about. so it deserves to be passed unanimously of the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from kentucky. mr. rogers: i yield two minutes to the chairman of the legislative branch subcommittee on appropriations, the gentleman from florida, mr. crenshaw. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. crenshaw: i thank the gentleman for yielding the time and i thank him for his leadership. i urge all my colleagues to support this conference report because i think it takes another step to change this

culture of spending that we've had in this time to a culture of savings and we actually spent less money this year than we did last year. and if you look at the legislative branch subcommittee, which i chair, you will find that we reduce spending this year by 7.5%. in fact, the money we spend on the legislative branch is less than we spent last yoor. it's less than we spent in 2010 and it's less money than we spent in 2009. and when you look specifically at the house of representatives , which we are all a part of, the last two cycles we have reduced spending on the house of representatives by over 10%. when we ask other agencies of the federal government to do more with less, to rein in spending, to tighten their belt, be more effective and be more efficient, we have not exempted ourselves from that and we have led by example.

every member's office account in this body has been reduced by 10% these last two years. the leadership offices have had their funding reduced by 10%. and the committees as well, even the appropriations committee's been reduced by more than 10%. so i think this is another step forward to fund our priorities but exercise spending discipline and i certainly want to thank my ranking member, mr. honda, for his cooperation and hard work, thank all our staff members for their dedication and commitment and urge my colleagues to support this very good bill. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from washington. mr. dicks: i yield two minutes to the gentleman from california, the ranking member of the legislative branch subcommittee, mr. honda. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california is recognized for two minutes. mr. honda: thank you. mr. speaker, today congress is considering a bill to keep the government running for the remainder of the fiscal year. that is our basic responsibility as members of congress. i am pleased we are operating

under regular order and considering the conference report. the american people want us to work together. this package is the reflection of what we can accomplish through hard work and the legislative appropriation bill will provide the congress and its agencies with $4.3 billion to work with which is a reduction in the previous year. i had hoped for more fund for the congressional budget office and the government accountability office who have experienced increased demands during these budget focused times. however, i am glad we restored funding for agencies that were the targets of the most extreme cuts proposed in the original house bill. this conference report restores $18 million to the government printing office, $12 million to the library of office, avoiding layoffs the original house bill would have caused. capitol police remains at last year's funding. it is the only legislative

branch agency that was not cut from last year's level. this conference report includes language requiring the chief administrative officer and sergeant at arms to take on more of a leadership roles in setting policies regarding district office security, including helping members renegotiate new terms on security requirements. this bill provides the basic level of funding for the legislative branch of the government and should be sufficient to keep current services in place. that's why i support this bill and ask my colleagues to do the same. i want to thank chairman crenshaw and his staff for the working relationship throughout this process. the majority clerk and the subcommittee and michael from his personal staff. i want to thank sholanda young and makumoto from my staff.

while not perfect, this bill is the result of a lot of hard work and compromise. i thank my colleagues on both sides of the aisle and yield back. mr. dicks: mr. speaker, can you tell us what the time is on both sides? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from washington has nine minutes remaining. the gentleman from kentucky controls 3 1/2 minutes. the gentleman from kentucky. mr. rogers: mr. speaker, i yield three minutes to the gentleman from oklahoma, a very hardworking member of the appropriations committee, mr. cole. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from oklahoma is recognized for three minutes. mr. cole: thank you, mr. speaker. i thank the gentleman for yielding. mr. speaker, first of all, i want to congratulate chairman rogers and ranking member dicks for an exceptionally hard job which yielded frankly a very good product. this bill spends less, $70 billion less than the president requested, $6 billion less than we spent last year, the second year in a row we have actually cut discretionary funding.

it cuts 5% for e.p.a. regulatory spending. it eliminates 23 programs totaling $240 million. and while this bill cuts wasteful spending, it actually focuses additional funds on things that count, defending our country, helping some of our most vulnerable and challenged citizens and providing funds to educate some of our most disadvantaged young people. the bill provides a 1.6% pay increase as requested by the president and funds the defense health and military family programs at there are 1.1 billion above f.y. 2011 and $283 million above the president's request. along with supporting our armed forces, this bill exceeds the f.y. 2011 levels for our veterans. $58 billion in discretionary spending, this bill fully funds, is $2.1 billion above

last year's level for those who have served our country. in addition, the indian health service is funded at $4.3 billion,. i want to thank chairman simpson and ranking member moran for their hard efforts. the orming house bill was actually -- the original house bill was actually higher. the house really did a great job in this area. finally, i want to notetoryo funding was increased in the difficult environment by $15 million. mr. speaker, this is a good bill. it reprioritizes our spending away from wasteful programs that don't work toward things that are truly important for the american people. i urge its passage. i thank my friends. mr. dicks: will the gentleman yield? mr. cole: i certainly yield to my friend. mr. dicks: i certainly commend the gentleman for his work in support of indian country, both the indian health service, the b.i.a. you have been a tireless advocate. our subcommittee on interior has had bipartisan work on this issue, and i commend you for your strong leadership on that.

mr. cole: i thank the chairman, the gentleman, very much and appreciate that and with that i yield back urging passage of the bill. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from washington. mr. dicks: i yield 3 1/2 minutes to the distinguished gentlewoman from connecticut, the ranking member of the labor , health and human services subcommittee, congresswoman rosa delauro. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized for 3 1/2 minutes. thraur delauro thank you to my colleague -- ms. delauro: thank you to my colleague, chairman dicks, chairman rogers, the staff, both majority and minority, for their tireless work in this effort, including david, steven, david rishe, lisa and liddy. susan as well. they did unbelievable work in this effort. i rise in support of this budget for 012. it funds the government at a -- budget for 2012. funds the government without

many of the damaging and extreenyuss ideological riders that marked earlier efforts. make no mistake, there are real cuts here, including hard cuts to vital programs like the liheap program, the low income energy assistance program. still, i believe this legislation has been improved. in terms of labor and health and human services and education, the agreement restores $2.9 billion in cuts made in the chairman's draft. these restorations are key investments in job creation, education and the health and the well-being of families that will lead us to recovery. we know especially as over 13 million of our fellow americans look for work, that investments in human capital, like job training and re-employment services are part of the core essential role for government. they help responsible people succeed, and i am pleased that this agreement restores the 74% cut to job training programs that was proposed in the

original chairman's bill which was never considered before the committee. health care is no longer shortchanged. with an aging population and a nursing shortage before us, we need to make wise investments in our health work force. the programs that help to train primary care doctors, nurses and other health care providers cut is only 6%. mental health services, once cut by 17% are now only cut by 3%. and it has key investments in the affordable care act implement and in title 10. i'm glad to see the national institutes of health receive a funding increase of $299 million and a new national center for transformational science. n.i.h. can now keep funding life-saving research and pushing the frontiers of medical knowledge.

perhaps no other investments we make are as important as the ones we make in our children. this agreement includes a $60 million increase for the childcare and development block grant, providing desperately needed aid to working parents for safe and reliable childcare. it provides a $424 million increase for head start, allowing our kids to continue a path to academic success. $60 million increase to title 1, supporting schools serving low-income children and $100 million increase to idea, supporting students with special needs. one of the hardest issues for this conference has been pell grants. the agreement maintains the maximum grant amount of $5,550. too many students i have met, even $100 cut would have derailed their prospects for higher education. at the same time we have made some targeted cost-saving changes to the program that should eliminate the funding shortfall for this year and perhaps next year as well. i am pleased to see that the

virtual elimination of the corporation for national and community service proposed in the majority's draft had been rolled back. instead of ending americorps it will continue. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. ms. delauro: i encourage my colleagues to support this conference agreement and would encourage all to do so. and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from kentucky. reserves. the gentleman from washington. mr. dicks: i yield two minutes to the distinguished gentleman from georgia, the ranking member of the military construction and veterans' affairs subcommittee, mr. bishop. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from georgia is recognized for two minutes. mr. bishop: i thank the gentleman for yielding. mr. speaker, i rise in support of this conference agreement, the milcon-v.a. section of the conference agreement excludes $71.7 billion, a decrease of $1.4 billion below last year's level and decrease of $2.1 billion below the president's

request. military construction provides $13.1 billion for military construction projects and reductions to the budget request of possible -- is possible because of savings on projects that were appropriated in previous years. however, even with these reductions, the agreement funds family housing construction at $1.7 billion with a total of 48 new family housing units, 80 replacement units and improvements to 216 family housing units. for veterans' affairs, the conference agreement provides a total of $122.2 billion for the f.y. 2012 programs for the department of veterans affairs off which $5 kp 8 billion is discretionary funding. it contains advanced funding for the v.a., the identical level that was requested by the president for our v.a. medical accounts. mr. speaker, i'm also pleased that the conference agreement provides $45.8 million for

arlington national cemetery, which is $700,000 over last year's level. finally, mr. speaker, the conference agreement fully funds the armed forces retirement home request and has $14.4 million for the armed forces retirement home to facilitate the repairs at the d.c. campus to repair damages sustained by the earthquake in august. mr. speaker, let me just thank the committee and the subcommittee staff for all of their hard work in putting the bill together in a cooperative way, taking leadership from our chairman and our ranking member who have worked firelessly to get this appropriations process back to regular order. i urge the adoption of the conference report and i urge all my colleagues to support it. it's a good bill. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from kentucky still reserves. the gentleman from washington. mr. dicks: i yield 1 1/2 minutes to the distinguished jo

from ohio, ms. kaptur, who is the -- distinguished gentlewoman from ohio, ms. kaptur. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from ohio is recognized for a minute and a half. ms. kaptur: i thank my dear colleague and friend, mr. dicks, to rise and support this conference report. this bill is welcomed news and helps restore confidence that america can govern. . it is essential to economic grothe and job creation in our country and the bill cuts overall discretionary spending by $7 billion over last year, and also $98 billion less than the president's f.y. 2012 budget proposal. this bill demonstrates the appropriations committee is still one of the few that properly functions in this institution, and i can't thank enough chairman hal rogers and ranking member norm dicks for their bipartisan leadership and hard work along with their staff to bring this house to regular order.

this legislation includes vital funding for the defense of our nation and our domestic imperative. the bill includes support for our great lakes ports as in cleveland, low rain, sandusky, and invest in their infrastructure necessary to modernize those facilities to increase exports and increase jobs. it also includes environmental restoration funding needed for the great lakes to allow economic revitalization as we create more maritime jobs and nature tourism. the bill keeps our commitment to establish america's energy independence with robust investments in renewable energy, in solar, wind, and biomass, the investments in technology for those represents not just jobs for today but for tomorrow. as we grow our economy forward, budget certainty matters for fiscal year 2012. i urge my colleagues to support this so we can govern our nation in the nation's interest. the speaker pro tempore: the

gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from kentucky yield. the gentleman from washington. miss darbg: i -- mr. dicks: i yield one minute to congresswoman barbara lee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from california is recognized for one minute. ms. lee: let me thank the gentleman for yielding and the chairman and ranking member and subcommittee chairs for bringing together a bipartisan bill to the floor. but i cannot support this bill because once again poor and low-income communities are taking the brunt of the terrible cuts while there are good provisions in this bill, what we have, however, is a bill loaded with special interest tea party republican riders at the expense of low-income people, especially women of color right here in washington, d.c. cutting off low-income women of color in washington, d.c., from access to the same health and reproductive services available throughout the country is really not critical to preventing a shutdown. forcing the continuation of abstinence only sex education that fails to meet the needs of young people, that's not crital

to preventing the government shutdown. increasing the spread of h.i.v. and hepatitis c through dirty needles is not critical to preventing a government shutdown. finally, let me just say this bill continues to fund over $2 billion a week, mind you, $2 billion a week on a war without end in afghanistan. we must allow the afghan people to control their own destiny and immediately begin to pull our brave young men and women in uniform out of harm's way. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. mr. dicks: mr. speaker, how much time do i have remaining? the speaker pro tempore: both sides have one minute remaining. mr. dicks: would the chairman yield me a minute? to do a colloquy. mr. rogers: i'll be happy to yield. the speaker pro tempore: who is yielding what time here? mr. dicks: i yield to the gentlelady from guam. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from washington yields a minute to the gentlelady from guam.

ms. bordallo: the recently passed f.y. 2012 defense authorization bill restricts transfer of funding from the department of defense to support civilian infrastructure requirements on guam. except funding specifically authorized in law. does the language of section 8110 of division a of this bill require any further authorization? mr. dicks: i thank the gentlelady from guam for raising this question. it is our intent that section 81 10 of division a of this bill has the required authorization and should be executed by the department of defense as specified in division a of this bill to support civilian infrastructure requirements on guam. ms. bordallo: i thank the gentleman for the clarification. mr. dicks: i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yield back. the gentleman from kentucky. mr. rogers: mr. speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. urge an aye vote on the measure. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time.

pursuant to house resolution 500 the previous question is ordered. the question is on the adoption of the conference report. pursuant to clause 10 of rule 20, the yeas and nays are ordered. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, further proceedings are postponed. for what purpose does the gentleman from kentucky seek recognition? mr. rogers: mr. speaker, pursuant to house resolution 500, i call up h.res. con.res. 94, directing the clerk of the house of representatives to make corrections in the enrollment of h.r. 3672, and ask for its immediate consideration. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the concurrent resolution. the clerk: house concurrent resolution 94. concurrent resolution directing the clerk of the house of representatives to make corrections in the enrollment of h.r. 3672.

the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to house resolution 500, the concurrent resolution is considered as read. the gentleman from kentucky, mr. rogers, and the gentleman from washington, mr. dicks, each will control 10 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from kentucky. mr. rogers: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. -- mr. speaker, i yield myself two minutes. and i rise to present h.con.res. 94, this bill contains a legislative provision to offset the $8.1 billion in disaster funding provided by h.r. 3672. which we will consider shortly. this offset is funded by a 1.83% congressional record -- crod cut to all of -- crod cut to all of fiscal spending except the department of defense, military construction, and veterans' affairs. such an offset ensures that we

are living within our means while still providing for the hundreds of thousands of americans affected by recent natural disasters with the help that they need. i ask my colleagues to join me in supporting this resolution which in effect pays for the disaster funding which will come later. and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from washington is recognized. mr. dicks: it is the opinion -- i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. dicks: it is the opinion of our side that this is unnecessary, but we've got to move forward and get this bill passed so i don't object to this particular provision. i hope we can move forward. i i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. mr. rogers: mr. speaker, i have no further speakers.

i'm prepared to yield back if the gentleman is. mr. dicks: i'm prepared to yield back. i yield back my time. mr. rogers: i yield back my time. urge support. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. all time for debate has expired. pursuant to house resolution 500, the previous question is ordered. the question is on the adoption of the concurrent resolution. those in favor will signify by saying aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. the concurrent resolution is agreed to -- mr. rogers: i ask for the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays are requested. those favoring a vote by the yeas and nays will rise. 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 kentucky seek recognition? mr. rogers: mr. speaker, pursuant to house resolution 500, i call up the bill h.r. 3672, a bill making

appropriations for disaster relief requirements for the fiscal year ending september 30, 2012, and for other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 3672, a bill making appropriations for disaster relief requirements for the fiscal year ending september 30, 2012, and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to house resolution 500, the bill is considered as read. the gentleman from kentucky, mr. rogers, and the gentleman from washington, mr. dicks, each will control 30 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from kentucky. mr. rogers: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. rogers: mr. speaker, i rise to present h.r. 3672, the disaster relief appropriations act, which is the third bill in our final appropriations package for fiscal year 2012. this bill provides a total of

$8.1 billion in funding for critical aid and recovery assistance for disaster emergencies. of this total, $6.4 billion will go to fema's disaster relief fund. this includes funding for fire assistance, emergency declarations, major disasters, surge operations, and disaster readiness support. in addition, these funds will help cover costs from large scale previous disasters such as the summer of 2011 tornadoes and hurricane irene. we have had a historic chain of disasters in this country over the last year or so. the legislation also provides $1.7 billion in funding for disaster recovery assistance through the army corps of engineers. this funding will help repair damage to critical infrastructure, caused by recent

storms and floods, and will help prepare for future disaster events. this total adheres to the total disaster funding level agreed to under the budget control act this past summer. i urge my colleagues to support this legislation to provide our communities and families with the support they need as they recover from these devastating natural disasters. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from kentucky reserves. the gentleman from washington is recognized. mr. dicks: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. dicks: this year natural disasters have had devastating impacts on the lives of many americans. today we are considering a bill that provides relief to those severely damaged communities. in total the bill provides $8.1 billion in vital funding to rebuild areas affected by numerous horrific disasters in 2011.

as well as funding long-term rebuilding needs that date back as far as hurricane katrina. of the $8.1 billion, $6.4 billion is for fema. this funding will meet the federal commitment to restore impacted areas after hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires, and severe snowstorms. almost every state and territory will receive a portion of this funding. with the adoption of this bill, families and businesses will receive the funding they need for vital recovery and rebuilding efforts. the bill also provides $1.7 billion to repair damage to the corps of engineers' facilities. roughly equal to the need identified by the corps within presidentially declared disaster areas. nearly every year since 1997, the congress has recognized the need to provide funding to respond to natural disasters. this bill recognizes that

responsibility. i urge strong support of this legislation. and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from washington reserves. the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. mr. rogers: mr. speaker, i yield three minutes to the distinguished chairman of the financial services subcommittee on appropriations, the gentlelady from missouri, mrs. emerson. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from missouri is recognized for two minutes. mr. mrs. emerson: three minutes. thank you, mr. chairman. mr. speaker, i'm so relieved that this measure today will provide desperately needed funds for emergencies and disasters which occurred all over the country this past year. for most americans the thought of the suffering caused by tornadoes and floods faced with the newspaper headlines, months later, though, so many in our country are still trying to recover from storms and events that took them from their homes, their livelihoods, their safety, or all of the above. this funding and a reminder of their plight are very important to call to mind as we vote upon

this measure. i'd like to recognize these folks in southern missouri who have been through it all and have set such a remarkable example and really come out fighting. we have wendall who is over 80 years old and his daughter who runs their sweet corn farm of several thousand acres, all of it was destroyed. brother bennett who lived in the floodway for over 80 years, he lost his home. milas and wanda, they lost their home and so much of their land was damaged by scouring. mary robinson along with the entire historic black community of penhook, including randy, alan, the duken family, eddie marshall, carlin, our presiding commissioner, and kevin, and a farmer in the floodway. thank you very much, mr. speaker. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the

gentlelady yield back. the gentleman from washington. mr. dicks: i yield four minutes to the distinguished gentleman from indiana, the ranking member of the energy and water subcommittee, mr. visclosky. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from indiana is recognized for four minutes. mr. visclosky: i thank the gentleman for yielding and rise in strong support of the legislation. i would like to begin my remarks by indicating that i consider investing in our water infrastructure as a key component in disaster relief. . that is if we avoid disasters in the first several years ago if we had made an adequate investment in water infrastructure we might not have avoided the issue of spending more money in one city in this country in one year, new orleans, than we did on every water project in the united states of america combined. in the omnibus bill that we have just considered, we have increased funding for the army corps over the budget request and over last year's level.

however, despite the best efforts of the subcommittee, we are still $443 million below that provided to the corps in fiscal year 2010. at these levels we are not close to addressing the corps' backlog of navigation and flood control projects. that is why i am pleased today to rise in support of this bill that does provide $1.7 billion in corps disaster relief funding. this has been an extraordinary flood season. further, in august hurricane irene caused significant damage. assuming there are no additional natural disasters in 2012, this funding appears adequate to address damages within presidential declared disaster areas. however, my colleagues should be aware there are damages to the tune of $233 million which must be addressed at locations outside declared disaster areas

for which the bill does not provide funding. and, again, we must note that there are no moneys provided for emergencies that may occur between now and october 1 of 2012. we know that potentially wildfires, hurricanes, tornadoes, floods and earthquakes will occur. so we simply conclude by saying that moving forward and, again, i strongly support this bill, we must as an institution have the intestinal fortitude to budget for emergencies in anticipation of them on an annual basis, and i would yield back my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman from kentucky rise? mr. rogers: mr. speaker, i am prepared to yield back if the gentleman is. mr. dicks: i have no further speakers, and i'm prepared to yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from washington yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from kentucky. mr. rogers: mr. speaker, i

yield back the balance of my time and urge an aye vote. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from kentucky yields back the balance of his time. all time for debate has expired. pursuant to house resolution 500, the previous question is ordered on the bill. the question is on engrossment and third reading of the bill. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. third reading. the clerk: a bill making appropriations for disaster relief requirements for the fiscal year ending september 30, 2012, and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: the question is on passage of the bill. pursuant to clause 10 of rule 20, the yeas and nays are ordered. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, further proceedings are postponed. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, proceedings will resume on questions previously postponed. votes will be taken in the following order -- adoption of the conference report to accompany h.r. 2055, adoption of the house concurrent resolution 94 and passage of h.r. 3672. the first electronic vote will

be conducted as a 15-minute vote. remaining electronic votes will be considered as five-minute votes. the unfinished business is on the adoption of the conference report of h.r. 2055 on which the yeas and nays are ordered. the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 2055, an act making appropriations for military construction, the department of veterans affairs and related agencies for the fiscal year ending september 30, 2012, and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: the question is on the adoption of the conference report. members will record their votes by electronic device. this will be a 15-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the speaker pro tempore: thote the the speaker: on this vote the yeas are 296, the nays are 121.

the conference report is adopted. without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. the house will be in order. the house will be in order. the chair would like to ask all present to rise for the purpose of a moment of silence. the chair asks that the house now observe a moment of silence in honor of our brave men and women in uniform who have served or fallen in afghanistan and in honor of all who have served or fallen in operation iraqi freedom. as it trause to a close at the end of this year. our men and women return home having freed iraq from a vicious tyrant, thwarted a violent insurgency that threatened the iraqi people and

help stable the democratic government that is a friend of the united states. we honor the hard work and sacrifice of our service members and the courage of their families. we will reserve a moment of silence. -- we will observe a moment of silence. the speaker: without objection, five-minute voting will continue. the unfinished business is the vote on the adoption of house concurrent resolution 94 on which the yeas and nays were ordered. the clerk will report the title of the concurrent resolution. the clerk: house concurrent resolution 94, concurrent resolution directing the clerk of the house of representatives to make corrections in the enrollment of h.r. 3672. the speaker: the question is on adoption of the concurrent resolution.

members will record their votes by electronic device. this will be 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 255. the nays are 165. the concurrent resolution is agreed to. without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. the house will be in order.

>> mr. speaker, the house is not in order. the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. for what purpose does the gentleman from virginia rise? mr. cantor: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to speak out of order for one minute for the purposes of informing the members of the house the schedule. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. cantor: thank you, mr. speaker. as members are aware, there are ongoing conversations in the senate over how to proceed on the house's middle-class tax relief and job creation act. at this time, the fate of the senate's conversations are unclear. therefore, we will conclude our business for the week at the end of this vote series. should the senate follow regular order and amend the house's bill, i'd expect us to return to review and

potentially consider their proposed changes. as all my colleagues are painfully aware, the senate has the ability to move both quickly and slowly as it wants. so it is difficult to predict -- so it is difficult, mr. speaker, to predict if or when we may need to return. my best guess is that the earliest we would return is this monday, december 19. but i can assure my colleagues that we will provide at least 24 hours' notice prior to scheduling any further votes in the house this year. with that, mr. speaker, i wish all of my colleagues a merry christmas, happy hanukkah and -- mr. hoyer: will my friend yield? mr. cantor: yes.

mr. hoyer: just to clarify, it is my understanding, therefore, that we do intend, before we leave for the year, to address the house-passed bill or a senate version thereon? i yield back. thank you. mr. cantor: mr. speaker, as i indicated earlier, it is all pending the senate's action. as i indicated, no one really knows how quickly or slowly that will occur and if it will occur. and, mr. speaker, i yield back my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. without objection, five-minute voting will continue. the unfinished business is the vote on passage of h.r. 3672 on which the yeas and nays were recorded and the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 3672, a bill making appropriations for disaster relief requirements for the fiscal year ending september 30, 2012, and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: the question is on the passage of 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.]