i have some for illegal aliens in central america. caller: i just want to see a chart. guest:guest: the predominant ethnicity and nationality of people here illegally, by what ever means visa overstays or people who came here illegally, it is primarily from central america including mexico. after that, you may be right easia may be in line next. i do not have the stats for the rest of the world. there are a number of countries

that have a lot of people here illegally. some of them are asian. host: stephen, good morning independent line. caller: have a little humanity. they are kids. they are in desperate situations. new england states >> "washington journal" live every day at 7:00 a.m. eastern. we leave this recorded segment as the house is returning for several votes live on c-span. the clerk: h.r. 1528 an act to amend the control substances act to allow a veterinarian to transport and dispense controlled substance outside the registered location. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, proceedings will resume on questions previously postponed. votes will be taken in the following order -- h.r. 4450 by

the yeas and nays, h.r. 4411 by the yeas and nays h.r. 1022 by the yeas and nays, and the motion to instruct on h.r. 3230 by the yeas and nays. the first electronic vote will be conducted as a 15-minute vote. remaining electronic votes will be conducted as five-minute votes. the unfinished business is the vote on the motion of the gentleman from nebraska, mr. terry, to suspend the rules and pass h.r. 4450, as amended, on which the yeas and nays are ordered. the clerk will report the title. the clerk: h.r. 4450, a bill to extend the travel promotion act of 2009, and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended. members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a 15-minute vote.

[captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote, the yeas are 347, the nays are 57. 2/3 being in the affirm ty, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. the unfinished business is the vote on the motion of the gentleman from california, mr. royce, suspend the rules and pass h.r. 4411 as amended. on which the yeas and nays are ordered. the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 4411, a bill to prevent hezbollah and associate entities from gaining access to international financial and other institutions and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: the

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

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote, the yeas are 404 the nays are zero. 2/3 being in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. without objection, the title amended. -- the title is amended. the unfinished business is the

vote on the motion by the gentleman from texas, mr. smith to suspend the rules and pass h.r. 1022 as amended on which the yeas and nays are ordered. the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 1022, a bill to develop an energy critical element program to amend the national materials and minerals program, research and development act of 1980 and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: the question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill as amended. members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a five-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote the yeas are 260, the nays are 143. 2/3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative -- 2/3 not being in the affirmative, the rules are not suspended and the bill is noes passed -- is not passed.

the unfinished business is the vote on the motion of -- to ininstruct on h.r. 3230 offered by the gentleman from arizona, mr. barber on which the yeas and nays were ordered. the clerk will redesignate the motion. the clerk: motion to instruct conferees on h.r. 3230 offered by mr. barber of arizona. the speaker pro tempore: the question is on the motion to ininstruct. members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a five-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the speaker pro tempore: on had this 191 and the nays -- on this vote the yeas are 191 and the nays are 207. the motion is not adopted. without objection, a motion to reconsider is laid on the table. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from north carolina seek recognition? ms. foxx: madam speaker, i send to the desk a privileged report from the committee on rules for filing under the rule. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title. the clerk: report to accompany house resolution 677, resolution providing for consideration of the bill h.r. 3136, to establish a demonstration program for competency-based education and providing for consideration of the bill h.r. 4984, to amend the loan counseling requirement under the higher education act of 1965 and for other purposes.

the speaker pro tempore: referred to the house calendar and ordered printed. for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? >> madam speaker, by direction of the committee on armed services, i present a privileged report to accompany h.res. 649 for filing under the rule. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title. the clerk: report to accompany hose house resolution 649, resolution directing the secretary of defense to transmit to the house of representatives copies of any emails in the possession of the department of defense or the national security agency that were transmitted to or from the email accounts of former internal revenue service exempt organizations division director lois lerner between january 2009 and april 2011. the speaker pro tempore: referred to the house calendar and ordered printed. for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition?

>> madam speaker pursuant to clause 7-c of rule 22, i hereby give notice of my intention to offer a motion to instruct conferees on h.r. 3230, the conference report on veterans' access and accountability. the form of the motion is as follows. i move that the managers on the part of the house at the conference on the disagreing votes of the two houses on the house amendment to the senate amendment to the bill, h.r. 3230, an act to improve the access of veterans to medical service from the department of veterans affairs, and for other purposes be instructed to, one, recede from disagreement with section 702 of the senate amendment, relating to the approval of courses of education provided by public institutions of higher learning for purposes of the all-volunteer force education assistance program and the post-9/11 educational assistance program conditional on in-state tuition rates for veterans. and two, recede from the house amendment and concur in the senate amendment and in all other instances.

thank you, madam speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's notice will appear in the record. the chair will now entertain requests for one-minute speeches. for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition? mr. thompson: request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute, revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. thompson: madam speaker, the house is not in order. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is correct. the house is not in order. would you please take your conversations off the house floor. please take your conversations off the house floor.

the gentleman is recognized. mr. thompson: thank you, madam speaker. i rise today to discuss efforts to strengthen america's higher education system, make it more affordable and provide students the tools they need to make smart investments in their futures. later this week the house will consider three bipartisan bills that were recently passed by the house education and work force committee which included h.r. 3136, with the advancing competency-based education demonstration project act, h.r. 4983, the strengthening transparenciesy in higher education act, and h.r. 4984rks the empowering students through enhanced financial counseling act. these measures will support innovation strengthen transparency and enhance financial counseling which will ultimately help students access a more affordable education. these legislative proposals are part of a broader effort to re-authorize the higher education act. the house remains determined to strengthen america's higher education system and provide students the tools that they

need to succeed. i encourage my colleagues to support these commonsense bills and call on the senate to join us in working to make a difference in the lives of students and families. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from florida seek recognition? >> permission to address the house for one minute revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. garcia: madam speaker, i rise to support education and stem fields. science, technology -- in stem fields. science, technology, engineering and math. especially as more than 60% of u.s. employers are facing difficulties in finding qualified workers in stem fields. it is essential that we support education in stem fields and remain -- to remain competitive in the 21st century's global economy. that's why i've introduced the innovative stem networks act, which will establish a grant program for schools -- school

districts to create partnerships with universities, business, local nonprofits to support stem fields. schools like f.i.u., miami-dade college and the university of miami have dedicated resources to ensuring students have a strong foundation in stem subjects. my bill will replicate their success for students preparing to enter college and the work force. i urge my colleagues to work with me to create jobs and spur economic growth by supporting stem education. i yield back the balance of my time. . eaker pro tempor what purpose dgentleman om minnesota seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized. >> i want to congratulate the mayo clinic for being named the best hospital in the united states by "u.s. news & world report."

they take into account several factors sump as survival rates, technology and patient satisfaction surveys. this is the first time mayo clinic has taken the top prize, beating out massachusetts general and johns hopkins. it's the largest integrated practice in the world, attracting patients from all 50 states and 150 different countries. in addition to providing patients with unparalleled care take engage in cutting edge research, community outreach and the education of the next generation of medical professionals. madam speaker, i want to commend the mayo clinic's

policy the gentleman from california, mr. garamendi is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority member. mr. garamendi: thank you, madam speaker. when talking on the floor presenting legislation, it's always good to have a compass so you have some sense of where you're goinged on what it's all about. this is one i often bring to the floor when we talk about the issues of the day. this is from f.d.r., franklin delano roosevelt. he said, the test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those

who have much, it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little. it's a compass. it's a way of judging progress or lack of progress and we seem to have more of the latter than the former. we have much to do if we're going to add to those who have little. in america, the american middle class, the working men and women, the families who raise their children, try to buy a home a car maybe take a vacation they've been struggling for the last 20 years. it's been tough. they've not seen income growth. the statistics are stark and clear. the middle class of america has stagnated. and in fact, it has shrunk as more and more americans are falling into the lower income class. there's something we can do

about it, and we democrats intend to do just that we want to jump start the middle class. we want to put in place policies that will grow the opportunities for the working families of america. for those men and women, they get up in the morning, feed their children, get them off to school while they are getting off to a job. and there are things we can do and i want to talk about that tonight. some of my colleagues will join us a little later. let me put up the agenda. the agenda for jump starting the middle class. the make it in america agenda. rebuilding the american manufacturing sector which was the heart and in many ways the soul of the working middle class of america. where they could get a decent wage. where they know that a husband or a wife by themselves could provide sufficient income for the family to have a home, a

car, and enjoy the benefits of this great nation. so we talk about the make it in america agenda, and we'll go at that at some length tonight because that's our basic subject matter. the other one is very simple. it's a reflection on the demographics and it's a reflection on the working people of america. and it's women. it's women. when we say, it's when women succeed, america succeeds. there's a set of policies we need to put in place all across this country that will guarantee that the women of america that are out there working day in and day out have an equal opportunity, right now, they don't. they make about 70 cents on every dollar that a man makes. there's an inequality that exists in america's workplace and our agenda is to end that inequality. to make sure that whether you're

a man or a woman, you're going to be paid an equal amount for the same amount of work the -- work, the same experience, the same productivity. when women succeed, america succeeds. there's several other policies here that are family friendly policies. we'll talk about that on another day. if the middle class is to succeed if we're going to jump start the opportunities for the middle class, a key element is education. and so that's the third plank, the third leg upon which we rest our policies. how to jump start the middle class, education. there are very many things we can do in education. one, just passed the house of representatives on a bipartisan vote. after some almost two decades of struggle we are revamping the job training programs in america. so that the preparation that people need to get a decent job

are streamlined effective, and efficient. that's part of it, the job training program. but it's more than that. american students now have to, in almost every case, borrow extraordinary amount of money in order to get a higher education. whether it's community college or the four-year colleges and beyond. that extraordinary debt burden is enhanced by extraordinarily high interest rates. and so what we want to do is to bring down those interest rates and there are three or four different pieces of legislation that our democratic team has put forth, all of them to accomplish the same goal, bringing down the interest rates. we would like to see it go down to the same interest rates that banks pay for the money that they borrow from the federal government. and the federal reserve. wouldn't that be nice? because it's almost zero. but we don't think we can get that far but we know we can

bring that interest rate down from 6%, 7%, 8%, down to the 3%, maybe the 4% rates. literally cutting in half the cost of that money. there's a series of policies on education. let me turn to the one we want to focus on tonight which is the make it in america agenda. there are many pieces to this. one of them put forward by our team. and there are about seven different elements to this program. this is our logo. make it in america. so that americans can make it. trade policy, taxes, energy policy, labor, education, which we just talked about research and infrastructure. these are the elements of a solid program to have the middle class have an opportunity to jump start the working -- to have an opportunity. to jump start the men and women

so they can once again make it in america. by rebuilding the manufacturing sector, by having decent trade policies where we don't give it away and see the american corporations simply run off to china or bangladesh or wherever to get the lowest possible wage trade policy that's fair to america. tax policy. critically important. anybody reading the newspapers and "the wall street journal" and other business papers last week, the word now is inversion. what's inversion? it's simply a runaway american corporation, running away to the lowest possible tax haven in the world and making themselves domiciled in that country. leaving america behind. when they got -- where they got their start, where they built their enterprise and simply running away, leing those who cannot run to pay the burden of

operating in this great country our security, our defense all the other things we need to do. so tax policy fits into this. energy policy labor, we'll go through all of this some of these tonight. we won't get to all of them. but i want to deal very quickly with this last one which is the infrastructure. we passed a bill last week and it was a stopgap kick the can down the road bill to keep our national highway system funded. it was really a pretty lousy bill. it would extend for some 10 months an inadequate amount of funding for the transportation systems of this nation and it was funded by a cook may mi scheme of -- -- by a scheme that meant american corporations didn't have to pay as much into their pension system so they could pay more in taxes. not going to happen. you wonder why detroit, why san

jose, why other cities and companies across this nation have troubles with their pension system because of this kind of foolish legislation. but, what are you going to do? let the highway program stop? no. we passed the bill. and we'll see where it winds up. but what we really need is what the president has proposed. a robust, comprehensive make it and build it in america program. it's called the grow america act. grow america. build the infrastructure. and there are several pieces to this piece of legislation. all of them deserve the immediate attention of the 435 of us in the house of representatives and the 100 senators. proposed by the president and therefore dead on arrival here. if it had been proposed by, i don't know, any other leader in the world it probably would have passed by now.

but republicans will not allow pothba ma's proposals to move forward. but here it is. the highway system. this is just in 2015. the highway system would get even more money than it has today. some $16 billion total. $.6 billion to fix the current highway system. and this is in addition to the money that the states and locals are putting in. public transit, an increase in public transit, the buses, the light rail trains and the like. intercity rail amtrak, boosting that. i'm going to come back to amtrak in a few moments. and international trade, back to what i talked about a few moments ago. international trade. the ports. revamping the ports. a trade policy really for the very first time, we would have an opportunity to have in the united states a freight policy,

you know like how do you get the con tapers off the ship in long weach, put them on a rail car, travel across the united states to some terminal and then once again put them on a truck to go to wherever they're going. a policy, a comprehensive policy about how we move freight, which is critical important to the united states. international commerce fair trade is important because it does allow for the boosting and the growth of the american economy. now, free free trade is something different and that basically means give it away to some other country which we should not do. but this grow america act is one of the principle elements in jump-starting the middle class. why? because these are middle class jobs. these are construction jobs on the highways, on the transit system, in the railroads and certainly in the ports and the freight system. middle class jobs.

how we grow the economy, build the infrastructure, increase the jobs for the working men and women and the families of america and we grow the economy and, by the way, we also grow the tax revenues because people are working. they're not tax takers, they're taxpayers. so this is a proposal that the president has put forward. there's not been one hearing in the house of representatives on this proposal that is now over four months old. -- 4 months old. why? why? why is it that we've not given the president of the united states at least the consideration and the courtesy of having a hearing on his proposal? we should do so. because it happens to be a very, very good proposal. let's take a couple of these elements for a moment.

this is a bridge in washington, a bridge north of seattle, on interstate 5. the highway system between canada, the united states and mexico. right down the coast. the west coast of california. this bridge collapsed just a couple of years ago. and this is not unusual. we've had bridges collapsing all across the united states. this is part of the grow america agenda, it is part of the agenda that we have in mind for the middle class. jump-starting the middle class. because when this bridge is built of american-produced steel, in the buy america laws that are presently on the books, which by the way the president says we ought to make even more robust so that your tax dollars are spent on american-made steel american-made concrete, and the other elements that go into building these infrastructure projects. in other words spreading the opportunity that comes from the

transportation system and the growing and the building of the transportation system into all of the other elements in our economy. it can be done. and the grow america act is specifically designed to deal with the deficiency in america's roads and particularly in the bridges. oh. the economic loss as a result of this highway system being shut down unfathomable. didn't have to happen. and if we pass the grow america act, it's not likely to happen. i want to pick up that little piece about what happens when you send your tax money on american-made systems -- spend your tax money on american-made systems. we talk a lot, we talk a lot about green energy, as we should. we talk about energy conservation, as we should. we talk about wind turbines, we talk about alternate energy systems, such as solar, as we

should. but where are those manufactured? where are the wind turbines manufactured? where are the solar systems manufactured? oh, china. and by the way, we have a trade suit against china for dumping solar panels in the united states and decimating the american manufacturing system. this piece of legislation 1524, i like it. i'm the author of it. house resolution 1524, the make it in america create clean energy manufacturing jobs. simple. your tax dollars must be spent on american-made solar, wind and green energy systems. now, if some developer out there wants to build a solar energy plant and use your tax dollars as a subsidy to payer

to no -- to pay for that plant, then if this becomes law, he must buy american-made solar panels. if he wants to use his own money, you can buy whatever he wants -- he can buy whatever he wants. but i believe your tax dollars ought to be spent on american-made equipment. which is part of the make it in america agenda. there are many other pieces to this puzzle. and in the democratic caucus we have introduced well over 50 pieces of legislation to advance the program of make it in america so that the american middle class has a chance to grow. a chance to prosper. we can do that. any number of those bills or in fact all of them would advance the middle class. literally jump-starting the middle class. giving american families an opportunity to enjoy the benefits of this incredible society and this incredible

country we call america. joining me tonight is a woman from ohio who has spent many years dealing with manufacturing talking about the things we need to do to build and to grow the manufacturing sector of america. i think you come from the heart of that. welcome, please share with us your thoughts. ms. kaptur: first of all, i want to compliment congressman john garamendi for his exceptional leadership in the make it in america agenda and allowing members like myself and congressman tonko from new york and others to participate in focusing the spotlight on what counts. and i wanted to follow on what the gentleman had said about what we import versus what we export. people say well, america has a budget deficit. well, we have a jobs deficit. that grows from importing more than we export. and you mentioned the energy sector, one that i have

particular responsibility for here. last year we imported $369 billion more of petroleum than we exported energy products. that translates into lost jobs in our country of over 1.8 million. nearly two million jobs just in the energy sector that we could bring back home. if we focused on an all-of-the-above energy strategy that would help us recapture that wealth. those jobs here at home. automotive, a sector that our region of the country, toledo cleveland, parma, brook park, we know the auto industry very well. but last year we imported into our country $309 billion worth of automotive products from countries that didn't except our -- accept our parts or vehicles. take korea for one.

and that lost wealth that ceded power inside this economy translates, in just in the auto sector, to over 1 1/2 million lost jobs. just in one year. that's just one year. then if we look at the consumer goods, we see all these children streaming across our border from guatemala andal self--- el salvador, -- and el salvador nicaragua, honduras. you look at the economies of those countries and the sweatshops that are making apparel, for example. those are some of the consumer goods that come in here that people are earning $1 a day, maybe $10 a day, they live in utter poverty. ok, so those goods are sent here and americans spent $533 billion on imported consumer goods last year. that -- rather than making it here, we imported it. just in the consumer goods area in one year we lost 2.6 million

jobs. so if you add up just the energy jobs, the auto jobs and the consumer goods jobs, you are talking about nearly six million jobs in one year. and we have 20 million americans who remain unemployed or underemployed in our economy right now. think about what this hemorrhage is costing us. and some of the very companies that have moved these jobs from california, from new york, from ohio, they still operate those companies in foreign locales. congressman levin of michigan calls it an inversion. that's kind of a good word, actually. heres -- others have called it outsourcing. others call it shipping out. shipping out our jobs, shipping out our wealth. people say, what's happened to the middle class? well, it's gone global. and unfortunately the people in those places they're not middle class. they are working under horrendous conditions and those goods are sent here, whether they're agricultural goods, whether they're industrial goods. so i want to compliment you on

keeping a focus on make it in america. i do have a bill i wanted to put on the record, h.r. 194, which is a congressional made in america promise act that would mend the buy america act -- amend the buy america act to require this branch of our government, the legislative branch and all of its gift shops and supply shops to emphasize the procurement of goods made in america. doesn't that make sense? and if you go around and you look at what's in there, you'll be very surprised to find many products that are made overseas. we're just saying, put as much effort into finding goods made in america and sell them in our gift shops. so i would hope that some of our colleagues who are listening would co-sponsor h.r. 194. it's a very well-written bill. it is our bill. it's -- it makes sure that if something is overpriced and doesn't belong in the gift shop -- there are requirements. but it's very sensible and it

would have some affirmative effort by the shops here on capitol hill to buy american-made goods. so i want to thank the gentleman very much for his leadership. this is what the american people long to hear. a discussion here in this congress on jobs and economic growth and it seems to be an agenda that the speaker and the leadership is not willing to put on the floor. so i thank the gentleman from california for your leadership. mr. garamendi: i thank you for bringing to our attention ways in which we can actually do something. may seem small, but we get thousands and thousands of people coming through the gift shop here at the visitors' center. can they find something made in america? they ought to be able to. i like your bill. and it will send a message. message to us. because we'll set the policy. and if we set that policy right, we can grow the american middle class, jump-start the american middle class, give the working men and women a real opportunity to enjoy the benefits of this society. i noticed while you were chatting a colleague of mine

who often shares this hour, mr. tonko from new york. thank you for joining us once again. we were here last week, weren't we? mr. tonko: we were. it's always a pleasure to join with you representative garamendi. and with representative capture for the purposes of -- kaptur for the purposes of highlighting what can be done in this arena to cultivate a climate that grows private sector jobs. and to be supportive of american-made products. so i stand here this evening in support of h.r. 1524, which would allow for us to prosper with the energy innovation and energy alternative technology which, as american produced would be highlighted would be the focus of attention with h.r. 1524. mr. garamendi: would you excuse me? can i interrupt you for a second? mr. tonko: absolutely. mr. garamendi: before you came to congress, were you not responsible for the state of new york innovation and energy and related issues?

mr. tonko: absolutely. i served as president and c.e.o. before this work in congress at nyserda, the new york state energy research and development authority. and some of the partnerships that we inspired, public-private matches, were working with our innovator community, our entrepreneurial community, and come up with these innovative designs that would allow for us to meet energy demands or to foster energy efficiency concepts which are very important to the outcome of energy policy and performance in this country. so absolutely was involved with that. and i know that that is a growing edge. it's rising within our manufacturing sector, with all of this challenge, as energy consumers, to not only provide for alternatives and more efficient and effective outcomes and perhaps in many cases reduce costs, which are important, but also embracing an environmental agenda that deals with carbon emission and

methane emission through the concepts of climate change and global warming. so it's an across-the-board win, representative garamendi, and i applaud you for h.r. 1524, and am supportive of h.r. 194, just recently spoken about by representative kaptur, where we have the opportunity again to govern the decisions to either sell american-made products in gift shops or not. one thing that i would like to highlight here this evening, because we have many traditions that have followed through the hol -- through the halls of this congress through the decades. one of which is the export-import bank. so as we talk about product development and working within an international marketplace there are those concepts in competing nations that help them with their export-import development. we have such a bank. the export-import bank is at risk because it needs to be

re-authorized. and again a sluggish outcome here, whether it's denial as to that concept i can tell that you that export-import bank supports about $1 billion worth of sales, representative garamendi, in my own district. that is no small change. and so we need to make certain that we move forward with this concept of the export-import bank being re-authorized. you look at the import-export -- or the export-import bank, ex-im, and where it provides great services, and that is with the small business and medium-sized business community. those are the up and coming efforts within the resurgence of our economy that need assistance. this program does it. whether you're selling these state-of-the-art energy innovative products or whether it's alarm systems or whether it's electronics, there's a great bit of assistance that's provided by the ex-im bank. .

the national united states chamber of commerce came together in agreement in supporting their togetherness in addressing re-authorizing the exim bank. you have an organization here that has supported $37 billion of sales through the last year that sustained 200,000-plus jobs with over 3,400 companies. the important thing to note here their track record is stellar. they have been performing without assistance from taxpayer dollars. default rate is 2%. who could argue with that success story. as we develop this made in america agenda, we need the effortsest of the exim bank so we can go forward with every

tool in the kit for our american manufacturers, and our businesses and industry to be able to allow them the engine that heightens their opportunity. and that's the way the work should be done, not denied here, not not making a political football and going forward and showing enthusiastic support on history, performance and success. let's do our exim bank re-authorization. this majority in the house of representatives ought not hold back that progress. it is a support network that is essential to our business community to small, to medium to large. mr. garamendi: thank you. i was thinking through that exim

, the buzz inside the beltway helps the big companies general electric and boeing. it helps those companies, export airplanes and jet engines but it is the small companies that take advantage of the start-ups the growing companies that need that support. i had to ask my staff an intern to do research on the kinds of financing mechanism that china and japan and korea use to export their ships that they make the great shipbuilding industry is no longer in the united states. two countries are involved. the countries support those companies with programs that are exactly the same, a loan guarantee. and it works.

mr. tonko: more aggressive than our own programs. why we would reduce the force that we provide to the exim bank. 0%, a great amount of the activity is with our small and medium-sized companies. 90%. so what gives. why are we not going forward with great energy and we can't miss a heartbeat. we need to re-authorize. we are hearing things about not re-authorizing and groups not coming together. imploring us to do the right thing. and it is being held by the majority of the house. it is unacceptable. mr. garamendi: it's ta small

group in the republican party that is taking the lead. they think that government ought not be involved, but in the beginning of our nation, the government has been involved and is in together with the private sector responsible for the growth of this incredible economy. there are numerous other ones. i was thinking of the words that our colleague spoke about energy policy. we are now generating and extracting a large amount of natural gas, so much soy there is a large desire to export that liquid gas l.n.g. we have to be careful because that has given us the opportunity to pool down our energy costs so we are now seeing companies returning to the united states.

dow chemical is one. and they are coming home because of energy policies. we have to be careful about the export of l.n.g. can harm the growth of our manufacturing sector. however, and here's an opportunity. the lng is a strategic national asset and bringing down the cost of our natural energy. it our united states navy, the most powerful and most effective and awesome in the world depends upon american shipyards. however, the private shipbuilding in the united states has basically gone down hill together with the maritime crews that are on those american-built ships.

we have an opportunity here. if we are going to export l.n.g., we ought to export it on american-built ships. it's an issue of american policy. we can do this and revitalize an important sector of the shipbuilding economy, which is found on all of the coasts, from maine, philadelphia around in the gulf and san diego and all the way up through settle. there are shipyards and this is an opportunity to bring home the shipbuilding and when it is coupled with the exim issue, we can rebuild an economy. mr. tonko: a long-standing stillset and that of

shipbuilding. it is important as we look at that make it in america agenda that the democrats in the house of representatives have put together a very sound platform of initiatives of policy and resource advocacy, of how to underpinpoint the strengths of our sector. as we move forward with those skillsets that are required to build those ships, we need to make certain there is training, retraining so we are doing it smarter. it doesn't have to be the cheaper price delivered to the market it has to be the most quality also. we can win several of these contracts through brain power through the development in our intellectual exassyoilt. we are a nation of pioneer spirit. our humble beginnings taught us

that we not only i will pakistan and affected the quality of life throughout this world because of that intellectual capacity and that pioneer spirit and that creative genius. it's important for us to include in our package, education formats and research. we see it in the engineering atmosphere. mr. garamendi: before you move to the research aagenda after, today, the president of the united states signed the revamping of the job training programs in america. this is a bipartisan effort. it passed the house in a bipartisan vote. i think almost universal vote, and but it is a revamp and

important element which you described which is the job training and training that is needed for these technologies. mr. tonko: it's the way we keep our cutting edge as sharp and precision-oriented as possible. we know that three areas of investment. investment in capital infrastructure, physical infrastructure and human infrastructure. having that quality workforce well prepared. skillsets that are at that cutting-edge quality so we can continue to prosper as we compete, our businesses and companies compete at that international market. so it's important for us to invest in that training and retraining and enhancement of education for our young people. there is the corn -- cornerstone

of our plan. if we look back as far back as the global space race, that space race required an investment of research. landing a person on the moon first of any nation with that american flag being anchored on the surface of the moon, didn't just happen, it took a passionate resolve so with that passion, we could make a difference. it happened, and america was energized and lifted as that leader. we are at a critical juncture again. can we afford to walk away from an investment in training and retraining. can we afford to walk away from investment and all sorts of

insent testifies that provide for advanced manufacturing, robotics and technology to build the best product out there. we set the tone. it's about this wonderful agenda. established by so many people including yourself. lieder pelosi and the leaders investment in tomorrow investment in today and how we get there and how we always achieve by seeing the problem, meeting the challenge, investing in america and her people. we don't get there by denial by games on the house floor, by resoundingly defeating a re-authorization of the exim bank. we have the building blocks to take us to the next generation

of competition, next generation of workers and can happen if we plan accordingly and take that effort to lead rather than just hold back. mr. garamendi: let me give you an example. yesterday i called together my manufacturing advise error committee. we had about 50 manufacturers some, very very large. boeing was there. and some very small companies. the discussion centered around what you talked about. we had representatives from the national labs, sand yeah and the university of california davis researchers, the most advanced researchers in the world. their discussion was not on -- nuclear weapons. they were talking about

technologies that they have advanced through their research. laser research. one of the companies was there was research done at livermore on laser technology and it's called laser peening. it strikes metal and it strengthens it. they uzbekistan lasers to strake the metal. and this is now used by general electric and others in the manufacturing of the some of the internal parts in the jet engines. it strengthens them. one example in which research can flow into the manufacturing sector enhancing the job opportunities for the middle class and once again, made in america and giving the middle class a jump start. these things all come together.

this manufacturing group yesterday built on everything you talked about. they were talked about export, tax policy, research into the private sector. another example, university of california which i have the honor of representing and they produce 8,students in their engineering programs. a couple of the graduates a few years back developed a new way of programming machine tools compute he ter-assisted machine tools and they were so advanced, one of the largest in the world began to look at this and said we need that technology incorporated into their program and they decided they needed to be near the researchers so they have located in davis,

california a major manufacturing program to make these very advanced machine tools using the research that comes from the university. a marvelous example of what we need to do in our public policies. mr. tonko: the business of representing congressional districts, in representing any district in the halls of government, the key factor is listening. opening up to discussion ideas constructive criticism of what needs to be done out there, what's being done and what can be done better what's not being done that needs to be done. mr. garamendi: i'll give you another example. it was exciting. it was a really exciting day. mr. tonko: go for it, representative. mr. garamendi: one of the small businesses several of them actually, after listening to these heads of these

extraordinary laboratories said, yeah, but i'm just a small company, i don't have any money to go and work with you guys on products that we want to develop, on ideas -- i wouldn't have any money. and the fellow from the small business administration raised his hand and said, i kind of see him wanting to jump into the conversation, and so i called on him and he said, we can help. i'm going, you're from the government, you can help? he said, we can help. we can help. we have a voucher program, i didn't know this existed in the small business administration, but they have a voucher program that a small business that wants to connect to one of the national laboratories or one of the universities can get a voucher that's worth a certain amount of money, take it down to the laboratory and begin to work with the laboratory on transferring technology to that bills. wow. i mean, do people -- do businesses know that such a thing exists? are we promoting that, are we supporting the small business administration so that they can

help these small businesses in really what i think is you a ecohoo -- is a unique and wonderful way? mr. tonko: you're just speaking to the point of listening and responding. learning from our constituents learning from the front line of the business community, and the worker community. and basically when we traveled this route, if we gather the information and then act accordingly, great things can happen. prosperity blooms and blossoms. and i believe that, you know, when the business community is speaking, from small to medium to large industry, when they're telling us we need work force development investment, we ought to listen. when they're telling us they need immigration reform, we ought to listen. when they're talking about re-authorizing -- re-authorization of the export import bank, we ought to -- export-import bank, we ought to listen. had they talk about -- when they talk about incentives that

authorize and transfer and transition traditional manufacturing into advanced manufacturing, we ought to listen. and the list goes on and on. just recently i toured a manufacturing center, a factory in my district. my grandparents called the district i represent home. so they ironically, a set of them, worked in that factory. i'm a product of immigrants grandparent imgranths, who were dairy farmers and -- immigrants, who were dairy farmers and factory workers. those factory workers worked on that same floor that we were visiting. those grandparents. my grandparents. and one couldn't help but wonder the equipment changes that have come in those decades that have passed. and while they wove carpets, they were weavers in that carpet industry, today they're weaving fiber strands for defense contract, for huge equipment out there and the owner implies and states to me

that i can't compete -- that, i can't compete, i have to offer my product at a 1985 price level, why? one would ask why? and he responded rather quickly and theoretically. a, our foreign competitors are subsidized by their government they oftentimes own the factory, the government owns the factory, in this case china manipulates the currency, and he said, you know, you take away any of those factors, any one, and i can compete. you take all of them away and i'm a winner, hands down. so when our communitys speak to us -- communities speak to us in this case, workers businesses management, when they speak we ought to respond accordingly. i don't understand the lack of action on an export-import bank

re-authorization. i don't understand the dumbing down of research opportunity. i don't understand the lack of resources to provide for a make it in america agenda. fostered by the democratic leadership of this house. understanding full well that we're at our best when we invest in our tomorrow. that pioneer spirit comes fully alive when we do that. and let's move forward with progress by committing to that order of agenda. mr. garamendi: there's so many pieces to this puzzle. at the top of our make it in america is trade policy. thank you for bringing that issue back onto the floor, that's something we constantly need to deal with. we've not talked for this last year actually, since republicans took control of congress, we've not talked about the manipulation of currency by china. i know when the democrats controlled the house we were putting forth legislation, multiple times, to address the

currency manipulation issue. but there are many, many pieces to this trade policy that are relevant to us. as you were talking about the manufacturing, i put up one of my favorite photos. a make it in america photo. you've seen my photo here i'm sure of a locomotive. the american recovery act, the stimulus bill, which really did work, now politically it's, you know they trash it politically, but it actually worked there was money for amtrak to buy locomotives. and in that particular section of the recovery act, congress wrote, you voted for it, i wasn't here at the time, i wish i was because i'd love to take credit for this, wrote a little paragraph that said, this money must be spent on locomotives that are 100% made in america. 100% made in america.

you know i think a couple hundred million dollars to build these locomotives. companies looked at it, german company said ooh, that's a lot of money we can build locomotives, siemens a large international industrial manufacturing company located in sacramento, building light rail cars said, eh, we can make american-made locomotives. they started a new manufacturing plant. they have over 600 workers there today. and they're producing 100% american-made locomotives because of public policy. your tax dollars are spent on american-made locomotives. and that supply train is all across this nation. not made in germany, made in america. the wheels, the trains, the tracks the electronics, all of that, american-made. it's a matter of public policy.

export-import bank, tax policy, how you're going to spend american taxpayer dollars, these are the things we want to do to jump-start the middle class, make it in america. mr. tonko, we've got about seven or eight minutes left, so let's roll on. mr. tonko: ok. some of those trends that saw decline in some of the manufacturing sectors in our economy over the decades are now beginning to close on that gaping bit of disparity. labor rates, for instance. as countries had very, very cheap labor rates they witnessed that their labor population began to demand more , which is a sign of civilization, when you're investing your skill set, your brain power into the development of products and working on that assembly line, you will begin to understand that renume ration for what you do is important. and so in order of social

fairness, social justice comes into play, economic justice. so the discrepancy between the labor rates has narrowed. and we have earlier talked about the energy supplies and energy costs and many now are citing us as the modern day, the millennium the middle east here, with the supply of natural gas. and energy issues that are being addressed significantly through innovation and alternative supplies and through natural gas supplies. so the energy quotion in that formula for manufacturing has been very much flipping favor for the u.s. economy. so as these major factors begin to steady our way,s we that -- there's a brighter bit of hope out there that is launched and if we accompany that with the appropriate policies and attached resources if we can adopt, if you would, the

democratic agenda for make it in america, great things can happen. but it takes a vision and it takes leadership and it takes planning so as to get to that point where we're investing in that pioneer spirit of america. i earlier talked about my grandparents and the fact that they claimed the 20th congressional district in new york as their home. they teggettered their american dream -- tethered their american dream there. they went to work in those factories, on those farms and made certain they could climb that ladder for economic opportunity and they shared that with their children and their grandchildren and they wanted to make certain that this american dream was there, for their family and then share it with others. that's us at our best. so why not invest in that american dream? so that as families go forward, as they dream their dreams, as they tether those dreams, as they become all they can be, as

they submit to an american agenda that has always been about opportunity, about taking your natural skills and talents and abilities and investing them for your own growth, but certainly for the growth of community and the american culture, that has been us. that's our history. let it speak to us. and as we hear others who speak to us about the needs to grow the economy, let us respond, let us do that with a keen sense of awareness, of empathy, of attachment to an american agenda for jobs. mr. garamendi: mr. tonko, it's always a great pleasure to be on the floor with you. you're so clear, your vision and your purpose is so very, very clear. the make it in america agenda has many pieces. trade policy, tax policy, energy labor energy, research and infrastructure. and all of it is designed for one purpose and that is to give american working families an opportunity.

and it has become part of our jump-start for the middle class. this is our policy. these are the things that we want to do as democrats. we want to see the working families of america make it. we want it made in america and we want american families to be making it. so the make it in america is one part of this agenda. and when women succeed, america succeeds. this is the fact that the majority of the work force in america is now women. and the reality is they make 70 cents on the dollar for every man that makes a dollar. and so we need to address that. we need to make sure that they have the opportunities. right now there's an increasing concern about on-demand labor. which is mostly women. you can imagine the destruction to family life when a woman that's working at a retail store has to -- gets a phone call and has to immediately report to work for three four, five hours. this is craziness. but there's a whole series of

family-friendly policies for women that are involved in this issue. including the minimum wage. and finally the issue of education, which we have talked about. these are the jump-start the middle class policies. that we're pushing forward. the make it in america is the agenda that you and i have talked about so many times here on the floor. little progress being made. but i'm telling you that if we had the majority in this house, these pieces of legislation that we've talked about today would be s senate and they would be -- over in the senate and they would be on the president's desk very, very quickly. critical policies for the future of this nation. critical policies for the working men and women and the families of america. we intend to do it. we intend to see this agenda, the agenda for the working men and women, advance. you want to have another 30 seconds before we're told to wrap? mr. tonko: absolutely. just underscoring your statement, that when women succeed, america succeeds, when

women succeed that lifts all families. whether it's a single female head of family, whether it's a male-female household, two women in the household, whatever it is. across the board that's a win situation. so families prosper, families succeed and then of course america succeeds. so again a multifaceted agenda that speaks to the core needs, speaks to social and economic justice, it speaks to the fact that, you know, pay equity, equal pay for equal work is a cornerstone to our women succeeds, america succeeds agenda. the minimum wage being lifted and certainly quality child care. affordable child care. that is what sustains the agenda so that when women succeed, families succeed, america succeeds, we move forward with a vibrancy that began with its underpinnings of support here on the hill in washington, with congress working toward the needs of workers and the business

community and making certain that we respond to the present-day needs that exist out there, that only build upon the richness of history and allow america to truly succeed. . mr. garamendi: america will make it when we make it in america. yield back our time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. under the speaker's announced policy of january 3 2013, the gentleman from south carolina, mr. duncan, is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader. mr. duncan: thank you madam

speaker. as part of the house energy action team, it's important for us to address the americans tonight, the american hard-working taxpayers that are wanting to know what united states congress going to do about the issue of an energy independence, the cost of fuel, cost of electricity and the fact they have less money in their wallet after a week of driving back and forth from work taking the kids to ball games and church and all the things that we do, after they pay for the fuel to do all of that, to drive their vehicles, they reach in their waltz and there is none

left. what is the united states going to do. i came to washington to focus on three things. jobs, energy and our founding fathers. jobs. how about unleaching and the frurel spirit of americans that will turn this americans by putting americans to work. lessening americans on the welfare rolls and americans owner their way jobs. energy. energy, that is the way to job creation. if you look at the states that have energy driven economies like oklahoma, louisiana and north dakota. north dakota 3% unemployment. mcdonald's is paying a finder's fee. they will pay you a finder's

fee. jobs energy. energy being a gateway to put americans to work and and in the state of north dakota, turning those drills and producing that, whether that is through hydraulic fracturing or shallow water, those are good-paying jobs. hard-working american taxpayers. if you think about the jobs that support the offshore industry these are americans that are working doing pipefitting and welding and the beds have to be repaired and their mechanics and engine mechanics and all these people that are working in that industry folks are going on the rigs to provide the food service or the transportation or the

supply vessels carrying the diesel fuel and everything it takes to support energy production guess what? they are going to local restaurants and they are giving tips to the waitresses and joining the united way and sponsoring ball teams. supporting our local communities and you see it all up down the texas and louisiana and see it in oklahoma and we want to see it in south carolina. there are some gentlemen that want to see it off their coast and see it in their states. they understand that energy production is a gateway to putting americans to work. jobs energy and our founding fathers, limited governments free markets unleashing that spirit that americans have within us to create and put

americans to work and pay taxes so the government can do its constitutional roll. i'm all about jeff. we want to see the atlantic outer continental shelf opened up and let's see what's out there. they are looking at 30--year-old seismic graphs and are there graphs off of the states that want to see the area opened up, using 30-year-old technology and see 21st century technology. dredge in the atlantic. and and see what sort of resources might be recoverable. and allow the work and allow the university of sourget carolina and leading the way teaching

the young new minds to use that seismic tech none and figure out where the resources are. he is doing tremendous work. let's open up more areas. pardon me to aplaud the abauma administration, they signed an agreement with mexico that opened acres in the gulf of mexico. shared resources between the united states and mexico and mexico denationalized their energy, and opening more investments. we are going to see more agreements in the transboundry area. implementing language to make it happen. that took an act of congress, that took a bill to pass and

took efforts like paul ryan to get the hydrocarbon implementing language in the omnibus to open up that million and a half acres and put more men and women to work developing the energy resources that we have in this country. glod of god bless the united states of america and we are truly american and working with our neighbors in the north like the keystone pipeline that should happen to bring that oil where we have idle capacity to put that oil in the marketplace in gasoline, plastic and as fault and all the other elements that come out of a barrel when you put it under pressure and all sorts of wonderful god-given elements. the keystone pipeline.

but apparently the administration doesn't get it. they don't get the keystone pipe lynn pill put america caps to work. keystone pipeline and north american independence includes working with mexico as they denationalized their energy. more american companies going down to develop their resources and not just american energy independence. i'm joined by the energy action team. and one gentleman from the neighboring state to my north that understands to my north and that atlantic area that we believe has resources. if you look at the geology. ening lapped, they were all together.

. we may have some recoverable resources. mr. hudson wants to talk about the north carolina offshore area. mr. hudson: i appreciate your leadership on this issue and i couldn't agree with you more. many of my constituents are entering the second half of the summer and preparing to take trips to the beach, maybe trips to the mountains maybe going to visit relatives. many of our constituents are contemplating those trips and experiencing sticker shock as they factor the cost of gasoline and many of our constituents are struggling and not in the job they want to be in, it's tough to make ends meet. it is a real burden. it affects real people back

home. and it doesn't have to be that way. we have tremendous opportunities to have sources of energy. and i agree also with my colleague there is not a lot of things that we agree on with the president and do seismic mapping off the shore of the atlantic city coast. and we have tremendous opportunities in north carolina and virginia and south carolina to find these large reserves. we know there is petroleum there, but we need to find out what is there. so this is an important first step so we can know what resources we have. but oy want to get north carolina in the energy business. we have the opportunity to put people to work as my colleague mentioned. states like south dookt that he pay a sign-in bonus.

everybody has a job. and i look at my neighbors who are struggling to find work let's put people in energy jobs. it will not only bring down energy costs but put people to work. we lost a tremendous amount of jobs in my state. but the jobs are coming back. and even despite the fact that the current president won't allow any new permitting on private lands, we through fracking and other technologies -- he won't allow on public langeds, we are able to bring down our energy costs through exploration. imagine what we can do by allowing us to go after all of our resources, through public lands or offshore and have a

renaissance in our country by having american energy and we can start creating jobs like you wouldn't believe. and there is no reason why we aren't doing it. i'm happy to talk about the importance of this and i'm ready to unleash the american energy and i'm ready to bring those jobs back. with that, i yield back to my colleague. mr. duncan: this is a pict of the state newspaper in south carolina. and it says oil exploration owe kayed. splation department of superior has said, we are going to allow seismic action off the coasts so we can see what's out there. this is good news. there are recoverable resources

off our coasts. and i ask the question again of the americans that may be tuned in how much more is your regular travel costing you with gasoline prices being north of $3 gallon, how much less money do you have in your wallet after you travel back and forth to work your normal travels from home to work and back, taking the kids to school, taking them to the ball games taking them to church, grocery store how much less money do you have? i know our constituents have experienced that. another member of the house energy action team from texas. and texas gets it. texas gets it and a lot of other

resources, they understand energy and they understand the jobs that come from energy production. and i recognize mr. weber from texas. mr. weber: i thank the gentleman for yielding me time. the things that make america great are the things that america makes. how do we do that? . . mr. speaker, i want you to think with me here for a second. we have to have a strong america. when the world has a catastrophe, whether it's a typhoon or whether it's a hurricane or whether it's floods or civil war, no matter what it is, when the world has a catastrophe and they dial 911 , who is it that answers? it's the americans, isn't it? with our military, with our might, with our goodness, i would argue.

so i would argue that for the world to be a safer place, we must have a strong america. and how do we do that? like i said, stable, reliable, affordable energy supply. mr. speaker, this is not just about jobs and the economy. this is about a strong america that leads this world and makes the world a safer place to live in. and i would further argue mr. speaker, that you're seeing the result of an administration's policy around this world -- around this world we're seeing results of people who understand that the current policy is weak ineffective and to be trampled upon. it's bewildering to me, mr. speaker, and quite frankly to many americans, that the president and his administration continue to stand in the way of the

potential that this country has to offer with respect to domestic energy production, for the reasons i just stated. in fact, the president has canceled lease sales and effectively closed off at least 85% of our offshore resources from exploration. yet the majority of the americans support tapping these resources so that we can make our country more energy independent. and again the world is a safer place to be. this country needs a president that will empower our energy sector, not suffocate it. i always say as did i in my opening remarks, that the things that make america great are the things that america makes. and, mr. speaker when more things are made in america, more americans will make it in america. when government gets out of the way, we can create thousands of good-paying jobs and a whole lot of affordable reliable,

dependable, secure energy. then and only then when more things are made in america, more americans will make it in america. the energy sector is -- as the gentleman said, is one of our nation's leading job creators. and much more can be done to unleash energy in these united states. just look at my home state of texas. texas has been responsible for close to half of all new jobs created in the united states since the end of the recession. texas has allowed the energy industry to flourish, while at the same time protecting the environment. shale gas development, which is booming because of innovations like hydraulic fracturing, horizontal drilling despite this administration, those are leading to billions in new investments in my district alone. billions in my district 14, on

the gulf coast of texas. for example, chevron phillips chemical company is investing $6 billion to build two plants in sweeney texas bringing 400 new permanent jobs and 10,000 new construction jobs in my district alone. as you all know, it's used to produce common plastic product -- products that we use every day and is derived from natural gas. in addition to many other projects, two companies in my district are waiting to invest billions with a b, of dollars in liquefied natural gas export facilities which would bring an untold number of new construction jobs to my state and the nation. it's a puzzle to me that this administration, instead of encouraging more of this kind of private investment nationwide has decided that what we need now is more regulations. are you kidding me? just this past march the

administration announced that it is in the process of developing regulations on methane emissions from various sources, including hydraulic fracturing sites. this is despite the fact that methane emissions have fallen by 11% since 1990. such government overreach, which undoubtedly will also encompass emissions from cattle believe that, this overreach will reach costs to consumers, destroy jobs and hurt energy production. this energy -- this administration is so extreme it is proposing to regulate cow emissions. in texas, we call that a lot of bull. this obama administration is out of touch with everyday americans and out of control with energy regulations. the administration's announcement on methane emissions is just one small piece of a much larger regulatory strategy. take the e.p.a., for example.

the e.p.a.'s requesting millions of dollars to conduct a study of hydraulic fracturing. a technology that has been safely utilized by the oil and gas industry in texas since at least 1947. in at least three cases the e.p.a. is has -- has blamed hydraulic fracturing on water contamination and all three of those cases they were forced to retract their conclusions. therefore i suspect the purpose of their study is only to justify further regulatory actions. most importantly we cannot forget that the administration is planning to repropose a new rule on ozone this december. originally proposed in 2010, this regulation was widely cited as the most expensive regulation in history, which would cost hundreds of billions of dollars and put over 80% of our nation out of compliance. 80% of our country in nonattainment when it comes to ozone regulations.

mr. speaker, i would offer that the e.p.a. needs to use common sense when it comes to that. unlike our counterparts in the senate the house has passed legislation to expand domestic energy production, has acted to hold the obama administration accountable for its regulatory agenda. on june 26, with my support, the house passed h.r. 4899, lowering gasoline prices to fuel an america that works act. and if enacted this legislation will require the administration to move forward on new offshore production that the gentleman was referring to, in areas that are projected to contain the most oil and natural gas resources by requiring new lease sales and streamlining permitting. and i could go on and on and on . i will tell you, mr. speaker that this administration, even though the president, when he was running said he had an all-of-the-above energy strategy, the truth is it's none of the above. he's killed -- he's in the

process of killing the coal industry, make no mistake, fossil fuels will be next. so, let me close by saying, i call on the president, as the gentleman did, to open the keystone -- permit the keystone pipeline. let it get built. let america continue to be an energy leader in the world. let america be solid and strong and let us once again have a safe world. i thank the gentleman and i yield back. >> i thank the gentleman from texas. as i said earlier, texas gets it. i remember a colleague of ours from louisiana, who said drilling equals jobs. mr. duncan: that sums it up. drilling equals jobs and i appreciate the gentleman from louisiana, jeff landry, our former colleague, for sharing that with us. you know i was -- i drive a

decemberle truck. and i was filling up -- dee sell truck. and i was filling up in the spring and there happened to be an offrod deiesel pump and i was paying $3.59 per gallon and i noticed the offroad diesel fuel price was about 10 cents less. about $3.49. i took a picture of it and shared it on facebook because i wanted folks to realize, if our american farmers are paying $3.49 a gallon for offroad decemberle -- diesel fuel, this is a fuel you can't run on the highway because the federal government and states don't collect any highway taxes from offroad fuel. it's just pure diesel fuel. but if our american farmers, and this is what farmers put in their tractors, it's offroad for a reason, if they're paying $3.49 a gallon for offroad diesel fuel, i think about -- that is an input cost. that's a cost of production. so if they're putting $3.49

diesel fuel in their tracters to plant our crops and in the fall to harvest our crops, and i think about the cost of fertilizer right now, which should be low because natural gas is abundant in this country and i think the gentleman from pennsylvania is going to talk about this in just a minute, what they have found in pennsylvania, but natural gas is a huge component in the production of fertilizer, but fertilizer is at a historical high still. so you've got the input cost for farmers of offroad diesel fuel at $3.49 a gallon. that input cost and the cost of fertilizer and, lord only knows what the regulations gentleman from texas was talking about, the e.p.a. continues to push down on americans, and american farmers are feeling the brunt of it, on where they can spray their pesticides or their herbisitis and how far from -- herb side and how far from ditches they need to be. but regulation after regulation. we even combated, since i've been in congress, the regulation of farm dust. now, can you believe that the e.p.a. would want to regulate

dust created through normal agricultural process that would create farm dust? the input cost of farmers will be affected and will affect the price rather of the commodities that moms and dads buy when they go to the grocery store this fall after harvest time. so you think about commodity prices being high, we're already seeing historical high milk prices, historical high beef prices, historical high fuel prices, to go back and forth at a grocery store, just to buy those commodities. it's less money for the hardworking american taxpayer at the end of the day who are having to pay that extra for obamacare, extra in taxes to pay for large government and government spending that we see. we can help. this congress can help by lowering the price of fuel, gasoline for american truckers, for america's moms and dads that travel back and forth. we've got an abundance of natural gas in this country. it gets a bad rap when you use words like hydraulic fracturing. but i'll tell you it's working

at mar sal he is and pennsylvania and ohio, could work in new york if they would get off their can and open up those areas but the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. rothfus, he understands. he understands the area of marcellus. i'd like to recognize him. mr. rothfus: i thank the gentleman from south carolina for yielding time and for organizing this important discussion about energy. i talk a lot in my district back in western pennsylvania, district 12, back in western pennsylvania, that was the western p.a., where you had the start of the oil industry, back in the 19th century and of course the development of coal and we're seeing this explosion in the development of the gas industry out there, creating lots of jobs. i talk a lot about energy in western p.a. because i contend that we can relight america from western pennsylvania. we need to relight america. we need to boom again. a lot of people have given up on the idea that america can

boom again. but for us to get this economy growing, energy is a huge part of it. and again we're seeing thousands of jobs throughout pennsylvania because of the gas industry we're seeing people who are able to stay on their farms. imagine that. they're fracturing the shale in pennsylvania to get -- to release the energy. they're not fracturing families, because the families can stay on those farms and get the revenues from that to help them keep their farms in business. growing our energy economy means more families sustaining jobs and lower energy prices for families in western pennsylvania and around the nation. developing our nation's plentiful natural resources and being good stewards of the environment need not be mutually exclusive. i want to bring attention, mr. speaker, to a little known area of energy that uses something known as refuse coal. refuse coal was coal that was mined decades ago, often for

the steel industry, and it was determined not to be of sufficient quality. for use in the industry. so it was left. it was left on hill sides throughout pennsylvania throughout appalachia. but technologicalal advancements have allowed certain power plants to turn piles of this low-quality coal that's been left throughout pennsylvania's countryside into cheap domestic energy. this has allowed for cleaning up the environment and restoring landscapes and rivers. just take a look at the remarkable difference here in these before and after pictures of a coal refuse pile in my district. plants across pennsylvania and states including illinois, montana, utah and west virginia, are doing tremendous work to clean up the environment and generate affordable electricity. unfortunately the unelected federal leaps that the e.p.a. with their one-size-fits-all rules are threatening to shut down the plants that use this

waste coal and stopping the progress on cleaning up places like what you see right here. this will cost middle class jobs. it will raise energy prices for many americans and put an end to the positive work that these plants do to clean up our environment. . i introduced h.r. 3138, satisfying environmental needs and -- the sense act. it recognizes the benefits they provide. the sense act offers a reasonable balance that keeps plants open, saves local middle class jobs, and helps to continue cleaning up the environment. i would urge my colleagues to take a look at this legislation and help us get it through.