american job creators and american employees from coast to coast. what we are talking about is allowing the imposition of countervailing duties in order to protect the american market, to make sure that the american market is in competitive position when it comes to our competitors in china and making sure that when we go to the battlefield of the marketplace that that marketplace is put on an even level playing field so we can compete squarely. as my colleague from pennsylvania, mr. kelly, just articulated, i bet on the american worker every single time when we have a marketplace that is level, it's fair and it's even. and that's why i ask all my colleagues, all of my colleagues to join us in sending a message today by passing the subject bill and send a message to the world and to the world economy and to the world market that america will compete on an even playing field and allow the imposition

of countervailing duties to make sure we have free principles, free marketplace principles in place and protect our american workers and protect our american job creators, and for that i wholeheartedly support and stand with hardworking taxpayers across this country and yield back the balance of my time and ask all colleagues to join in support of this resolution and legislation. . the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan, mr. levin. mr. levin: i yield two midgets to the gentlelady from new york, our ranking member on the rules committee, ms. slaughter. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from new york is recognized for two minutes. ms. slaughter: thank you, madam speaker. i thank the gentleman for yielding. this is very important legislation we are doing here today because in december federal court of appeals wrongly determined that the commerce department does not have the authority to respond to illegal chinese subsidies with countervailing duties. the court said despite legal action from the chinese, we as a nation are unable to respond as we wish to stop the loss of

thousands of american jobs. this court decision will immediately reverse 23 import duties that protect 80,000 american workers and subsidized goods into our meaveraget it would have halted six pending u.s. investigation noose unfair trade practices while costing the taxpayers billions of dollars each year. quite simply allowing this decision to stand would unilaterally disarm our nation was one of the most important weapons we have in combating subsidized chinese exports. in the global trade, our nation can ill afford to let any country assume an unfair illegal advantage. countless american companies from rochester new york to detroit, michigan, rely upon a level playing field to compete and win. from the day of this court ruling i have been working closely with my colleagues on ways and means to reverse the decision and am so happy to support today's bipartisan legislation. tens of thousands of working

americans are counting on congress today to reverse the court decision preserve the ability of our country to respond to illegal trade. i want to thank chairman camp and ranking member levin for the good work that they have done in working together to reach an agreement that stands up for american manufacturers and i urge all of my colleagues to support this critical legislation and yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan, mr. camp. mr. camp: at this time i'll reserve until closing. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from michigan, mr. levin. mr. levin: i yield my southwest balance of the time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. levin: the need is clear, the answer is clear. i hope the vote will be clear. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan, mr. cam 7. -- mr. camp. mr. camp: thank you, madam speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. just in summary to say an identical bill to this passed the senate with unanimous consent.

the ability of the u.s. to impose countervailing duties on nonmarket economies on specifically on china was something china agreed to when it entered the w.t.o. there are massive subsidies that distort the free market and cost us jobs here in the united states. this is an important tool as so many have said, speakers today have said, for us to have -- to address unfair subsidies from china that hurt our u.s. workers. and i think this is an important bill. it has bipartisan support. and i urge the passage of this legislation and yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 4105. so many as are in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: i ask for the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays are requested. all those in favor of taking this vote by the yeas and nays will rise and remain standing until counted. a sufficient number having

arisen, the yeas and nays are ordered. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20 , further proceedings on this question will be postponed.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from utah seek recognition? mr. bishop: madam speaker, by direction of committee on rules, i call up house resolution 570 and ask for its immediate consideration. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the resolution. the clerk: house calendar number 116, house resolution 570, resolved that at any time after the adoption of this resolution the speaker may, pursuant to clause 2-b of rule 18, declare the house resolved into the committee of the whole house on the state of the union for consideration of the bill h.r. 2842, to authorize all bureau of reclamation

facilities for development under federal reclamation law and for other purposes. the first reading of the bill shall be dispensed with. all points of order against consideration of the bill are waived. general debate shall be confined to the bill and shall not exceed one hour equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the committee on natural resources. after general debate, the bill shall be considered for amendment under the five-minute rule. it shall be in order to consider as an original bill for the purpose of amendment under the five-minute rule the amendment in the nature of a substitute recommended by the committee on natural resources now printed in the bill. each section of the committee amendment in the nature of a substitute shall be considered as read. all points of order against the committee amendment in the nature of a substitute are waived. no amendment to the committee amendment in the nature of a substitute shall be in order except one, those received for printing in the portion of the congressional record designated for that purpose in clause 8 of

rule 18 dated at least one day before the date of consideration of the amendment and two, pro forma amendments for the purpose of debate. each amendment so received may be offered overwhelm by the member who caused it to be printed or a designee and shall be considered as read if printed. at the conclusion of consideration of the bill for amendment, the committee shall rise and report the bill to the house with such amendments as may have been adopted. any member may demand a separate vote in the house on any amendment adopted in the committee of the whole to the bill or to the committee amendment in the nature much a substitute. the previous question shall be considered as read -- shall be considered as ordered on the bill without intervening motion except one motion to recommit with or without instructions. section 2, the chair of the committee on financial services is authorized on behalf of the committee to file a supplemental report to accompany h.r. 3606.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from utah is recognized for one hour. mr. bishop: madam speaker, for the purpose of debate only i yield the customary 30 minutes to the gentlelady from new york, ms. slaughter, pending which i yield myself such time as i may consume. during the consideration of this resolution, all time yielded is for purpose of debate only. and, madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. bishop: this resolution provides a modified open rule for the consideration of h.r. 2842, succinctly titled the bureau of keckcla racial small conduit hydropower development and rural jobs act of 2011. provides for one hour of general debate equally divided between and controlled by the chairman and ranking member of the committee on natural resources and makes in order all amendments which were preprinted in the congressional record and which otherwise comply with the rules of the house. so this modified open rule is

very fair and generous rule, continuation of the work of chairman dreier and the rules committee. and will provide for a balanced and open debate on the merits of the bill. madam speaker, i'm pleased to stand before the house today in support of this rule as well as the underlying legislation, h.r. 2842. i appreciate the hard work of the bill's chief sponsor, mr. tipton of colorado, as well as mr. gosar of arizona, one of the co-sponsors. representative mcclintock of california who is the chairman of the subcommittee that held the hearings on this bill, and of course chairman hastings of the resources committee brought this bill forward as one of the companion pieces of the myriad of pieces of legislation which, if enacted, would greatly improve our nation's energy policy and provide for responsible and a balanced approach to further domestic energy development. with that, madam speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves his time. the gentlelady from new york. ms. slaughter: i thank the

gentleman from utah for yielding me the customary 0 minutes. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized. ms. slaughter: madam speaker, in my home state of new york unemployment continues to remain stubbornly high. thousands of americans have give up looking for work all together. for many unemployed benefits expired and there's little hope that a paycheck will soon be a regular part of daily lives. but despite this dire economic reality, once again we are going through a bill that has nothing to do with job creation. instead, we have a piecemeal proposal after piecemeal proposal to do more than further ideological goals and create jobs. instead of creating jobs, today's bill would clarify lines of authority for two government agencies. is this a worthy goal? maybe. some say yes. but does it create thousands of american jobs? the answer is clearly no. the majority's also inserted

unnecessary partisan language into today's bill language that attacks existing environmental lieu for -- law for no good reason. it provides an exemption for all small hydropower projects from national environmental policy act compliance. there is no clear reason for this exemption from the environmental protection. currently hydropower projects that don't raise concerns have always been approved relatively quickly. from 2006 to 2010, 13 exemptions were completed in less than a year, each, and in 2011 ghr were nine exemptions granted an average of 40 days. in spite of the system 2 works well. the majority decided to once again put industry before the environment and include its controversial provision. this approach may feel a legislative calendar but it fails to create jobs for the american people. we could be considering a

five-year surface transportation bill which everybody is waiting for. something we were supposed to consider weeks ago. and all the transportation bills from eisenhower administration up until now were always bipartisan bills. would have created thousands of american jobs. but once again no such bill has come to the floor. instead they were forced to pull the bill because they had members of their own party who were alienated that would fail to create jobs. now we continue to wait as the majority works to write a reasonable transportation bill that will actually create jobs. in the mean time, we consider bill after bill that does nothing to create the many thousands of jobs that are so desperately needed. madam speaker, the record is clear, when the majority pushes partisan politics over good

governance, the american people lose. today is the latest in a long line of such partisan bills and yet one more day when the american people will go without new american jobs. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady reserves the balance of her time. the gentleman from utah. mr. beneficiary y07: -- mr. bishop: i'm pleased to yield five minutes to the gentleman from california, the chair of the subcommittee that heard this bill, mr. mcclintock. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california is recognized for tife minutes. mr. mcclintock: i thank the gentleman for yielding. madam speaker, this rule brings to the floor of the one most simple and sensible bills on energy development that we have yet heard. it's h.r. 2842, offered by the gentleman from colorado, mr. tipton. what it promises is this, at precisely no cost to taxpayers, filling up clean electric it on a scale so vast it would take several hydroelectric dams to duplicate. simply by relaxes the

regulatory stranglehold, simply by getting government bureaucracies out of the way, this bill has the potential of adding thousands of megawatts of absolutely clean and renewable electricity to the nation's energy supply, reducing utility bills, reducing reliance on fossil fuels, and to answer the gentlelady from new york, adding thousands of permanent high-paying jobs to the nation's economy. . all that is necessary for this to happen is for government bureaucrats to get out of the way ap allow people to place small hydroelectric generators in thousands of miles of existing pipeline, canals, and aqueducts. this doesn't involve new construction, the facilities are there. it doesn't involve any adverse impact to the environment. these are water pipes and canals in which there are no fish of any kind. yet this administration forces water users an developer to go through a lengthy, costly, and

pointless environmental review process that literally doubles the cost of these projects and makes them cost prohibitive. the reason there are so few applications is because the requirements of this absurd law simply make these projects cost prohibitive and it simply doesn't make sense to move forward with them. this bill simply says you don't need to go through that nonsense anymore. why isn't this bill being taken on suspension? it would be one of the all-time no brainers. it passed the natural resources committee on a bipartisan vote. the reason this debate is required is because this common sense legislation is vigorously opposed by the environmental left. that is the measure of extremism from which this movement now suffers. perhaps the best way to alert the american to this ex-people -- the american public to this

extremism is through this. electricity used to be so cheap people didn't bother with electric meters. we were building dams that delivered electricity for three cents a kilowatt hour. that dreams seems surreal today. government regulations are threatening the ability of this nation to generate sufficient electricity to keep people's refrigerators from running in the summer keep americans from prospering from our vast petroleum reserves and nuclear po tenial. it's no wonder that the states with the most stringent regulations have the worst economic situation.

california now uses less electricity per capita than any state in the qune and pay the highest electricity rates in the crisis and suffer from one of the highest unemployment rates in the country despite ceaseless promises of green jobs. now come this is bill from mr. tipton of colorado. it produces clean and renewable electricity in vast quantities at no cost to taxpayers. it requires no new construction. all that's necessary is to put small generators in existing pipelines and canals that have passed environmental review an pose no conceivable environmental impact. yet instead, they throw a co-nippings fit. let them do that in public. let the american people see this debate. let them see for themselves the nihilistic ideology behind this movement an how it is practiced by those who shared and

supported an then let the american people judge. i think the debate on this bill will offer our fellow citizens a real insight into this movement. i support making this debate possible. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from new york. ms. slaughter: if we defeat the previous question, and i hope we will, i'll propose an amendment to the rule that will bring up h.r. 964 the federal price gouging prevention act. to talk about our proposal, i'm pleased to yield three minutes to the gentleman from new jersey, mr. andrews. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. mr. andrews: i thank the gentlelady for yielding. i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. andrews: 180 days ago the president of the united states came to this chamber and laid out before the country and the congress some very specific proposals to help put americans back to work.

the president proposed a tax cut to small businesses who hire people. the house never volted on that proposal. the president proposed that at a time when our airports, bridges, roads and ports needs construction and reconstruction, that we put americans back to work in the construction industry performing those vitally necessary tasks. the house has never voted on that proposal. at a time when police officers and firefighters and teachers are being laid off across our country, the president proposed some short-term relief so we should put officers back on the beat, our firefighters back on the apparatus, the teachers back in the classroom. the house has never voted on that proposal. here we are, six months later, doing what we're doing today. now in that six months, another crisis has manifested itself. one that affects americans across our country more severely every day. and that is each time they fill up their vehicle, it takes just a little bit more money out of

their grocery budget, their utility budget, what they use to pay their mortgage payment, what they use to educate their children. the rising price of gasoline is a serious threat to the prosperity and stability of american families. now the president of exxon has said that his conclusion is that about $30 of the cost of a barrel of crude oil is attributable to the speck lage of prices by people -- speculation of prices by people who never really buy, sell or use oil but who bet on its price. casino gamblers. not deliverers of oil. goldman sachs estimates that from $22 to $28 a barrel is due to speculation, and they owlingt to know, because they're no doubt participating in it. the bill we propose to be put on the floor this afternoon would crack down on speck lage. it would require that trades be

disclosed, it would empower regulatory agencies to identify illegal price manipulation behavior and reduce the price of crude oil to american consumers. there are other ways to do this. i favor increased domestic production. i think there are ways we can increase the natural gas and coal and oil we produce. i think we should expand renewables as well. but there is one regulatory tl tool -- regulatory tool we have not given our regulators and we ought to give it to them here. the underlying bill is worthy of consideration but we have an immediate energy problem here in america and an immediate jobs problem. i would suggest that the right vote is to defeat the previous question so we can move on and consider legislation that would deal with the current gas lean prices. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from utah. mr. bishop: i am pleased to

yield three minutes to the sponsor of this particular bill who will talk about how to create real power using water resources we have, the gentleman from colorado, mr. tipton. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. mr. tipton: thank you, madam speaker, i request the ability to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. tipton: as sponsor of this bipartisan legislation, i support the rule on h.r. 2842 and i encourage an open debate because i believe the merits of the bill will speak for themselves. this is a bipartisan plan to authorize new hydropower production and streamline the regulatory process to create new american jobs. many rural water and electrical districts seek to develop hydropower but overburdensome and unnecessary regulations stand in the way. they discourage investment in these projects. most of these small projects

are not currently authorized by bureau of reclamation canals and as a result they never get off the grown. those that are currently authorized are subject to an additional review process under the national environmental policy act and even the canals on which they are built have gone through a full environmental review when they were constructed to rehabilitate it. h.r. 2842 authorizes production of hydropower at all bureau of reclamation conduits and allows the placement of small hydropower yen rators on existing manmade canals an pipes that have gone through the nepa process. this authorization does not currently exist and therefore hydropower development under current reclamation law will not happen unless congress acts. this bill also eliminate deuce publictive red tape by exempting small hydropower projects on previously disturbed ground from going through an additional nepa

review this bill does not apply to rivers, large dams or natural flowing waters in any way and it will not impact endangered fish or wildlife. in many cases, having to go through an additional unnecessary review process determines whether or not a hydropower project is economically feasible and as a result, determining whether or not this country moves forward with the development of green energy. a representative of the colorado district testified that environmental laws under nepa are time consuming and expensive. this is a nonconstruction action as taken over a year and nearly $1 million in outside expenses. by eliminating this duplicative requirement, we can add power to the grid, provide job growth an return revenues to the treasury. this common sense piece of

legislation has bipartisan co-sponsorship an bassed out of the committee with bipartisan support. it's also been endorsed by the electric utilities that operate the bureau of canals and know the issue best. these organizations include the family farm alliance, national water resources corporation -- association, the public power association and the association of california water agencies. i'm proud to offer this contribution to the house republicans all-of-the-above energy strategy. i look forward to a discussion on how to produce more renewable energy and put our people in this country back to work. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from new york. ms. slaughter: i'm pleased to yield three minutes to the gentleman from new york, mr. bishop. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. mr. bishop: thank you very much, madam speaker, i thank the gentlelady for yielding. i rise in on sig to the rule in support of moving the previous question. this motion would amen the bill

with strong provisions to stop price gouging at the gas pumps. we really are long overdue for a serious debate about gas prices. scoring political points on this issue may make us all feel good but it serves no one, particularly our constituents, and it certainly doesn't get us closer to solving the problem. here are the facts. domestic production of oil in the united states is at an eight-year high. imports of oil into the united states are at a 17-year low. more oil rigs drill in the united states today than in the rest of the world combined. let me say that again. more oil rigs at work in the united states than the -- today, drilling for oil, than in the rest of the world combined. the number of oil rigs in operation in the united states today has quadrupled since president obama took office. last year, the u.s. became a net exporter of oil for the first time in 6 years. i think with these fact -- what

these facts demonstrate clearly is that this is not a supply driven problem. nor, as good as it might feel to some, is this a problem that can be blamed on the administration for not doing enough to facilitate or encourage exploration or drilling. this is not a demand-driven problem either. demand is down 6.5% in just one year and 17% since 2008. there are several factors that contribute to rising gas prices but u.s. supply and u.s. demand are not among them. the gas prices in my district of eastern long island are up over 60 crept pers gallon in just a matter of weeks. rampant speculation accounts for most of that. with over 60% of the market controlled by speculators. and the speculators override -- speculators' overriding goal is profit taking, which is what our legislation targets.

there is nothing wrong with profits. profits made our nation strong. but when profits are pursued at the expense of middle class families or at the expense of our fragile economic recovery, we need to take action. this legislation makes sure that prolvets don't -- make shures that we do cut out speculators. it strengthens penalties for manipulating the market which forces up gas prices and leads to price gouging and after we cut out speculators, we should cut out the subsidies for big oil and we should reinvest those dollars in a long-term strategy focused on clean and renewable sources. mr. speaker, our debate should focus on a green energy policy free of market speculation and subsidies our nation can't afford. we must tackle this problem rather than using it to point fingers and try to score points. i encourage my colleagues to vote no on the previous question an vote no on the rule. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from utah. mr. bishop: i reserve.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentlelady from new york. ms. slaughter: madam speaker, i have no further requests for time. may i inquire of my colleague if he's ready to close? mr. bishop: i am. ms. slaughter: then i shall go ahead and close, thank you. madam speaker, millions of americans remain out of work, countless more have run out of unemployment insurance and gas prices continue to rise. on every american family -- rise on every american family and they are turning to us for much-needed relief. today's bill does nothing to address these economic issues, instead we are doing busy work on the floor today for a bill that clarify responsibilities for two government agencies. this does little to create the many thousands of jobs needed to begin reviving our economy. i urge my colleagues to end the long delay and finally bring forth true american job creation legislation so american families can live with

some hope. madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent to insert the text of the amendment in the record along with extraneous material immediately prior to the vote on the previous question. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. ms. slaughter: and i urge my colleagues to vote no, defeat the previous question and i urge a no vote on the rule and i yield back the balance of my time. . the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back the balance of her time. the gentlelady from utah. mr. bishop: madam speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman virginia tech. mr. bishop: i'm grateful that we have -- the gentleman is recognized. mr. bishop: i'm grateful that we have found natural gas on private property because it has not allowed the federal government to stop the development on those. however it is interesting to note that the bill before us which deals with hydropower and development of more hydropower is a bipartisan bill and for just cause. we can both agree on -- both sides of the aisle that there is a great need for more energy and that greater, cheaper

energy is vital to the growth of the economy and the growth of jobs. that's when this bill tries to do. frequently on this house we have brought bills that have tried to increase our offshore drilling on federal government. we have talked about the keystone pipeline and the ability of 20,000 high-paying jobs if it were just permitted. we talked about trying to increase domestic energy production on public lands that have been put off limits by this particular administration. those efforts we have dealt with, we have passed through this house, they are over sitting on the senate waiting for action. today we add to that effort with a significant bill that will add to our hydropower and hydroenergy that once again comes along with this. but the problem that we have and the reason why this bill is here before us, if i can summarize, is simply our efforts to add this kind of energy to our portfolio are being stopped by special interest groups and unfortunately layers ever bureaucracy. it was nelson rockefeller who came up with the great line of

calling the deafening hand of bureaucracy on proposals and programs, and we see that and feel it today as we are having a harder time trying to be energy independent and we are feeling the results of the federal government's programs to stop energy production on federal lands and federal property every time we fill up our cars, and unfortunately every time we pay our electrical bills. it's bureaucratic legislation that is causing this problem. it is the energy debate and energy bill of 2005 that told the federal government to move forward in this area with making sure we had a master plan for hydrological development of energy. seven years later, only seven years later now the federal government and our department of interior is starting to move forward in that direction, which is either the old cliche of paralysis by analysis or the fact that rockefeller was right when it called the bureaucracy a deadening hands on programs

and progress. one particular program took five years for the government to decide who actually had the authority to move forward on the project. that is the kind of bureaucratic analysis, that's the kind of red tape that is slowing back our efforts to develop this type of energy and we need it desperately. that's why 2842 is here, to develop small projects that will add to our total energy portfolio and add to our independence. it stops and simplifies a regulatory process which unfortunately costs the small entities trying to make these efforts tens of thousands of dollars just to do the paperwork. it's ridiculous. it clarifies the role of the bureau of reclamation on this area, and this only deals with bureau of reclamation projects on man-made facilities. but the jurisdictions are not clear. some jurisdictions been

mandated for congress, some administrative, some question on whether ferc has the responsibility, bureau of reclamation, that is causing our slowing in developing these projects. this bill clarifies what that role is. it also clarifies nepa, that you don't have to do a second nepa on these small jobs. anything greater than 1.5 megawatts, you do the analysis again, but for small projects on manmade property where the land has already been disturbed and already is having an analysis done and mitigation has already taken place, we move on and do the job. the bureau of reclamation does have the right of categorical exclusion but they won't do it. all they say we may start thinking about it sometime in the future. let me give you an example. there are three specific projects in the neighboring state of mine. one was mandated by congress in 1990. they are still starting the process because of that administrative red tape. two other projects it took a

full year for them to decide to go through a process. when they did it they realized there was no change. it had already been done before. all you did was take a year to check off the box and do the expense with it. we had somebody from arizona come in and testify that the administrator review cost more than the actual construction of the project. that's silly. that is ridiculous. house bill 795 deals with this same issue on nonfederal land. this bill deals with the same issue on existing federal bureau of reclamation project. commonsense development. to get an untapped resource that we need to develop. it would not significantly enlarge the environmental footprint because these are already man-made entities who have already gone through the nepa process once and there is no rational reason to reinvent the wheel and do it a second time only to find out they were right the first time. do we benefit from this bill? first of all new sources of clean energy to add to our

portfolio. second, we could facilitate small projects to help us with irrigation pumping in the west. third, it would help reduce the cost of energy, it would produce a cash flow to irrigation districts so it could actually increase and pay for and improve their aging infrastructure and modernize these water facilities. fourth, it does create jobs and for once we have a bill that actually increases revenue coming into the government from this. c.b.o. has estimated, congressional budget office, that this will generate $5 billion in additional revenue coming into the government. so not only can we create more energy, we could do the right thing, fix our infrastructure, but we actually make money that comes into the government to help with other issues. there is a reason this is a bipartisan bill. because it's the right thing to do. there is a reason why we should move forward with this bill,

because it caps a valuable resource that will go to waste if we do not do it. there is a reason that this billle is here to speed up the regulatory red tape, to cut through the cost, to make things happen, and help us move forward as a nation with better energy development and energy independence. a whole bunch of good reasons for this bill and that's why i support the bill and i also support the rule that will make it possible to give a good and fair open, balance to this debate. with that this is a good bill. and an incredibly fair rule and i urge the adoption and yield back the balance of my time and move the previous question on the resolution. the speaker pro tempore: the question is on ordering the previous question. on the resolution. so many as are in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. the ayes have t the gentlelady from new york. ms. slaughter: madam speaker, may i please have a recorded vote. the speaker pro tempore: does the gentlelady ask for the yeas and nays?

ms. slaughter: i do. 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 , put proceedings on this question will be postponed. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20 , the unfinished business is the vote on the motion of the gentleman from michigan, mr. camp, to suspend the rules and pass h.r. 4105 on which the yeas and nays are ordered. the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 4105, a bill to apply the countervailing duty provisions of the tariff act of 1930 to nonmarket economy countries, and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: the question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill, members will record their votes by electronic device. this will be a 15-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote the yeas are 36 . the noes are 39. -- the ayes have 3 -- are 368. the noes are 39.

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote the ayes are 370. the noes are 39. 2/3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed, and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. the house will be in order. members will please take their seats.

members will please take their seats. for what purpose does the gentleman from new jersey rise? >> i ask unanimous consent to speak out of order. the speaker: without objection. mr. smith: it is with deep sorrow that i inform the house that our dear friend and kohl leg, don payne, has passed. he had colon cancer. in a few moments a privileged resolution will be offered on the floor that recognizes and honors his extraordinary man who dedicated his entire life to public service. a man who made a significant difference in the lives of many in his district, in our state, in the nation, and in the world. elected in 1988 after first serving as a councilman and he

section county free holder, this high school teacher coach turned politician went on to be the first african-american to ever serve in congress from the state of new jersey. don fought tenaciously to combat the hiv-aids pandemic and mitigate the loss of life and morbidity from t.b. and malaria on the subcontinent of africa. he co-authored the sudan peace act and worked tirelessly to end the genocide in both south sudan and darfur. he even risked his life in somalia, was shot at in the pursuit of peace. i know firsthand, mr. speaker, how much he truly cared and how hard he worked for peace and reconciliation in ravaged nations. i serve as the ranking member of the africa committee when he chaired it, and he served as the ranking member when i chaired it. finally, just let me say this man who also served as the chairman of the congressional black caucus and until his untimely death today chairman of the congressional black

caucus foundation, he was predeceased by his wife, hazel. don is also the father of three, grandfather of four, and great grandfather of one. donald payne, mr. speaker, will be missed. i yield my good friend and colleague, mr. pallone. mr. pallone: thank you, my friend. mr. speaker, i can't believe that don payne is not with us today. i'm looking over there where he would often sit and i would come down on the floor and ask him to do a one minute or special order. he always had a smile on his face. he was very proud of his african-american roots. it was one of the reasons that he would often go to africa and champion so many causes for those in africa. he cared so deeply about his hometown of newark and the other towns he represented. always looking out for those in need, the disadvantaged, the poor. those are the people he cared about and spent so much time trying to deal with their problems and make their life better. but i think more than anything else i'll remember don's smile.

don always felt that things could get better. that we could work together. i think a lot of people don't know that his district was very diverse. there were many african-americans, there were many people of other nationalities. we would often talk about the italian americans he lived with and grew up with and worked with in his district and he always felt we could have a better world. the democrats and republicans could work together. that people could work along ethnic -- across ethnic and racial barriers. and he always made me feel no matter how down i was on a particular day that this place was important and that we can make a difference in people's lives. so i will sorely miss him and i would ask this afternoon at the end of the day, probably around 4:00, we have unlimited one minutes and we are going to have a bipartisan hour special order where members can come down and pay tribute. thank you, mr. speaker. i yield back. the speaker: the gentleman from new jersey.

mr. smith: mr. speaker, i do ask for a moment of silence to remember our dearly departed friend, don payne. the speaker: observe a moment of silence. the speaker: the gentleman from new jersey. mr. 134i9: mr. speaker, i offer a privileged resolution and ask for its immediate consideration. the speaker: the clerk will report the concurrent resolution. the clerk: house resolution 571, resolved, that the house has heard with profound sorrow of the death of the honorable donald m. payne, a representative from the state of new jersey. resolved, that a committee of such members of the house as the speaker may designate together with such members of the senate as may be joined, be

appointed to attend the funeral. resolved, that the sergeant at arms of the house be authorized and directed to take such steps as may be necessary for carrying out of the provisions of these resolutions and that the necessary expenses in connection therewith be paid out of applicable accounts of the house. resolved, that the clerk communicate these resolutions to the senate and transmit a copy thereof to the family of the deceased. resolved, that when the house adjourns today it adjourn as a further mark of respect to the memory of the deceased. the speaker: without objection, the current resolution is agreed to and the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. under clause 5-d of rule 20, the chair announces to the house that in the light of the passing of the gentleman from the state of new jersey, mr. payne, the whome number of the house is now 433.

-- the whole number of the house is now 433. the ordering the previous question on house resolution 570 on which the yeas and nays are ordered. the clerk will report the title of the resolution. the clerk: house calendar number 116. house resolution 570. resolution providing for consideration of the bill h.r. 2842, to authorize all bureau of reclamation conduit facilities for hydropower development under federal reclamation law, and for other purposes. the speaker: the question is on ordering the previous question. 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: on

this vote the yeas are 232. the nays are 177. the resolution is passed.

the previous question is ordered. the question is on the adoption of the resolution. those in favor will say aye. those opposed will say no. the ayes have it. the resolution is agreed to. and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. for what purpose does the gentleman from missouri rise? mr. clay: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to remove my name as a co-sponsor of h.r. 3610 and h.r. 3611. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. clay: thank you. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from washington rise? mr. hastings: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill h.r. 2842. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered.

pursuant to house resolution 570 and rule 18, the chair declares the house in the committee of the whole house on the state of the union for consideration of h.r. 2842. the chair appoints the gentleman from utah, mr. chesapeake bay fits, to preside -- mr. chesapeake bay fets -- mr. chaff fets -- mr. chaffetz to preside over the committee of the whole. the chair: the committee will be in order. the house is in the committee of the whole house on the state of the union for consideration of h.r. 2842 which the clerk will report by title. the clerk: a bill to authorize all bureau of reclamation conduit to silts for hydropower development under federal reclamation law, and for other purposes. the chair: pursuant to the rule, the bill is considered as read the first time. the gentleman from washington, mr. hastings, and the gentlewoman from crarks, mrs. napolitano, each will control 30 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from washington.

mr. hastings: thank you, mr. chairman. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. hastings: thank you, mr. chairman. i rise in strong support of h.r. 2842, the bureau of reclamation small conduit hydropower development and rural jobs act of 2011. it authorizes hydropower at existing bureau of reclamation facilities and by doing so it allows placement of hydropower generators on existing man-made canals and pipes that have already gone through extensive environmental review. this is a bipartisan plan to create new american jobs, cut government red tape, and expand production of clean, renewable, and low-cost hydropower. this past weekend president obama once again tried to claim support for an all-of-the-above energy production. but unlike president obama's empty rhetoric, house republicans are taking real action to prove our commitment to expanding all forms of american energy. americans have now experienced

27 consecutive days of rising gas prices and now the national average is pushing closer to $4 a gallon. in order to address these skyrocketing prices, republicans will continue to pursue an all-of-the-above approach that responsibly develops the natural resources that we have right here at home. the facts are, mr. chairman, we have followed through on this commitment by passing through the house bipartisan reforms to break down government barriers to american energy production. just weeks ago the house passed a bipartisan jobs plan to vastly expand access to our oil and natural gas resources offshore and in anwr. today we are putting forth a plan to expand production of clean, renewable hydropower. as families and small businesses across the country are worried about rising gasoline prices, they are also worried about escalating

electricity costs. rising energy prices are a drain on our economy, pure and simple. it increases business costs and makes everything we do more expensive. hydropower is one of the cleanest and cheapest forms of electricity n my view, coming from the if a civic northwest where nearly 70% of all power comes from hydropower, hydropower is a poster child for clean, renewable energy. unfortunately as is too often the case the federal government is one of the biggest obstacles to increasing the development of hydropower projects, especially small projects. this bill would remove government roadblocks and streamline the duplicative regulatory process for developing small canal and pipeline hydropower projects on existing bureau of reclamation facilities. this commonsense plan would help generate thousands of megawatts of clean, cheap, abundant, and reliable

hydroelectricity. furthermore, it allows for our hydropower generation without a single new dam and at no cost to the federal government. now, let there be no mistake, i am a proponent of new dams, but this bill rightly harnesses hydropower potential at existing facilities. water users throughout the west would be empowered to develop hydropower at the federal canal they operate and maintain. this once again important to note that this bill only allows for small hydropower projects on existing canals and pipelines. such man-made -- manmade facilities are already on disturbed ground and already gone through extensive environmental reviews. furthermore, this bill is a revenue generator for the federal government. the nonpartisan congressional budget office, or c.b.o., estimates that it will generate $5 million over the next 10 years through increased hydropower production and

rental fees associated with it. h.r. 2482 affirms republicans' commitment to a true all of the above energy plan. it will create jobs in rural areas, lower energy prices, and expand production of clean, renewable american energy by simply getting the federal government out of the way. this bill will receive bipartisan support in the natural resources committee and is endorsed by the family farm alliance, the national water resources association, the american public power -- let me start again, mr. chairman. the american public power association, and the association of california water agencies. so i want to commend the bill's sponsors, mr. tipton from colorado, mr. gosar from arizona, for their work on this and i urge my colleagues to support the bill. i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentlewoman from california is recognized. mrs. napolitano: thank you, mr. chair.

i yield myself five minutes. the chair: the gentlewoman is recognized for five minutes. mrs. napolitano: thank you, mr. chairman. i do rise in support of the general premise, i repeat the general premise of this legislation, but oppose the legislation as amended. i'd like to mention that overwhelm three out of 15 democrats support it. while it is bipartisan, it is minor bipartisanship on this particular issue. h.r. 2842 does seek to generate additional hydropower at the existing bureau of reclamation facilities, federal properties. through developing new process of conduit and in canal hydropower, which we should be developing at a greater speed and length. we cannot support this bill as amended even though the original bill also stated and intent was trying to be able to

take this waiver language out on page 4, lines 12 to 15, we were unsuccessful so we cannot support it because it does have a nepa waiver language that we cannot support. we are in support of the general intent. h.r. 2842, the federal conduit, continue to follow the reclamation league of power privilege process, the lopp. it requires offering irrigation districts to water users association with an existing contract. those already have the contract which we support. and the safeguards current project users by recognizing projects' primary authorized purposes and that no financial and/or operational costs will be incurred by the existing water power users. the federal power marketing administrations are also, and i repeat are not obligated to purchase or market the power produced. legislation does go a step too far and includes unnecessary

and unweiss blanket exemption from a critical environmental law. if my colleagues on the other side simply followed the advice of the national hydrothe national water resources association, the american public power -- let me start again, mr. chairman. the american public power association, and the association of california water agencies. so i want to commend the bill's sponsors, mr. tipton from colorado, mr. gosar from arizona, for their work on this and i urge my colleagues to support the bill. i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentlewoman from california is recognized. mrs. napolitano: thank you, mr. chair. i yield myself five minutes. the chair: the gentlewoman is recognized for five minutes. mrs. napolitano: thank you, mr. chairman. i do rise in support of the general premise, i repeat the general premise of this legislation, but oppose the legislation as amended. i'd like to mention that overwhelm three out of 15 democrats support it.

while it is bipartisan, it is minor bipartisanship on this particular issue. h.r. 2842 does seek to generate additional hydropower at the existing bureau of reclamation facilities, federal properties. through developing new process of conduit and in canal hydropower, which we should be developing at a greater speed and length. we cannot support this bill as amended even though the original bill also stated and intent was trying to be able to take this waiver language out on page 4, lines 12 to 15, we were unsuccessful so we cannot support it because it does have a nepa waiver language that we cannot support. we are in support of the general intent. h.r. 2842, the federal conduit, continue to follow the reclamation league of power privilege process, the lopp. it requires offering irrigation districts to water users association with an existing contract. those already have the contract which we support. and the safeguards current project users by recognizing projects' primary authorized purposes and that no financial and/or operational costs will be incurred by the existing water power users. the federal power marketing administrations are also, and i repeat are not obligated to purchase or market the power produced. legislation does go a step too far and includes unnecessary and unweiss blanket exemption from a critical environmental law. if my colleagues on the other side simply followed the advice of the national hydropower association and the conservation group of american rivers, we would have an a noncontroversial bill that would have passed numberly out of the house. we also received a letter from five environmental groups in opposition and i ask chairman to -- thank you, mr. chairman. proponents for exemptioning

national environmental policy, the nepa act, will argue that government regulatory red tape is preventing the development of more hydropower. reclamation already has the authority to comply with nepa through category exemptions. the system is working. the exclueses have been issued for hydropow -- exclusions have been issued for hydropower sites at three specific sites in colorado. the 199, grand valley park plant in 2011, jackson gulch in 1995. nepa requirements for other site have not been the bureaucratic chaos some would make it out to be. there are three projects in the home state of colorado for my colleague, the sponsor of this bill. the one in utah took 15 minutes from start to finish. lake carter in colorado took six months to finish nepa in 2010. at ridgeway, colorado, an lopp was issued after last month and after completing 5-month nepa process. on the south canal drop three sides in colorado, a finding of no significant impact was just issued last month after 15 months nepa process. developers and irrigators need parity and certainty so their project can be developed. waving nepa will not provide the clarity and certainty. it's lack of reclamation process. there must be a clear process in place for the development of hydropower and reclamation facilities. i urge reclamation to finalize and direct the standards as soon as possible. it's my understanding the draft is already out to developers for their review and that the final directives and standards will be completed by the end of this year. it is unfortunate that this legislation contains this controversial waiver. without the nepa exemption, this legislation would have been on suspension and i do oppose the legislation as. ask my colleagues to join me in

opposition of this very sad portion of waiver of nepa. i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentlewoman reserves the balance of her time. the gentleman from washington is recognized. mr. hastings: mr. chairman, i am very pleased to yield four minutes to the sponsor of this very important legislation, the gentleman from colorado, mr. tipton. the chair: the gentleman from colorado is recognized for four minutes. . mr. tipton: i thank the gentleman from washington for yielding. everyone talks about the all of the above for energy solution to this country. to give serious consideration to all resources including renewable an alternative energy. it's easy to talk about this need, but today i offer a bill that turns that talk into action. . my bureau of reclamation small power development and jobs act of 2012 is a key piece of the all-of-the-above strategy energy to expand development of responsible renewable energy, generate economic growth and get americans working once more. hydropower is the cleanest and cheapest source of energy. this is created through modern technology. it's the highest source of noncarbon emitting energy in

the world, accounting for approximately 69.9% of the united states' total renewable electricity generation, making it the lead renewable energy resource power according to the hydropower association. in colorado, nearly 30.7% of our renewable energy is hydropower but only 3.1% of all colorado is hydropower. we have a significant opportunity in colorado to expand on this clean, renewable source of power while creating badly needed jobs for the third district of colorado in the process. in colorado alone, there's enough existing capacity to generate as much power as the glen canyon dam, however, as it stands, no major hydroelectric facilities have been built in years and existing sources are being stifled leading to

shortages in many areas in the country. by streamlining the process an reducing cost for small hydropower development this common sense legislation will encourage the production of clean, renewable hydropower and provide much-needed opportunities for the creation of new jobs in colorado. -- in colorado for some of our nation's hardest hit rural areas this common sense bill garnered bipartisan support in the house natural resources committee and has been endorsed by the family farm alliance, the natural water resources association and the american public power association. the family farm alliance representative chris trees put it best saying that, and i quote, the margins on small hydro are very small. districts need to make timely investment decisions without the pross peck of virbletal reviews of undetermined length and expense.

additionally wen districts share the nation's desire to make investments to put people to work immediately. environmental reviews of small hide row on existing conduits represents an unnecessary an often chilling uncertainty for the economically marginal investment, end quote this legislation, which applies to all projects on reclamation conduits, seeks to address this concern and fixing them requires small businesses to jump through unnecessary bureaucratic hoops in order to complete testing on conduits that have already undergone proper reviews. this act will jump start small hide row power development through which power generated will be sent directly to the grid. also creating revenues that will help pay for aging infrastructure in our communities. from the beginning, this

congress has made responsible energy development a legislative priority with the goal of putting forward comprehensive solutions. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman -- the chair: the gentleman is rebling niced for an additional minute. mr. tipton: while putting forward a comprehensive solution that looks for alternative technologies while continuing the development of traditional resors. we have the opportunity to pass a common sense solution to advance a common goal of developing clean and renewable energy an put into place a key component of the all-of-the-above energy plan. i ask my colleagues to take this into consideration an remember the words that are inscribed in this very chamber from daniel webster, saying let us develop the resources of our land, call forth its powers, build up its institution, promote all its great interests and see whether we also in our day and generation may not perform something worthy to be

remembered. hydropower development follows in the legacy of responsible development of our precious natural resources an with steadfast protection of our environment. i ask my colleagues for their support of the bureau of reclamation conduit an rural jobs act of 20 12. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman -- the chair: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the yom from california is recognized. >> i couldn't agree with the gentleman more. i yield five minutes to my colleague, mr. markey. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. markey: i rise in opposition to this legislation, after 427 days in the majority and having no energy or job strategy to show for it, the house republicans are now offering the reclamation small conduit hydropower development and rural jobs act.

we need legislation that gets hard hats down in the dimps again. instead, republicans are offer manager legislation certain to be ditched by the senate. we should encourage development of small hydropower prompts at existing facilities. in fact if the legislation simply gave the bureau of reclamation exclusive jurisdiction to develop hydropower at federal reclamation facilities, i would support it. if it mandated categorical exclusions for those small projects, i would support it. but republicans just couldn't help themselves. it doesn't matter the nature of the problem, for republicans, the problem is always just nature system of they went and gutted environmental review altogether in this bull. that's -- in this bill. that's what happens when your entire ghick platform is deregulation an gutting

environmental protections you start waiving environmental review even when the industry you're trying to help isn't asking for it. if republicans had followed the advice of the hide row industry, we would have a noncontroversial bill that i could support and recommend to all of the democratic members that we pass at -- pass it 435 to nothing here on the house floor this afternoon. instead it's ideology over hide roling. that's what -- over hydrology. that's what the republicans bring to the floor today. if republicans are serious about advancing the hide row industry, here's what they can do. extend the production tax credit. support clean, renewable energy bonds. support domestic clean clean energy manufacturing tax credits. extend the section 1603 renewable energy grant program. here's what those successful recovery act programs are

already -- have already done. three companies have received $67 million in tax credits to build hide row-related manufacturing facilities in the united states. eight companies have received $2 million in grants to support hide row deployment under the 1603 renewable energy grant program. clean, renewable energy bonds have supported $531 million in public power hydroprojects across the cupry. but republicans aren't interest -- across the country. but republicans aren't interested in doing something for hide row or other clean technology. with their oil above all strategy, republicans want to continue subsidizing the oil and gas industry, $4 billion annually, $40 billion over 10 year but shut down clean energy programs i just outlined. they're going directly after any and all threats to big oil and big coal and they're

targeting clean energy jobs for elimination. republicans in our committee have reported a bill that would repeal borrowing authority that the western area power administration currently has to help finance transmission, serve regular newble energy projects, between one project in montana that is already under construction and three others that are deep into development, there are 11,500 jobs at stake. but the republicans don't care about those 11,500. -- jobs. and then there's the wind industry. 10,000 american workers have already been cut in the wind industry because the production tax credit is expiring at the end of the year and orders are drying up. 27,000 more wind workers will lose their jobs if the republicans get their way and raise taxes on the wind industry beginning on december 31 of this year. a clean energy wave is upon us. america needs a vibrant,

domestic hide row industry, along with healthy wind, solar, geothermal and biomass industry to capture its benefits. overs, this weave will crash down on us and carry the chinese, indian, and german economies to success in this sector. let's vote down this bad bill an move on to policies that will really help america's hydrosector. mrs. napolitano: i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. hastings: i'm pleased to yield five minutes to the gentleman, mr. mcclintock. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. mcclintock: i would say to the gentleman from massachusetts, nothing in this measure has anything to do with oil pruck. this bill reduces our reliance on fossil fuels by bringing hundreds of thousands ofing me

watts -- of mega watt of new, clean energy to the grid this measure by mr. tipton does everything the environmentalist left says it likes. it produces absolutely clean, renewable electricity in vast quantities at precisely no cost to taxpayers on projects that have already undergone environmental review simply by installing small generators in existing pipelines and canals where there are no fish or flora or foul of -- fowl of any kind. that's alpha and omega of mr. tipton's bill. authorize these simple projects on bureau of reclamation property. that's it. there are thousands of mills -- miles of aqueducts that carry water by gravity, there's no

animal life whatsoever, these existing pipelines if equipped with simple hydroelectric generators could generate electricity that would take several major multibillion dollar hydroelectric dams to produce. our committee took testimony that in our colorado alone the hydroelectric facilities could produce as much power as is currently produced by the entire glen canyon dam. multiply that throughout the united states an you begin to realize what a huge impact this could have on new, clean, affordable energy for america. those hydroelectric yen rate crors are not going into these pipelines right now for one simple and utterly absurd reason. government regulations make it economically impossible to do so. our subcommittee took testimony from farmers and water districts, trying to install these yen rator, but instofe doing everything it can to assist them this administration

instead smothers them with endless regulatory delays, demands for wildly impossible -- wildy expensive environmental studies and exorbitant fees. according to the study the gentleman from colorado cited, they can double the cost of these products prices them out of reach. a witness told us a $20,000 small generator project would have required $50,000 in permitting costs. instead welcomes these small so it doesn't move forward. congressman tiptop's bill hydroelectric generators by authorizing their placement in existing bureau of reclamation conduits, it inviting existing operators and users to invest in the generators at no public cost. it establishes an office within the bureau of reclamation with the responsibility to assist projects and exempts them from paying if another costly, time-consuming and pointless

nepa study when there's no environmental impact involved. they have undergone the environmental process when they were built, upgraded or when their repayment contracts were renew. it's a waste of time and money to put them through another review before these small generators can be installed. think about the implications to farming alone. some irrigation districts are forced to use diesel generators to pump water to the feels. put hydroelectric generators in existing areas, they become virtually self-sustaining while reducing reliance on other means of electricity. in addition, they cowl provide money for local irrigators and create jobs and relieve exhausted federal taxpayers of these costs. construction of these would mean new high-paying jobs for americans. it is mystifying that a nature

plagued by economic stagnation, chronic unemployment and increasingly scare and expensive electricity would adopt a willful opposition to these generators in already existing facilities. there are fewer americans working today than on the tai that barack obama took office more than three long years ago. during that period he has taken well over $1 trillion from the earnings of hardworking american families to funnel the well-connected companies claiming to create jobs. in in the case of so lind rah, it -- of solyndra, it was jobs that disappeared as soon as the government ran out. yet here in this measure, at no cost that harr-working families -- mr. hastings: i yield the gentleman an additional minute. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for an additional minute. mr. tipton at --

mr. mcgovern: simply by getting expensive and duplicative regulations out of the way we could add tens of thousands of mega watts of clean, cheap electricity to our supply, produce permanent job rerks deuce our reliance on fossil fuels and lower the utility bills of american families. our nation needs abundant electricity and it desperately needs permanent jobs. to get them it mostly desperately needs common sense restored to its government. the progress of the american people have made in doing that as well as the unfinished business remaining before them, will be very precisely murder by the roll call on this bill. -- precisely measured by the roll call on this bill. i yield back. the chair: the gentlelady from california is recognized. mrs. napolitano: how much time remains? the chair: the gentlewoman has 20 1/2 minutes and the gentleman from washington has 14 minutes. mrs. napolitano: reserve the

balance of my time. the chair: the gentlewoman reserves. the gentleman from washington. mr. hastings: mr. chairman, i am very pleased to yield five minutes to the co-sponsor of this legislation and a very valuable member of the natural resources committee, mr. gosar. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. gosar: thank you, chairman hastings. mr. chairman, i rise in support of the bill congressman tipton and i have worked closely on, h.r. 2842, the bureau of reclamation small conduit hydropower development and rural jobs act of 2012. arizona has been hit hard by the recent recession. the rural counties are faced with unemployment rate that far reaches the national average. this bill will provide much-needed relief for these hard hit rurals. the bureau of reclamation small conduit hydropower development and rural acts of 2011 will

increase our country's energy portfolio and generate revenues by cutting duplicative bureaucratic red tape. specifically, it would allow arizonans that operate existing irrigation canals, man-made pipes as you can see here, to install hydropower generators. to be clear, we are not talking about free-flowing rivers or streams. these are man-made structures that have already gone through environmental review. these canals, as you can see, do not contain endangered fish or wildlife. i work very closely with the irrigation and electrical district association of arizona. the special districts musenisspalts utility authorities and project managers that are engaged in the management and delivery of water and power in my state. as congressman tipton and i crafted this legislation. i am proud to be from a state that is as innovative and as

resourceful as arizona. our state is the leader in developing safe ways to tap into our natural resources which provides much-needed energy and jobs. unfortunately, due to federal constraints, arizona is unable to fully tap its hydroelectric power generation because of the duplicative legislation that makes it too expensive and burdensome to develop. it is simply the failure of the federal policies to facilitate an environment that is conductive to this type of development. instead of working with communities that share common goals and values, the federal government is dictating to them. the experts on the ground in arizona see that we are literally sitting on a hydropower gold mine waiting for the needed clarifications and streamlining that will cut costs and make this program more attractive. this bill does just that. for example, the maricopa drainage district estimates it

has the capacity to build 14 to 17 hydropower units if this legislation is signed into law. those units could generate a total of approximately 2,200 kill watts of renewable -- kilowatts of renewable energy which is enough lecks tris to power 250 to 500 homes. this is one of the power managers in my state. another district, the central irrigation and drainage district, has indicated they could install eight to 10 hydropower units with the capacity of 1200 to 1,500 kilowatts of renewable energy. another 500 or so homes. these economic impacts are not small for these rural communities. they would provide a real economic boost and reduce consumer energy cost. there is not one solution to other nation's energy crisis, but hydropower is clearly part of an overall all options on the table solution. hydropower is the highest

source of noncarbon emitting energy in the world. it accounts for approximately 70% of the united states' total renewable electricity generation, and we are not even tapping the potential. investing in hydropower infrastructure will strengthen our economy and help move us toward energy independence. to top it off, the nonpartisan congressional budget office estimates that our bill will generate $5 million in federal revenue over the next 10 years. increased revenues from the sale of this renewable energy can result in a new source of funding for operating, maintaining and rehabilitating our aging water delivery infrastructure at lower costs to farmers. this legislation is truly a win-win for the american people, and it is exactly the type of legislation this house should be passing. vote yes on this bill. the bureau of reclamation small conduit hydropower development and rural jobs act of 2012, it will create jobs in rural

america, increase u.s. energy independence and raise revenue for the u.s. treasury. so i guess the opponents of this bill are right. if commonsense solutions are your cup of tea then i guess i can't help myself. and this is at no, let me repeat myself in this fact, this renewable energy is at no cost to the taxpayer or the public. i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentlewoman from california is recognized. mrs. napolitano: thank you, mr. speaker, and i couldn't agree with mr. gosar more on some of his presentation that the bureau would be able to, at the indict some of these projects -- would be able to expedite some of these projects. they could understand how they could expedite some of these projects. so nepa is not some radical piece of legislation. it is what is overwhelmingly approved by congress more than four decades ago and signed

into law by president nixon. it is not enough -- it's a tool to be used to facilitate coordination, cooperation and public input. it is not a barrier. it is a shield protecting communities, yours and mine, from the unintended consequences that can occur when a big, clumsy federal government can do without acting. they just require the government to analyze alternatives and most importantly, seek public comment. evidence that nepa does not stop projects is just plain -- the majority cannot provide a single example where nepa provided some of these hydro projects from moving forward. they are granted expeditiously and it provides the bore por all the flexibility necessary to apply nepa quickly and efficiently to the projects. there is no delay. to oppose nepa -- again, it

would then oppose public input. to oppose nepa should oppose thinking before we act. this unnecessary and unwise blanket waiver of nepa should be struck from this bill and then this bill could be passed unanimously and go on to approval in our other body, and i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentlewoman reserves the balance of her time. the gentleman from washington is recognized. mr. hastings: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. hastings: mr. chairman, i just want to point out what this bill does and the simplicity of this bill. in 1902, when this house, along with the other house, created the bureau of reclamation, which was to reclaim the lands. that's where reclamation comes from. it was designed to develop areas that heretofore didn't have the resources in which to develop. mainly the resources they were lacking was water. and so the bureau of

reclamation was created so that those errant areas, certainly my area in central washington, qualified as that because the dam is the facility that irgates the 500,000-plus acres in central washington. but it was decides to develop an area that couldn't be developed before. so now we have these facilities in place all over the west. they've gone through extensive environmental reviews in order to be put into place. yet, even with the technology that makes irrigation better and better and more and more efficient, there still is water in these canals that goes back to the river. in my case, the columbia river. ends up in the river some 120 miles downstream. and during that process where the water goes down, irgaits various parts of the project, -- irrigates various parts of

the project, we could efficiently use that water by producing power. that's what this legislation does. again, we have gone through the extension -- the extensive environmental review to build the ditch, the canal. we saw pictures of that earlier. all we're suggesting now is that we put something in there to capture the water power to generate electricity. it's no more complicated than that. that's all this bill is about. and so with that, while there is an objection to a nepa process, there is an amendment that will address that and we will have more extensive debate on that, but i would just repeat, mr. chairman. all of the building of the ditches, which is really what really disturbs the land, that went through extensive environmental reviews to get to that point. we are now building within what we disturbed. boy, to say that you have to

have another process, environmental process doesn't make sense, at least to this member. so with that i'll yield back the time that i yielded to myself and reserve the balance. the chair: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentlewoman from california is recognized. mrs. napolitano: thank you, mr. speaker. how much time do we have left, sir? the chair: the gentlewoman has 18 1/2 minutes, and the gentleman from washington has six minutes. mrs. napolitano: thank you, mr. speaker. i would like to reiterate that we fully support the intent of the legislation without the exemping of nepa -- exemption of nepa on page 12, line 14. one university has been working on hydrokinetic for a while. we have been tracking the issues of hydrokinetic and their results and projects they have in new jersey and new york to be able to generate

electricity, and we have for at least five years been trying to make congress and the committee understand that this is something that was very viable. even the heed off of the pumping motors, it being recaptured and converted into electricity in one of my areas. i fully understand, and i'm glad that it's finally beginning to take hold there is the ability to create electricity from hydro. we support increased generation at all facilities by developing conduit and in canal hydropower. i, again, support all of the provisions i stated here. waiving nepa does not provide the care and certainty to be a clear process for the development of hydro at reclamation facilities. we must ensure that at least the power privilege is clear and does provide this specific certainty. it should be consistent with ferc process, as stated in the

letter from the national hydropower association as introduced in the record. we will have an amendment to fix the problem. we look forward to working with my colleagues on the other side. i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentlewoman reserves the balance of her time. the gentleman from washington is recognized. mr. hastings: mr. chairman, i'd like to ask of my friend from california if she has any more speakers on the debate portion of this. mrs. napolitano: mr. speaker, i do not. mr. hastings: if not, i am prepared to close and i won't even close. i'll yield back and start the amendment process if the gentlelady yields back. mrs. napolitano: i yield back. the chair: the gentlelady yields back. mr. hastings: i yield back. the chair: all time for general debate is expired. the amendment in the nature of a substitute printed in the bill shall be considered as an original bill for the purpose of amendment under the five-minute rule and shall be considered read. each section of the committee

amendment in the nature of a substitute shall be considered as read. no amendment to the committee amendment in the nature of a substitute shall be in order except, one, those received for printing in the portion of the congressional record designated for that purpose dated at least one day before the date of consideration for the amendment and, two, pro forma amendments for the purpose of debate. each amendment so received may be offered only by the member who caused it to be printed or a designee and shall be considered as read if printed. the clerk will designate section 1. the clerk: section 1, short title, -- >> i have an amendment at the desk. the chair: for what purpose does the gentleman from colorado rise? >> mr. chairman, i have an amendment at the desk. the chair: the clerk will designate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 2

printed in the congressional record, offered by mr. tipton of colorado. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for five mins. mr. tipton: mr. chairman, this is a technical amendment, changes the year of the bill from 2011 to 2012. ski my colleagues to support this noncontroversial amendment. i yield back. the chair: the gentleman yields back. does any member seek recognition -- mrs. napolitano: we have no objection. the chair: the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from colorado. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair the ayes have it. the amendment is agreed to. the clerk will designate section 2. the clerk: section 2, authorization. the chair: are there any amendments to section 2. >> i have an amendment at the desk. the chair: the clerk will designate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number one printed in the congressional

record, offered by mrs. napolitano of california. the chair: the gentlewoman is recognized for five minutes. mrs. napolitano: a simple amendment striking out a section and renewing the nepaware. the proponents of the measure will argue it allows for categorical amendment for statutory criteria and do not have the ability of amendment. this is not the same as the legislation attempts where all environmental regards are completely waived this bill is as amened proposes to totally exempt all small hide row from extension process. reclamation already has the same authority as ferc, to develop a process of complying

with nepa. we have been in the process of determining whether smule hide rows may be placed under categorical exemption. they plan to have -- the draft is out, they are consulting to make sure that this bill is what they need. they have also granted specific categorical exemptions to three l.l.p. projects as mentioned in my opening statement. low-impact hydropower can be utilized by using existing environmental review provisions. we have seen examples of projects that have not unduly delayed project development. i have placed letters from national hide row power association and others to highlight the views of the

hydropower industry and the leading conservation group on hydropower. both are supportive of 2042 as long as it is patterned after the model used by ferc. it would provide for proper oversight and i urge my colleagues to vote positively yes on this amendment and i reserve the perhaps of my time. the chair: the gentlelady may not reserve the balance of her time. the gentlewoman -- mrs. napolitano: i yield back. the chair: the gentlewoman yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman from colorado rise? mr. tiptop: move to strike the last word. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. tipton: thank you, mr. chairman. i think our opponents on this piece of legislation are confused as to what the debate is truly about. if it is about jobs and about the american people, if it is about providing energy certainty, if it is about reducing the carbon footprint

in this country, 2842 is a good piece of legislation. they say conceptually they embrace it but they want to put on the backs of hard working americans more -- hardworking americans more cost, more uncertainty when we need to create certainty, when we need to have that opportunity to reduce costs. our -- the gentlelady said we see no evidence of prompts being delay. the truth is, when we had testimony, chris trees of the colorado water district noted it took well over a year for a project to be approved. many projects were not being considered simply because of the regulatory costs. when we look at this chart on projected cost to build a small hydropower installation, the

actual cost to build the is $20,000. by the time we concur with our democrats' colleagues assistance that we expand bureaucracy have more government, we'll add an additional $50,000 in costs. what's the challenge? -- for rural america it is -- what's the challenge? for rural america it is dollars. we have struggling communities, people that need jobs, people that need to be able to be put back to work. it may in big cities not be big money when you start to talk about $50,000 but for a small water district, it truly is. this is a chance to stand up for the american people. this is a chance to be able to create clean energy for this nation. you know, when we look at examples in terms of what does overregulation by the government do, when we went

through the nepa process, no one argued as we had photos my colleague mr. gosar had shown of constructed ditches put in place to have the nepa process but then to duplicate that possess, we can look at bureau of reclamation's process in which it took five years to find out it had jurisdiction over the project sea drop canal in order to a pave the way for conduit hydropower. five years. join with us in caring about the environment. to make sure that we're going to be delivering clean hydropower, not delaying it for five year, not delaying it for a year, not putting more costs on the back of the americans people when they simply can't afford it and putting people back to work. that's the choice we have on this legislation. as chairman hastings has noted, it's a common, common sense

piece of legislation. it makes sense and it makes good common sense to vote for it. >> will the gentleman yields? mr. tipton: i yield to my colleague. mr. hastings: i thank the gentleman for yielding if you'd put that poster back up again. that example demonstrates why america is so fed up with what happens in washington, d.c. here is a project that is affordable, at $20,000, so somebody wants to take that couldn't to -- opportunity to perhaps make some mup, nothing wrong with that in our country an you find out that the cost of regulations is 2.5 time what the project is. what certainty does that send to the marketplace that we want to do business? that is absolutely incredible. and -- environmental permitting costs here in this particular

example, of course that's exemplified by, what? nepa. this amendment would take the waiver of knee pa out of the edf nepa out of the equation. in other words, under the bill you have offered, that red slice there would be dramatically, dramatically reduced. is that correct? i'll yield back. mr. tipton: that is correct. i yield back. the chair: the gentleman yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman from colorado rise? >> i move to strike the last word. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. >> this amendment as the gentlelady pointed out strikes the nepa exemption for hydroelectric projects. the nepa exemption is the entire point of the bill. as the subcommittee heard, it's precisely this duplicative, costly, time-consuming and entirely unnecessary process that is more than -- that has more than doubled the cost of

small hide row projects and makes them cost prohibitive. mr. mcclintock: they know they don't pencil out once the studies are factored into their kansases. the bureau of reclamation doesn't deny permits, it simply demands such costly environmental studies as to make them cost prohibitive. the bill authorizes these projects so they don't have to go through the costly, time-consuming and pointless environmental studies. the gentlelady several times mentioned the fact that the bureau of reclamation was moving ahead with three permits in colorado. so what's the problem? let's look at those three permits. one of these wasn't conduit hydropower, one was specifically approved by congress in the 1980's and the third took a full year to get the permitting done on an existing canal outlet. if that's what the gentlelady describes as success, i think she is just -- she has just

proven our point. let me ask they are this -- ask her this -- what is the point of time-consuming, environmental reviews when all you're doing is putting a small generator in an exist buge row of reclamation pipe that has already undergone extensive environmental reviews? ferc already provides for categorical exemption on projects, the pew row's own nepa man wrule clearly allows categorical exemptions for, quote, and this is from their manual, quote, minor construction activities which merely augment or supplement or are enclosed in existing facilities. these small hide row generators precisely meet this requirement. the problem is, the agency ignores its own guidelines that is precisely why this bill is necessary. mr. chairman, placing generators in pipelines is either environmentally damaging

or it's not and anybody with a lick of sense knows the answer to that question and i would expect them to be supporting the bill of the gentleman from colorado. i yield back. the chair: for what purpose does the jell from arizona rise? >> i move to strike the last word. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. >> i rise against the amendment from the gentlelady from california. in fact, i want to highlight two of the most -- two of the arizona witnesses who have some of the most applicable understanding of the bill. the first person i want to quote is mr. bob lynch, in which he testified work need congress to streamline the facilities, both for reclamation an nonfederal facilities this will open up this ewest to a whole new product line of small p facilities that can tap the energy in flowing water that's currently being wasted. mr. gosar: if the red tape can be cut down, the cost of these units can be aportized.

they have no impact other than to provide clean hydropow for the small quantity questionities, all over the united states. the second person ill like to highlight is mr. grant ward, who retchts one of these districts, in which he testified how the permitting cost, $50,000 for every small conduit hydropower unit in his area, are more expensive than the actual ince lage of $20,000. here we hear from ms. barbara lifrpbl, representing the irrigation an electrical irrigation of arizona, someone with years of expertise in this this area, as well as mr. grant ward, who has experience on the ground level, with their testimony. i rise in opposition. i yield back. the chair: the question is on the amendment offered by the gentlewoman from california. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no.

in the opinion of the chair, the noes have it. the amendment is not agreed to. mrs. napolitano: recorded vote requested, please. the chair: futh proceedings on the motion offered by the -- on the amendment offered by the gentlewoman from california will be postponed. are there additional amendments to section 2? the clerk will designate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number three pinted in the congressional record offered by mr. ellison of minnesota. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. ellison: thank you, mr. speaker. i have -- our transportation program expires at the end of march. and we are still facing high unemployment. why aren't we working on a real jobs bill that will create good infrastructure jobs? the g.o.p. wasted about 427 days since they've been in

charge by not producing a real jobs agenda. but it's around transportation an infrastructure where we have a real opportunity. unfortunately, certain people have used creative titles, deceiving titles in some cases, to try to distract the public. their transportation bill was called the american infrastructure an energy jobs act but you wouldn't promote jobs in energy or infrastructure, it would actually cut highway investment by $16 billion in five years. this is a loss of half a million jobs nationwide. that's right. the american energy and infrastructure jobs act would cut 500,000 jobs. the bill would cost about 11,000 jobs in my home state of minnesota. today, we're debating, quote, the bureau of reclamation small conduit hydropower development and rural jobs act.

why are we talking about small conduit hydropower when we need investment in highways, bridges, transit, airports? now, don't get me wrong. i'm not here to run down small conduit hydropower. i just think it's too small. also on the floor this week is the so-called jump-start our business startups act, jobs. this is a rehash of access to capital. in fact, i may support it. it will barely make a dent in our unemployment and unemployment numbers. the g.o.p. may have creative titles, may have some title that catches attention and sounds good, but if you scratch the surface just a little bit there's no jobs agenda. even in bills that say jobs. the civil engineers group is a group, collection of professionals who knows the issue and they give our infrastructure grade a d.

d don't stand for dandy. it stands for downright bad and unfortunate. we have nearly 70,000 bridges across this country or 11.5% of all highway bridges classified as structurally deficient, meaning they require significant maintenance or replacement. several within walking distance of my home and in 2007 my district tragically felt the impact of structural deficient bridge with the collapse of a bridge. we need a real transportation bill and a real jobs agenda to rebuild our infrastructure and to put americans back to work. well, so i'd like to yield now to eddie bernice johnson.

ms. johnson: thank you very much, mr. speaker. the chair: pardon me. the gentleman must remain standing as he's yielding time. the gentlewoman is recognized. ms. johnson: thank you very much. let me thank the gentleman from minnesota for leading this position. i rise today to speak about the current he thinks tension of the transportation bill -- extension of the transportation bill which is set to expire at the end of this month, and i am frustrated by the lack of action in this chamber and the lack of attention being paid by the majority of the american people who desperately need these jobs. the current transportation authorization expires at the end of march, but we are still facing high unemployment and a weak economy. we need the kind of long-term transportation policy that will

repair our crumbling infrastructure and bring back good-paying construction jobs. i've been on the house transportation and infrastructure committee for 20 years this year, and up until now the committee has worked in a bipartisan fashion, and we produce sound, commonsense legislation, but the progress that could have been made has been stymied by partisan bickering and bad policy. the current transportation bill offered by the majority will cut investment in our nation's highways by almost $16 billion over the next five years. this would mean a loss of over 500,000 jobs nationwide. mr. speaker, we talk about this being the jobs bill. what is before us is a job-killing bill. but the american people are

waiting. the chair: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from california rise? ms. johnson: mr. speaker, i'd like to strike the last word. the chair: for what purpose does the gentleman from california rise? mr. mcclintock: to claim time in opposition. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. mcclintock: thank you, mr. chairman. this amendment would give to the secretary of the interior the ability literally to unilaterally veto this measure if he finds it will result in a loss of jobs. now, let's be clear what we're talking about here. this is the same secretary of the interior who came to the natural resources committee in 2009 when federal water diversions in water's central valley were throwing thousands and thousands of farm workers into unemployment, and before the committee he admitted he had the authority to stop the diversions and stop throwing these thousands of hardworking families into poverty but that he chose not to do so because

he said it would be like admitting failure. this is the same administration that blissfully threw thousands of gulf oil workers into unemployment by having a moratorium in the gulf. this is the same administration that is blocking drilling in the arctic tundra. this is the same administration that's torpedoed the keystone x.l. and the thousands of jobs it would have created, and now the gentleman from minnesota would give the same official and the same administration the power to shut down small hydroelectric facilities that could add thousands of megawatts of additional electricity to our energy supplies. i would assure the gentleman that the reason for this bill is because we fully expect it to produce a quantum leap and demand for small generators and somebody's going to have to build them and somebody's going to have to install them. that means more jobs.

now, if the gentleman's worried about jobs being lost in the regulatory bureaucracy because they won't have as many businesses to harass, i can assure him they have demonstrated over the years a tremendous creativity in finding new businesses to harass and new reasons to increase their budgets. but i say again, i don't believe it would be a good idea to put in the hands of this secretary and this administration yet another tool to obstruct energy and job development. now, higher electricity prices might not be a problem in minnesota, but i can assure the gentleman they are a serious problem in california and that's why his amendment is so dangerous. and with that i yield back. the chair: the gentleman yields back. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from texas rise? ms. johnson: to strike the last word. the chair: the gentlewoman is recognized for five minutes. ms. johnson: thank you, mr. speaker. the bill i am speaking on is the transportation and infrastructure committee bill. the secretary of

transportation, who has served on this committee, has clearly explained what this bill and -- in its present form will do for this country. i know probably no one wants to quote this particular secretary who has had inside experience as well as outside experience, and he is very aware because he served on this committee during the time we worked in a bipartisan fashion. and we are talking about highways and because someone will put a lot more extra curricula, extraneous kind of stuff in this bill that doesn't relate to these highways, then -- but the progress that could have been made was really stymied by this very kind of propaganda and bad policy. the current transportation bill

, offered by the majority, could invest in our nation's highways and -- won't invest in our nation's highways and kill jobs. we want to do something about the crumbling infrastructure in this country. mr. speaker, the american people are waiting for us to do something. we will sit here by our constituents to solve problems, not to create them and not to find excuses to displace the real reality. let's get back to work and repair our nation's infrastructure and get thousands of americans back to work, not to try to challenge this administration because you don't like the administration. we want to see something that's real and something that addresses real problems and not sit around with a lot of ideas and a lot of propaganda that simply does not relate to this bill. thank you and i yield back. the chair: the gentlewoman yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman from washington rise? mr. hastings: i move to strike

the last word. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. hastings: mr. chairman, i find this debate rather interesting because the gentlelady from texas had spoke -- did not speak on this bill. she spoke on another piece of pending legislation that dealt with jobs. that's good. that pending piece of legislation i might add had two components to it. it had the energy component and it had the transportation component which of course is pending. we know it expires at the end of this month, but we did pass the energy component of that bill which creates over, you know, tens of thousands of jobs. i just want to point out mr. chairman, the gentlelady voted against that piece of legislation. sometimes we hear mixed messages here but i just wanted to set the record straight. this had bill is another extension of energy -- of energy production and, of course, creating american energy jobs. and with that i find the gentleman from minnesota's amendment really very interesting because what he is saying by his amendment, unless

the bureaucracy decides by giving all this authority to the secretary, by the way, i'm not sure which secretary it is because it is not delineated in the amendment, but leaving that aside, he's saying there will be no jobs unless, what, the bureaucracy decides there will be jobs. now, how ludicrous is that? but that is precisely where we seem to be today, and i think this is, as i mentioned earlier, this is one of the reasons why i think americans are so fed up with what's happening here in d.c. with this sort of back and forth. let me repeat. this is infrastructure that is in place. there is water running through this infrastructure. all we're trying to do is capture that energy at no cost to the federal government and create jobs and lower the cost of energy. it doesn't get more -- nothing more simplistic than that, mr. chairman, so i urge my colleagues to vote no on this

amendment and i urge my colleagues to vote yes on the underlying bill and i yield back my time. the chair: the gentleman yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman from colorado rise? >> i move to strike the last word. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. >> mr. chairman, it's interesting. our colleagues talk about jobs. we want to be able to create jobs, to be able to facilitate that opportunity for americans to go back to work, to be able to create clean energy right here in the united states. as my colleague was pointing out, a common piece of -- a commonsense piece of legislation. we're going through existing conduits, what we call in our part of the world ditches, to be able to capture that energy, to be able to deliver it to allow local decisions to be made but our colleagues seem to want to make sure that we're standing up or they're standing up for the status quo and that just means say no. mr. tipton: say no to clean energy. support us and support clean

energy and hydroelectric power. you're saying no to jobs. join with us to be able to create jobs right here in this country and be able to put our people back to work. we have enough red tape. this amendment will simply grow more government and as we saw from testimony in our committee and charts that have been shown during this debate, there's no need to put more expense on the backs of the american people who simply can't afford your stance to build more government. this amendment deserves to be rejected. i ask that and ask for a favorable vote on 2842. i yield back. the chair: the gentleman yields back. the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from minnesota. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the noes have it. the amendment is not agreed to. for what purpose does the gentleman from washington rise?

mr. hastings: i move the committee do now rise. the chair: the question is on the motion that the committee rise. all those in favor say aye. all those opposed, no. the ayes have it. the motion is adopted. accordingly, the committee rises. the speaker pro tempore: mr. chairman. the chair: the committee of the whole house on the state of the union having had under consideration h.r. 2842 directs me to report that it has come to no resolution thereon. the speaker pro tempore: the chair of the committee of the whole house on the state of the union reports that that committee has had under consideration h r. 2842 and has come to no resolution thereon. the chair lays before the house an enrolled bill. the clerk: senate 1710, an act to designate the united states

courthouse located at 222 west seventh avenue, anchorage, alaska, as the james m. fitzgerald united states courthouse. the speaker pro tempore: the chair will entertain requests for one-minutes. for what purpose does the gentleman from indiana rise? >> mr. speaker, ski unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the house will be in order. the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> we are told to mourn with those who mourn and grieve with those who grieve.

mr. pence: mr. speaker, i rise to do so today. across southern indiana in henrysville, marysville and others, hoosier families and communities are picking up the pieces after one of the most deaf straiting -- devastating tornadoes in my lifetime swept through the state. i come to the floor today to pay tribute to the loss and to those who lost their homes and businesses, to pay tribute to the first respoppeders and to the countless thousands of hoosiers who have come alongside their neighbors in this grievous hour. as millions of americans have witnessed on television, these violent storms left utter destruction in their wake across a three-state area. schools, businesses, and homes are reduced to piles of rubble, cars were flipped an thrown about as if they were toys. some communities, as one low kale official said, were, quote, completely gone. in the hoosier state, we lost

13 lives, including an entire family. yet in this dark hour, for so many family with ehear stories of communities coming together to rebuild. despite the snow and coal that followed the storls, we see yen rossity, community spirit in full display. over the coming days, weeks, and months the wounds will heal, debris will be cleared, homes and businesses and barns will be rebuilt. as the federal government makes its assess. today about federal support, we look forward to supporting all freal assistance but i rise today to commend governor daniels, the indiana national guard, the indiana state police, all our first responders and homeland security and community leaders for their decisive leadership in this moment but i also rise today to commend all those who stepped forward to provide a helping hand either with time or talent or treasure. volunteers donating food an clothing and labor.

it is profoundly inspiring and humbling and makes me proud to be a hoosier. may fwod comfort the families of the lost and give strength and comfort to those who will rebuild in the wake of these storms. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. are there other requests for one-minute speeches? under the speaker's announced policy ofian 5, 2011, the gentlewoman from virgin islands, mrs. christensen, is recognized for 60 minutes as designee of the minority leader. mrs. christensen: thank you, mr. speaker. today, as you heard, the house, the congress as a whole, the 10th district of new jersey, our nation, the countries of

africa and the caribbean, of ireland, where he was an honorary citizen, and indeed the world, has suffered a great loss. donnell payne was a friend and advocate for the world and its people, particularly for the sons of africa here and worldwide. tonight i am honored to chair this special order in his honor and to recognize my colleagues from both sides of the aisle who will be coming to pay tribute to donald payne. i'd like to begin by asking unanimous consent that all members might have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the topic of the special order. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mrs. christensen: i'd like to begin by yielding two minutes to the gentleman from minnesota, mr. ellison. mr. ellison: mr. speaker, donald payne played a very special role in my service as a member of congress. i didn't know him nearly as

long as many other members and i guess i probably didn't know him as well, but there's no doubt that as a member coming into congress trying to figure out how to be the best member i could be, donald payne was one of the people who i admired and looked to and no more so than when he was fighting for the human rights of all people. donald payne gave me a new and unique perspective on suffering in darfur, explaining the complexities as it related to making sure that darfurians not only got relief but one day would get justice he didn't stop there. i have a large percentage of my constituents who hail from somalia and donald payne gave me historic perspective on somalia on a regular basis, which i didn't have, and also again helped me understand how difficult it was but how

important ital was that we stand for stability for the people of somalia. in fact, his level of commitment to the people of somalia was so great, he got into an airplane, flew there, an on his way out was actually shot out when someone tried to take his life for showing concern for the people. he travel maryland places and went all around the world. but he also went into my district, as we went to many districts and -- as he went to many districts, and i'll never forget the day when we organized a community forum on east after character we had people from somalia, people from all over who made america home by choice or because they were refugees and for three straight hours, donald payne answered their questions, gave them comfort and assurance and information, and he is a towering figure in my world and

i don't think we'll ever forget donald payne and i just say, may he rest in peace and god bless him and his family. i yield back. mrs. christensen: thank you, congressman ellison. now i would like to yield two minutes to mr. wolf of virginia. mr. wolf: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend. i rise today to pay tribute to the life and legacy of congressman donald payne. as a public servant, he has consistently stood with the forgotten people an causes. he has championed their plight and advocated on their behalf. perhaps none more so than the long-suffering people of southern sudan. for years, he advocated for the people of south sudan who endured great hardship at the hands of the government in khartoum. he was also the leading voice in urging states to divest from companies doing business in sudan in light of the human

rights abuses there. he was author of a congressional resolution calling attention to horrors in darfur. the list goes on and on. i had the honor of being with him in kenya in 2005 for the historic signing of the comprehensive peace agreement which marked the end of a brutal civil war between the north and south which spanned 21 years and claimed the lives of more than two million people. congressman payne labored for years to see that day arrive. no one did more than don payne to bring about the new country which is now the country of southern sue dap. he -- sudan. he fittingly returned to sudan in july of 2007 to join the people in that land in celebrating their long-awaited independence a fulfillment of the promise. upon being chosen to report to the official u.s. delegation, he offered the fol rowing statement he said, as a ranking member on the house foreign

affairs subcommittee on africa, global health and human rights, i have been committed to helping sudan achieve peace and justice. indeed, he was committed. congressman payne worked hard, traveled to the region countless times, experienced the people suffering and then he acted. congressman payne heard the people suffering an never chose to look the other way. my thoughts and prayers are with his family as they grieve, that congress would profoundly -- congress will profoundly miss his voice as will thousands of others around the world. i yield back the balance of my time. mrs. christensen thk thank you -- mrs. christensen: thank you, congressman wolf. i would like to yield two minutes to the congresswoman from texas, congresswoman eddie bernice johnson. ms. eddie -- ms. johnson: thank you an thank you to my colleague from the

vir sin islands. i rise to speak about the los of congressman payne he lost his battle with cancer early this morning and we in congress lost an esteemed colleague. my relationship and acquaintance with congressman payne came before i came to congress in meeting him when he served on the national ymca board and became the chair of the national ymca board. and i know him as a devoted public servant who used his position in congress to advocate for those less fortunate. first as a teacher and later serving on the house committee on education an work force and he was an advocate for children and worked to make college more affordable. as the highest ranking democrat on the foreign affairs subcommittee for africa, global health and human rights worked to promote human rights around the world and helped secure billions of dollars in foreign

aid for treating h.i.v., aids, tuberculosis and malaria. it is difficult to lose a member of the congressional black caucus family. we are a small -- we are small but very connected. congressman payne served the 10th district of new jersey with dedication an served as chair of the congressional black caucus as well my thoughs and prayers are with his family today in this difficult time. i yield back. mrs. christensen: thank you, congressman johnson. now i would like to yield a few minutes to the gentlewoman from the district of columbia, congresswoman eleanor holmes norton. ms. norton: i thank the gentlelady for leading this special order for our good friend and colleague, donnell payne, whose passing leaves me shocked and deeply saddened. after 12 terms of outstanding service in the house of

representatives, don was a friend, he was more than a colleague, he was the kind of friend you could always strike up a conversation with about matters technical or just matters at hand. because don was easy of manner but strong of conviction. don turned out to be a real path breaker and history maker. he came to congress as the first african-american to serve in congress from the state of new jersey, he followed the great peter ridino, who had served newark for decades. newark had become a majority african-american city, but don grew up in a neighborhood that

was as italian as it was black and felt comfortable with people of all ethnic groups. when congressman ridino who was chair of the house judiciary committee, this was before i came to congress but it was much commented upon, don, who had run against him several times, indeed, was the logical person to win that election. and he plunged into his work for a city that needed a man of his depth of understanding and conviction of their problems, their education, their health care, their housing needs, for newark, when congressman -- when the congressman came here 12 terms ago, what personified,

symbolized the great urban communities of our city and the upheavals they were undergoing, he understood that. and he plunged into that work and yet he was able at the same time to become perhaps the house's most expert, most expert member on africa and the caribbean. he was a leader in africa who did not work for the newspapers or the journals but travels the -- but traveled the continent and came back with firsthand information for the congressional black caucus. don was the go-to man. nobody from the caucus moved on a matter affecting africa without going to don first. go to the expert first, find out if you're on the right foot

and then perhaps move forward. don was vigorous in his evaluation of the leadership of the various countries of africa, he never withered when an african leader needed the strong criticism of the united states and his own strong criticism and thus his leadership was trusted all across the congress when he stepped forward with his views. he worked with every president because republican and democratic presidents alike have been ensconced in the issue affecting africa an they, like us, turn to don on those issues. where will we find such a member today? is there such a member who has can he voted so much of his life, not only to urban america, but especially to

africa, who knew everything, knew everyone, and knew anything we needed to know? don will be greatly missed by this chamber. he will always be remembered. i know i speak for us all when i say that his family has our deepest sympathy and our everlasting love. i yield back to the lady. appreciate the time. kristen wiig -- mrs. christensen: thank you, gentlelady. i yield to a congressman from his district, mr. holt. mr. holt: i thank the gentlelady. all of us are saddened about the country's loss of don payne. it's going to be hard to get used to, the absence of don. don's been a good friend to me, someone i've looked up to here

in congress. no one in congress has been a stronger advocate for equality of opportunity and education. no one in congress has been a greater advocate for children services and youth development. no one has been more knowledgeable about africa. no one has voted more consistently for peaceful and nonmilitary resolutions to problems. no one has been more consistent in the fight to respect workers' safety and workers' conditions. and throughout all of this he's been very attentive. don payne was very attentive to the interests of the entire state of new jersey and especially to the interests of his constituents. he was instrumental in bringing international attention and condemnation to the genocide in darfur, as we've heard already. as a former educator, he

brought an invaluable perspective to our work together on the education committee. he was responsible for getting many millions of dollars to the pepfar program, for dealing with h.i.v., resistant t.b., malaria around the world, especially in africa, and i might add he did that with president bush. he was a strong advocate for an adequate minimum wage. he was a key player in writing the college cost reduction and access act, to cut interest rates for college loans, to increase pell grants, to provide loan forgiveness to public service employees with student debt. it was a great pleasure and really a marvel to watch him on the education and labor

committee. don was i think you would say an unabashed liberal, recognizing there are some things that we can do better together than separately. he was not a you're on your own kind of guy. and that was true in person too. very inclusive. good humor and dignity in everything he did. don payne was a good friend, a good member of this house, a great public servant. my thoughts and prayers are with his family and his many friends, and i know his constituents will be hard pressed to find somebody to represent them as well as don payne did. i yield back. mrs. christensen: thank you, congressman holt. and now i'd like to yield two minutes to another colleague

from new jersey, congressman frelinghuysen. mr. frelinghuysen: i thank the gentlewoman for yielding. don payne and i have been friends for over 35 years. we served together in county government as freeholders in new jersey from our respective counties, morris and essex counties, before he preceded me to congress. during his service in this house he worked long and hard on issues that literally cried out for attention. at home we all admired his steadfast commitment to ensuring that our nation's children had the best quality education possible. abroad he focused on global public health, issues like childhood survival and human rights on the continent of africa and elsewhere. don payne took up the cause for suffering people around the world and gave voice to their plight even at great personal risk. mr. speaker, don payne loved

congress. he loved public service. he loved new jersey and he loved his hometown of newark. he was proud to work with him to revitalize the river in newark, that waterfront which for many years had been inaccessible to the public. don will be sorely missed, especially for his leadership to his constituents. i will never forget his valuable service. we lost a great principaled man who lived a life from which we can all learn something. may the tributes and prayer of so many of his colleagues here this afternoon today be a source of strength to his family. and i yield back the balance of my time. thank you. mrs. christensen: thank you for joining us and for offering those words on behalf of congressman payne. i now like to yield two minutes to the congresswoman from

california, another dear friend of congressman payne, lynn woolsey. ms. woolsey: mr. speaker, i rise to pay tribute to a man i loved, a man i respected, a friend for life and a mentor. when i came to congress i couldn't have picked a better mentor. a public school teacher from new jersey. someone kind and smart, dedicated. actually burning in his belly about issues of value and conscience. i served on congressman payne's africa subcommittee. he served on my work force protection subcommittee. on both panels i benefited from his wisdom, advice and expertise. on the africa subcommittee i was always amazed at how much and who he knew. this is a man who knew what public service was all about. as he describes himself, a

mild-mannered man but he was also tenacious, dedicated and stubborn. no one has worked harder to bring peace, democracy and human rights to africa. he almost gave his life for the cause a few years ago when his plane was shot by rebels as he prepared to come home after a somalia mission. actually the state department had warned him against. as change continues and as change continues to come particularly to africa in the coming years, we'll all remember the role that donald payne played in laying the groundwork and helping make that change happen. a true statesman and a humanitarian, donald's death this morning already leaves an indescribable void. donald payne had a huge heart and a keen mind, and believe me, i will miss them both. thank you.

mrs. christensen: thank you, congresswoman woolsey. now i'd like to yield two minutes to another colleague from new jersey, congressman lance. mr. lance: thank you very much, and thank you for yielding. the payne family occupies a fabled position in the history of newark, new jersey's largest and greatest city. the whole family has been involved in public service and, of course, congressman payne's public service here is of almost a quarter century duration. congressman payne succeeded congressman raoux dino, the -- rudino, the distinguished chairman of the house judiciary committee at the time of watergate, well-known in american history. congressman rodino succeeded congressman hartley who was the

congressman from that part of new jersey for a generation. he, the author, with senator taft of the taft-hartley act. and so over the course of the 20th century in the district that has been represented by congressman payne for a quarter century, the providence of that district is fred hartley, a republican of the taft-hartley act, peter rodino, the distinguished chairman of the judiciary committee during watergate, and now for 24 years, donald payne. the character of this district is the character of this nation and certainly the character of the great city of newark over the course of the 20th and into the 21th crntry. the -- century. the payne family not only includes the distinguished congressman but his father, bill payne, with whom i had the

honor of serving in the new jersey legislature, and his brother, bill and i worked together in the creation of the apple stead commission in -- amestead commission in new jersey. that commission dealing with the work of the great amestead trial, based upon the mutiny in 1839 of a slave ship, so brilliantly defended by john quincy adams, whose portrait hangs 10 feet from the entrance to the house of representatives, and in working with congressman payne's brother, bill payne, in the new jersey legislature i got to know the payne family and certainly through his brother, bill, i got to know the congressman and what a great honor for me to have served here in the congress with don payne. mr. speaker, finally, several

days before martin luther king was assassinated in memphis, he was in newark and he was in newark at the request of leaders there including donald payne and william payne. and among the most prized possessions of the payne family are photographs of martin luther king taken days before his assassination as the paynes were attempting to bring about justice in the city of newark and certainly no member of the house of representatives was more committed to justice, not only here in this country and within this country in the city of newark, in the state of new jersey, but justice across the world so that children in poverty could have a decent quality of health care and has been cited the congressman almost lost his life in that

regard. the country is poorer for the loss of donald payne, but this country is greater for his public service, his public service on the governing body of the city of newark, his public service as county commissioner. we use the term freeholder. in essex county, new jersey, his public service to the entire state and i respectfully suggest to the united states of america. we mourn his loss but we celebrate his life. thank you, mr. speaker, and i yield back the balance of my time. mrs. christensen: thank you so much, congressman lance. now i'd like to yield to congresswoman maxine waters, who i believe succeeded donald payne as chairperson of the congressional black caucus. ms. waters: thank you very much. i appreciate your organizing this time for us to come to the floor and to speak about our

friend, donald payne. we're also sad and we're going to miss him, but we also know that the service that he gave to this country, even long before he came to the congress of the united states and the service that he's given to this country since being a member of congress is unmatched. donald payne was a true servant who not only served his state of new jersey but donald payne was someone who took care of his district. when i take a look at all of the compass its that he served in in the state of new jersey, i am just in awe. counting democratic chairman, executive of the prudential insurance company, vice president of urban broader systems and educator for new york public school districts, a former national president of the ymca, chairman of the world

refugee and rehabilitation committee. it goes on and on and on. and he brought with him to congress the same attitude, the same commitment to service. and since his service in congress, of course, he left us as chair of the congressional black caucus foundation. he served as the chair of the congressional black caucus. immediately to my being elected to this congressional black caucus, and i learned a lot from his service about how to chair the congressional black caucus. don payne was known for several things, but certainly known and respected for his commitment to education, closing the achievement gap, making sure that we expand opportunities for the least of these with pell grants, making sure that he reduced the interest rates

on loans, stanford loans, for example. he was known because he understood that as a public policymaker he could influse education in this country -- influence education in this country and he certainly did that. but also would like to point to his record of achievement serving as chair of the africa subcommittee of the foreign affairs committee where he was the expert unmatched. as a matter of fact, donald payne traveled to africa, east africa, west africa throughout his career, and he knew all of these countries on the continent and he knew the leaders, past and present. as a matter of fact, don didn't wait for a could he delve a lot of people to be -- codel of a lot of people. don would get on the airplane, a one-person codel and travel,

set up his own meetings with the leaders of those countries, talk with them about what was taking place in those countries and get such an understanding of what needed to be done and he coupled all of this with the history of the countries of africa. he was a teacher, he was a historian and so he knew a lot about the backgrounds of these countries because he studied that and so when he couplehood that information with what was going on at the present time that he was visiting and working on the issues in those countries, he made it all come together and he helped us all to understand. he was our got g-to person. when we wanted to know what was going on and some people who were not that involved in foreign afarnsde in africa, they just followed his vote. when they looked up on that panel, they looked at how don payne was voting and then they followed his leadership.

and so we're going miss that leadership. we're going to miss that dedication, we're going to miss this mild-mannered man who loved his job, who loved his district and i'm always going to remember that he invited me to his district on several occasions. i went up with don, i campaigned with him, i went about the community, he introduced me to the ministers and he was well respected and loved in his district and of course we all know why. because he was dedicated to the district. and did he so much for the district. and of course the district is going to miss don payne. it will be hard to match the work that he did and his success and his achievements and we're going to remember each time we're involved in some of the same issues that don was involved in, we're going to ask ourselves, what would don have done? and we're going to follow the thinking of don payne on those issues. i yield back the balance of my time.

>> thank you, congresswoman waters. i'd now like to yield two minutes to the gentleman from texas, congressman green. mr. green: i thank the lady. mr. speaker, it is said that a politician will always rise to the occasion and the honorable don payne did rise to the occasion on many occasions. but it is also said that a statesman makes the occasion. don payne was more than a politician, he was a statesman. he made the occasion in darfur where he went there to make sure those who were suffering among the very least, among the very last and the lost, such that they would have an opportunity to have a better quality of life and he was to this day still working to help the people of darfur. he made the occasion when it came to aids, $50 million, $50

million to help those who are beset with this disease. he made the occasion when it came to working with his colleagues, pulling us together, helping us to unite, to do things collectively that we could never do apart. he developed a symbiotic relationship among his many relationships. when i think of dond payne i will always remember that he was a person of honor. he honored his word to his friends, his word meant something. but more importantly he honored his word to fools. people who disagreed with him. once they had his word, they had a word they could count on. i will remember that he was a person who respected this institution. this institution meant something to the honorable don payne. what this institution stood for and how we could utelies this institution, to make a difference in the lives of others, was important to him.

he was a person of valor. he would stand with you, he was determined, he was a fighter, he came understand fire i'm told in africa, as he was trying to help others. and finally i will say this, i truly do believe that god is good all the time. even under circumstances such as these. i believe that god is good. because we didn't have to have him for 7 years. we didn't have doctor 77 years. we zript to have him in this house for 12 terms. i didn't have to have him as a friend for eight years. i believe that god is good all the time and i am so proud that god allowed him to come this way and i had the benefit of calling him my friend. don, we love you and i know that wherever you are, there is a statesman there who is making the occasion. i yield back the balance of my time. mrs. christensen: thank you, congressman green. and now i'd like to yield two minutes to another colleague

from new jersey and friend of donald payne, congressman. >> thank you very much, i appreciate you yielding. let me just join my distinguished colleagues in expressing our deepest condole ebses to don payne's family. he is truly a remarkable man. i had the privilege of sitting next to him for about 15 years. mr. smith: i was the chairman or he was the chairman of the human rights committee, the african america as well, i was his ranking, he was my chairman. and we always worked in a very cooperative way. we always had mutual respect and he had such a deep compassion for the people who have suffered so much on the you subcontinent of africa. he was quiet but always determined. extremely thoughtful. a humanitarian in the extreme. and he fought for so many important issues. you know, it was not a slam dunk or in any way a given that the president's emergency plan for aids relief would become law. don was there working in a bipartisan way to ensure that

sufficient funding, sufficient authorities were given to the u.s. agency for international development to mount a massive effort to combat the pandemic of hiv-aids. the did the same thing with malaria, as co-chairman of the malaria cawcurks and he did the same thing with tuberculosis which is be a opportunistic disease that afflicts so many people who have hiv-aids. on the sudan peace act, again, when we were looking and working so hard to try to stop the slaughter in south sudan, there was don payne work every day of the week to ensure that somehow peace would break out and the genocide would end there as well as in darfur. again, i know that he cared deeply because i was there, having those conversations with him day in and day out. very often on my subcommittee on human rights, when i chaired that and he was a member, ranking member, we would go on for hours, there would be one person in the room, he and i, two of us, really, because he

cared so deeply about human rights globally as well as in africa. he will be deeply missed. again, a great man, a great friend and his passing is mourned by everyone in this chamber and everybody in the state of new jersey. so, god bless him, god bless his family and thank you, don payne, for the great work you did in the u.s. haas house of representatives. i yield back to my friend. mrs. christensen: thank you. i'd like to yield two minutes to the gentleman from michigan, congressman clark. mr. clarke: i want to thank the gentlewoman from the virgin islands for yielding time to me. i'm one of the newest members of the congressional black caucus, being a freshman here in this body you become immediately aware of the traditions of the house. for example, male members of the

house are referred to as the gentleman from the state that they represent. donald payne was a the gentleman, not because he was elected to congress, but because he was a good, decent human being. he welcomed me with open arms as a new guy from detroit that very few in the house even knew about. less than two weeks ago, donald payne returned a call that i had placed to him. we had a short but gracious conversation and i knew after i hung up the phone that i would see him soon, right here in the halls of congress. but that never came to pass. the lesson is clear to all of us. our time, our life here on earth is very fleeting. let's do everything we can to cherish each moment.

not necessarily to pursue a wild ambition or to do a lot of things, but just to be like donald payne, respecting others, caring for others. that's what he stood for. i yield back my time. mrs. christensen: thank you, congressman clark. and now i would like to yield two minutes to the gentlelady from florida, congresswoman ros-lehtinen. mr. ross: thank you so much. i thank the gentlelady for yielding me this time. and just a few hours ago, as we know, we lost a dear friend, an esteemed and honor and respected colleague, congressman don payne of new jersey. don was a proud member of the new jersey delegation. he was a faithful servant to his constituents. for more than two decades he served them in this body. he was also a committed member of our foreign affairs committee and he was chairman and the

ranking democrat on the subcommittee on africa, global health and human rights and in that capacity he showed us his unwavering commitment to fithe diseases worldwide -- to fighting diseases worldwide but especially in africa. he show shone the light on -- he shone the light on human rights abuse throughout the world. and don's tireless efforts provided a voice for the afflicted and for the oppressed. we are saddened as an institution, as a body, and as friends by the loss of such a courageous and loyal and conscientious public servant. don will be greatly missed by our foreign affairs committee because he was such a tireless advocate for the causes of which he felt such passion. and he will be missed here on

the house floor because he was ever-present whenever there was an important issue to be debated. he will be missed in his home state of new jersey where he was so revered and respected by the constituents whom he so faithfully served. and he will be missed especially by the thousands and indeed countless people whom we will never know who he inspired and he impacted throughout his tenure and long career in public service. so without a doubt, congressman don payne's contributions will be remembered for many years to come and our prayers and our thoughts are with all of the members of the payne family and all of the people whom he touched in a very special way. i thank the gentlelady for the time and i yield back and in our foreign affairs committee tomorrow we will hold a special remembrance for congressman don

payne. i yield back. thank you. mrs. christensen: thank you, congresswoman. now i'd like to yield two minutes to the gentleman from american samoa, congressman faleomavaega. faleomavaega mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to ex -- mr. faleomavaega: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consen to revise and extend my remarks. i want to -- consent to revise and extend my remarks. payne was my classmate. we sat next to each other for the past 23 years as members of the house foreign affairs committee. we were talking about the situation where it looked very interesting as proud americans and yet we knew something was missing in terms of the activities of how our foreign policies had come about in doing things, that our relationship

with other countries. so don payne was committed to looking after the needs of those , our foreign policies toward africa. my commitment was to find out what our foreign policies toward the asia-pacific region. and i wanted to share this little interesting thought with my colleagues. when don payne and i first became members of the house foreign affairs committee, on the end of the numbers wanted to be object the asia-pacific and africa subcommittees. the mentality here in washington was entirely towards europe and the middle east. being members of these two subcommittees was almost like the pit, they were not even on the radar screen. wasn't even given any real sense of priority or interest. i want to say to my colleagues that it has been a truly honor -- been truly an honor to sit next to my brother don payne and to commit to the idea as a champion and advocate for the needs of the poor, great champion of the human rights

throughout the world, not just towards africa, but all other regions of the world, don payne and i worked on the polite of the needs of the people of west papua-new guinea. i always remembered don payne's admonition to me every time we discussed issues about fairness and equality. he said, any -- let me just remind of you of what martin luther king jr. once said. in the end, we will not remember the words of our enminutes, but the silence of our friends -- enemies but the silence of our friends and i thinks so -- it's so true. you can't just sit back and just let things go by. we've got to be out there being proactive, express ideas that will solve the many issues and the problems that we are faced with, not only in our own country, but throughout the world. i want to express my deepest sympathies and condolences to

my brother, congressman don payne. blessed are the peace makers for they shall be called the children of god. this truly was a peacemaker whom i had the honor and privilege of witnessing his life as an example, not only to our colleagues, but certainly to the members of the american -- to the american people. both by his deed and by his conduct, don payne was truly a statesman and his voice will be surely missed in the years to come. mr. speaker, i am so happy to see that so many of my colleagues are here to payible special tribute to this great man, a gentle man, and with such -- setting tremendous example, helping other people well and i want to wish him well. and we have a saying in my culture. may you have a good voyage.

i yield back. mrs. christensen: thank you, mr. faleomavaega. now, i'd like to yield to the gentlelady from illinois, congressman jan schakowsky. ms. schakowsky: thank you for this opportunity to speak about a really good friend of mine, don payne. when i heard that his situation was grave, i gave a call to his brother, bill, who i have gotten to know on trips that he and don took, and had the privilege that of speaking with don. he was in hospice. this was just a couple days ago. and i was able to tell him how much i loved him and able to tell him that i hoped that he found peace and comfort in the knowledge that he helped so many people in this world. don payne was a real citizen of the world. a quiet and dignified

gentleman. he had a fierce commitment to justice and human rights everywhere. he was the de facto ambassador to africa. no one in this congress knew or cared more for the people of africa. he also personally knew the leaders and they knew and respected him. his knowledge and his relationships will leave a big hole here. he was the go-to person if you wanted to know anything about what was going on, the political situation or who was who on the continent. don payne was the one to go to. as i said, i was able to travel with don and bill to many places around the world, and always listened carefully as everyone did when don spoke with the kind of knowledge that he had about all things dealing with foreign relations, with all things dealing with human

rights. so my heart goes out to my good friend, bill payne, to the children and grandchildren and one great grandchild of donald payne, my beloved friend who i'll miss so much. thank you so much. mrs. christensen: thank you, congresswoman schakowsky. i'd like to yield two minutes, another colleague from new jersey, congressman bill pascrell. mr. pascrell: mr. speaker, ladies and gentlemen, the house has lost a real advocate, a person who respected this institution, one that understood what it was. so i know i speak for all of us when i say our condolences to the family and our condolences

to his constituents. he served most distinctly. rather than tell you some things i was going to prepare myself and my relationship with donald, i got a letter this afternoon and i think it's appropriate if i read this letter on the floor of the house because it tells us donald payne was not just interested in africa. his interests as a humanitarian went beyond that. jerry adams has spoken of the deep sadness of the death of united states congressman donald payne. on behalf of shang fang and all of those in ireland who met donald payne, he expressed his

sympathy to congressman's children and family. this is what jerry adams said. he was an advocate for the civil rights, equality and democracy. my friends, just think, a man of valor, very courageous person, jerry adams, this is how close we are in the tribe of humanity and how many times we fail to recognize it. i met donald payne many times, both in washington and in ireland. he was always very interested in ireland. visited the north before the cessations in the mid 1990's. donled was very supportive of the irish peace process from

the beginning and was a regular participant in briefings which i and other visitors gave to political leaders on capitol hill. was also a frequent member of congressional delegations that visited ireland. donald was also the -- in short strand which he visited at a time when efforts were being made to force controversial marches through these districts. his experience as a civil rights campaigner resonated with his audience in west belfast when he spoke there during the west belfast field on the issue of equality and anti-discrimination legislation

, during the mcbaseline principles, he remarked, i and other members of the congressional black caucus can easily identify with catholic minorities. i recognize many similarities and how they are treated without people here were treated. donald was a thoughtful, he was a generous, well-informed politician who was personally dedicated to improving conditions for others and worked diligently on behalf of his constituents and of his party. he will be remembered with gratitude and real affection for his support at difficult and dangerous times in ireland. difficult and dangerous times all over the world. he will be sadly missed by his constituents, by people the world over and i want to extend regrets and deepest sympathy to his family and his friends.

may he rest in peace and may all of his friends gather in this institution that he loved so well. thank you. mrs. christensen: thank you, congressman pascrell. thank you for bringing the sympathies of sinn fein to the floor. i now like to yield two minutes to the person who served with don for quite a while on the foreign affairs committee, chairman dan burton of indiana. mr. burton: i thank the gentlelady for yielding. you know, we judge as congressmen, our colleagues based upon their ability and how hard they work, but the thing i liked about don payne as a colleague with whom i worked for 24 years on the foreign affairs committee was he was a nice guy. he was really a nice guy. even when we had our

differences, and there were many, when we served on the africa subcommittee together, we would debate and then we walked together down the hall and talk as friends and still discuss our differences but we did it in such a friendly way, and i really liked the guy. you know, one of the things i think so important is we really don't get to know each other too much in this place. you have 435 of us and people come who are wealthy and some who are very poor. some who came from bad beginnings and tough beginnings and some who came from the top, and we don't get to know each other very well. but i know don payne because i knew don payne because he worked so hard for the people he represented in newark, and he really fought for them. he wanted a garage in newark because of the business downtown, and i remember i fought him on that garage, and we were able to stop it. and i think one of the things

i'll regret the day i leave this place is that i topped that garage because i think don payne as the kind of guy he was, really felt like it was needed for newark and don, if you you're listening, if i had a chance i'd vote differently on that thing. but anyhow, he was a nice guy. he was a credit to the congress of the united states and everybody who knew him. i'd like to say to his family, we -- i extend our deepest sympathy, as the other speakers have said, but i also like to say that to his staff. i know his staff is going through a difficult time right now as well as his family, so i want to extend my deepest sympathy to them as well. thank you for yielding me the time and i yield back. mrs. christensen: thank you, chairman burton. at this time i'd like to yield two minutes to another colleague from new jersey, congressman rob andrews. mr. andrews: i thank my friend for yielding. sometimes the quietest voices

are the ones that have the greatest impact. donald payne always spoke quietly, humbly, but as we reflect on his life, the impact is monumental. tonight, there are villages in africa where people have self-determination, human dignity, education, health care because of the impact of his voice and his life. there are people working in the city of newark, in the county of essex and union and hudson because of businesses he helped to bring and schools he helicopter to build and progress he helped make. there are, as we heard my friend, bill pascrell, talk about there are people in ireland from very different hair damages and backgrounds that -- heritages and backgrounds that are celebrating his life because of the reach of his help.

and i think most importantly the impact of his voice is the hollowness and sorrow that we all feel in this institution because the quietness of his voice brought us together at times of discord and stress. donald believed passionately in his progressive ideology, but he believed with equal passion intolerance for those who disputed it. donald fought fiercely for the causes in which he and i believed, and he and others believed, but he never fought the rights of others to express differing views. he cared very personally about his causes, but he never took personally those who disagreed with him. this is a lesson that we should learn and abide by in this institution in years to come because it makes us better people and it makes our institution stronger.

later this week, it is a remarkable thing, that this humble young man this school teacher, a leader in the ymca, who at the beginning of his career lost many more elections than he won, lost two elections for the county executive position, lost multiple attempts to become elected to this house of representatives. someone from those humble beginnings that world leaders will come to a place of worship in the city of newark to commemorate his life. but i think what's more indicative of donald's contribution is as those world leaders come through newark, airport, into the city of that donald loved there will be january ters and school teachers and -- janitors and school teachers and truck drivers and daycare providers and laborers and electricians and americans of all walks of life. people of all walks of life who

will know and acknowledge the great impact of this quiet voice. his voice has sadly been stilled but let us celebrate the fact that his impact will live in our world, in our country, in our institution and in our hearts forever. may god bless his family and comfort them at this time of affliction. mrs. christensen: thank you, congressman andrews. at this time i'd like to yield two minutes to the gentleman from georgia, congressman john lewis. mr. lewis: mr. speaker, i want to thank the gentlelady from -- the gentlelady for yielding. i rise today to honor the memory of our beloved colleague, the distinguished the gentleman from the state of new jersey, donald payne. today we have lost a wonderful and good friend and the people of new jersey have lost a

fearless leader and advocate. any american can be elected to public office, but not everyone can serve with dignity and great respect. donald payne, my friend, my brother, enjoyed the admiration of his colleagues because he led by example and through quiet determined diplomacy he accomplished a great deal. a deep sensitivity to the human condition were at the center of all he did. his work was an extension of the belief that each of us has a responsibility to serve one another. and that we must use the power and resources of a great nation to relieve the burdens of the poor, the oppressed, the hungry and the sick. as a public school teacher willing to unlock the power of keadcation to free those -- education to free those who were

struggling in the urban areas of america and he was a tireless advocate for the people of africa because a heartfelt compassion guided all that he did. in a time when the needs of the poor are hardly spoken, when the cries of the locked out and left behind are rarely heard, the chamber will deeply miss a gentle statesman with a heart that was big enough to serve all human kind. the thoughts and prayers of the people of the fifth district of georgia and many members of this congress are with his family, staff and friends as they move through a difficult time. just know that donald payne's loved and he will be deeply missed. not only by the people of the 10th district of new jersey, but by people around this nation and all around the world. thank you. mrs. christensen: we're coming

close to the end of our hour. i think our colleague will probably yield us some time. but i'd like to close out this particular hour with -- i'd like to ask unanimous consent if we could extend the hour for -- to allow the members who are on the floor to speak. the speaker pro tempore: the chair cannot extend the hour. but understand that the gentleman from tennessee can continue. under the speaker's announced policy of january 5, 2011, the gentleman from tennessee, mr. roe, is recognized for 60

minutes as the designee of the ma jort leader -- majority leader. mr. roe: i will -- your next speaker, i would yield to your next speaker. mrs. christensen: the next speaker would be congressman cleaver, the chair of the congressional black caucus. mr. cleaver: mr. speaker, this is not one of the highlights of stepping into the well of the house. this is a moment that does not yield great joy. at least not for what just happened in terms of the death of my friend and my colleague, donald payne. there is, however, some joy and the joy is related to the fact

that i had the opportunity to know donald payne. and i believe that my life was enriched because of it. during his final days here in washington, i had a number of conversations with him at georgetown hospital where i tried to and was successful at least in a couple of occasions to get him to laugh, even as he experienced excruciating pain in his hospital bed. donald payne can be observed by all members of the house and from that observation we can

extract something that can make this place better. donald payne was about as good and decent a human being as has ever walked the halls of this stately house. at a time when many elected officials believe that acidic language, acura moany -- acramony and red meat discussions is the order of the day, donald payne was firm, soft-spoken and respectful. no matter what happened you could count on donald payne

being calm through it. except on one occasion, which i will not talk about on the floor. we'll talk about later. but not here. but donald payne was a man who was as peaceful in private as he was in committee or even on the floor. he had a passion for the dies pra and i joked with him that everywhere i've ever gone in the diaspera, people asked about him. just one week before he died, one week, representatives from brazil was inviting members of the congressional black caucus to come to brazil to meet with their caucus and they would send members here.

before the meeting ended, as i knew what whoa happen, he asked -- as i knew would happen, he asked -- and don't believe there is a -- an elected official or a king or a prince or anyone who does not know the name of donald payne. and what i hope will happen is one of the members will pick up the mantle and delve into the issues and matters of foreign relations as has donald payne. somebody needs to step up to the plate and do that. i hate cancer, i hate cancer. i can't think of a human being that i hate but i hate cancer. and in my hatred of cancer, i have come to the realization

that all of us are temporary. that we are not permanent createures, no matter how strong and healthy we feel we are, we are all temporary. and if we understand our temporaryness, it might inspire us to be just a little better, a little kinder, a little nicer, a little more receptive to others. because we are temporary. at least in this place. now, i conclude by saying that life must end but death is not a cul-de-sac. it leads somewhere. and if donald payne is not there , that door must be locked and the rest of us can give up.

he was about as good and decent and loving a human being who walked these halls and i'm glad that god gave me the chance to know him. mr. roe: now i'd like to yield time to the minority leader from california, ms. pelosi. ms. pelosi: thank you, mr. roe, for yielding. i thank you and thank our colleague, congresswoman christensen, for taking this special order today. so that we can sing the praises of a great man, our colleague, dear friend, precious person, donald payne. i waited -- i said i wanted to go after mr. cleaver because i didn't know how i was going to even have the strength to come to the floor because this is a personal as well as official loss to many of us here and he is always a source of strength to us, putting in perspective the from a jilt of life and the

-- fragility of life and the contribution of all of our colleagues, especially when we are left with the life of service and leadership with someone like donds payne. there are very few people you can say is like donald payne because he was exceptional and unique. reverend cleaver says we have to fill in where and take his mantle, that will be -- would be almost impossible to do. over a lifetime in public service and a long time in the congress of the united states, donald payne gained standing on issues that takes years to do. but he did teach us along the way, he gave us guidance on what paths to follow, what clues to recognize and to get right thing. -- and doing the right thing. whether it was in the content of asia, latin america, wherever it was, and in our own country. i had the privilege of traveling

with donald payne when we were going to darfur and he didn't want to go to the sue dab, he'd been there many -- sudan, he'd been there many times, but he was at that moment boycotting the regime in khartoum because of how they treated their people there, while we were in khartoum he was in -- and in darfur he was in ethiopia and somalia and the rest, always working, always working to have policy advice to all of us and caring about what the impact that have policy was on people. it was interesting to us, on that same trip to africa, which many members of the congressional black caucus were on, including our distinguished assistant leader, mr. clyburn, when we went to liberia, it was a boiling hot day. boiling hot day. and we all went to the a.m.e. college there and that the time the a.m.e. university and they

were honoring donald payne for his everything. for what he knew about africa, for the values and how he was concerned about, get, -- again, policy as it related to people, the knowledge that he had, the great wisdom that sprang from that knowledge, the plans that he always had to make things better, and the way people just flocked to him because they would learn, they would be inspired and they would love