i think it is now, as we saw just occurring a few days ago with the welcoming home of their bodies, that america drew together and to show that we are united around those who have fallen in battle and those who have served. to express our deepest respect and of course our deepest honor for them. i will go forth to work harder, to ensure that we are protected with secure offices and embassies and enhance security for those who are willing to put themselves on the front line. i think this is appropriate in conjunction with h.r. -- with this present legislation, h.r. 5044, that helps our fallen veterans as well. i thank my colleagues for yielding and the time, mr. mcdermott, and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from washington reserves his time. the gentleman from texas, mr. johnson, reserves. mr. johnson: i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: continues to reserve. the gentleman from washington, mr. mcdermott. mr. mcdermott: i assume, mr.

speaker, that the majority's prepared to close? mr. speaker, i don't think there's anybody on this floor who has any objection to what we tried to do here for the carpenters. i think that the question really is, why do we not have regular order in the house of representatives? this bill was so hastenly drafted that the original version did not even cover the car pen terse. had -- carpenters. had to be amended to cover them. now, that comes because you don't have hearings, that comes because you don't have witnesses come in and tell you how it works. we witnessed a rather sad event in libya just the other day.

i was a foreign service officer, and i felt very strongly the feeling of sadness and grief when foreign service officers died. suppose one of them had an outstanding student loan signed for their parents while they went to georgetown school of whatever, the fact that this bill covers that line of duty? no. so now we're taking one little narrow class and we're drawing one narrow little bill when in fact a lot of people who in the line of duty it killed and debt forgiveness makes sense as it does for the carpenters and for

the families who co-signed the loan. when your son or daughter goes off to college and you sign a loan with them, you don't expect them to die, but you certainly aren't going to withhold your signature if that's the only way your son or daughter gets an opportunity to pay for college. but this bill says service connected and doesn't define service connected and only if it's in the military. there are a lot of other people who serve this country, police officers, firemen, foreign service officers, a lot of people who was not considered when this bill was brought before us. was not brought before the committee. just popped up on the floor as a unanimous consent bill.

now, this congress has been the most do-nothing congress in the history of the country. less hearings. less bills. but we have had 302 votes in this congress to reduce regulations on the environment. we found time for every fifth vote in the last two years has been to reduce regulations for protecting the environment. we couldn't have hearings on something like this because we were busy doing things like that. we spent 33 times trying to repeal the affordable care act. we simply have not dealt with the problems that face this country. there's another issue that ought to be before the committee. it's as important perhaps as this issue. perhaps affects more people. that's the debt forgiveness that comes by the money that banks reduce the principal of

loans. now, if you have a lon for $300,000 and you have to refinance it and you go and it's -- your house is only worth $200,000, you're out of luck. your house is underwater. now, the bank can reduce the principal down to $200,000. they can grant you $100,000 forgiveness, but you know what happens when that happens? that $100,000 appears on your doorstep as income in the next tax cycle. that provision is -- we have an exemption for that presently, but it's expiring in january, and we simply have not even brought that issue up. there are thousands of people out there with foreclosures on their homes who are being socked or will be socked by debt forgiveness by banks. those are the kinds of other issues that should have been dealt with. everyone's going to vote for this bill. i suspect that unless

republicans want to vote on it for p.r. purposes it will go without a sound. none of us are going to ask for a vote because it's obvious that this is one of those places where you want to make sure that a family who gives their son or their daughter does not get socked with a debt on top of it. i urge my colleagues to vote for this but urge the leadership on the other side to think about having hearings and re-establishing the regular order in the house so that we can answer some of the questions that are about this bill and think about many of the other issues that we have not dealt with. we're within two days at the end of this congress. we have thousands of issues. everybody knows that november and december are going to be terrible because we're going to be right back here trying then to deal on the back of a galloping horse with a huge number of issues that have not

been dealt with by the shortest congress, the least hearings, the least bills passed. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from washington, mr. mcdermott, yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from texas, mr. johnson, is recognized. mr. johnson: thank you, mr. chairman. i appreciate our guys fighting for us. mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous materials on h.r. 5044, as amended, currently under consideration. i urge my colleagues -- the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. johnson: thank you. i urge my colleagues to support this bill, and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas yields back his time. all time having been yielded back, the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 5044, as amended. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no.

in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 having responded in the affirmative -- the gentleman from tennessee. >> 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 and the chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be postponed.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, i move to suspend the rules and pass h.r. 2903, as amended. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 2903, a bill to re-authorize the programs and activities of the federal emergency management agency. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from california, mr. denham, and the gentlewoman from the district of columbia, ms. norton, will each control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from california, mr. denham. mr. denham: 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 h.r. 2903, as amended. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. denham: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. denham: mr. speaker, i ask

unanimous consent that the exchange of letters between the committee on transportation and infrastructure and the committee on homeland security be included in the congressional record. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. denham: h.r. 2903, the fema re-authorization act, would re-authorize fema and make important reforms that will save money and speed up disaster recovery. it keeps fema funding at current levels, it fully complies with the house budget rules and includes bipartisan provisions passed by the house last congress. this legislation is a product of key members working together to produce real reforms. first shall let me thank chairman john mica, chairman of the transportation and infrastructure committee, for his strong leadership and work on this legislation. i also want to thank ranking member norton of the subcommittee for her help on drafting legislation that protects our first responders, incorporates real reforms and strengthens our emergency management capability. the legislation also incorporates the top priority

of the ranking member of the full committee, mr. rahall, which enables indian tribes to request disaster declarations, provisions i support. i thank him for his work on these important provisions. i also want to thank chairman king of the committee on homeland security, and bilirakis of the subcommittee on emergency preparedness response and communications, for their leadership and working with us on the integrated public alert and public warning systems of the bill. i look forward to working with the department of homeland security on other important issues. finally, i want to thank the gentleman from new york, mr. hanna and mr. carnahan, for their leadership on re-authorizing the national dam safety legislation included in this bill. i'm also pleased that this legislation has wide support from key stakeholders representing first responders, state and local officials, tribal communities and the private sector. we received letters endorsing provisions in this bill from the national emergency management association, the international association of emergency managers, the national alliance of state

broadcasters association, the national associations of broadcasters and the national association of counties, the association of state dam safety officials, the disaster recovery contractors associations, the national task force representative for the 28 sponsoring agencies of the urban search and rescue task forces and tribal communities around the nation. the transportation and infrastructure committee has a long tradition of approaching fema and emergency management issues in a bipartisan manner. disasters don't follow political boundaries and ensuring we are prepared is critical to our nation. from major hurricanes to floods, earthquakes, tornados, wildfires, nuclear accidents and terrorist attacks, the cost of disasters can be significant, not just in terms of economic costs but in the devastation of lives, homes and communities. a good response to a disaster is critical to saving lives and

minimizing damage, but recovering such devastation is the key to rebuilding local economies and helping people put their lives back together. after hurricane katrina, congress authorized fema for the first time and fundamentally reformed the nation's disaster response system. congress rebuilt fema and strengthened disaster response capabilities. we created a national preparedness system so that states and the federal government will have the plans and resources in place before disaster strikes. but as the reconstruction from hurricane katrina dragged on and on and on, it became apparent congresseeded to streamline the disaster recovery program so that communities can rebuild faster and for less money. the longer it takes to rebuild basic infrastructure after a disaster the longer it takes for a local economy and tax base to recovery and the more it costs the federal taxpayers. the fema re-authorization act includes key reforms to save money by cutting through costly

bureaucratic red tape and speeding up reconstruction. for example, at one of our subcommittee hearings last year, the mptor general's office testified -- inspector general's office testified that if they estimated the mitigation act, recovery could be sped up significantly and costs minimized. h.r. 2903 sets deadlines for fema to finally implement these commonsense provisions and makes other changes that will save taxpayers money. this bill also would make other important reforms, including setting a clear framework for the development of the integrated public alert and warning system, the ipaws system, to ensure money is not wasted. the g.a.o. issued a report in 2009 dealing the key problems with fema's development of ipaws. we also heard from many stakeholders, including people with disabilities, the elderly and industries like the commercial broadcasters and wireless industry that fema was not giving them a seat at the table as fema modernized the

system. h.r. 2903 sets a clear framework and deadlines to ensure key stakeholders is part of the modernization system. this is critical in ensuring there are effective alerts and warnings to the public. in addition to these commonsense reforms, this re-authorizes fema's overall management budget, the urban search and rescue system and the emergency management assistance compact. this legislation will save lives, save money and help communities devastated by disasters recover and rebuild faster. i urge my colleagues to support h.r. 2903, as amended, and i reserve the balance of my time. . the the gentleman from california reserves. the gentlewoman is recognized. ms. norton: i want to thank the chairman for the bipartisan

measures. this bill contains measures for the public alert and warning system and a number of others. so i rise in support of h.r. 2903, the bipartisan measure authorizes the federal emergency management agency, fema, and authorizes an integrated public alert and warning system. reauthorizes fema and includes many provisions that were incorporated into similar legislation in past congresses and i'm pleased to see them once again come to the floor and perhaps get this through the house and senate, because these are noncontroversial matters. despite broad support for this measure, we are disappointed for

the authorized funding for fema and disaster assistance program. instead of evaluating the needs of the agency and its programs and then establishing the maximum amount that would be appropriate, the transportation and infrastructure committee, through this bill, is essentially defined to the appropriations committee, to tell the authorizers how do their job by authorizing amounts equal to the less appropriated amounts. let me be clear, however, if we authorize the maximum amounts that could be needed, the budget deficit would not be increased. the amount authorized merely specifies need, while the actual amounts appropriated affects the amount spent. if the authorizers -- it's the

appropriations, the people who have to decide how to divide the funds, once need is assessed, to decide how much the country can afford to spend. they need our expert guidance and don't have it in this bill. i would also like to call attention to a few important changes included in this legislation, for example, h.r. 2903 improves many of fema's programs and activities, including codifying the debris removal program. the current debris removal program is based on a pilot program from several years ago. we have heard firsthand from local governments and emergency management professionals about the need to make this successful program, a program we have

pilotted permanent to help communities expedite recovery from disasters. in addition, this bill addresses a long expressed concern of mine about the need to expedite fema's appeal process. without firm time limits, the current appeals process has led to long and unnecessary delays in disaster closeouts. this in turn has prevented disaster funds obligated for a specific disaster from being deobligated and returned to the disaster relief fund. last fall, as the disaster relief fund was on the brink of running out of funds, fema was actually able to close out several disaster accounts and find the necessary funds to

finance disaster relief until congress replenished the funds. resolution of these appeals will allow these funds to be used for infrastructure repair, which will assist the economic recovery for communities hard hit by disasters. more than 12 years ago, congress enacted the disaster mitigation act directing fema to begin using cost estimating for repair and reconstruction projects to expedite the recovery process and disaster closeout. yesterday, fema has still not promulgated provisions to implement this provision. h.r. 2903 requires fema to promulgate those regulations and implement cost estimating within 180 days of the passage of this act. this provision also will eliminate one of the most

inefficient and ridiculous uses of federal funds that i know one that has gotten on my last nerve where fema pays not only for its own experts, but also for the states' experts essentially encouraging the submission of competing estimates of cost repair instead of each side deciding on a neutral party to, in fact, estimate those costs. finally, fema administrator has requested fema's support to section 10 of this bill which would authorize indian tribes to directly request the president for disaster or emergency declaration. this provision acknowledges tribal sovreignty and enhances the working relationships and

improve emergency and disaster responsiveness through indian country. numerous indian tribes have expressed support for this provision as has the national congress of american indians. i thank the ranking member, mr. rahall, for his leadership on this and other issues on this bill. despite my concerns about the deauthorized amounts in the bill , h.r. 2903 is good public policy is necessary to eliminate inefficient government actions and to expedite disaster recovery. mr. speaker, i urge my colleagues to join in supporting this bill. and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from from the district of columbia, ms. norton, reserves. the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. denham: mr. speaker, i yield three minutes to the gentleman from oregon and chairman of the subcommittee on communications

and technology, mr. walden. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. mr. walden: i thank the chairman and i thank my good friend from california for his terrific work on this legislation, the bipartisan piece of legislation, very important to citizens of this country. i also want to thank you for this colloquy. i'm concerned -- i plan to support your bill. it is a good bill. i want to clarify because i'm concerned about the language in section 102 of the bill that it could be construed as authorizing the imposition of requirements on the communications sector. can you assure me this is not the effect of this language? mr. denham: this bill in no way authorizes fema or anyone else to impose any obligations on any participant in the communications industry, only the f.c.c. can require a participant in the communications industry to take any action with respect to emergency-related alert. to make it clear, we agree to add language at a later stage

indicating that nothing in this bill requires or allows fema or any other government entity to require any action on the part of the f.c.c., the department of commerce, the office of energy communications or any nongovernment entity, nor does it have any impact on any existing obligations of these entities. mr. walden: i appreciate the gentleman's comments and i welcome you and thank you for my time. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentlewoman from district of columbia is recognized. ms. norton: i yield five minutes to the the gentlewoman from california. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from california is recognized for five minutes. >> i commend my friend and colleague, chairman den ham, and ranking member norton and for working with me to improve the bill. ms. sanchez: i serve on both the

transportation and infrastructure committee as well as homeland security. although this may not be the perfect bill as some have articulated for the record already, i would have preferred, for example, that the bill to be more explicit, that fema's authority to respond to acts of terrorism. yet, i believe it is necessary that we pass this bill today to ensure that the men and women of fema have the resources necessary to respond to emergencies and disasters in the near future. i rise in support of the bill specifically to the language that i added to h.r. 2903 in committee, and i believe it's essential to the well-being of the american people. my language, which was marked in committee on transportation and infrastructure and accepted with bipartisan approval, would provide a series of checks and balances to keep the american public safe. my language would ensure that the department of homeland security coordinate and provide guidance to the appropriate individuals, officials and

organizations for outreach to individuals with disabilities during unforeseen disasters. this straightforward language to keep the disabled, those who are most vulnerable and oftentimes experience the greatest challenges during a time of disaster, the opportunity to be safe during those disasters and also from terrorist attacks. individuals with disabilities should feel safe and secure in their communities and work environments as individuals without disabilities. too often, however, the needs of people with disabilities are not considered in emergency planning despite the fact of the need for such planning has received in increased focus due to the recent disasters, for example, hurricane katrina, to name one. both natural and manmade. fema administrator has stated that at fema, we need to do a better job of meeting the needs of people with disabilities when disaster strikes.

we have to support and encourage our entire team including our state and local partners to integrate the needs of people with disabilities into all planning. my language strengthens h.r. 2903 by ensuring guidance is given to individuals with disabilities and fa sill tailts cooperation among federal, state, territorial and tribal governments and private organizations and individuals in the implementation of emergency preparedness plans related to individuals with disabilities. additionally, i include language that would make sure that the integrated public alert warning system is properly performing and that the system needs to be tested regularly. the system is a generation platform for transmitting emergency alerts. i had the experience representing in my district, the 37th congressional district, the largest amount of ssamoa and had

we had a better system, i believe many of the lives would not have been lost. mr. speaker, as you know, in november of 2011, fema conducted a nationwide test of the emergency alert system for the first time in the system's 50 years existence. this system was met with widespread problems. with the ever changing threat, environment and technological landscape, we cannot afford to wait 50 years to verify if the system is performing. in the case of the test, significant gaps in the system's ability to provide a nationwide alert were revealed for the first time. my language seeks to make sure that -- to make sure that the system in the future is regularly tested and encourage the administrator of fema to test the system at least once every three years. mr. speaker, i believe the language that i submitted was accepted in a bipartisan way,

strengthens this bill and i encourage my colleagues to support the bill as a whole. with that, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady must yield back her time. ms. richardson: i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california. mr. denham: i yield three minutes to the gentleman from florida, mr. bilirakis. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized -- for how many minutes? mr. denham: three minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. mr. bilirakis: i rise today in support of h.r. 2903, fema reauthorization act of 2012 and particularly section 102 which authorizes the integrated public alert and warning system. section 102 is very similar to h.r. 3563, legislation that i introduced last year to authorize the system, which was reported by the committee on homeland security in march. the bill authorizes fema's efforts to provide timely

emergency alerts and warnings through a range of alerting mechanisms and forms of technology. emergency management officials including officials of my home state of florida have stressed the value to me personally. the national emergency management association has publicly supported my legislation and i'm pleased to see they support this bill as well. the subcommittee on emergency preparedness, response and communications, which i chair, has conducted robust oversight of the program during the 112th congress, having held multiple hearings and the briefing on the topic. i want to thank chairman den ham for working with me and my staff to encorporate some of the provisions of my bill that were a product of this oversight and to the legislation we are considering today. including language related to individuals with disabilities and access and functional needs, language ensuring the protection

of individual privacy and language regarding the resilience of the system. i'm disappointed, however, the language i suggested to include a specific reference of the system's applicability to acts of terrorism was not incorporated into the bill. however, i look forward to working with chairman denham and our senate colleagues as this bill moves through the legislative process to clarify this issue. i urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this bill. and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from florida, mr. bilirakis, yields back. the gentleman from california. mr. denham: reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from the district of columbia is recognized. . . ms. norton: this bill has now gone over a couple of congresses. when the democrats didn't get it done, the republicans didn't get it done and it's really too

important. i hope that in the 113th congress this bill can be brought forward early because a lot of very good work has been done on the bill. mr. speaker, i regret that as we sit and think about the 112th congress that it will be impossible to think of a single major bill passed during these two years. in order to pass bills, both houses have to get together and compromise. it seems to have been impossible, at least with this house. we are about to leave town in september with a couple months still to go without the middle-class tax cuts just when the recovery needs a boost, in the midst of a drought without the farm bill and without the violence against women act, which passed in an overwhelming

bipartisan vote in the senate. what will it take to get something done? i hope the 113th congress proves more productive. so this has been called a do-nothing congress. i would say that this congress has done real harm. to call it a do-nothing congress is to give it more credit than it deserves. this is a congress, at least in the house that will be remembered for voting to end medicare as we know it, increase the cost of medicare to seniors by more than $6,500. it will be remembered, all right, for tax breaks for corporations that ship jobs overseas. we in the 112th congress have done something amazing when you

consider that we have been in a recession unheard of since the great depression. we have left the economy entirely to the federal reserve board, to monetary policy by abandoning the job of congress to produce fiscal policy. there has been none in the 112th congress that has had any affect on our country. no wonder we are here for only eight days after the recess. if our republican majority could have phoned in the c.r. i believe they would have done it. if you look at on our plate as we get ready to imphome. we are going home in september, leaving unthinkably. even the major business of sequester. the ultimate bill that was passed to force us to get

together and compromise, leaving the sequester on the table. we are leaving on the table a bill that could collapse the entire economy. it's a fitting end for congress that did nothing, in fact, did harm and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from the district of columbia yields back the balance of her time. the gentleman from california, mr. denham, is recognized. mr. denham: mr. speaker, let me first start by saying i am proud we have another bipartisan bill here that addresses many different areas from fema to ipaws and even getting the tribal language in here is not only a good bipartisan effort but one that the administration is supporting as well. working directly with director fugae, i was glad the administration put on an email on the tribal language just a little while ago. let me respond that this bill may not allow fema to respond to a terrorist attack, it's

just not true. first, the president used the stafford act and fema to declare a federal disaster in response to every major terrorist attack in this country. there's no question, fema, the stafford act or this bill fully authorizes the president to direct any element of the federal government to respond to a terrorist attack. second, one of the most important reforms made by this bill is to remove the liability cloud hanging over our urban search and rescue teams. when they're called into federal service to respond to a disaster. on september 11, these teams responded to the world trade center and the pentagon. they responded to hurricane katrina and even the earthquake in haiti. many of these brave first responders are licensed medical professionals or engineers who knowingly put their lives at risk. the urban search and rescue teams have waited 10 years to remove this cloud over their head. this bill finally fixes that

problem. that's why this bill's supported about i the urban search and rescue teams, the fire chiefs, the national association of counties, the national emergency managers and the international association of emergency managers. they all support this bill and support our first responders and vote for this bill. thank you and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california yields back his time. all time having expired, the question is speaker of the house -- the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 2903. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed, and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? mr. lungren: mr. speaker, i move that the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 5912 with amendments. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 5912, a bill to amend the internal revenue code of 1986 to prohibit the use of public funds for political party conventions, and to provide for the return of previously distributed funds for deficit reduction, -- reduction. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule. >> -- pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from california, mr. lungren, and the gentlewoman from california, ms. fudge, will each control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from california. mr. lungren: thank you, mr. 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. lungren: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. lungren: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today in support of h.r. 5912 which would terminate taxpayer financing of party conventions. mr. speaker, i'm sorry to say that party conventions today are by and large week-long televised movie sets and almost entirely symbolic. although conventions do provide important insight into party platforms and presidential candidates, spending millions of taxpayer dollars to fund them, particularly in today's environment, is simply untenable. the american taxpayers should not be subsidizing political party conventions. with our historic levels of deficit spending and our national debt over $16 trillion and climbing, this congress and this president need to be thinking very differently about how we use taxpayer dollars.

since 1976, approximately $1.5 billion have been spent on publicly funding our presidential primaries, our presidential general elections and our presidential party conventions. each party's national convention this year received almost $18 million in taxpayer funding. while i believe we should be getting rid of publicly -- public funding of presidential campaigns as well, at a minimum, we should pass this commonsense measure to stop financing our parties with taxpayer dollars. the american taxpayer has paid enough for this unwise experiment. it should be ended. mr. speaker, this bill, introduced by my colleague from oklahoma, i would hope would garner overwhelming bipartisan support. i thank him for introducing it and for his commitment to a more responsible and efficient

stewardship of taxpayer dollars and would just add that this would stop the funding going to all party conventions. it is a bipartisan solution to a bipartisan problem. i urge all my colleagues to support h.r. 5912 and, mr. speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california reserves the balance of his time. the gentlelady from ohio, ms. fudge, is recognized. ms. fudge: thank you so much, mr. speaker. i rise today in opposition to h.r. 5912 and i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized for as much time as she may consume. ms. fudge: thank you, mr. speaker. h.r. 5912 terminates the public financing of dominating conventions. the presidential election campaign fund was created and designed to restore public confidence in the political process in a post-watergate world. since 1976, both parties have requested and received public

funds to finance their nominating conventions including as recently as this year. the aim of h.r. 5912 is to inject more private influence over elections. even though the current level is already appallingly high. this bill turns over another electoral function to private interests. it invites the very corruption the presidential election campaign fund was created to combat. this system needs to be reformed, not repealed, and we ought to be having a serious debate about the outside world money plays in our politics. because the majority has failed to act, the ranking member on the house administration -- the house administration committee, mr. brady of pennsylvania, was forced to have this on the poisoning effect of money in politics. we have not considered the disclose act or any legislation of substance to deal with the secret money influencing our politics. the voter empowerment act was introduced months ago, yet absolutely nothing has been done to address the threat of

millions of voters being disenfranchised this november. most appalling, mr. speaker, is the fact that this congress is making its own history as the least productive congress in a generation. this congress has already considered the substance of the measure before us at least twice, in november, 2011, and again this past january. to be blunt, mr. speaker, this is simply a waste of time. unemployment insurance and medicare provision rate payments need to be tackled. middle-class tax cuts are set to expire and we need to re-authorize the violence against women act. this bill does nothing to address deficit reduction, but here we are considering it while ignoring the looming sequester. we voted to repeal obamacare more than 30 times without voting on a serious jobs bill once. this piece of legislation further intertwines our political process with the

private interests while pleas from the middle class are blatantly ignored and the economic future of this country hangs in the balance. for almost two years now, serious issues have been ignored in favor of politically convenient empty gestures and this is more of the same. it is time to get serious, and it is time to get to work. we can start by opposing this legislation and urging the majority to address the real issues facing this country. i urge a no vote, and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from ohio reserves the balance of her time. the gentleman from california, mr. lungren, is recognized. mr. lungren: mr. speaker, i just yield myself 15 seconds. mr. speaker -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for 15 seconds. mr. lungren: it can be said on the floor of the house, attempting to save the taxpayers of america $36 million is a waste of time. mr. speaker, i yield three minutes to the gentleman from oklahoma, mr. cole, the distinguished member of the committee on appropriations and the committee on the budget, and mr. cole is the sponsor of this bill. the speaker pro tempore: the

gentleman from oklahoma, mr. cole, is recognized for three minutes. mr. cole: thank you, mr. speaker, and i thank my friend for yielding. h.r. 5912 is a bipartisan bill to end public financing for political conventions and that's all it is. i want to begin by thanking my friend, mr. loebsack from iowa, we belong to different parties. i have no doubt we will be voting for different presidential candidates, but we both agree that it's wrong to use taxpayer dollars to finance partisan political events, and i appreciate his support in helping push this legislation. . i'm not op owes dollars to political party conventions. i have help stage one in 2000 when i was steve of staff of the republican national committee and that experience taught me that the parties are more than capable of putting on their own conventions. they do it now. the federal component of the cost of the convention is about

23% of the total cost. the idea that they can't find the resources to do this for themselves i think -- simply falls flat on its face. this time we are running deficits, we wrote checks to the democratic party and republican party for almost $18 million each. for what? was it really necessary? does everybody believe that was the best use of public money. i could give you a list of where that money should go that we could probably agree on on both sides of the aisle. it's remarkable to me we reached the point in this body that this becomes an issue of partisan contention. the united states senate passed essentially this legislation 95 to 5 and an amendment by my friend, mr. coburn, to a larger piece of legislation.

there is broad agreement in the senate, which democrats control and republicans say this is a federal expense we no longer need to incur. this is a small step in the right direction. it will save taxpayer dollars for things that people need as oppose todd things that politicians and political parties want. we ought to take this opportunity, work together, save the money, reduce the deficit by at least a modest amount, spend money in places where it's necessary and pass this bill. it's quite simple piece of legislation. those folks that have different point of view on other things, bring your legislation to the floor, propose the legislation and we'll deal with it. but no reason to pay for the democratic and republican national conventions with taxpayer funds. one last point if i may, mr. speaker, we don't do this for anybody else. there are other political groups

and parties in america that would like their conventions paid for and we don't give them a single dime. this perpetrates a bipartisan monopoly. there is no public purpose in spending this money. i urge the passage and i urge bipartisan cooperation. with that, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from oklahoma yields back. the gentleman from california reserves. the gentlewoman from from ohio is recognized. ms. fudge: just to be clear, it will not reduce the deficit. this is voluntary checkoffs. this does not come from taxpayer dollars and will not reduce the deficit. let's be clear. when he talked about the senate passing this on a 95 to 5 vote and does president say it was a stand-alone bill for this purpose bill. i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california, mr. lungren. mr. lungren: at this point in time, i yield two minutes to the gentleman from iowa, mr.

loebsack, distinguished member on the committee of education and work force. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from iowa is recognized for two minutes. mr. lobiondo: i thank the gentleman from for yielding and i rise in support of this bill. as we struggle to recover from the recession, congress should make sure that if government cuts back and saves, we will save as well. i promote this legislation and as the only democratic co-sponsor, i thank representative cole. senator coburn's amendment passed by bipartisan support and we can all agree on this commonsense way to ensure this is prudent use of taxpayer funds. and it will put -- will put any

leftover funding towards deficit reduction and while i did not attend the convention this year, i know there is an important role some convention activities play for the political parties and for the country and the political process for america. however, i do not believe the taxpayer dollars need to be used to fund them, especially when public funding only makes up 23% of the costs of conventions and far outweighed by private donations and not critical to the continueance of our stable democracy. while iowa families are struggling each day to pay the bills, washington should be focused on ensuring proper use of taxpayer resources. while i do appreciate the concerns of those opposed to this bill, i hope that the house agrees that parties at political conventions are not a proper purpose or use of funds, taxpayer dollars. and i do hope that my colleagues will support congressman cole's

legislation and taxpayer dollars aren't being used to fund republican or democratic parties' conventions. i would like us to be more thoughtful of where we apply public funds in the political process. there is an important role for that. and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from iowa yields back. the gentleman from california reserves. the gentlewoman from ohio is recognized. ms. fudge: thank you, mr. speaker. let me be clear again, this is a voluntary checkoff. they check the box because they want the money to go to conventions and/or political activity. it's not something we require them to do. it is voluntary, so, if in fact we are going to give the money back, the money should go back to the american people not to reduce the deficit, because that is the purpose for which the money was september to us in the first place. with that, i yield back and urge a no vote.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from ohio yields back the balance of her time. the gentleman from california, mr. lungren. mr. lungren: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. lungren: it may be a voluntary checkoff, but the money is not voluntary, it is part of the income tax you are required to pay. while we all do support government, i would wonder if you made the income tax entirely voluntary, whether we would get anything close to what we do now. it is, in fact, the tax that you must pay. so that part is not voluntary. secondly, i'm surprised that one would not want to attribute this to reducing the deficit, even though it is only $36 million as suggested by the other side. if we can't even do this here, what confidence can the american people have that we would deal

with the tougher issues and larger amounts, if $36 million is too difficult for us to use to somehow reduce the deficit, what hope is there that we can do anything seriously in this congress or congresses in the future? and i must respond to the repeated suggestion that we have done nothing in this congress. the obama administration would be surprised, since they said that the fisa amendments, which we passed on this floor with 301 positive votes was the number one priority for the administration in the area of intelligence. in the aftermath of what happened just a couple of weeks ago, one would think that we would understand the seriousness of intelligence. and that which is the greatest tool, according to the d.n.i.

currently and previous d.n.i.'s. that tool which got strong bipartisan support was, indeed, an important thing for us to do here. we had three free trade agreements that we finally approved. they have been waiting around for a number of years. the consensus is they create jobs in this economy and give us a fair playing field in which our workers can compete. we had a transportation bill that we passed. we dealt with student loans, the interests paid on student loans and i would say for two years in a row, we have, in fact, spent less on discretionary spending than we did the preceding year. that's the first time we have done that in a generation. there are other things i could talk about. it is a shame that the other body has not acted on nearly the 30 bills that we sent over there

that deal with jobs. and my bill, h.r. 4, which repealed that section of the president's health care bill that placed a paperwork burden on small business and that was the number one priority of the small business community in the country. i wish we would do more. i wish we would have the cooperation of the other body. it's very difficult to negotiate when the other party won't come to the table or even articulate what their position is, but nonetheless, i would suggest that those things that i have spoken about are not unimportant. but, of course, that is a difficult gregs, because that's not talking about the bill before us. the bill before us is a simple bill. all it does is say the party is over. the taxpayer will no longer pay with taxpayer dollars for the conventions of the two national parties. doesn't stop them from having

their conventions. doesn't denigrate their conventions or take them off television, just says that the american taxpayer will not pay for it. going to save $36 million. fairly simple. i would hope we would have a strong bipartisan vote for this, because it is truly a bipartisan problem and timely, because many of our constituents, at least when i was home in the district saying, why are you and the congress voting to put taxpayer dollars for these conventions? that was a tough question to answer. we can answer that question here in a very positive way bypassing this bill. i would ask my colleagues to support h.r. 5912 and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: both sides having yielded back their time, the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. -- 5912.

those in favor. those opposed, no. 2/3 being in the affirmative -- the gentlewoman from ohio is recognized. ms. fudge: i request the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays are requested. all those in favor of taking this vote by the yeas and nays will rise and remain standing. a sufficient number having arisen, the the yeas and nays are ordered pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20 and the chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be postponed. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, i move to suspend the rules and pass h.r.

6296, the disaster loan fairness act as amended. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 6296, a bill to amend the small business act to provide the interest rate for certain disaster-related loans and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. barr leta and the gentlewoman from from new york, ms. velazquez each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from pennsylvania. mr. barletta: i ask unanimous consent for all members to include extraneous material on the bill under consideration. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. barletta: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized for as much time as he may consume mr. barletta: the people of pennsylvania endured some of the worst flooding that we have ever experienced. in the aftermath of both a

hurricane and a tropical storm, the susquehanna river washed out homes, roads, bridges and businesses. i spent stays consoling my constituents. i was with them as they threw out photo albums, clothes, toys, their furniture, their lives' possessions. i stood on muddy porches and cried with my constituents. time after time, they asked me how the federal government was going to help them recover. time after time, business owners asked me if the federal government was able to provide low-interest loans so they could rebuild, reopen and bring back their workers. and time after time, i had to tell them that the government of the united states was going to offer them loans at a 6%

interest rate. that's right, 6%. a 6% loan isn't going to help a business owner rebuild and reopen and hard-working people of northwestern pennsylvania knew that. 6% loan isn't going to help a family rebuild a flooded home. i was embarrassed to tell the mothers and fathers and grandmothers and grandfathers and business owners of my district that the federal government through the small business administration, was going to give them a 6% loan to help them get back on their feet. i was even more embarrassed and even shocked when i started looking at our budget for foreign disaster relief. this government gave $215 million of flood relief to pakistan. and what rate do we charge foreign countries when we rebuild their infrastructure?

zero percent. we don't charge foreign countries any interest. the money they receive from the united states is a giveaway, but this government was going to charge american homeowners and american business owners 6% interest on loans they were going to use to rebuild. . we are a compassionate country when it comes to providing global aid. when disaster strikes anywhere in the world, the united states is the first country to help them rebuild. but when disaster strikes right here in our own country, we need to start rebuilding here first. let's help americans first. we must restore american lives, save american businesses and protect american jobs. now, i know hundreds of my colleagues have had similar conversations with their constituents after they experienced natural disasters in their districts.

since the start of the 112th congress, communities in over 200 congressional districts in 46 states have been flooded by a tropical storm or a hurricane , burned by a wildfire, crippled by a snow storm or destroyed by a tornado. resulting in a disaster declaration by the president. constituents across the country have heard the same news, the federal government can provide help in a form of a high-interest loan. fortunately this is something that we can fix. i introduced the disaster loan fairness act of 2012 which would dramatically change the way the s.b.a. provides disaster recovery loans. this bill would lower the interest rates for borrowers with no credit available elsewhere to one-half of the prevailing rate and it would

cap the interest rate at 4%. for those who can get credit elsewhere, this bill would lower the interest rate to 3/4 of the prevailing rate. again, capping the maximum rate -- interest rate at 4%. the disaster loan fairness act is retroactive to january 1, 2012 2011 -- january 1, 2011. this means the s. bamplet is required to -- s.b.a. is required to refund excess interest payments for disaster loans made since this date. homeowners and business owners who took out these loans will receive refunds for their excess interest pate payments -- interest payments. to offset the direct spending this bill terminates the use of public taxpayer funds for political party conventions in the elections occurring after 2012. simply put, this bill prioritized disaster victims over the subsidizing of political party conventions.

we are literally putting the american people ahead of politics. this bill would provide serious, substantial, necessary help to the hundreds of thousands of americans who have endured horrible loss during natural disasters. it would provide relief to the millions of americans who will suffer loss in future disasters . i ask my colleagues to support the disaster loan fairness act of 2012, h.r. 6296, and provide relief so that so many americans -- to so many americans who need that help. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from pennsylvania reserves his time. the gentlewoman from new york, ms. velazquez, is recognized. ms. velazquez: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. i yield myself as much time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized for as much time as she wishes to consume. ms. velazquez: mr. speaker, natural disasters profoundly impacted our nation this year.

from wildfires out west to drought in the plains, to violent storms in the northeast, millions of households were affected. this unanticipated events leave families and small businesses facing significant costs when rebuilding. typically insurance covers monetary losses. but that is not always the case . to compliment insurance coverage, congress authorized the s.b.a. to provide low-interest disaster loans to affected families and small businesses. since its inception in 1953, the s.b.a. has approved roughly 1.9 disaster loans amounting to approximately $47 billion. over the years the program has evolved to better assist victims. a chairwoman of the small business committee, i worked to incorporate bipartisan reforms in the 2008 farm bill, to help

disaster victims get back on their feet. these included new disaster loans, greater loan amounts, extending and enabling more private sector involvement. the current program makes the government the lendser of last resort -- lender of last resort by subsidizing reduced interest rates only for those who cannot get credit elsewhere. the goal is to assist as many victims as possible and ensure risk-sharing remains a public-private partnership. this bill however will eliminate the credit elsewhere test, offering taxpayers subsidized low-interest loans to all applicants. at a time when government resources are scarce, we should not be shifting more borrowers and additional risk into this initiative. this is not my only concern. the bill also ash trarblee

limits interest -- arbitrarily limits interest rates with no empirical data to show why these levels are appropriate. capping interest rates could create -- greatly increase the taxpayers' burden in the future . the s.b.a. is also directed to issue reforms on previously approved loans. the bill is silent on how to carry that out. creating an administrative nightmare for the s.b.a. continuing to improve the program is important. but in doing so we should not create unintended consequences. if the regular committee hearing and markup process have been followed, members could have addressed this bill's shortcomings. placing it on suspension has further limited members' participation. i would like to direct the attention of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to the fact that this bill creates $50

million in direct spending. to offset the cost, it will eliminate public funding of political conventions, undoing years of campaign reform in the process. today election rules seek to keep money and undue influence out of the presidential race. since the supreme court's citizens united decision, it becomes clear that powerful stakeholders will spend millions to help a candidate win. if public funding were terminated, special interests would once again compete to carry favor with presidential candidates by bank rolling nominating conventions. mr. speaker, it is certainly appropriate to provide relief to homeowners and businesses affected by a disaster. however it is inconsistent with the intent of the program to ask taxpayers to subsidize loans for those who can get credit elsewhere.

if this is the best use of government resources -- is this the best use of government resources? i don't know, but i'm confident we could have investigated this and other concerns if the committee process was not bypassed in two days in favor of today's -- bypassed in favor of today's suspension vote. with that i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from new york reserves the balance of her time. the gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized. mr. barletta: mr. speaker, i yield three minutes to the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. marino. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized for three minutes. mr. marino: thank you. mr. speaker, today i rise in strong support of h.r. 6296, the disaster loan fairness act of 2012. introduced by my colleague from pennsylvania, representative barletta. our districts cross each other in several counties so we both have experienced the disaster that took place in the 10th and

the 11th district. at the end of august, 2011, hurricane irene caused severe flooding and widespread power outages in eastern pennsylvania. with the ground saturated and waterways as a very high level, tropical storm lee arrived one week later, causing historic widespread flooding in most of central and eastern pennsylvania. the 10th congressional district i represent was particularly hit hard. 14 counties in the district were impacted by the flood. the storm knew no boundaries. it hit homes and businesses, government offices and schools, farms, cemeteries and churches. i visited with families of individuals who had lost everything. i traveled to many businesses, both large and small, that were affected like an amusement park where i watched the workers and owner clean up four inches of

mud that covered the ground across the entire park. while the people of my district have made heroic efforts to rebuild, they have faced many obstacles. one of those was finding loan opportunities which they need to finance the rebuilding of their homes and businesses. unless you have lived through a disaster and visited with families, -- families that have been through the experience, it is hard to imagine the hopelessness and desperation that people experience when the rebuilding process begins. h.r. 6296 will provide critical relief to disaster victims in my district and across the country by lowering the interest rate or s.b.a. disaster loans. this legislation, which will lower rates, will give americans impacted by disaster the ability to begin the process of rebuilding their lives and livelihood. i had the occasion to hear a little of the argument prior to

this concerning the conventions getting money. there was an issue raised about millions. there's nobody in this room that doesn't think $1 million is a lot of money and i certainly think $36 million is a whole heck of a lot of money. we can send money to conventions that should be a responsibility of each party, regardless of what side of the aisle you're on. but we also send taxpayer money to countries that hate us. so i think it's about time we start helping the american people with their own tax dollars. i urge all of my colleagues to join with me in representing the -- and representative bar lella -- barletta. i have one experience that just stuck in my mind. during the flood there was a family -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. marino: thank you. i yield back the balance of my time. mr. barletta: i yield the gentleman from pennsylvania a minute of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. marino, is recognized for an additional one minute. mr. marino: thank you. i want to share an experience i

had touring the same areas. there was a family of six that weren't able to be in their house. it was a blue collar family. they wouldn't be able to sit on their own porch or stand in their front yard. that's how bad the flood was. most of the furniture and belongings was out in the front yard. just totally lost. they sat on the back of a pickup truck, a 6-year-old little girl, 6 or 8 years old, said to me, are you here to help? because we don't have a bed to sleep in and we don't have a room to sleep in. what are we going to do tonight? that is what we are faced with. we're supposed to be helping our people in our district and i urge my colleagues to support this legislation. thank you. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. marino, yields back his time. the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. barletta, reserves his time. and the gentlewoman from new york, ms. velazquez, is recognized. ms. velazquez: mr. speaker, i yield one minute to the gentleman from new york, mr. owens. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york is

recognized for one minute. mr. owens: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, i was a co-sponsor of the original version of this bipartisan bill and rise to support the modified legislation we are considering today. i want to thank mr. barletta for his work on this important legislation in the aftermath of hurricane irene and tropical storm lee. these two disasters caused millions of dollars in damage in northern new york, one year later small businesses and homeowners are still recovering. as i walked around my district immediately after i saw people shoveling out mud, throwing out heirlooms, and struggling to understand what had happened to them. many of the businesses were ruined, along with homes, but i also saw something else. i saw people helping people. what we're doing here today is having the government help people. we're following the example of our constituents. currently the small business

administration offers disaster recovery loans to small businesses and homeowners for as low as 4% and up to 8% if credit is available elsewhere. to date nearly 100 small businesses and homeowners in my congressional district have been approved for more than $5.8 million in disaster loans but i've heard from many constituents that the interest rates are simply too high to take advantage of these loans. this bipartisan bill would lower the interest rate on disaster loans -- i yield back the balance of my time. . mr. barletta: i have no more speakers and prepared to close and reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from drk the gentlewoman from new york. ms. velazquez: i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman new york yields back. mr. barletta: i yield myself the balance of my time.

when disaster strikes around the world, america is always the first to help and i'm proud of that and proud that when countries need help, we're there. but when disasters strike right here at home, i do believe that we should help americans first. we don't know when or where the next disaster will occur. could be tonight, could be tomorrow, could be next week. but let's make sure before we leave here today that we tell our neighbors and friends back home and around this great nation that in their greatest time of need, that their country will be there for them. with all the devastation and destruction that happened from last year's floods, i saw the greatness of america. i saw neighbors helping neighbors. i saw strangers helping people.

i saw students helping the elderly. i saw what makes this country great. and i saw the american people come together. it's time that this congress comes together. i urge my colleagues to support this bill. mr. speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 6296 as amended. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. . in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 being in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed and without objection, the motion to reconsider is raid on the table.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? >> i move the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 6368, board -- border security act of 2012 as amended. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: a bill to require the department of justice in consultation with the department of homeland security to provide a report to congress from the department's ability to track, investigate and qualify cross-border violence and provide recommendations to the congress on how to track and investigate and qualify cross-border violence. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from texas, mr. smith,

and the gentleman from virginia, mr. scott, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from texas, mr. smith. mr. smith: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous materials on h.r. 6368 as amended currently under consideration and i yield myself such time as i may consume. the gentleman is recognized. mr. smith: i thank congressman canseco on the issue of cross-border violence and impact on the united states and i will now yield him, the gentleman from texas, mr. canseco, as much time as he might consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from recognized. mr. canseco: i thank my friend and colleague and chairman of the judiciary committee, mr. smith, as well as his diligent and hard-working staff for their

help on this very important matter. and i come to the floor today, mr. speaker, to speak in support of my legislation, h.r. 6368, the border security information and improvement act. as a representative of a district with nearly 800 miles of u.s.-mexico border, i know firsthand how the importance of the security of our citizens along our shared border with mexico is. as i visit with the people of the 23rd district of texas, i hear time and time again from americans living along the border that they do not feel safe or secure. they talk of living in fear. they tell me that washington is not paying attention as drugs, weapons and humans are smuggled through their communities, that washington is not listening as they ask for help as violence from mexican drug cartels spills into their communities, cities

and towns. many of the statistics and information used to make claims about the security of our southwest border are based on information from sources such as the uniform crime report that are not intended to measure security along our border. administration officials have claimed that the border is safe and secure. yet while attending a homeland security committee hearing last may, i learned that the department of homeland security and the department of justice do not have a working uniform definition of spillover violence. yet, witnesses at the hearing, high-ranking officials from justice and homeland security, stated that there is no cross-border violence. this is completely unacceptable. if the federal government cannot even define what endanger border citizens, we cannot ensure their

safety. h.r. 6368 is simple. it is straightforward, it is a bill that will address this very problem. it directs the department of justice and the department of homeland security to submit a report to congress on their ability to define, to track, to investigate and to quantify cross-border or spillover violence. the department of justice and homeland security will furthermore report what information and statistics are available and that is at their disposal to understand the amount of violence spilling into the united states. the ability to correctly monitor the level of spillover violence occurring across our nation's borders will allow us to assess the success of our border security policies and ensure that we have the correct policies in place in order to stop violence, stop drugs and

contraband from spilling into the united states. lastly, the departments will recommend to congress what additional resources are necessary in order to track, quantify and report on cross-border violence so that congress can do its part and ensure that our federal law enforcement agencies have the tools and the data that they need to do their job. congress must be a willing and able partner in the fight against the ruthless mexican cartels and the violence that they bring into our american communities. madam speaker, the american people deserve to know the capability of their government to address cross-border vial ns. and this bill -- violence. and this bill does not seek to prove one party is right or wrong, but seeks to find out the ability of the departments of justice and homeland security, to define, track and to understand the amount of

violence spilling into the united states from mexico. in order to achieve a secure border, we must be able to correctly gauge the amount of violence that is spilling into the united states. and i believe that this bill is an important first step in that direction. thank you, madam speaker. and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from virginia. mr. scott: i yield myself such time as i may consume. mr. scott: it requires the department of justice and department of homeland security no later than 180 days after enactment of this law to jointly provide a report to congress on those departments' ability to track, investigate and quantify cross-board violence along our country's southwest border and provide recommendations to congress on how to accurately track, investigate and quantify cross-border violence. it seems like a good idea and i

know that the bill provides that we will receive budget recommendations along with the report. as some have suggested that we can, quote, reduce the size of government with unspecified cuts, but then we are often surprised to see what those cuts are. tracking, investigating and responding appropriately to cross-border violence will require personnel and equipment which will require increases and not cuts in the budget. i thank the gentleman from texas, mr. canseco, for his work on the bill. i look forward to the report. i recommend its passage, and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. mr. canseco: i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 6368 as amended. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 being in the affirmative, the

rules are suspended and the bill is passed and without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. without objection, the title is amended.

the speaker pro tempore: puuant to clause 8 of rule 20, proceedings will resume on motions to suspend the rules previously postponed. votes will be taken in the following order. h.r. 5044 by the yeas and nays and h.r. 5912 by the yeas and nays. the first electronic vote will be conducted as a 15-minute vote. remaining electronic votes will be conducted as five-minute votes. the unfinished business is the vote on the motion of the the gentleman from texas, mr. johnson, to suspend the rules and pass h.r. 5044 as amended, on which the yeas and nays are ordered. the clerk will report the title

of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 5044, a bill to amend the internal revenue code of 1986 to exclude any indeadness on deceased veterans. the speaker pro tempore: will the house pass the bill as amended. members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a 15-minute vote [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote, the yeas and nays are 396 --

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote, the yeas are 400, the nays are zero. 2/3 being in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, and the bill is passed and without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. the unfinished business is the vote on the motion of the the gentleman from california, mr. lungren, to suspend the rules and pass h.r. 5912, as amended, on which the yeas and nays are ordered. the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 5912, a bill to amend the internal revenue code of 1986 to prohibit the use of public funds tore political party conventions and to provide for the return of previously distributed funds for deficit

reduction. the speaker pro tempore: the question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill as amended. members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a five-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote the yeas are 310, the nays are 95. 2/3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. without objection, the title is amended.

the house will be in order.

the speaker pro tempore: members will clear the well. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from florida rise? >> unanimous consent motion. mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that i may hereafter be considered as the first sponsor of h.r. 5839. mr. diaz-balart: a bill originally introduced by representative geoff davis of

kentucky, for the purpose of adding co-sponsors and requesting reprinting pursuant to clause 7 of rule 12. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. for what purpose does the gentlelady from oregon rise? ms. bonamici: i ask to be added as a co-sponsor to the marine and hydrokinetic renewable energy act. the original sponsor is no longer in congress. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. ms. bonamici: thank you. the the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from illinois seek recognition? mrs. biggert: mr. speaker, i move to suspend the rules and pass the bill h.r. 6361 with amendments. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 6361, a bill to exclude from consideration as income under the united states housing act of 1937 payments of pension made under section 1521 of title 38, united states code, to veterans who are in need of regular aid and

attendance and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from illinois, mrs. biggert, and the gentlewoman from new york, mrs. maloney, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from illinois. mrs. biggert: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and add extraneous material on this bill. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mrs. biggert: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized. mrs. biggert: mr. speaker, i rise today as a co-sponsor of h.r. 6361, the vulnerable veterans housing reform act of 2012. and i strongly urge my colleagues to support its passage. put simply, this legislation will ensure that we don't punish low-income, disabled veterans who are seeking or receiving housing assistance simply because of their disability benefits. currently if a veteran gets help with in-home care for

their disability, that help is incorrectly calculated as income, which increases their housing costs. for purposes of section 8 and public housing assistance, h.r. 6361 would exempt from a veterans income his or her service-related disability benefits as well as expenses for in-home aid and care. it also reforms how section 8 and other housing programs calculate utility subsidies and rewards grants to rehabilitate and modify homes for our disabled and low-income veterans. as part of our effort to eliminate homelessness among veterans and help low-income veterans, our financial services committee has closely examined the housing barriers facing disabled and low-income veterans. as recently as last week, we heard from veterans like casandra flanagan of philadelphia who asked us to fix how government programs

treat disability benefits and their financial assessments. h.r. 6361 would address her request by helping veterans overcome one of the key bureaucratic hassles that make it harder to find a secure and stable place to call home. and that's why our legislation has broad, bipartisan support. on september 12, 2012, the financial services committee passed h.r. 6361 by a unanimous vote. and in february the insurance, housing and community opportunities subcommittee gave its approval to similar legislation as part of the affordable housing and self-sufficiency improvement act of 2012. a broader proposal to reform h.u.d.'s section 8 and public housing programs. i'm also pleased that we were able to include in today's bill the language authored by mr. green of texas so that additional assistance can be provided to those veterans who need home renovations to accommodate their disability. while we can never repay our

veterans for the selfless sacrifices they've made to defend the liberties we enjoy, we can work to ensure that they have a place to call home. we also can work to ensure that our severely disabled veterans have adequate facilities and living conditions within the comforts of their home. mr. speaker, our veterans have paid a high price to protect the american dream and they should have the opportunity to experience the blessings that dream represents. i commend my colleague from nevada, mr. heck, for introducing this bill. he's put a lot of work into this. and i'd also like to recognize my colleague from texas, mr. green, for his tremendous bipartisan work and his contribution to this bill. i also thank chairman bachus for his hard work on this important measure. and finally i'd also like to thank the american legion, the vets first united spinal association, easter seals, paralyzed veterans of america, vietnam veltravens america and

veterans of foreign -- veterans of america and veterans of foreign wars for their input of provisions in this bill. i urge my colleagues to support this and reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman reserves. the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. mrs. maloney: mr. speaker, i rise in support of h.r. 6361, the vulnerable veterans housing reform act. this bill is aimed at helping some of those who most deserve and need our help. our severely disabled wartime veterans. who are living with service-connected disabilities. it is designed to help that relatively small population of veterans who are disabled, impoverished and in need of constant care due to their service wounds. they are wounded warriors who now need assistance, performing the basic functions of daily life like the simple things that most of us take for granted and perform without

second thought. bathing, feeding themselves, getting dressed them. put their lives on the line for us and -- themselves. they put their lives on the line for us and now it's time for us to see that they have every opportunity to live a life of independence and self-sufficiency. to this end, h.r. 6361 would exempt any expenses related to veterans and benefits from consideration when they are being considered for housing assistance. the fact that the benefits are currently counted as income is an obstacle for many of our military men and women. let's take a hypothetical case and now look at how things stand now. a single severely disabled veteran with no dependents who have an adjusted gross income of less than $12,256 can

receive up to an additional $8,191 in aid and attendance benefits each year to supplement the cost of their medical care. this fix will make it just a little bit easier for our veterans to qualify for the housing assistance they need and deserve. but this bill also makes changes to current utility allowances as part of section 8 public housing assistance. under this bill utility allowances would be calculated and capped based on family size rather than apartment size. our financial services committee members have been hard at work, adding hardship exemptions to protect people with disabilities, the elderly and families with children, by providing them with increased utility allowances as needed. i commend my colleagues for their bipartisan cooperation and finding a middle ground and a solution.

i also congratulate my good friend and colleague, congressman al green, for his contribution to this bill. he works tirelessly on behalf of our nation's military men and women and has fought especially hard to get his haven bill to the floor, despite it being folded into this bill. the haven bill would establish a pilot program to provide grant funding to rehabilitate and modify the homes of low-income or disabled veterans. so that wheelchair ramps, repairs and energy-efficient features can be put in place. helping repair the homes of our veterans before they become too sick is not just a smart policy, it is our duty. we need to do all we can to keep our veterans self-sufficient and independent and help them transition back into civilian life as seamlessly as possible. i will vote yes on this bill

and i now reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman reserves. the gentlewoman from illinois is recognized. mrs. biggert: thank you, and i would yield to the gentleman from nevada, the author of this bill, mr. heck, for such time as he may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from nevada is recognized. mr. heck: thank you, mr. speaker. and i thank the gentlelady for yielding. mr. speaker, i rise today to encourage my colleagues to support h.r. 6361, the vulnerable veterans housing reform act of 2012. as stated this bill would remove an unnecessary barrier that prevents our i guess abled wartime veterans from -- disabled wartime veterans for receive -- from receiving the assistance they need. it does this by preventing the department of housing and urban development from considering our veterans' aid and attendance benefits as income. the benefit is an enhanced pension program provided by the department of veterans affairs to our nation's wartime veterans who are severely

disabled and have little or no income. according to the v.a., veterans eligible for the aid and attendance benefit are defined as those requiring the aid of another person in order to perform his or her activities of daily living. such as bathing, feeding, dressing, using the restroom, adjusting prosthetic devices or protecting themselves from the hazards of their daily environment. in order to receive this benefit, our severely disabled veterans must first establish their eligibility for a low-income pension. once eligibility is determined, those low-income disabled vets can receive an additional aid and attendance benefit annually to help the cost of their medical care. this is an important point. the aid and attendance benefit is for medical care. it is not discretionary income. as you can imagine, these veterans struggle daily to keep the lights on, put food on the table and to keep a roof over -- keep a roof over their heads. add to that the cost of paying for a live-in aide and it becomes increasingly difficult for them to stay in their homeless.

the department of housing and urban development operates a number of programs that can assist these veterans. however, the courage statute requires that the aid and attendance benefit be counted as income when determining eligibility for housing assistance. mr. speaker, this makes no sense. the v.a. provides this benefit to ensure that our low-income, disabled wartime veterans have the necessary resources to receive the medical care they need and have earned. the cost of an assisted living facility can be $39,600 and the median cost of a room in a nursing home is between $73,000 and $81,000 annually. by providing the aid independence veteran and keeping the -- in-- the aid independence service keeps the

veteran independent. mr. speaker, it's the stated goal of both this house and this administration to release -- reduce homelessness in our veteran population. passing this legislation will help ensure we achieve this goal. h.r. 6361 includes an important provision authored by my colleague from the ninth district of texas, congressman al green. it would create a pilot program to provide grants for modifying and rehabilitating homes if our nation's low-income disabled veterans. h.r. 6361 was drafted in a bipartisan manner and this is reflected in the overwhelming support it received when it was reported unanimously by the house armed services committee on september 12, 2012. this will go a long way to providing the service and assistance our low income veterans have earned and deserve. i thank the distinguished gentlelady from illinois and all the members of think the

committee for their help in this legislation and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yield back. the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. ms. ma he nee: i would like to compliment the gentleman and point out that across the country, one of the largest groups of people that are homeless are -- mrs. maloney: i want like to point out that across the country one of the largest groups of homeless are our veterans. i support anything that helps keep them in their homes. i yield back to the the gentlelady, mrs. biggert. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back. mrs. biggert: i have no further speakers, i yield back the balance of the time. mrs. maloney: i yield back the balance of the time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back. the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 6361 as amended. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no.

in the opinion of the chair, 2/3's being in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed and without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. >> mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from california rise? mr. dreier: i move to suspend the rules and pass the bill h.r. 64 -- >> i move to suspend the rules and pass the bill h.r. 6431. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 6431. a bill to provide flexibility with respect to the u.s.

support for assistance provided by international financial institutions for burma and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from california, mr. royce, and the gentlewoman from new york, mrs. maloney, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from california. mr. royce: mr. speaker, i'm going to ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous material into the record on this measure. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. royce: i yield myself such time as i may consume, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. royce: thank you. this afternoon, congress was finally able to present aun sun suu khyi the gold medal for freedom.

i was an original co-sponsor of mr. crowley's legislation that set the stage for today's ceremony. of course that legislation passed years ago, back in 2008, when ms. khyi's house was her prison. 34 thought this day would never come. she was able to visit capitol hill today to accept this award, meeting with members of congress, is a testament of the changes taking place in her important country. the opposition has won seats in parliament, media restrictions have been eased. hundreds of prisoners, including many this week, have been released. congress can be proud of the role that it has played. sanctions were important were important but sadgeses can't keep up the message from today.

that's the message ms. kyi delivered in washington. she emphasized the role congress can play in building up the institutions that burma badly needs. this country, once southeast asia's richest country, is now its poorest. its corrupt generals have destroyed the economic landscape of burr masm the burmese people are destitute. democracy will not thrive in this economic despair. isolated for decades, the institutions that burma needs to run a democracy are either weak or do not exist. we could help burmaest tably the infrastructure needed to connect with the world this assistance also can help the burmese with their base exneeds. without this in -- their basic needs. without this in place, the potential for political back

sliding is real. however, several laws on our books direct the representative at each financial institution to vote no when it comes to any proposal related to burma. there is no waiver. which is very unusual when it comes to sanctions. i'd note that a u.s. no vote is not a veto. it doesn't stop these institutions from being involved with burma. it just stops us from being part of the process. so we have to ask ourselves, when are the interests of the -- of the u.s. and the burmese people best served? when the u.s. is playing a real role, helping to shape these institutions' involvement with burma? or are they best served when the u.s. representative is shut out of the room, left with only one option? this legislation gives more options. yes, no, or abstain. when u.s. support is possible, that gives us leverage. we have great weight at these

institutions, even while they are mainly funded by others. like other members, i'm not happy with where burma is today. i want all political prisoners released. there is too much ethnic violence. this bill doesn't touch the import ban or others, of course. the treasury authority should use its authority to target any individual undermining progress in burma. this legislation is license to bolster reform, where appropriate and where possible. not a seal of approval. given where burma is today, it's appropriate that congress was -- respond in this way to ensure that the u.s. is in a position to continue to press for reforms. moving forward, congress will need to ensure that these financial institutions are pushing stringent transparency and monitoring its impact on human rights. those goals, which we all

share, are best advanced by adopting this legislation. i reserve the balance of my time, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentlelady from new york is recognized. mrs. maloney: mr. speaker, currently congressional mandates require that the u.s. representative must vote no on any proposed assistance going from an international financial institution to burma. this bill before us today would change that. it would allow the secretary of the treasury to instruct our executive directors at the world bank, the asian development bank, and the i.m.f. to support proposed assistance to burma if the president determines that it is in our national interest. this flexibility will be needed in the coming months. there will likely be some important votes coming up at the world bank and the asian development bank on development

projects and areas, clearances, packages for burma. binding the u.s. representative to always vote no on such measures would work directly against our hope of engaging burma and supporting her democratic reforms. and that's why i strongly support this bill. the economic and political reforms in burma show great promise. that is why the united states lifted the sanctions on investment in burma back in july and the right thing to do now is to support development and economic aid to burma through the international financial institutions. both multilateral development and international assistance are important now because burma needs both long-term and short-term results. her people mood to see that democracy has tangible, positive impacts on their

everyday lives. it is not just in the best interest of the burmese people that they continue to support the democratic and economic reforms in the country, it is in the interest of the united states as well. and i would say that it's in the world's best interest too. it was a great honor today to welcome aung sans is suu kyi to washington. i congratulate her on receiving the congressional gold medal, the highest award we can give anyone, which she richly deserves. she honors us by her presence and her acceptance of this award. her unshakeable conviction that democratic values and fundamental human rights were not only possible but absolutely necessary for burma provided her country with a

model of courage and perseverance that helped to sustain it throughout the most difficult years. we congratulate her, we thank her, and i want to let her know that she is a very special heroine to me and that we remain strongly committed to the cause of reform in her country and to supporting not only her country but her people. she has said that aid and investment in burma must be done in a way that is democracy friendly. she describes that as investments that prioritize transparency, accountability, workers' rights, and environmental sustainability. she has also said that the government needs to apply internationally recognized standards such as the i.m.f. code of good practices on fiscal transparency. i agry with her whole heartedly on both of these issues.

as the international financial institutions move to re-engage in burma and we move through this piece of legislation in support of that engagement, i urge the administration to use its leadership to have ensure that assistance to burma supports democratic reforms. en-- democratic reforms, ensures an open and transparent government and institutes safeguards to promote growth, alleviate poverty and helps the people there is a tide in the affairs of nation that taken at the flood can lead to greatness. this is such a moment of political and economic import for burma. i urge my colleagues to support this bill and to continue to support the efforts of the people of burma toward the establishment of a truly just and democratic society.

i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady reserves. the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. royce: i have no further speakers. mr. -- mrs. maloney: i have no further speakers, i yield back the balance of my time. mr. royce: i thank the gentlelady. it is said that burma is undergoing a triple transition from a military government to a more open and democratic government, also it's moving from conflict to peace, and it's moving from a closed economy to a more open economy. all three of these transitions, of course, are equally daunting. aung san suu kyi shows us how far they have come but also how far they have left to go. our responsibility to to keep pushing burma in the right direction. pushing it in the right

direction so all political prisoners are freed and so that a fully democratic government respects the rights of all its people, including its ethnic minorities. this legislation is an appropriate response to ensure that burma continues moving in the right direction and i urge the adoption of the bill and i yield back the balance of my time, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 6431. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from illinois seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, i move to suspend the rules and pass the bill h.r. 2827 with an amendment. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 2827, a bill to amend the securities exchange act of 1934, to clarify provisions relating to the regulation of municipal advisors and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore:

pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from illinois, mr. dold, and the gentlelady from new york, mrs. maloney, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from illinois. mr. dold: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and to add extraneous material on this bill. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. dold: mr. speaker, i yield myself as much time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. dold: mr. speaker, i rise today in support of h.r. 2827, which would clarify the definition of a municipal advisor to reflect the intent of the united states congress. this bill received unanimous support and passed out of the financial services committee with a vote of 60-0. i'd like to urge my colleagues to support this important bipartisan legislation. municipal advisors are consultants would would who advise local -- who advise local municipalities about

financial matters. like traditional financial advisors, municipal advisors must comply with an existing legal and regulatory framework while owning their -- while owning their clients a if he doucheary duty. but before -- if i douche year dutyy. but before -- if i dish year -- fiduciary duty. this created a significant and i would argue unfair competitive advantage in favor of the unregulated municipal advisors. even more importantly, the regulated gap gave a few bad actors the opportunity to take advantage of the state and local government officials who, like most people, aren't familiar with advanced and technical financial products. dodd-frank section 975 addressed this problem by requiring these unregulated advisors to register with the sequester and to follow rules

written -- s.e.c. and follow rules. the provisions generally have bipartisan political support as well as widespread industry support. however most of us, both republicans and democrats, believe that the s.e.c.'s interpretation of the law has gone far beyond what congress intended. among other things -- by doing -- among other things, requiring volunteer members of local governing boards, engineering providing technical and comparative analysis and bank tellers, for instance, to register with the s.e.c. as municipal advisors. in response to its proposal, the s.e.c. received over 1,000 comment letters from across the industry that were overwhelmingly critical of the proposed rule. and that is why i introduced h.r. 2827. h.r. 2827 takes important steps to address these widelying an knowledge -- acknowledged concerns and -- widely acknowledged concerns and specifiesed scopes and limits

of dodd-frank's municipal advisor provisions. after introducing our original version, h.r. 2827, we asked everyone on both sides of the aisle and industry participants as well, with a wide variety of perspectives, to give us their comments and suggestions for improving the legislation. my colleague and co-sponsor from wisconsin, ms. moore, and i have spent countless hours working and listening with all concerned parties to ensure that we have fully considered all the viewpoints to come up with the best possible legislation that could also pass with broad bipartisan support. and i certainly want to thank her for all of her efforts at this time. two concerns about the original version of this bill, mr. speaker, of h.r. 2827, that were most significant, first was that the original version of the bill would strike the federal fiduciary duty for municipal advisors, leaving in place just the state-based standards. second, the original bill would have excluded certain parties from regulation as municipal

advisors, even when explicitly engaged to provide municipal advisor services. during the subcommittee markup, ms. moore and i articulated our land for going forward with the legislation -- our plan for going forward with the legislation and invited suggestion from industry and other concerned parties. we were very pleased with the genuine engagement of the parties from across the industry and they're willingness to generously share their time and experience, effort and knowledge with us. all of these contributions ultimately produced a better and stronger amended bill. we believe that this new version of the bill addresses the points raised since the subcommittee markup and while maintaining our broad coalition of bipartisan supporters. this new bill preserves the federal fiduciary standard and removes the blanket status exemptions while still maintaining a bright line municipal advisor position. it protects issuers by establishing clear lines for rules and for municipal advisor activity and provides clarity in the marketplace. in addition to the amendment

substance, i'm very proud of the process, what we've been able to undertake to get us to this point. i'd like to thank my colleague again, ms. moore, and the staff for working with me and my staff and thank all of those who worked with us to get us to where we are in this process. they were so generous in sharing their time and i'm confident what we have is a good bill that we can move forward with. again i urge my colleagues to support h.r. 2827. with that i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. for what purpose does the gentleman from utah rise? mr. bishop: mr. speaker, i send to the desk a privileged report from the committee on rules for filing under the rule. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title. the clerk: report to aky -- accompany house resolution 788, resolution providing for consideration of the joint resolution, house jot resolution 118, providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, united states code, of the rules submitted by the office of family assistance of the administration for children and

families of the department of health and human services relating to waiver and expenditure authority under section 1115 of the social security act, 42, united states code, 1315, with respect to the temporary assistance for needy families program. providing for consideration of the bill, h.r. 3409, to limit the authority of the secretary of the interior to issue regulations before december 31, 2013, under the surface mining control and reclamation act of 1977, and providing for proceedings during the period from september 22, 2012, through november 12, 2012. the speaker pro tempore: referred to the house calendar and ordered printed. the gentlelady from wisconsin, ms. moore, will control the time. the chair recognizes the gentlelady from wisconsin. ms. moore: thank you so much, mr. speaker. i think mr. -- i thank mr. dold -- i think mr. dold dealt very well with many of the specifics of h.r. 2827, relating to the

regulation of municipal advisors. so before i lose people, i want to briefly talk about the process that brought the bill to this point and to thank a lot of people for their contributions to the final legislation. as you've heard, the bill that passed the financial services committee by 60-0 reflects the legislative process at its absolute best. it was a collaborative effort between republicans, democrats, issuers and market participants and very, very diligent staffers on both sides of the aisle. if there's a single element that is most responsible for the bill getting to this point, it is the integrity of the people involved. it speaks to their professionalism, that they stayed at the table and negotiated with the singular purpose of getting to the best result for the municipal

market. there were times when the issues were tough and the disagreements real. times when it would have been very easy for people to just give up and walk away. but to the credit of all involved, everyone kept talking and kept searching for solutions. mr. dold deserves a tremendous amount of credit for his leadership on this bill. he was consistently willing to engage tough issues in an open and thoughtful manner. i'd also like to thank all my colleagues in the committee, republican and democrat alike, for their invaluable input as we negotiated the bill. finally, i think it is important that i mention the important contributions of mr. frank and ms. waters. at many critical points, both were instrumental in providing guidance. h.r. 2827, which passed the

house financial services committee 60-0, was not -- it almost didn't pass at all there was so much confusion i think generated from the s.e.c. promulgating a rule that initially was very, very confusing. but it's only the second legislative effort related to dodd-frank to pass the committee unanimously. prior to the passage of dodd-frank, nondealer advisors to municipal governments were unregulated. these unregulated parties were involved in a number of municipal market scandals that ultimately defrauded taxpayers. section 975 brings municipal financial advisors, agents and g.i.c. brokers under federal securities law. it is a goal that has -- is not partisan. unfortunately in 2010 the s.

e.c. released a proposed rule making related to section 975 that created massive confusion in a municipal market regarding how section 975 would be applied in the real world. h.r. 2827 seeks to clarify section 975, to provide certainty to the market so, that the rules can be implemented and taxpayers can benefit from the protection it brings. this bill takes a fundamentally different approach from the s.e.c. of the definition of municipal advisors. it makes municipal advisor an exclusionary definition rather than trying to outline and define certain transactions which end up being very vegas -- vague and overly broad. and it doesn't unnecessarily sweep in the universe of other professionals or impinge on the relationships of issuers and other market participants engaged in legitimate and necessary market activities. mr. speaker, how much time remains?

the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady has 16 minutes remaining. moore mar moore 16 minsk -- ms. moore: 16 minutes. ok. underwriting, providing accounting services, engineering advice, or offering traditional deposits in cash management services to municipalities. it's a straightforward approach that effectuates the goals of 975 while meeting the real-world needs of market participants. i want to urge everyone -- all my colleagues to support this important regulatory legislation and again i cannot thank the participants enough who participated in this bill. and i want to reserve my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady reserves. the gentleman from illinois is recognized. mr. dold: thank you, mr. speaker. i just want to again thank the gentlelady for her help and support with regard to this process, which as she aptly

points out was at times a little strenuous but i believe in the end we were able to come together in a bipartisan fashion, to produce what i hope is quality legislation that will be -- will be able to be better for municipal advisors all across the country. and would inquire dish don't know how many speakers -- ms. moore: i would like to yield some time to mrs. maloney. mr. dold: i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentlelady yields. mrs. maloney is recognized. mrs. maloney: mr. speaker, i rise in support of h.r. 2827 and commend my ghood friend and colleague, ms. moore, and mr. dold, and ranking member frank, and everyone else who worked very hard on this bill in their willingness to work in a bipartisan way. it is helpful to recall that the original dodd-frank regulations relating to municipal bond advisors only came about because of a number of manmade financial disasters involving municipalities and

their advisors. who were unregulated. it was just about a year ago that jefferson county, alabama, filed the biggest municipal bankruptcy in u.s. history. they joined the ranks of 11 other entities to file a chapter 9 bankruptcy that year, including boise county, idaho, central falls, rhode island, and harrisonburg, pennsylvania. they all had unique problems. but one of the things that they had in common, they got some pretty costly advice and it will haunt taxpayers for years. this was an area that was completely unregulated before the financial crisis and the dodd-frank reforms, including the municipal advisor registration requirement were enacted to respond to those crises. the dodd-frank reforms require individuals to advise

municipalities to be registered with the s.e.c. and be subject to the municipalities rule making board. this is a good thing. most agree that the s.e.c.'s proposed rule, the original one, went too far and made the definition of a municipal advisor a little too broad. it was defined in a way that could have potentially captured those who were not providing investment advice. i know many institutions were concerned that under the s.e.c.'s proposed rule, merely providing a bank account to your municipality could mean an institution would have to register as an advisor and be subject to nfib regulation, all because they just provided basic banking services. and as someone who was there during the consideration of dodd-frank, i can tell you that that was not what congress intended. however, i was concerned that

the original version of this bill went too far in the other direction and that could have opened up such a gaping hole you could have driven a truck full of other people's money through it. i was concerned that the draft bill eliminated the critical fiduciary duty standard that we included in dodd-frank. the difurebary duty is a vital element that ensures that the advisors provide advice that is in the best interest of the municipality. so i think that this revised bill, and we have struck a good balance, fiduciary duty is back in, and unintended capture is out. the revised language clearly and reasonably defines the activities that municipal advisors engage in and describes the kind of advice they provide. this bill now gives clear legislative guidance to ensure the goal of heightened

supervision of knew moves any pal advisors is realized. it keeps taxpayers safer, credit markets more stable and regulations a bit fairer. all in all, i would say that it's a job well done, done in a bipartisan spirit, with a great deal of time and commitment. i commend the two major sponsors who are speaking with us today and i yield back my time to my good friend, gwen moore. thank you for your work on this. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back. the the gentlelady from wisconsin is recognized. ms. moore: thank you, mr. speaker, thank you, the gentlewoman from new york. i want to say that again again, i think we need to credit mr. told, a fairly new member that we actually listened to members who were senior members and didn't base it on partisan differences as so often occurs but really respected people's experience and listened to their advice very earnestly.

so again, i urge my colleagues to support this legislation and i would yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields. the gentleman from illinois is recognized. mr. dold: thank you, mr. speaker. i want to thank chairman bacchus for allowing this to move -- bacchus for allowing this -- baucus for allowing this to move forward. i thank my good friend from wisconsin, ms. moore, for all her work and efforts to work with me on what i hope is going to be a bill that everyone here in this chamber will support. with that, mr. speaker, i ask everyone, my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, to support h.r. 2827 and i yield back the plans of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 2827? -- h.r. 2827 as amended.

those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair 2/3's being in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. for what purpose does the gentleman from washington seek recognition? >> i move to suspend the rules and pass h.r. 5987 as amended. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the tie tholve -- title of the bill. the speaker pro tempore: h.r. 5987, a bill to establish the historical park in oak ridge,

tennessee,s will almost, new mexico and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from washington, mr. hastings, and the gentleman from ohio, mr. kucinich, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from washington. mr. hastings: i ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. hastings: i yield myself such time as i may consume. h.r. 5987 is a bipartisan bill that will establish the manhattan project national historical park. there's a like bill, bipartisan bill, also pending in the senate. the park will encompass three locations that were integral to the tremendous engineering and human achievements of the manhattan project. the three locations are the hanniford site in my home state of washington, los alamos, in new mexico, and oak ridge, in

tennessee. the vast majority of the facilities eligible to be included in this park are already owned by the federal government. they are located on lands owned and controlled by the department of energy. our nation already possesses these pieces of history. the real purpose of this bill is to officially declare the importance of preserving the history, providing access to the public, and including the unique abouts of the park service to help tell this story. currently some of these historic facilities, slated for inclusion in this park, are scheduled to be destroyed at considerable taxpayer expense. a great many local community leaders in all three states and interested citizens have worked to coordinate a commitment to preserving this piece of our history. additionally, the government will save millions of dollars from foregone destruction as

opposed to the minimal cost of providing public access and park administration. in recognition of the important contributions to the manhattan project by the men and women at sites across the country, the bill contains a provision allowing communities like dayton, ohio, for example, outside the historical park, to receive technical assistance and support from the department of interior as they seek to preserve and manage their own manhattan project resources. this is a good piece of legislation, it's part of our history, mr. speaker. i urge my colleagues to support this legislation and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman vembs. the gentleman from ohio is recognized. mr. kucinich: thank you, mr. speaker. to my friend, mr. hastings, the technology which created the bomb cannot be separated from the horror which the bomb created. the celebration of the

technology of the bomb bespeaks a moral blindness to its effects. which include not only the devastation of the people of hi roach ma and nagasaki but the $10 trillion cold war teen the -- between the u.s. and russia and this tens of thousands of nuclear weapons which today hang over the world like so many swords of damocles. at a time when we should be organizing the world toward abolishing nuclear weapons, before they apolish us, we are instead indulging in admiration at our cleverness as a species. the bomb is about graveyards, not about national parks. the philosopher alfret north whitehead once wrote, the major advances in civilization are processes that all but wreck the societies in which they

occur. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from washington is recognized. mr. hastings: i advise my friend from ohio, i have no more requests for time. i'm prepared to yield back if he's prepared to yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from ohio. mr. kucinich: i shall continue. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. kucinich: when you walk into the bradberry science museum at the los -- into the bradbury science museum at los alamos, you're greeted on your immediate left by replicas of fat man and little boy, the two bombs dropped on hiroshima and nagasaki. the space surrounding them does not include a picture of the leveled japanese cities. pictures of children with massive birth defects. or stories of families and hundreds of years of history obliterated in the blink of an eye. it does not include a

discussion of the health effects, of worldwide distribution of radiation from the bombs or from the larger proliferation of nuclear technology that emanated from los alamos. mr. speaker, the house is not in order. i'm sorry, but i'm making a presentation and i can't continue if members are talking. the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. mr. kucinich: i'm asking members, this is an important debate, please pay attention and if you have something else to say, if you could participate, that would be great. i'm speaking and this -- about the bradbury science museum. the bombs reside in is a section of the museum called defense, which presents information on the nuclear arsenal, nuclear stockpile and plutonium explosives. other sections talk about how the bomb was triggered. how the bomb was triggered. a substantive discussion of the

myriad negative impacts of the technology that came out of -- came out of the manhattan project is relegated to on security. a public forum tucked away in a corner provides space for public input. now when the u.s. dropped atomic bombs on hiroshima and nagasaki in august of 1945, more than 200,000 people were killed instantly. in the years that followed, over 100,000 additional people died of radiation poisoning. the japanese people today continue to experience the devastating and long-term effects of the bomb. it is now widely acknowledged by many top u.s. government officials at the time of the war that dropping the bomb on japan was completely unnecessary. and i want to get into that section at this moment, so that

those who say, well, we need to create a memorial to the bomb because it ended the war, well that's not true. i'm going to give you some quotes, mr. speaker, this is from dwight david eisenhower, who was general of the armies and also later on president of the united states. he said, in july, 1945, secretary of war stinson, visiting my headquarters in germany, informed me that our government was preparing to drop an atomic bomb on japan. i was one of those who felt there was a number of cogent reasons to question the wisdom of such an act. the secretary, upon giving me the news of the successful bomb test in new mexico and of the plan for using it asked for my reaction. apparently expecting a vigorous assent. during his recitation of the relevant facts, i had been

conscious of a feeling of depression and so i voiced to him my grave misgivings, first on the basis of the -- of my belief that japan was already defeated and that dropping the bomb was completely unnecessary, and secondly because i thought that our country should avoid shocking world opinion by use of a weapon whose employment was, i thought, no longer mandatory as a measure to save american lives. it is my belief that japan was, at that very moment, seeking some ways to surrender with a minimum loss of face. the secretary was deeply perturbed by my attitude, unquote. that's dwight eisenhower in a book called "mandate for change," page 360. from general douglas