very wishful thinking. the sooner congress wishes a consensus required to make the difficult decisiones that are essential to deal with the reality of finite resources the better we can provide for our nation's defense. in closing, i again want to reiterate my thanks to the chairman. he and his staff have ensured that the defense subcommittee ave continued the tradition of dealing clab are atively and effectively -- collaboratively and effectively. i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from new jersey. mr. frelinghuysen: i'm pleased to yield five minutes to the chairman of the appropriations, the gentleman from kentucky, mr. rogers. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. rogers: mr. chairman, i urge our colleagues to support this defense spending bill for 2015. this bipartisan legislation provides $491 billion in

discretionary funding for our nation's highest duty, and that is the security of the country. and the sustainment of our military operations. and the well-being of the brave men and women of our armed forces. the bill before you today, mr. chairman, will help meet the most pressing needs of our military as we address current and arising threats to the safety of our nation in an ever-changing global landscape. it also takes into account the ongoing challenges of our current fiscal situation. finding ways to trim excess spending and reduce lower-priority programs without negatively affecting our troops or the success of our military missions. providing our military with the highest standard of readiness

is a top priority in this bill. this includes procuring important equipment and resources, supporting troop training and flight time and maintaining our bases and facilities. the bill marks investments in important defense technology r&d, to help advance the safety and success of our military operations now and into the future. investments like these will help to preserve our military's status as the most effective and capable in the world. the backbone of our military of course is the brave men and women who lay their lives on the line in defense of this nation. with that in mind, the bill fully funds the authorized 1.8% pay raise for our military personnel instead of the 1% as requested by the president. troop housing costs are also fully funded as authorized. this ensures that our more than

1.3 million active duty troops and 820,000 guard and reserve troops have the quality of life they deserve during their service. money is included for the defense health program to ensure a consistent and strong quality of care for our troops, their families and retirees. within this total, the bill includes increases above the president's request for cancer research, traumatic brain injury research, psychological health research and suicide prevention outreach programs. the bill also provides an increase of $50 million above last year for sexual assault prevention and response programs, helping to address this growing challenge within our forces. lastly, the bill provides $79.4

billion in overseas contingency operations funding to support our troops in afghanistan. as we have yet to receive an official budget request that reflects the most current and anticipated status of our troops in the field, the so -- this funding will undoubtedly require further evaluation, particularly with the developing situations in iraq and the middle east. by prioritizing these vital programs, closely scrutinizing the budget request, and assessing the most current needs, fiscal 2015 defense appropriations ensures the best use of our limited federal dollars. we made careful, targeted reductions wherever possible without adversely affecting the safety of our troops or the ongoing success of our military missions. mr. chairman, as of today we've completed 10 appropriations bills -- 10 of the 12 through

subcommittee. eight have gone through full committee and we've begun or we've completed consideration of six bills on the floor. so when we finish this bill and the ag bill, we will be half through the 12 bills. that's not happened in many years. we are moving at a remarkable pace and if our colleagues in the other body continue their good work as well, we stand a great chance of completing this important work on time. this is an even greater achievement because we've done so under regular order, with open rules that have allowed every member to have his or her voice heard. over the five bills we've considered on this floor so far, we've had more than 200 amendments and i'm sure we will add to that tally today. week of taken great care to weed out waste and excess and terminate duplicative programs.

this year alone -- i ask for an additional one minute. mr. frelinghuysen: i yield the gentleman an additional minute. mr. rogers: we've done all of this while abiding by the ryan-murray budget agreement. before i finish, mr. chairman, i can't help but compliment the chairman, the new chairman of this subcommittee, this is his maiden voyage after becoming chairman of the defense appropriations subcommittee, and i think he's steered the ship properly so far and we look forward to the complete work that he's doing. so congratulations to chairman frelinghuysen and to ranking member visclosky. they've done a great job. it's a bipartisan bill and i urge members to support it. i yield. the chair: the gentleman from new jersey reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from indiana. mr. visclosky: mr. chairman, i would like to yield four minutes to the gentlewoman from new york, the ranking member of the appropriations committee. the chair: the gentlelady is recognized for four minutes. mrs. lowey: thank you, mr. speaker. i'd like to thank the chairman,

ranking member, the defense subcommittee has a long tradition of working closely together and i sincerely appreciate these bipartisan efforts. this is an extremely important and timely bill. as the department is tasked withdrawing down forces in afghanistan, appropriately responding to the upheevenal in iraq, and face -- upheaval in iraq and facing other challenges across the globe. totaling $490.7 billion, the base portion of the bill is approximately $200 million above the president's request. however, after accounting for appropriate increases in active duty pay and housing costs, the remainder of the bill is actually below the president's proposed level. budget caps and sequestration force difficult decisions. many of which will be debated

this week. before we begin that discussion, i want to again thank the chairman and ranking member and recognize the constraints under which they assembled the bill. the bill includes a number of provisions i strongly support. additional investments to address the epidemic of sexual assault plaguing our military, substantial funds for health services and suicide prevention , my colleague just informed me that in march there were zero mbat fatalities, but 700 suicides. a 1.8% increase for active duty pay, support for the national guard and reserves, as well as families -- family support programs, significant funding for cybersecurity to protect our critical infrastructure

from cyberattacks, and continued support for the israeli cooperative missile defense program. i applaud the inclusion of language that sends 75% of funds for the defense health care management system modernization, requiring a report from the secretary of defense on acquisition and the cost of the program. plus the status of efforts to achieve interoperability with the department of veterans affairs. this system is critical to the health of our service members and expeditious interoperability between d.o.d. and the v.a. is essential to ensuring quality of care as they become veterans. through continued oversight, this committee will make sure that d.o.d. stays on course, delivers the promised objectives. i remain concerned about the

lack of a formal budget, for the overseas contingency operations funds, with continues uncertainty about future u.s. actions in afghanistan, work remains on this account. again, i appreciate the professionalism and collegiality of the process and i look forward to further cooperation as we work toward passing this bill. thank you, mr. speaker. the chair: the gentleman from indiana reserves. the gentleman from new jersey. mr. frelinghuysen: i'm pleased to yield three minutes to a member of our defense subcommittee, the gentleman from florida, mr. crenshaw. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. very nshaw: thank you much, mr. chairman. thank you for the work that you've done, along with mr. visclosky, to present what i consider to be a very strong bill. when you look at the world today, it certainly hasn't gotten any smaller, certainly hasn't gotten any safer. but i think this bill balances

the priorities that we need to balance and focuses on being able to meet the many, many challenges that we face in terms of our national security. i consider it an honor to serve on this subcommittee because when i read the constitution, it teaches me that the number one responsibility of the federal government is to protect american lives. and the best way to keep america safe is to keep america strong and i think this bill does that. we make sure that we're not making any short-term budget-driven decisions that would be easy to make in these difficult economic times. the navy decided that they would like to deactivate 11 ships. that's 1/2 of our cruiser fleet. we don't need less ships, we need more ships. and i'm proud that the subcommittee's worked out a compromise where these ships will be modernized, their life will be extended and they'll

continue to do the work that they need to do around the globe. the people that i represent back in jacksonville, florida, care greatly about national security. they care about the men and women in uniform and they care about the men and women that work so hard to make sure the ships are repaired and the planes are flying in the sky. and the other thing that i wanted to point out in terms of shortsighted, budget-driven decisions is, there was an effort to say there's not enough money to refuel the u.s.s. george washington. that's one of our nuclear carriers. it has 25 years left of useful life if we spend the money to refuel that. and we're going to do that. that also will help us comply with the law that i helped write eight years ago that says you have to have 11 aircraft carriers unless congress says otherwise. and, finally, when i look at the airplanes, the new hawkeye,

advanced hawkeye, these planes are relatively new, but they're incredibly important to our national security. the p-8 surveillance planes, again, relatively new, but critical to our national defense. so i want to thank the chairman, the ranking member, for putting together such a strong bill and i want to urge all my colleagues to support this. i yield back my time. the chair: the gentleman from new jersey reserves. the gentleman from indiana. mr. visclosky: i would like to recognize mismccollum, a member from minnesota, as well as a member of the defense appropriations subcommittee, for two minutes. the chair: the gentlelady is recognized for two minutes. ms. mccollum: thank you, mr. chairman. mr. chairman, this appropriations bill will ensure that all the men and women of our armed forces have the resources they need to keep our country safe and secure. and i want to commend chairman frelinghuysen and ranking member visclosky for their work together to craft a good bill under difficult budgetary conditions and the uncertainty

surrounding the account. thank you to all the members of the subcommittee for working together in a bipartisan and collaborative manner to put this bill together. this legislation supports our troops and our military families, it strengthens health care services available to our service members, and it provides the essential support that our industrial base needs. one issue i'm very concerned about is the academic of sexual assault -- epidemic of sexual assault in our military. sexual assault will not be tolerated and must be both prevented and prosecuted. and there are resources in this bill to do that. must hold military leaders accountable to make sure that this progress is made. i'm also very concerned about the complete lack of oversight by this congress in the armed drone program which is funded under this bill. the lack of transparency surrounding drone strikes hinders our ability to evaluate their impact on innocent civilians. there are other challenges and other tough choices made in this bill and our hearings highlighted the fact that there

are tougher choices to make in the coming years. with sequestration on the horizon for f.y. 2016 and beyond, congress needs to act responsibly to balance the need for military readiness with the many nondefense challenges domestically that the american people face. congress needs to stop spending billions of dollars on excess bases and objects loot weapons systems that the department of defense does not want and this bill starts this process by retiring the a-10 aircraft. i believe this bill is responsible and an important step forward and again i want to thank the chairman and the ranking member for their leadership and what we need to do together as a country to maintain our military superiority in the 21st century and i urge passage of the bill. i yield back. the chair: the gentleman from indiana reserves. the gentleman from new jersey has 13 1/2 minutes remaining. mr. frelinghuysen: i'm pleased to yield to the gentleman from arkansas, mr. womack, a member

of the defense appropriations committee. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. mr. womack: thank you, mr. chairman. i thank the chairman of the subcommittee and the ranking member, mr. frelinghuysen, and mr. visk key, for their -- visclosky, for their leadership and the great work that's taken place in crafting this defense appropriations bill. i also would like to thank the overall chairman and the ranking member, mr. rogers and mrs. lowey, for their leadership as well. mr. speaker -- mr. chairman, i urge my colleagues to support this critical legislation on which our men and women in uniform, our intelligence community and our future depend. america's at war and we face continued uncertainty and new threats daily. now is not the time to weaken our military, and this bill equips the department of defense with the funding necessary to keep our nation safe while making the tough

decisions necessary to ensure we stay within our spending limits. with $491 billion provided in discretionary spending and another $80 billion as a placeholder in overseas contingency, the d.o.d. will be able to maintain readiness at levels that protect our military's standing, support our ongoing war efforts abroad and most importantly ensure that the health and well-being of our men and women in uniform and their ability to support their families is protected. our subcommittee and our committee as a whole is keenly aware of our nation's deficits and debt. we are committed to thoroughly evaluating our spending to ensure our defense officials, both military and civilian, are accountable for smart policy objectives that responsibly steward taxpayer dollars. we've had months of hearings, classified briefings and bipartisan cooperation, and i believe we have successfully accomplished a bill, a good bipartisan bill that is worthy of support.

mr. chairman, as i was thinking about my remarks today, i thought about that famous verse in america the beautiful that says o, beautiful, for heroes proved, in liberating strife, who more than self their country loved and mercy more than life. mr. chairman, we have an enormous obligation, a constitutional obligation to protect the homeland, but we have an obligation to ensure that we protect those heroes referenced in that great patriotic song. so the least we can do today is put our partisan differences aside and join collectively to send our collective appreciation to those who serve us in uniform by passing this very important piece of legislation. with that, mr. chairman, i yield back my time. the chair: the gentleman from

new jersey reserves. the gentleman from indiana has 17 1/2 minutes remaining. mr. visclosky: mr. chairman, i'd like to yield to ms. lee from california, a member of the appropriations committee, for one minute. the chair: the gentlelady is recognized for one minute. ms. lee: thank you very much. let me thank my ranking member for yielding, for your very hard work on this department of defense appropriations bill. as a daughter of a veteran, i know how important it is to fully fund and support our troops. i strongly support these provisions of this legislation. with that said, though, there are many provisions in this bill that -- which i cannot support. these include nearly $500 billion in discretionary funding with an increase of $4 billion above the fiscal year 2014 enacted level which we have not seen for any other appropriations bill this year. this inflated level of spending fails to account, mind you, for the waste, fraud and abuse that continues at the pentagon. we must audit the pentagon and reduce unnecessary pentagon spending. this bill also includes nearly $80 billion for the overseas

contingency operations slush fund, which is what it is, at a time when the president has not made a specific request what is needed, this is outrageous and this slush fund should be eliminated. i will submit an amendment, one to eliminate funding in afghanistan after 2015 as well as the farm bill, transportation bills, other bills have -- other authorizations have end dates. we need to come back to congress, debate what we need to do in iraq, if anything, in terms of military strikes and repeal the authorization in afghanistan passed in 2001. thank you and i yield. the chair: the gentleman from indiana reserves. the gentleman from new jersey. mr. frelinghuysen: mr. chairman, i yield such time as he may consume to my colleague from new jersey, mr. lobiondo, for the purpose of a colloquy. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. lobiondo: i thank you, chairman frelinghuysen, and also want to thank ranking member peter visclosky for

setting an example how to take care of our nation's dramatic needs and do it in an inclusive bipartisan fashion. chairman frelinghuysen has shown great leadership on providing the resources or war fighters need to successfully defend our nation, both here and abroad. he and i have worked together on shared interests and i thank you for engaging with me on this important issue. the aircraft that are meant to protect our nation's sovereign airspace from both domestic and foreign threats and also our routine -- are routinely deployed with a big air force into war theaters overseas have gone without much-needed upgrades. the f-16 block 30 aircraft are tasked with a mission that absolutely cannot fail. the 177 fighter wing out of atlantic city, new jersey, as well as the other national guard wings throughout the country are assigned this critically important task of

ensuring our home defense and, again, being able to integrate fully with a big air force into conflicts overseas, as they have done multiple times and in fact they are doing right now as we speak. due to the reduction of modernization programs, these f-16 block 30 aircraft are without key combat avionic upgrades, such as the agile beam radar. threats to our nation continue to grow all over the world, from sovereign countries and terrorist organizations alike. the diversity of threats means that these aircraft must have the latest capability to make split-second decisions to protect our nation here and abroad. i ask the chairman, work with me to ensure that our nation's airspace is properly defended and that these f-16 aircraft are properly fitted for the threats of the 21st century. with that i'd like to yield to my good friend, the gentleman

from new jersey, mr. frelinghuysen. mr. frelinghuysen: i thank the gentleman, my colleague, for yielding on this important issue. i agree that upgrading these legacy aircraft is vital to our nation's defense. it's our job as elected officials to protect our citizens and the mission of the aerospace controller does just that. i'll work to ensure that we include report language in conference or take other appropriate steps regarding this issue as we work through the appropriations process. i thank my colleague and friend from new jersey for bringing this vital concern to my attention, and i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from indiana. mr. visclosky: mr. chairman, i'd yield two minutes to the gentleman from georgia. the chair: the gentleman is ecognized for two minutes. mr. johnson: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise to discuss h.r. 4870, the department of defense appropriations act. i want to thank the committee for fully funding the

historically black colleges and universities and minority student initiative. the 34.4 million dollar allocation supports the educational development of a growing number of minority scholars in science, technology, engineering and math, also known as stem. i was proud when the house armed services committee and then the full house approved my amendment to increase funding for this initiative by $10 million in the national defense authorization act. by providing the full $34.4 million today, the appropriations committee and the full house will once again demonstrate our commitment to hese outstanding scholars. hbcu's produces 1/5 of the nation's undergraduate science graduates and 20% of black

undergraduate engineers. this funding, through the ndaa, emphasizes our support for these students and encourages more minorities to take the stem path. in the long run, producing more qualified minority stem graduates ensures a strong and diversified work force, which is essential to our nation's long-term well-being. i have serious concerns about this bill. i wanted to use this opportunity to express my heart felt appreciation for the work of the house appropriations committee in support of this initiative. thank you and i yield back the balance. the chair: the gentleman from indiana reserves. the gentleman from new jersey. mr. frelinghuysen: mr. chairman, i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman from indiana. mr. visclosky: mr. speaker, i'd yield as such time as he may consume to the gentleman, mr. israel, for purpose of a

colloquy. mr. israel: i want to commend the chairman and the ranking member for their leadership on this bill. i am here today to discuss -- to address the importance of delivering the utmost care to our brave service men and women who suffer from mental health disorders, and the benefits that public-private partnerships between the department of defense and teaching hospitals can provide, specifically to members of the national guard and reserve components who return from wars of duty and transition into civilian life far from a military base and without easy access to the care that they need. i'm breezed that the department recognizes the -- i'm pleased that the department recognizes the benefits and created a pilot program to improve efforts to treat members of the national guard and reserve components and their families who suffer from mental health disorders, but we must not stop there. it is heartbreaking that preliminary readouts of suicide data for threen show that the active -- 2013 show that the active component rate has gone down 13% but the reserve has

rows slightly. this -- has rose slightly. this problem is not going away. that mr. king and me encourages the secretary of defense to expand this initial pilot to include additional community partners through a competitive and merit-based process. there are a number of teaching and clinical hospitals around the country that specialize in mental health treatment and can make a real difference in addressing the soaring demand for mental health treatment. i'd like to work with the chairman and the ranking member to to ensure that the -- member to ensure that the department has the funding necessary to extend this vital program to our nation's brave service members receive the best care possible. at this time i'd be honored to yield to chairman frelinghuysen. mr. frelinghuysen: i appreciate the gentleman from new york's kind works. the committee recognizes that suicide remains a very serious problem in the military, particularly among national guard and reserve troops. i'm proud to say our bill

strongly supports the efforts of the services to address this crisis. the report includes language which speaks directly to the gentleman's interests. in the pilot program that was created to treat service members suffering from mental health disorders in the national guard and reserve components through community partnerships. in addition, the bill provides $158 million in requested funding for suicide prevention, mental health, risk resiliencey programs for the services. this includes an extra $39 million for suicide prevention programs, including the $19 million specifically for our special operators. all the military services have taken significant steps to make suicide prevention a top priority and to improve the resiliencey and health of our service members. we support those efforts, and i'll continue to work with the gentleman from new york and his colleague, mr. king, to address these important issues. vist vis i'd echo the --

r. visclosky: i'd echo the finding ways of the best care possible for service members. and we must use all the resources at our disposal to address the demand for treatment, and i thank the gentleman for his interests and for the colloquy and i'd reclaim my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from new jersey. mr. frelinghuysen: i reserve my time, mr. chairman. mr. visclosky: mr. chairman, i'd recognize the gentleman from california, mr. becerra, for purpose of a colloquy. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. becerra: i thank the ranking member for yielding and i rise today to engage the hairman in a colloquy, please. first, mr. chairman, i'd like to thank you and the ranking member for your efforts of putting together this legislation. in particular, i appreciate that this bill provides funding for the support for international supporting competition fund. this account is crucial for

ensuring the safety and security of countless americans who participate in different olympic initiatives, including the preparations for the olympics, paraolympics and special olympics. the united states has a rich tradition of supporting the special olympics, both in the united states and abroad. these unique events empower people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, while promoting acceptance for all and fostering communities of understanding on a global scale. approximately 1,000 athletes participated in the first special olympics world games in 1968. there's been a seven-fold increase, 7,000 athletes are expected to participate in the next olympic games which will be held in los angeles, california. with this substantial growth has come an increased need for security. it is important for this legislation to match as best possible our country's previous funding commitments. this critical funding need could be addressed either through additional funding for

the support for international sporting competition fund, or unobligated funds at the department of defense. i ask for and look forward to the opportunity to work with the chairman and the ranking member and all of our colleagues who wish to continue our country's support for the special olympics through any available funds in this legislation. and at this point i yield to the chairman for his response. mr. frelinghuysen: we will work very -- with you, with the gentleman from california, to ensure that the remaining prior year balances appropriated for this purpose are spent for heir intended purpose. the chair: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from new jersey. mr. frelinghuysen: reserve as well. the chair: the gentleman from indiana. mr. visclosky: i would want to yield at this point to mr. heck, the gentleman from washington, for the purposes of a colloquy. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. heck: thank you, mr. chairman. i rise to engage the ranking member of the defense

subcommittee in a colloquy. mr. chairman, as the rank -- ranking member may be aware, junior reserve officer training center programs are conducted at schools throughout our great nation. they're traditionally led by retired military officers and enlisted personnel, and the program prepares high school opportunities -- students for leadership roles. jrotc teaches young people the discipline and consequence -- confidence required to succeed outside the classroom. in my congressional district at shelton high school, they successfully operated a program for 35 years. one year they dropped three students below the minimum threshold, were placed on probation , and yet despite the subsequent year exceeding the enrollment threshold, were required to get to the end of the line. notwithstanding the 35 years of successful operation. i don't think shelton high school ought to have to do that. i don't think any high school in the united states ought to have to do that. the shelton high school jrotc

program provided unmatched leadership opportunities for students. and it instilled exactly the kind of values we want to instill in young people. patriotism. national service. and a sense of accomplishment and responsibility. this jrotc program additionally in its community served as the color guard at community events and helped provide volunteers for community organizations. its absence is now being acutely felt throughout all of the county. so, i respectfully request that we somehow find a way to work together, to ensure the navy has the necessary funds to support these programs at shelton high school and throughout the nation. mr. visclosky: i understand the gentleman's concerns and i appreciate him making the committee aware of this issue. i know the junior rotc program has made a difference in the lives of many students as well as our country. i would be happy to work with the gentleman on providing funding for this important program.

mr. heck: thank you, sir. i thank you for agreeing to work with us and i thank you and the chairman for your excellent work on this legislation which i look forward to supporting and i also want you to know that when you tell me you will work with me, i know it to be the case because both of you are men of your word. thank you. mr. visclosky: mr. chairman, i would -- the chair: the gentleman from indiana reserves. the gentleman from new jersey. mr. frelinghuysen: i yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. thompson, for the purpose of a colloquy. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. thompson: thank you, mr. chairman. thank you, chairman. i appreciate you yielding for the purpose of a colloquy. i want to thank you for your tireless efforts for our nation's brave service men and women. and just as importantly for those who served and never made it home. this legislation fully funds the prisoner of war, missing in action personnel office account. the hardworking staff over at the joint p.o.w.-m.i.a. accounting command work

tirelessly to track, locate and recover those -- these fallen heroes. and i thank them for their continued efforts. i would like to have a moment to discuss a hero of the vietnam war, major lewis p. smith iii. he majored in music at penn state and graduated in 1964. he planned to teach music after his obligation to the air force was over. after graduation from penn state, smith was trained on the t-38 and the c-130 aircraft for the next three years. and sent to vietnam and was assigned to the 20th tactical air support squadron in south vietnam. on may 30, 1968, smith piloted a sesna 028 sky master aircraft into the air in laos. during the mission, he encountered enemy fire, resulting in the crash of his plane. electronic signals were heard at the scene, indicating he had survived the crash. but he was not rescued.

major smith was listed as missing in action and was honored on the vietnam veterans memorial panel. major smith's family has been working with the joint p.o.w.-m.i.a. accounting command to recover his remains. the excavation site in laos has been on the list for over two years. and the trip to excavate the crash site has been postponed twice due to budget pressures and sequestration. major smith's family has reached out to me to help with their efforts and to bring lewis home. while i understand the budget constraint and times, this will bring closure to the families after such a loss. mr. chairman, i ask for your support, urge the joint p.o.w.-m.i.a. accounting command to schedule the recovery trip to laos and to bring home major lewis smith's remains to his family, his country, and i thank you and i yield back. mr. frelinghuysen: i thank the gentleman for yielding to me.

i understand the defense prisoner of war missing personnel office mission is to provide families with service members lost in battle or taken as prisoners of war information and applicablecations, recovery of personnel from world war ii, the korean war, the cold war and vietnam war. and the iraqi theater of operations. i fully support the office and the work they do, in searching and reuniting lost solders with their families. returning the fallen service members to their families is a priority and i support your strong efforts and advocacy on behalf of major smith and his family. it's commendable. we honor it and i thank you for bringing this to our attention. i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from indiana. mr. visclosky: i would recognize at this point the gentleman from new york for a purpose of a colloquy. the chair: the gentleman is

recognized. >> thank you, very much, mr. chairman. i appreciate the opportunity to engage in a colloquy. mr. bishop: as many of our colleagues know, thousands of men and women of our armed forces have returned home from iraq and afghanistan with a variety of service-connected illnesses and complications caused by exposure to the noxious fumes of open-air burn pits and other airborne hazards. there is a growing botboddy of research about the disabling effects of burn pit exposure that confirms that such exposure is the cause of serious illnesses. including various cancers. that have killed veterans and left countless others seriously ill. leading researchers in this area, including dr. anthony zema in my district, are discovering clear evidence that fumes from burn pits have sickened the personnel deployed in their vicinity. while their precise numbers reremain unknown, it is estimated that up to 30,000 active duty service members and veterans might be suffering as a result of their exposure to burn pits.

we must learn from past mistakes to stop open-air burn pit exposure before such exposure becomes the agent orange for this generation of veterans. mr. visclosky: i certainly understand the gentleman's concerns and appreciate him making the committee aware of this issue. i would be happy to work with him to provide attention and resources to this issue. i am very pleased he brought it to our attention today on the floor. mr. bishop: i thank the gentleman for his response and his leadership. i also thank the chairman of the subcommittee for his leadership and i look forward to working with them on this issue and i yield back. the chair: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from new jersey has five minutes remaining. mr. frelinghuysen: i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from indiana has six minutes remaining. mr. visclosky: mr. chairman, i'd be delighted to yield to the gentleman from wisconsin for the purposes of a colloquy. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. >> thank you. i rise to enter into a colloquy with ranking member visclosky. i thank the ranking member and the chairman for including language supporting continued

work on lithium eye on battery research. however in reviewing the underlying bill, i am concerned about the possible interpretation by the office of naval research with respect to this effort. i believe it is important that the office of naval research emphasize battery safety as a part of this work. mr. pocan: i would also request the opportunity to continue to work with the chairman and the ranking member to allocate research and development funding to promote battery safety and to retain such funding through conference on the underlying bill. i hope to make it clear that this chamber encourages investment in battery safety research. mr. visclosky: i would want to make it clear to all of my colleagues, first of all, that my good friend from wisconsin has been working on this issue for a number of years. i remember a meeting we had about a year ago on this issue and he continues to press ahead, which i appreciate. i certainly will continue to work with him on development of lithium eyeon battery technology and promote battery safety as an important part of this research and i appreciate

the gentleman's concern as well as his good work. and, mr. chairman, i have no further requests for time and i would yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time or yields back? mr. frelinghuysen: mr. chairman, i'm prepared to yield back the balance of my time. as well. the chair: very well. the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. all time for general debate has expired. pursuant to the rule, the bill shall be considered for amendment under the five minute d rule. during consideration of the bill for amendment, each amendment shall be debatable for 10 minutes, equally divided and controlled by the proponent and an opponent and shall not be subject to amendment. no pro forma amendment shall be in order except that the chair and ranking minority member on appropriations or their respective designees may offer up to 10 pro forma amendments each for the purpose of debate. the chair of the committee of the whole may accord priority and recognition on the basis of whether the member offering an amendment has caused it to be

printed in the portion of the congressional record designated for that purpose. amendments so printed shall be considered read. the clerk will read. the clerk: be iten eakted that the following -- be it enacted that the following sums appropriated for fiscal year 2015 for military functions administered by the department of defense. title 1, military personnel, litary personnel army, $41,183,729,000. litary personnel navy, $27,387,,344,000. military personnel marine -- military o 075, ersonnel, air force, $27,564,362,000. serve personnel, army, $4,304,159,000. serve personnel, navy,

$1,836,024,000. reserve personnel, marine corps, $659,224,000. reserve personnel, air force, $1,652,148,000. ational guard personnel, army, $7,644,632,000.

the chair: for what purpose does the gentleman from texas eek recognition? >> i have an amendment at the desk. the chair: the gentleman will specify which amendment? mr. gohmert: this is an amendment to page 7, line 2, in the amount of $41,492,000.

mr. frelinghuysen: mr. chairman. the chair: for what purpose does the gentleman from new jersey seek recognition? mr. frelinghuysen: it's been designated but when it is i reserve a point of order on the gentleman's amendment. the chair: a point of order will be reserved. the clerk will report the amendment. the clerk: amendment offered by mr. gohmert of texas. page 7, line 2, after the dollar amount insert the following. increase by $41,492,000. page 9, line 6, after the

dollar amount insert the following, reduced by $41,492,000. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 628, the gentleman from texas and a member opposed will each control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from texas. mr. gohmert: thank you, mr. chairman. right now as i speak there are thousands of unaccompanied minors, many of them 15, 16, 17 years of age, but nonetheless classified as minors under 18 and our border patrol is being overwhelmed. our i.c.e. agents, who are supposed to deport people improperly here, are being overwhelmed. as one i.c.e. agent said yesterday, chris crane, that is the union president for the i.c.e. agents, he said basically, we are having to change diapers and so there's no criminal interdiction going

on. we're not able to do our jobs because of the thousands of children that are coming. saw a report today from c.b.p., the border patrol -- customs and border protection, and they were saying the interviews they're doing yield results from the children saying they're coming to america now because of a new law that the department has that allows children to come in and stay here if they just get here quick enough. it has caused a national emergency. so what $41,492,000 does is provide for 1,000 national guard troops. we know in the amendment we cannot legislate, but in order for the money to be available for the national guard troops to assist on the border, the money needs to be available and therefore we're asking that the money be moved from one account over into the account that can

be utilized for national guard troops to help with what has been termed by so many people as a humanitarian crisis. why is it a crisis? because people in the administration are refusing and failing to refuse to do the job and faithfully execute the laws of this nation. they have done a terrible job, and it's a great injustice to all those children who have been sent by aunts and uncles, by parents, by others, just get to the border and if their parents are sending them, we get reports that the parents are hoping once they get in then they can bring the parents in in order to take care of them. other reports, as we've seen from a federal judge in south texas, that department of homeland security is now engaging in human trafficking and is part of the lure of these thousands and thousands of children every week coming

in that if they get to the border and either one of their parents or any relative is in the country, then d.h.s. will engage in human trafficking and try to take them wherever in the country they think their parents might be even though they may be here illegally. so this money is to help with a federal problem, should not be costing the states. it's a federal problem, as the department of justice has indicated through our attorney general, suing states like arizona and saying you can't deal with this problem. this is a federal issue. you must have hands off. well, the locals need help. this will provide help and that's why i'm asking to move $41,492,000 over in the d.o.d. budget so that we can help with national guard troops whend and where they're needed and with

that -- when and where they're needed and with that i yield back. the chair: does the gentleman yield or reserve? mr. frelinghuysen: the amendment proposes to amend a portion of the bill not yet read. the amendment may not be considered en bloc under clause 2-f of rule 21 because the amendment proposes to increase the level of outlays in the bill. i ask for a ruling from the chair. the chair: does a member wish to be heard on the point of order? mr. gohmert: i do. the chair: the gentleman from texas. mr. gohmert: it is only the congressional budget office, c.b.o. accounting that would one oving $41,492,000 from account by that same amount into another account is having more in outlays than is being taken from one account. i think it's fuzzy math that the c.b.o. has engaged in. to most of us, you move

$41,492,000 out of one account and you put that same account in another account, it's not were more outlays than removing from the other account but i'll leave that to the ruling of the chair. the chair: does any other member wish to be heard on the point of order? if not the chair is prepared to rule. to be considered en bloc pursuant to clause 2-f of rule 21, an amendment must not propose to increase the levels of budget authority or outlays in the bill. because the amendment offered by the gentleman from texas proposes a net increase in the level of outlays in the bill, as argued by the chairman of the subcommittee on appropriations, it may not avail itself of clause 2-f to address portions of the bill not yet read. the point of order is sustained, the amendment is not n order. does the gentleman from texas have another amendment? mr. gohmert: did i, mr. chairman. the chair: the clerk will

designate the amendment. for what purpose does the gentleman from new jersey rise? mr. frelinghuysen: i reserve a point of order on the gentleman's amendment. the chair: a point of order is reserved. the clerk will designate the amendment. the clerk: amendment offered by mr. gohmert of texas. page 7, line 2, after the dollar amount insert the following -- increase by $41,492,000. page 9, line 6, after the dollar amount insert the following -- reduced by $57 million. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 628, the gentleman from texas and a member opposed will each control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from texas. mr. gohmert: thank you, mr. chairman. anticipating the fuzzy math from c.b.o. that taking $41,492,000 from one account and putting that same amount in another account would not be considered equal, i went ahead and have another amendment that reduces the one account by $57 million, about over $15 million more than we're transferring in

the account that can be used for national guard troops so that according to the fuzzy c.b.o. math the reduction will equal the increase. but with that said, no matter how fuzzy the accounting is here in washington, there is a massive problem on our border. and for this body to turn away when we can force the president's hand -- he's not faithfully executing the laws of his office. he is not enforcing the immigration laws. he's not enforcing the border. we can force the hand by making the proceeds available, the $41,492,000 to get national guard, make them available for this purpose and then we think the outcry from america will force the president's hand to get these people there.

and the governors will have a stake in this claim, but it is a federal problem. i continue to insist on this, and americans across the country are watching what we're doing. we need to be responsible and faithfully execute the laws of this country and that's without regard to whether or not the president does. we have an obligation to get this money where it's needed. we believe this will do that, and so, mr. chairman, we move this amendment. the chair: the gentleman reserves. for what purpose does the gentleman from new jersey rise? mr. frelinghuysen: i insist on my point of order. the chair: the gentleman will state his point of order. mr. frelinghuysen: mr. chairman, the amendment proposes to amend portions of the bill not yet read. the amendment may not be considered en bloc under clause 2-f of rule 21 because the amendment proposes to increase the level of outlays in the bill. i ask for a ruling from the

chair. the chair: does any member wish to be heard on the point of order? mr. gohmert: well, i certainly do? the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. gohmert: under the math of c.b.o., as fuzzy as it is, by reducing one account by $57 million, even c.b.o. says, yes, that takes care of equalizing ,000 in y of $41,492 the account to increase that for the national guard. so it should have been addressed with the first amendment that i made, but the second one certainly addresses the fuzzy math that c.b.o. provides. and this does not increase the amount of expenditures over what is being taken from another account. i yield back. the chair: the gentleman yields back. does any other member wish to be heard on the point of order? seeing none, the chair is prepared to rule. to be considered en bloc pursuant to clause 2-f of rule

21, an amendment must not propose to increase the levels of budget authority or outlays in the bill. because the amendment offered by the gentleman from texas increases the net increase as argued by the chairman of the subcommittee on appropriations, it may not avail itself of clause 2-f to portions of the bill not yet read. mr. gohmert: parliamentary inquiry. the chair: the gentleman will state his parliamentary inquiry. mr. gohmert: my inquiry is this, mr. chairman. can the chair tell me how reducing one account by $57 million is not adequate to ver $41 million,492,000 -- $41,492,000 increase in another account? it's $15.5 million more we are reducing than the amount we are increasing. so my inquiry is, please, mr. chairman, explain how the ncrease of $41,492,000 is more

than the $57 million reduction? the chair: the chair bases his ruling on the fact that the amendment increases budget outlay rates. mr. gohmert: the rates are addressed, mr. chairman, by this $15.5 million amount. that is covered. even c.b.o. admits that. so i don't know where the chairman is getting his numbers. they're certainly not supported, even by the fuzziest f math of our c.b.o. the chair: the chair has ruled that the amendment increases the amount of outlays in the bill and cannot be considered. does the gentleman have another amendment? the clerk will read. the clerk: page 7, line 3, air force, $3,110,587,000.

title 2, operation and maintenance, operation and maintenance, army -- 32,671,980,000. the chair: for what purpose does the gentleman from michigan, mr. kildee, seek recognition? mr. kildee: i have an amendment at the desk. the chair: the gentleman will please send his amendment to he desk.

the clerk will proceed. the clerk: operation and maintenance, navy, $39,-- the chair: for what purpose does the gentleman from indiana seek recognition? >> i have an amendment at the desk. mr. frelinghuysen: mr. chairman, i reserve a point of order. the chair: the gentleman will suspend. the reading has not yet reached that point where the amendment is in order. the gentleman reserves a point of order but there is no amendment pending. the clerk will read. the clerk: operation and maintenance, navy, $39,073,543,000. operation and maintenance, marine corps, $5,984,680,000. operation and maintenance, air

force, $35,024,160,000. operation and maintenance, defense-wide, including transfer of funds, $30,896,741,000. the chair: the clerk will rend -- suspend. there are several amendments pending on this line. the chair will recognize the gentlelady from california, ms. lee, as a member of the ppropriations committee. the gentlelady will please suspend. the gentleman from new jersey. mr. frelinghuysen: mr. chairman, i reserve a point of order. we haven't seen quite a few of these amendments. the chair: a point of order will be reserved as soon as the clerk has reported the amendment. the clerk: amendment offered by ms. lee of california, page 9, line 6, after the dollar amount insert the following, reduce by $5 million. page 33, line 11, after the dollar amount insert the following increase by $5 million. page 33, line 19, after the dollar amount insert the

following, increase by $5 million. the chair: a point of order is reserved by the gentleman from new jersey on the amendment and pursuant to house resolution 62, the gentlelady from california, and a member opposed will each control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentlelady from california. ms. lee: thank you very much. let me just start by thanking the chair and the ranking member for working with me on this very important amendment. it's a very simple amendment that would provide a $5 million increase to available funds for research and development, testing and evaluation related to multiple sclerosis under the defense heament program. these funds would increase funding for multiple sclerosis research from -- under d.o.d. to $10 million. this amendment fulfills the request of $10 million for m.s. research that was included in a bipartisan letter signed by 78 members of congress earlier this year, including co-chairs of the congressional m.s.

caucus, representatives michael burgess and congressman van hollen. mr. chairman, i'd ask for unanimous consent to insert the signed dear colleague letter into the record. the chair: that request is covered by general leave. ms. lee: thank you. there are two million people worldwide living with m.s. this complicated an unpredictable neurological disease interrupts the flow of information within the brain and between the brain and the body. m.s. is a chronic disease that can often be debilitating for those living with it and the symptoms of m.s. are as diverse as the people it impacts. i am pleased to introduce this amendment to the defense appropriations bill, since m.s. has a significant impact on our armed services. some 23,000 veterans are currently being treated for m.s., with more than 5,000 cases having been identified as service-connected. because of increased research funding in m.s., the first disease modifying drugs became available for people living

with m.s. 20 years ago. however, these drugs only worked for a subset of the population and many people living with m.s. still have no viable treatment options. increased research funding could give scientists a better understanding of this disease, which could potentially unveil new therapies. i will close by adding that i understand on a very personal level the impact of this disease. my sister shows me every day what life is like to live with this disease and i am consistently mazed by her strength and her -- amazed by her strength and her bravery. she and the millions of people around the world living with m.s. are really a testament to the importance of making stronger investments to find a cure. and so, mr. chairman, on behalf of my sister, mildred, on behalf of all those living with m.s., on behalf of the families and care givers, i urge my colleagues to vote yes and i yield back the balance of my time. mr. frelinghuysen: will the gentlewoman yield?

ms. lee: i yield. mr. frelinghuysen: may i quhend you on your -- commend you on your amendment and i with dramue -- and i withdraw my reservations. ms. lee: thank you, mr. chairman. thank you very much. i yield back the balance of my time. and urge a yes vote. the chair: the reservation of the point of order is withdrawn. the gentlewoman from california yields back the balance of her time. the question now is on the amendment offered by the gentlewoman from california. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. the amendment agreed to. for what purpose does the gentleman from colorado rise? mr. lamborn: mr. chairman, i have two amendments at the desk. 53 and 52. whoip which amendment does the gentleman wish to -- the chair: which amendment does the gentleman wish to offer at this time? mr. lamborn: 53. the chair: the clerk will report the amendment. will the gentleman please send his amendment to the desk?

the chair: the clerk will now report the amendment 53. the clerk: amendment offered by mr. lamborn of colorado. page 9, line 6, after the dollar amount insert the following, reduced by $5 million, increased by $5 million. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 628, the gentleman from colorado, and a member opposed each will control five minutes. the chair now recognizes the gentleman from colorado for five minutes. mr. lamborn: thank you, mr. chairman. there is an important program to help our special forces troops and families. it's called the preservation of the force and family program. and admiral mcgraven, who we know is the commander of special operations command, has told the armed services

committee that this is his highest priority. and it combines several kinds of help and assistance to wounded warriors, to their families in a holistic way and for those who are in it and have benefited from it, it's been a tremendous, tremendous program. so, what i'm proposing in this amendment is to take $5 million from the special operation command's budget request for flying hours, which in my understanding was increased by the appropriations committee which is normally an excellent thing to fund, but they even gave, in my understanding, mr. chairman, above and beyond what the command had asked for, so based on that i'm asking for a transfer back of $5 million from the flying hours budget to the preservation of the force and family program. nd this aligns with what the

armed services committee had put in the ndaa after their deliberations in committee. so i would ask that the house adopt this committee and i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from indiana rise? mr. visclosky: i would rise in opposition to the gentleman's amendment. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. visclosky: appreciate the recognition. i rise in opposition. the subcommittee has always done everything we can to take care of our special operators and that is reflected in the mark. i do believe the gentleman's seamed philosophically inconsistent with the underlyinging bill. i cannot justify devoting significant resources to the $1 billion proposal to establish their own separate contractor-staffed facilities, when our services are undergoing tremendous downsizing pressure. it runs contrary to what we're trying to do in the bill and i would be happy to yield to the

committee chair, mr. frelinghuysen. mr. frelinghuysen: i thank the gentleman for yielding. socom has provided no information or data to support this costly new endeavor and congress has raised questions of both the authorization bill and the appropriations bill about the affordability and efficacy of this program. as our mark reflects, we've also raised serious concerns regarding socom's prioritization of its requirements. again, this year socom proposed to fund their flying hour readiness programs at only 60% of their requirement, so that they could fund these new contractors and facilities. then they made restoration of flying hours their number one unfunded priority. i believe it is ill-advised to provide a 50% increase to higher person -- to hire personal trainers, sports nutritionists and sports psychologists for special operators in an average cost in excess of $200,000.

with all due respect, all those who serve in our military, men and women, whether they be active duty, guard or reserve, or whether they be special operators, deserve the type of equipment and programs that keep them healthy and steadfast. and i yield back to the gentleman from for any further comments. mr. visclosky: i appreciate the gentleman's remarks and i would point out that the committee has raised significant questions regarding duplication with service-related facilities and services by the special forces and more importantly, and i think this is key, we must be careful not to create or give the perception that we are treating special forces differently than anyone else who serves this country in uniform. anyone who puts the uniform of the united states military on, they're all special and i strongly oppose the gentleman's amendment and i would reserve

the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman from indiana reserves his time. the gentleman from colorado is recognized. mr. lamborn: thank you. mr. chairman, i would agree with the assertion that every single fighting man and woman is special. the special operations forces do have some tremendous stresses that they can undergo, especially in the kind of combat missions that they perform. and i believe that this is a program that has been successful in preventing suicide. and so for that reason i think that it is timely, it is appropriate. there are different programs to treat our wounded warriors who have ptsd and they don't -- every program doesn't work for every soldier, airman, marine or sailor. but for those that do get the treatment they need, it is literally a life-saver. so for that reason i think it is a priority to address the

after-effects of ptsd and that this would be a very good program. i do appreciate the appropriations committee work that they do and the tough choices that they're constantly making. i respect that. but i think that this would be a good choice so i offer the amendment and i yield back the balance of my time, mr. chairman. the chair: the gentleman from colorado yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from indiana is recognized. mr. visclosky: i would simply close by saying that all members of the military are equal and that this amendment s unwarranted and do oppose it . mr. frelinghuysen: we have $19 million specifically to address the high incidents of suicide among our special operate source it's not only service-wide but we recognize the special burdens that special operators bear through their incredible work. i thank the gentleman for yielding. mr. visclosky: and i would yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman from indiana yields back his time. all time has expired. the question is on the amendment offered by the

gentleman from colorado. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the noes have it. he amendment is not agreed to. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from texas rise? ms. jackson lee: mr. chairman, i have an amendment at the desk. the chair: the clerk will report the amendment. amendment offered by ms. jackson lee of texas. page 9, line 6, after the dollar amount insert, reduce by $500,000. ms. jackson lee: mr. chairman, i ask unanimous consent that the amendment be considered as read. mr. frelinghuysen: mr. chairman. the chair: is there objection? mr. frelinghuysen: i reserve a point of order on the gentlewoman's amendment. the chair: point of order is reserved. without objection, the reading is dispensed with. pursuant to house resolution 628, the gentlewoman from texas and a member opposed each will control five minutes. the chair now recognizes the

gentlewoman from texas. ms. jackson lee: i thank you very much, mr. chairman. this is a daunting time to be on the floor of the house with the defense appropriations and i add my appreciation to the chairman and to the ranking member for the bipartisan approach that they have treated our men and women. as we speak, there are solders who have left our soil and they are in iraq protecting our men and women at our embassy. there's never a time when we do not call upon our soldiers to stand and to defend our nation or our citizens. my amendment recognizes it. it is a budget-neutral amendment. it adds $500,000 by reducing another account by $500,000 for an emphasis on ptsd for outreach toward hard-to-reach veterans and especially those who are homeless or reside in underserved urban and rural areas. let me congratulate the committee for its hard work in recognition of the crisis of ptsd. let me also cite that houston

is the third largest retirement community in the united states, exceeded only by san antonio and san diego, california. houston is the second highest military recruiting district in the united states for all armed forces, to include the coast guard and many return back to houston. 23% of the houston adult homeless population are veterans. and nearly 2,500 men and women. i see them every day in my district. i have several homeless facilities that are particularly for veterans. as i interact with them, i see the clear signs of ptsd and over the years i've had the privilege of working with this committee in establishing a ptsd center in one of our hospitals that were not a veteran facility. an estimated 7.8% of americans will experience ptsd at some point in their lives. 5% women, 10.4%, and men, to develop ptsd. as well, estimates from the gulf war as high as 10%. estimates from the war in

afghanistan are between 6% and 11%. and current estimates of ptsd in military personnel who served in iraq range from 12% to 20%. posttraumatic stress disorder is of course something of great concern and many timets i have seen -- times i have seen, again, these individuals who are in these facilities. my amendment will help to ensure that no soldier is left behind and that the urgent need for more outreach toward hard-to-reach veterans suffering from ptsd, especially those who are homeless, and reside in underserved areas. . mr. chairman, i have been to what we call stand down. we have a number of them in the community. i've been doing to -- going to stand downs since before i came to congress. these are events where veterans come together, particularly those who are homeless. they're the most moving experiences i've ever seen.

the veterans are glad to see people who care. many of them are suffering, but all of them put on that uniform and serb -- served us. joe, for example, saw a good deal of active combat in his time in the military. some incidents have never left his mind, like the sight of gary a close friend, being blown up by a land main. even when he returned to civilian life, the scenes would fill his mind. filling up at the gas station, the smell of diesel rekindled certain memories. at other times he had difficulty remembering the past, as if some memories were too pain to feel remember. he wouldn't shorbleize, his girlfriend said he was always pent up and irritable and at night he had trouble relaxing. when he heard loud noises, such as a truck backfire he, jumped as if he was readying himself for combat.

he began to drink heavily. i'm glad this committee has recognized the importance of providing these services for our soldiers no matter the long range of time they've been out, that they are now veterans, but they are still important and they still were willing to put on the uniform. in light of our crisis with the veterans' affairs, i ask my colleagues to support this amendment, providing extra outreach to those veterans who did not think for one moment to put on that uniform and defend their nation. let's now provide them with that extra comfort in -- >> will the gentlewoman yield? ms. jackson lee: i'm happy to ield to the gentleman. mr. frelinghuysen: i wru may -- withdraw my point of order. taking care of our service members is of paramount importance and i assure you that mr. visclosky and i will work with you, as well as the money put in the bill to address the

concerns you've rightly raised. i huang for yielding. ms. jackson lee: i thank you, mr. chairman. as i said earlier, i don't know if you heard, i thank you for your caring response along with the ranking member, putting together a bill that really recognizes service to our veterans. with that, let me cob collude and ask my colleagues to support the jackson lee amendment and i indicate that mr. conyers of michigan joins me in this amendment. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. the point of order is withdrawn. the question is on the amendment offered by the gentlelady from texas. those in favor say aye. pose pez -- those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair the ayes have it. the amendment is agreed to. for what purpose does the gentleman from colorado rise? >> i'm offering the second lamb born amendment, 052. the chair: the clerk will report the amendment. the clerk: amendment offered by mr. lamb born of colorado, page 9, line , after the dollar amount, insert the following,

reduced by $5 million. -- five, line 17, increase insert the following, increased by $5 million. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 628, the gentleman from colorado and a member opposed each will control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from colorado. mr. lamborn: thank you, mr. chairman. when you look at press accounts on what's happening at our southwest border, we are being overwhelmed. and this amendment would take $5 million and give it to the army national guard out of the account of the department of defense administration operations account so that the national guard is better able to get people and station them at our southwest border. they do not have dedicated funding or the additional funding they need for this border protection mission, and yet they're involved in trying to establish order at the border.

the primary role of the federal government is to provide for national security and securing our borders is part of that national security mission. so mr. chairman, i believe that this $5 million would be better spent on securing our border and adding more people to the secretary of defense's staff. with that, i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves. mr. lamborn: i yield to the gentleman. mr. frelinghuysen: i appreciate the gentleman raising this issue and we support your amendment. thank you for yielding. mr. lamborn: reclaiming my time, i appreciate the chairman's hard work and his support of this amendment. with that, i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman from colorado yields back. all time has expired. -- all time has expired on the amendment by the gentleman from colorado. the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from colorado. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the

ayes have it. the amendment is agreed to. for what purpose does the gentleman from new york rise? >> mr. speaker, i have an amendment at the desk. the chair: the clerk will report the amendment. the clerk: amendment offered by mr. jeffries of new york, page 9, line 6. after the dollar amount, insert the following, reduced by $10 million. page 33, line 11, after the dollar amount, insert the following, increased by $10 million. page 33, line 19, after the dollar amount, insert the following. increased by $10 million. mr. jeffries: mr. speaker -- the chair: pursuant to house resolution 628, the gentleman from new york, mr. jeffries, and a member opposed, each will control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from new york for five minutes. mr. jeffries: thank you, mr. chairman. let me first thank the distinguished chairman as well as the distinguished ranking member for their great work with

respect to this legislation. this amendment makes a modest adjustment to the bill that would increase funding for the defense health program by $10 million. it is budget neutral by reducing the department of defense's department-wide operation and maintenance funds by a corresponding amount. let me first take this opportunity to express my strong support for the critical work of the defense department overall. the adjustment made by this amendment will still leave the department with an extremely robust amount of operation and maintenance funding while ensuring that necessary resources are available for vital research and development that will aid both service members and civilians alike. the defense health program oversees all medical and health care programs for the defense department. d.h.p.'s research and development activities help advance medical research to

provide innovative solutions for service members and their families facing medical trauma, as well as advance the state of medical science in area that that benefit a broader society. over the last 10 years, there's been a significant increase in the amount of reported cases of ptsd in service members. these increases are seen in both those deployed overseas as well as nondeployed service members. for those service members deployed, the numb of incidents of ptsd has increased 12-fold over the last 10 years. for those not deployed the number of not reported incident cases has nearly doubled. the annual total for reported ptsd cases has remained at unprecedentedly high levels over the last five years. while we are currently winding down the war in afghanistan,

american troops continue to see action on the battlefield. with more of these troops returning from deployments over the next several years, it is likely that the number of ptsd cases will hold steady, if not increase. furthermore, increased international unrest and uncertainty may result in future troop deployment to other parts of the world, making it likely that the number of reported ptsd cases will remain at a high level. this amendment will invest resources to help inform health professionals on how best to treat our military personnel moving forward. furthermore, the need for increased research concerning ptsd is not limited to our military. high levels of violence in many communities through the america have induced ptsd-like conditions for some trapped in these unfortunate circumstances,

research undertaken by the department of defense can benefit families and community health professionals in treating our children and others impacted in this way. i therefore urge my colleagues to support additional medical research to help the military victims of ptsd and our broader society and i yield back the alance of my time. mr. frelinghuysen: we on the committee thank the gentleman for his concern for funding levels for traumatic brain injury, post-traumatic stress disorder and other psychological disorders. our bill includes $414 million including a plus up of $100 million above the request level for all of those important issues and we appreciate his work and his willingness to work with us and we accept his amendment. mr. jeffries: i thank the chairman for his work on this

issue as well as the ranking member. i yield back. the chair: the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from new york. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair the ayes have it. the amendment is agreed to. for what purpose does the gentleman from west virginia rise? >> i have an amendment at the desk. the chair: the clerk will report the amendment. the clerk: amendment offered by mr. mckinley of west virginia. page 9, line 6, after the dollar amount insert reduced by $21 million, increased by $21 million. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 628, the gentleman from west virginia, mr. mckinley, and a member opposed each will control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from west virginia. mr. mckinley: thank you, mr. chairman. mr. chairman, earlier this year, the office of management and budget admitted that they made a mistake when they presented the president's budget request for the national guard youth challenge program. since then, they have expressed

that they intend to correct this mistake by offering a supplemental appropriation. but you and i know, supplemental appropriations don't happen very often around here. so congresswoman napolitano and i have a two-part approach to solve this mistake created by o.m.b. first, congress already has unanimously passed our amendment to the national defense authorization program. by increasing the authorization by $55 million to take care of this mistake. but under this amendment, under this amendment, we're -- this bipartisan approach, we're willing to compromise to lower that amount to $21 million. and restore the program, keep it intact. mr. chairman, we shouldn't perpetuate the mistake that's been created by o.m.b. by rejecting this amendment.

two mistakes don't make it right. mr. chairman, this program addresses some serious needs for a dropout epidemic among our youth. these are real people with real problems. they need our help. society may have given up on them, but we in congress shouldn't. i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman from west virginia reserves his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from -- the gentlelady from california rise? >> to address this amendment, mr. chairman. the chair: does the gentlelady request unanimous consent to claim the time in opposition. mrs. napolitano: new york i'm in favor -- mr. mckinley: i yield to the gentlelady from california. the chair: the gentleman from west virginia yields to the gentlelady from california.

mrs. napolitano: thank you, mr. mckinley, thank you for your great help in outreach to members of congress. we have been working in a bipartisan manner to help our nation's throw-away children, those who fall through the cracks. the current funding is $135 million, what's approved is $114 million, so it's short. we increase this to have the same funding as 2014. it would prevent cuts to critical programs that are helping our youth integrate back into society. it reduces the budget line in operations and maintenance by the same amount. it is critical for hundreds of our young people that dropout -- that drop out yearly to have an opportunity to be accepted into the prasm the challenge program has already educated 120,000 nationally, young people. it also is a volunteer program, free for 16 to 18-year-olds new

york cost to the child or the family. 22 1/2 week residential boot camp like program, prepares them, educates them, instills discipline, builds employment potential and returns them to school. the 2012 rand corporation found that for every $1 spent, the return is $2.66, a yield of 166% on the investment. the best youth program in the nation. effectively addresses part of our nation's dropout epidemic on a very small level. america needs more of these programs, not less. it's ben fish rble to low -- beneficial to local businesses and to our economy. according to the 2009 national labor market study, california alone has 714,000 dropouts yearly. he sixth worst in the state. we need to expand it to more qualified individuals who are on a waiting list. our best retention rate is in

california, it's educating and retraining more than 90%. there's very much need for these programs. please support this amendment and i reserve the balance -- i yield back. . the chair: the gentleman from west virginia reserves the balance of his time. does any member claim the time in opposition? the gentleman from west virginia is recognized. mr. mckinley: this is a mistake caused by o.m.b. we can cregget it right here today -- correct it right here today. again as i said, these are real people with real problems and they're trying to get on with their lives. the program has worked all across america. let's not perpetuate this problem by reducing their funds. it was a mistake by o.m.b. and we can correct it here today. and i ask that my colleagues support this amendment. thank you very much. i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. all time having expired, the question is on the amendment

offered by the gentleman from west virginia. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. he amendment is agreed to. for what purpose does the gentleman from massachusetts rise? mr. mcgovern: i have an amendment at the desk. the chair: the clerk will report the amendment. the clerk: amendment offered by mr. mcgovern of massachusetts. page 9, line 6, after the dollar amount insert the following, reduce by $3,500,000. page 33, line 11, after the dollar amount insert the following, increase by $3 million. page 33, line 12, after the dollar amount insert the following, increased by $3 million. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 628, the gentleman from massachusetts, mr. mcgovern, and a member opposed each will control five minutes. the chair now recognizes the gentleman from massachusetts. mr. mcgovern: i yield myself three minutes. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. mr. mcgovern: mr. chairman, i

want to thank representatives walter jones, representative shea-porter, tsongas, bordallo and more for joining me today in offering this amendment. they are leaders and champions in support of the benefits to -- that service dogs provide to our service men and women on and off the bat am field. this amendment sentence -- battlefield. this amendment establishes a $3 million competitive grants pilot program for qualityified nonprofit organizations whose mission is to address the physical and mental health needs of veterans and service members with the assistance from trained service dogs. this is a very modest amount of money when we considered need of our veterans and the number organizations around the country dedicated to addressing this need. many of our service members return home from the battlefield suffering from traumatic brain injury, ptsd, blindness or impaired vision, the loss of a limb, paralysis, impaired mobility, loss of hearing and other mental and physical disabilities. too many struggle with suicidal thoughts or find themselves unable to reintegrate back into family life or their

communities. working with the trained service dog is a proven aid for these wounded warriors. the merits of which have been documented in decades of programs for civilians with similar mental and physical challenges. providing grant opportunities for groups professionally engaged in this field is critical to ensuring that our military and our veterans receive the care that they deserve. in december i held a briefing that brought together experts to look more closely at the impact service dogs have on veterans' care. medical experts, nonprofits and veterans with trained service dogs participated. including navy -- included retired navy lieutenant who lost his eye sight to an i.e.d. while serving in afghanistan. he was accompanied by his guide dog. the lieutenant has since gone on to compete in the 2012 london paraolympics games where he won two gold medals and one silver medal in swimming. john moon and service dog rainbow represented the

national education for assistance dog services. a nonprofit accredited service dog provider founded in 1976. based in massachusetts, needs has trained more than 1,400 assistance dogs. since 2005, it has been actively working to bring service dogs to veterans of iraq and afghanistan wars. brett is a veteran handler for police k-9's. twice deployed to iraq as an explosives detector k-9 handler, he described his work as a dog training specialist at k-9's for war worse in florida. we also heard from rick young, the founder of the warrior k-9 connection, the wccc service rawing training program. i'm very pleased to see that this bill continues to provide funds for this very special program. mr. chairman, there are scores of similar organizations across

the nation. a modest grant pilot program will ensure that they reach even more of our wounded warriors with the assistance of a service dog. i urge my colleagues to support this amendment and i'd like to yield a minute of my time to my co-sponsor, congressman jones of north carolina. the chair: the gentleman from north carolina is recognized for one minute. mr. jones: mr. chairman, i thank the gentleman from massachusetts. two weeks ago i went to walter reed hospital. i was told two of my marines from camp lejeune had been severely wounded in afghanistan. the first marine i saw was 23 years of age. he had lost both legs and an arm. his father was there from louisiana and i saw pain, i saw worry, i saw sad innocence his eyes. the second marine i saw had stepped on a 40-pound i.e.d. and lost both legs and he was telling me about his little 8-month-old daughter and his wife. they were not there but i heard that. i know that these service dogs are making a difference in the life of the wounded, whether it be mental or it may be

physical. and this $3 million, when we're spending billions in afghanistan, it would be a sin and a shame if we cannot find $3 million to put into this program, to make sure that those who have given so much have a little bit of support and a little bit of pleasure in having a loving animal that's been trained to give support to that person that's giving so much for this country. so i yield back the balance of my time and i hope that this will -- amendment will be accepted. i will yield. mr. frelinghuysen: the committee would like to thank you, the gentleman from massachusetts, and the gentleman from north carolina, and your colleagues for sponsoring this amendment. the $3 million would be added tonight $3 million which the committee -- would be added to the $3 million that the committee, mr. visclosky and i, have put into the bill for similar purposes. mr. jones: thank you, mr. chairman.

mr. visclosky: i would add my voice and thank both gentlemen for raising this issue and offering the amendment. i strongly support it. mr. mcgovern: thank you. i thank the gentleman, i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: all time -- the gentleman from massachusetts has yielded back the balance of his time. all time having expired, the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from massachusetts. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. he amendment is agreed to. does any member seek recognition? for what purpose does the gentleman from michigan rise? >> i have an amendment at the

desk. the chair: the clerk will report the amendment. the clerk: amendment offered by mr. benishek of michigan. page 9, line 6, after the dollar amount insert, reduced by $2 million. page 33, line 11, after the dollar amount insert, increased by $2 million. page 33, line 19, after the dollar amount insert, increased by $2 million. the chair: the gentleman from michigan, mr. benishek, and a member opposed each will control five minutes. the chair now recognizes the gentleman from michigan. mr. benishek: i yield myself as much time as i may consume. mr. chairman, i rise today in support of a very simple amendment, who i'm joined in sponsoring by mr. lowenthal of california. i believe strongly that there is an epidemic commonly referred to as alzheimer's disease that is sweeping our country. my amendment would increase funding for the defense health program by $2 million, with the intent to provide more peer-reviewed research to fight this devastating disease.

as a doctor who served as the iron mountain v.a. for 20 years, i know how important the health research programs at the department of defense are. these programs provide ground breaking research into the health challenges that our veterans face. these health research programs help us to better provide quality of care to those who have served our country and frequently lead to advances in treatment that benefit the rest of the population. according to the alzheimer's association, over five million americans are currently living with this disease. this number is expected to continue to rise, resulting in increased suffering for patients and their families and a dramatic rise in health care costs. as a representative for our district with a large population of veterans and a large population of seniors, i have seen firsthand the devastating effects of alzheimer's. we must do more to combat this terrible disease. this amendment will cut two million in funding for the secretary -- $2 million in funding for an account which i

believe can take a small account and apply those funds. by voting for this amendment, you'll be supporting more research and development on the ground rather than the salaries of bureaucrats in washington. i believe this amendment is a good, commonsense effort and hope my colleagues will support me in this effort to increase research into treating and eventually curing alzheimer's. i urge my colleagues to support this amendment and reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. mr. frelinghuysen: will the gentleman yield? mr. benishek: yes. mr. frelinghuysen: we on the committee thank you for this amendment and understanding your professional background and many of our constituents suffering under alzheimer's were supportive of it. mr. benishek: thank you, mr. chairman. mr. visclosky: if the gentleman would yield. if the gentleman could simply supply us with a copy of his amendment i would appreciate it very much. mr. benishek: absolutely. we'll get that right here.

i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. does any member seek additional time on this amendment? all time having now expired on this amendment, the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from michigan. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. the amendment is agreed to. for what purpose does the gentleman from michigan rise? >> i have an amendment at the desk. the chair: the clerk will reported amendment. the clerk: amendment offered by mr. kildee of michigan. page 9, line of, increase by $10 million. page 22, line 14, after the dollar amount insert, reduced by $50 million. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 628, the gentleman from michigan, mr. kildee, and a member opposed each will control five minutes. the chair now recognizes the

gentleman from michigan. mr. kildee: thank you, mr. chairman. my amendment would appropriate $10 million to fund an amendment passed unanimously in the 2015 ndaa that allocates additional financial literacy training programs for incoming and transitioning service members. this $10 million would be spread equally among the services operations and maintenance accounts. this increased financial literacy would be funded by allocating $10 million from the navy's $14 billion aircraft procurement account, which includes nearly $1 billion in funding over the navy's request to purchase 12 ea-18-g growler aircraft. the navy actually requested none of these 12 aircraft. the problem we have is that far too often service members have inadequate training or experience. we're often talking about young people who have yet to really fully have their feet

underneath them and when a service member has financial difficulty, often they are preyed upon by unscrupulous lenders, pay-day lenders often. in fact, in some cases, this was reported widely recently, offering and executing loans as up to 400% interest rates. often targeting these young service members. so while this all has an effect clearly on the financial condition of service members, it also can have an effect on readiness in that many service members require security clearance to perform their duties and financial difficulties in the loss of a clear -- and the loss of a clearance can have an enormous impact on readiness. all that being said, i'll be withdrawing my amendment. the offset we offered, according to c.b.o., would require a $50 million offset in cuts to raise $10 million. i'll senchly yield to anybody

who would like to explain to me the mathematics behind some of the scoring that comes up. hearing none, i'll move on. this is an important area. it's an important question. this house is already unanimous -- has already unanimously acted in ndaa to support this program. while it's my intention to withdraw this amendment, what i would ask of the chairman and rank -- if the chairman and ranking member would engage and work with us on this, and work with the department of defense, to find the resources, the financial resources to support this expanded literacy program. it would be of great benefit to our service members and would be of tremendous value in terms of our readiness. with that, i reserve. the chair: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. does anyone claim time in on session.

mr. frelinghuysen: i'm sure the ranking member and i would be pleased to work with you on this issue. mr. kildee: thank you. with that, i withdraw my amendment. the chair: without objection the amendment is withdrawn. does any member seek recognition? for what purpose does the gentleman from texas rise? mr. gohmert: i have an amendment at the desk. the chair: the clerk will report the amendment. the clerk: amendment offered by mr. gohmert of texas. page 9, line , after the dollar amount, insert reduced by $35,956,000. page 36, line 14, after the dollar amount, insert increased by $35,956,000. page 36, line 17, after the dollar amount, insert increased y $35,956,000. the chair: the gentleman from indiana. mr. frelinghuysen: we do --

>> we do not have a copy of the gentleman's amendment and this is the second time in the first hour of debate we have not been supplied with an amendment offered on the floor and would appreciate the courtesy of making sure we are noticed as far as the content of these very important amendments so we can give them the appropriate consideration that they are due. i appreciate the chair's indulgence. the chair: the clerk will distribute copies of the amendment. pursuant to house resolution 628, the gentleman from texas, mr. gohmert, and a member opposed each will control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from texas. mr. gohmert: thank you, mr. chairman. as read this would transfer 35,956,000 into an account under the bill that specifies,

and i quote, shall be for national guard counterdrug program. we have spoken with people on the border, they know the problems they're having. they need equipment. this amount would allow eight u.h.-72 helicopters to help with drug interdiction on the borders. it's not like there's not enough helicopters to go around. there are hundreds of national guard helicopters and this would only be utilizing eight of them and would be -- would put them in a place where they could beudes on the boarder to help with a problem. mr. chairman, right now, with so soy of our i.c.e. agents and many of our border patrol engaged as i.c. -- as an i.c.e. agent said yesterday new york changing diapers instead of

being involved in interdicting they should be, then they need this equipment, this would be national guard equipment, that would allow them to participate in stopping the drugs that are flowing. it is very apparent from what is going on that we even have drug cartels that are taking advantage of the situation and as i.c.e. agents have explained, they are using this time with all of the attention toward the children, the humanitarian crisis on the border, to step up their game in getting drugs into the united states. so according to the figures from c.b.o. and from the figures we have gotten from the committee this will not create an increase in outlays and should be in order in that regard and would like to point out that since

012, these operations have resulted in an almost 70% increase in detection and interdiction compared to ground-based operations. so this could make a real difference in providing for the common defense which is our duty here in congress as well as the duty of the executive branch. this would make their job easier and with that, mr. chairman, i reserve my time. the chair: the gentleman from texas reserves the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from indiana rise? mr. visclosky: i rise in opposition to the gentleman's amendment. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. visclosky: i appreciate the gentleman's concern but would make three points to our colleagues. the first is that the committee is absolutely awear of the problem taking place along the borders of our country. both relative to the problem that the gentleman has

highlighted, as well as for this nation's defense, i would point out, to my colleagues, that in the underlying bill, we provide $1,356,227,000 for the procurement of 87 u.h.-60 blackhawk helicopters which is an increase of $119,226,000 and eight aircraft above the president's request. so there is a recognition by the committee and in the bill that there is a need and we fill that in the bill. i would also point out that relative to drug interdiction, the committee recommendation is $944,6 7,000 to deal with this -- $944,687,000 to deal

with this problem, an increase of $124 million above the administration's request. the last point, and i would want to yield to my chair is that the gentleman is taking it out of operation and maintenance department wide. i spoke in my opening remarks about the increases we have tried to provide to make sure our troops are prepared, maintained, trained and ready. it is a mistake to take over $35 million away from our troops who need that money for training and i would yield my time to the hairman. mr. frelinghuysen: let me associate myself with the ranking member's comments. we need to see the amendments, we're not seeing the amendments in a timely basis. basic courtesy would be helpful. both sides were provided with

amendments by our colleagues relative to this amendment for the -- relative to this amendment. for the last several years the national guard hasn't been able to spend the amount of money we've provided for counternarcotics but has chose ton return funds to the treasury. hence the adjustment this year le to accurately source the national guard and i thank the swrelt for yield, the intent of the gentleman's request is to purchase equipment. this account does not provide resources to buy helicopters. this account provides funds for the national guard state planned operational funding. it's not money that can be used to buy helicopters. i thank -- i urge a no vote. i'm happy to yield back to the gentleman. mr. visclosky: i appreciate the gentleman's remarks. i point out again, $1,366,000,000 is enough and i strongly oppose the gentleman's

amendment given the five minutes we were allowed to review it. i yield back. the chair: the gentleman yields back. does the gentleman from texas -- the gentleman has 2 1/2 minutes remaining. mr. gohmert: thank you, mr. chairman. i appreciate the attention that the committee has given to the issue and that in the past the national guard may have had extra funds that were moved and able to be used elsewhere, but these are recent developments that have been going on even since our appropriation committee has been having a ings and so this is such dramatic problem that it is escalating every day. so -- and i would like to correct the record, actually, this proposal will not purchase

any knew -- any new helicopters. there are 100 national guard helicopters. this will just pay for the use and the crew and the maintenance and upkeep of eight of those. they already have them. won't purchase any more. i wish we could get helicopters that cheaply. but it will keep eight of them in use with the drug interdiction on our border right now because there is an invasion going on on our southern border. it is an invasion. and it is increasing, as i say, every day. o with that -- with that request, i don't think it's too much to ask to have eight helicopter that was already been purchased, they just need crews, equipment, upkeep, to help in the interdiction of the invasion in which drugs are being brought across our border on the south and with that, i yield back the balance of my time.

the chair: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from texas. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair the noes have it. the amendment is not agreed to. mr. gohmert: i request a recorded vote. the yeas and nays. the chair: a recorded vote is requested. pursuant to clause 6 of rule 18, further proceedings on the amendment offered by the gentleman from texas will be postponed. for what purpose does the gentleman from minnesota rise? >> mr. chairman. i move that the committee now do rise. the chair: the question is on the motion that the committee rise. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. the motion is adopted. accordingly the committee rises.

the speaker pro tempore: mr. chairman. the chair: mr. speaker, the committee of the whole house on the state of the union having had under consideration h.r. 4870, directs me to report that it has come to no resolution thereon. the speaker pro tempore: the chair of the committee of the whole house on the state of the union reports that the committee has had under consideration h.r. 4870 and has come to no resolution thereon. for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, i send to the desk a privilege red port from the committee on rules for filing -- privileged report from the committee on rules for filing under the rule. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title. the clerk: resolution providing for consideration of the bill h.r. 4413, to re-authorize the commodity futures trading commission, to better protect futures customer, provide end

users with market certainty, to make basic reforms to ensure transparency and accountability at the commission, to help farmers, ranchers and end users manage risks to help keep consume costs low and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: referred to the house calendar and ordered printed. pursuant to house resolution 628 and rule 18, the chair declares the house in the committee of the whole house on the state of the union for the further consideration of h.r. 4870. will the gentleman from tennessee, mr. duncan, kindly esume the chair. the chair: the house is in the committee of the whole house on the state of the union for further consideration of h.r. 4870 which the clerk will report

by title. the clerk: a bill making appropriations for the department of defense for the fiscal year ending september 30, 2015, and for other purposes. the chair: the committee of the whole house on the state of the union rose earlier today, a request for a recorded vote on an amendment offered by the gentleman from texas, mr. gohmert, had been postponed and the bill had been read through page 10, line 15. for what purpose does the gentleman from minnesota rise? the clerk will report the amendment. the clerk: amendment offered by mr. ellison of minnesota. page 9, line 6, after the dollar amount, insert the following, reduce by $10 million, increased by $10 million. . the chair: the gentleman from minnesota and a member opposed each will control five minutes. the chair now recognizes the gentleman from minnesota. mr. ellison: thank you, mr. chairman. mr. chairman, the purpose of this amendment is very simple. it's sim