the house is ready to receive any communication he may be pleased to make. the clerk: the gentleman from california and the gentlewoman from california. the speaker: for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? mr. mccarthy: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that the order of the house of january 6, 2015, providing for morning hour debate, be extended for the remainder of the 114th congress, except that house resolution 578 shall supplant house resolution 9. the speaker: without objection, o ordered. the speaker pro tempore: the chair is prepared to entertain one-minute speeches. for what purpose does the gentleman from south carolina

eek recognition? for what purpose does the gentleman from arkansas seek recognition? without objection. >> mr. speaker, today our arkansas delegation rises to pay tribute to a dedicated public servant, a distinguished son of arkansas. former arkansas governor and four-term united states senator,dale leon bumpers, passed away on friday, january 1, at the age of 90. hailing from the small town of charleston, arkansas, senator bumpers graduated from the university of arkansas with the degree in public -- political science and followed that with service in the united states marine corps during world war ii. mr. hill: after earning his law degree from northwestern university, bumpers and his

wife, betty, returned to hair hometown of charleston where he practiced law. in the wake of the 1954 supreme court decision on brown vs. board of education, bumpers advised the charleston school board to immediately desegregate its school system. listed as his proudest achievement, the charleston school district was the first former school district in the confederacy to desegregate. nicknamed by "the new york times" as the giant killer, senator bumpers emerged as a dark horse candidate to defeat long-time former governor, orville, in 1970. in his two terms as governor, he continued and expanded governor rockefeller's era of expansive government reform. in 1974, he defeated five-term u.s. senator, jay william fullbright, in the democratic primary, with 65% of the vote, to win that senate seat and serve for 24 years. when i was a young senate staffer, it was a pleasure to work with senator bumpers and

my second district predecessor on the completion of the landmark arkansas wilderness act of 1984. mr. speaker, on sunday, january 10, dale bumpers will be laid to rest. those of us in the delegation, as we prepare to make our final goodbyes, i'd ask for a moment of silence to honor this arkansas leader, public servant and elder statesman. the speaker pro tempore: all embers rise. he house will be in order. for what purpose does the gentleman from south carolina

eek recognition? without objection. >> ok, sure. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from south carolina is recognized. mr. clyburn: thank you, mr. speaker. request the permission to address the house for one minute, revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. clyburn: mr. speaker, i rise in support of president obama's announcement today to fight the growing epidemic of gun violence in america and make our families more secure and communities safer. it's just common sense that background checks should be required before an individual's allowed to buy a firearm.

yet congress refuses to pass legislation to close loopholes that allow gun sales to proceed before background checks are completed. under the so-called charleston loophole, that contributed to the mass murder of nine of my constituents, sales can proceed after three days even when the background check is not complete. that's just wrong. my bill, the background check completion act, will ensure that background checks are completed before sales take place. i thank the president for his leadership today. and i call on my colleagues, many of whom seem to know, no matter how reasonable the proposed legislation may be, when all else fails, employ common sense. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from south carolina, mr. wilson, seek recognition? mr. wilson: i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore:

without objection. mr. wilson: revise and extend my remarks. yesterday, mr. speaker, i traveled across the second congressional district of south carolina visiting communities in columbia, west columbia, akin north, augusta, orangeberg and lexington, to present my 2016 legislative agenda. at each stop, i was grateful to share my priorities with constituentses and answer questions from the media. in this new legislative year, i will advance legislation to create jobs for american families and reduce harmful regulations that destroy jobs. we also must protect the economic future for our children and grandchildren by passing balanced budgets and reigning in washington's out of control spend -- iranianing in washington's out of control spending which is a crushing debt on future generations. i am also focusing on promoting peace through strength to support our troops and keep our families safe from islamic extremists in the global war on terrorism. i will also strive to strengthen our nation's cybercapabilities from protecting our citizens against

cyberattacks bip enemies. in conclusion, god bless our troops and may the president, by his actions, never forget september 11 and the global war on terrorism. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition? >> i rise to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. >> thank you, mr. speaker. i rise to honor staff sergeant peter tobb. one of six victims of a suicide bombing attack in afghanistan on december 21. peter was a remarkable young man. he was raised in wind coast, -- wind coat, montgomery county, which i'm proud to represent. he served eight honorable years in the air force, assigned to the office of special investigations, and stationed at the elseworth air force base in south dakota. at just 30 years old, peter was

a devout father, husband and son, an exemplary soldier and public servant. an american hero. i offer my sincere condolences to the family and friends peter left behind and migratest thanks for his service to our nation. he gave us all the ultimate sacrifice. my heart especially goes out to peter's family. his 3-year-old daughter, penelope, his wife, christina, expecting another child, his mother, arlene, his father, joel, and his brother, jonathan. no parent should be predeceased by a child and no child should have to grow up without a parent. these tragic losses are a reminder of the gravity of our foreign policy decisions and military engagement oversales. we must never take these responsibilities lightly. so we must never forget the sacrifice, the -- that staff -- of staff sergeant peter tobb and his family have made to protect our freedoms.

thank you, mr. speaker, and may god bless peter's family. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? >> i seek unanimous consent to address the house for one minute, revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. lamalfa: mr. speaker, this ek a father and son reported to serve again an additional up to four years in federal prison. setting preventive fires on their own property that accidentally spread to federal lands. the hammonds, family farmers from oregon, had already served time in federal prison. dwight, three month, steven, a year. however, that weant good enough for u.s. attorney billy williams, who used taxpayer dollars to appeal to hammond's original sentence and urge the ninth circuit to impose harsher penalties. over the judge's objection, who had recommended a much less, in his vision, much less harsh penalties for the crime in question.

mr. speaker, the question isn't whether or not the hammonds started these fires. they admit they did. the question is whether the u.s. attorney and his administration are prosecuting real criminals or pursuing a political agenda. mr. speaker, when a 74-year-old man and a 45-year-old father of three are forced to return to prison when they've already served time and paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines for a nonviolent, unintentional crime, the answer couldn't be more clear whether this is political or not. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from illinois seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. >> thank you, mr. speaker. i rise to recognize cliff quarter he will, a chicago blackhawks legend. after signing with the hawks in 1969, he enjoyed 11 seasonses a their right winger, where he reached the 50-point mark during four different seasons. mr. quigley: he also helped lead the hawks to the stanley cup finals twice and later served six seasons as their assistant head coach. his talent led him to be

inducted into multiple sports hall of fame, but his greatest accomplishment is leading chicago blackhawks alumni association. this group of retired players continually gets back to the chicago community and has given over $1 million in scholarships to the most deserving high school players in illinois. cliff has also supported the chicago legal clinic which provides legal services for immigrants, the disabled, victims of domestic violence, consumers with serious debt issues, and more. today i urge my colleagues in honoring and celebrating cliff's work and accomplishments. thank you and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? the gentleman is recognized for one minute, without objection. >> mr. speaker, in the movie "forrest gump," tom hanks runs for over three years. a good friend of mine is like

forrest gump. his name is kevin kline. q morning on the 93 radio show. his partners, eric rico and tim uttle, call him kevenen gove or forest collide. why? mr. olson: because for 55 hours over new year's day, kevin and others ran, walked or crawled to save kids with cancer. , kevin wife, trish started the so jog foundation, because cancer touched a 16-year-old who lost her life, named chellsy campbell. it has raised over $1 million in just nine short years. they did this to ensure that no

child or parent hears those three awful words. you have cancer. all texans are proud of kevin and trish and the joling -- jog. and to quote kevin's idol, that's all i have to say about that. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from arizona seek recognition? without objection, one minute. mr. gallego: mr. speaker, for tattoo long calls for congress it has un measures, fallen on deaf ears. despite the mounting death toll, the republican leadership has refused to consider any new

measures to address the devastating impact of gun violence in america. we cannot continue to wait for republicans to come to their senses. the price of delay for our children, for our families and for our communities is simply too steep. that is why i applaud president obama for putting american lives above partisan politics. the president's executive actions will require more gunselers to be licensed and to conduct background checks. narrowing the dangerous loopholes that allow guns to fall into hands of criminals or the mentally ill. the new rules will also make it easier for us to hold irresponsible dealers accountable and to track guns that are lost or stolen. this is a critical step forward, but it is not enough. i call on my colleagues to join the president in taking real action to prevent gun tragedies and keep the american people safe. thank you, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time.

for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? without objection. mr. poe: president obama is up to it again with his pen and his phone this time he's -- >> this time he's undermining the rights of american citizens through executive order. president obama's disdain for gun owners has been clear from the beginning. this is another sad chapter in his presidency. it's a shame the president would exploit the latest act of errorism in this manner. it's due to a rad cam ideology though the president will not acknowledge this ideology. nothing the president is doing through his unilateral action will address this. it will only serve to hurt law-abiding american citizens. president obama is shooting at the wrong target. republic nstitutional and the president can't can not

by pass congress when his ideas are not accepted. we should do all in our power to stop this unconstitutional executive action and overreach. thank you and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? without objection. mr. cardenas: it is an honor and a privilege to be elected a member of this house. 2015 has expired. we have just begun the session of 2016. but the question, ladies and gentlemen, is this. what are we going to do to serve the public? what are the things we're going to focus on to make sure our

safer to ts are continue. weave heard just in the first few minutes of these speeches about how we need to make america safer. that so the n do executive of our country doesn't have to try to do whatever we can and extend his responsibilities because we're not doing enough. too many moments of silence, ladies and gentlemen. or nine or 10 or 30 or 40 or 50 americans are killed through senseless violence. we've done almost nothing about it as a congress. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the -- address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without

objection. mr. poe: isis fighters hail from all nations and all over the world including the united states. americans who go to fight with jihaddists overseas are able to freely travel back to the united states with their u.s. passport. these homegrown jihaddists are not coming back home to open up coffee shops, but they're coming home to harm americans. so we have to stop them by keeping them from coming back at all. that is why the united states house passed the foreign terrorist organization passport revocation act which i introduced. the legislation is simple. revoke or deny passports of benedict arnold americans who have assisted designated foreign terrorist organizations. not only will the bill help law enforcement locate these individuals, it will prevent them from entering the united states at all. while my bill languishes down the hall in the senate, congress did pass a law allowing for the revocation of passports for americans who are delinquent in their taxes.

mr. speaker, which is a bigger threat to america. and our national security. tax offenders or terrorists? congress must get its priorities straight. time for the senate to pass the house bill and revoke passports of members of foreign terrorist organizations who may or may not be tax cheats. and that's just the way it is. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentlelady from florida seek recognition? without objection. ms. ros-lehtinen: this morning, i toured an exhibit at florida international university's jewish museum of florida, located in miami beach which details the discovery and recovery of art facts depicting jewish life in iraq over the centuries. i was privileged to be joined by members of the iraqi jewish ommunity, including hillel

shohad and his brother maurice who played key roles in making sure these artifacts remain with the jewish community. i was also proud to lead the effort here in congress to keep the artifacts in the u.s. and i led that effort along with my colleague, the gentleman from new york, steve israel, and other congressional colleagues. these treasures were confiscated from the jewish community by saddam hussein's intelligence service and were discarded until they were discovered in a flooded basement by our american service members in the year 2003. they were then brought back to our national archives where they were painstakingly recovered and preserved. mr. speaker, this exhibit is an important piece of jewish community's collective memory and must continue to be preserved and shared for generations to come. hank you, mr. speaker.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman rise? without objection, the gentleman is recognized. >> this evening i rise to recognize the walnut hills high school marching band. they traveled to paris last week grande cipate in le parade, which is the showcase event in paris on new year's day. it attracts hundreds of thousands of spectators from all over the world. it's a great opportunity to show the world how talented our students in cincinnati are. only four babbeds from the united states, two high schools and two colleges, were selected to participate in this prestigious event. mr. chabot: it's fitting that wall mutt thit -- walnut hills was one of the four bands since the marching blue and gold have been rated superior for 13 straight years by the ohio music education association. i want to congratulate the students and parents and tichers and sportsers of walnut hills

high schools -- high school, one of the best high schools in cincinnati, on this well-deserved honor. i know the student in the band put in a lot of hard work for this once in a lifetime opportunity and have truly made our community proud. go eagles. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition? >> to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. >> mr. speaker, i rise tonight to tell the story of amanda diekman of illinois, one of the tens of thousands of women who have been permanently harmed by the sterilization to device known as essure. mr. fitzpatrick: after she had the device implanted at the age of 28, she temperature fatigue, her hair fell out, she continually suffered from urinary tract infections. she suffered so much pain she would contemplate suicide.

her symptoms subsided after a total hysterectomy in 2013 but physically she knows the device left her permanently damaged. i rise as a voice for the essure sisters, who number in the thousands, to tell this chamber that their stories are real, their pain is real and their fight is real. mr. speaker, my bill, the efree act can halt this tragedy by removing this dangerous device from the market and i urge my colleagues to join this fight because stories like amanda's are too important to ignore. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the chair lays before the house the following personal requests. the clerk: leave of absence requested for mr. rush of illinois for today. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the request is granted. under the speaker's announced policy of january 6, 2015, the is leman from oregon,

recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader. >> mr. speaker, i'm sure my colleagues are aware of the situation in oregon where a group of protesters, armed, have overtaken a federal facility, the national wildlife refuge. this group has led -- is led largely by people who are not necessarily from oregon, though they obviously have supporters from oregon. mr. walden: they are originally there to protest the sentencing of dwight and steve hammond. i know the hammonds, i've known them for probably close to 20 years. they're longtime responsible ranchers in hardy county. they've been sentenced to prison not once, but now twice, and i'll get into that in a moment. the point i want to make at the outset here is for people in

this chamber to understand what drives people to do what's happening tonight, i've had the great honor and privilege to represent harney county for a number of years. i have seen the impact of federal policies from the clinton administration to the obama administration. i have seen what happens when overzealous bureaucrats and agencies go beyond the law and clamp down on people. i've seen what courts have done. and i have seen the time for congress to act and then it has not. i want to put this area in perspective because i think it's really important to understand how big this region is. my congressional district in oregon is something like the seventh or eighth biggest in the congress by size.

if you overlaid it over the east coast it would start in the atlantic and end in ohio. the county where this occupation is taking place, harney county, is over 10,000 square miles, and there are 7,000 souls inhabiting it. my math is right, that's one person for every 1.4 miles. one person for every 1.4 miles. 10 times the size of rhode island, just this one county. it's larger than the state of maryland. and 72% of it is under the command and control of the federal government. it is the public's land. hat is true. but what people don't understand is the culture, the lifestyle, of the great american west.

and how much these ranchers care about the environment, about the future, about their children, about america. and how much they believe in the constitution and now we see the extent they will go to defend what they view as their constitutional rights. now, i am not defending armed takeovers. i do not think that's appropriate. and i think the time has come for those to consider that they've made their case in the public about what is happening in the west and perhaps it's time for them to realize they've made their case and to go home. but i want to talk about what happened with the hammonds. i want to put in perspective what happens almost every year in my district. and that is these enormous wildfires. the miller homestead wildfire in 2012 burned 160,000 acres.

mostly in this county. if not all. 250 square miles. a quarter of the sthifes state of rhode island. that was just in 2012. the barry point fire that year in lake county, next door, burned 93,000 acres. last summer, a-- last summer acres e burned 799,974 across oregon. that's both forest and high desert. 2012, 3 bnt 4 million acres burned in yerg. there was another fire, mallier county, in 2012, burned 557,000 acres, five times the size of rhode island. 93,000 acres, 557,000 acres, 160,000 acres. all pushing. the hammonds are in prison tonight for setting a backfire that they admit to that burned

139 acres. and they will sit in prison, time served and time going forward, five years. under a law that i would argue was never intended to mete out that kind of punishment. and i'll get to that in a moment. . i told you i worked with the hammonds and many ranchers in the county. in the last years of clinton administration, despite their own agency's reviews and analysis, bill clinton threatened to create a giant monument on the mountain. and when secretary baseball ot, interior secretary at the time, came before the interior resources committee of which i was a member, i said, mr. secretary, your own resource advisory committees in the area just reported that there was no need for additional protection on the mountain. and yet, you and the president are threatening to create this national monument. why do you waste the time of the citizens to go through a process to determine if additional protections are needed and then ignore what they came up with?

to bruce babbit's credit, he agreed when i told him i think you'd be surprised about what the local ranchers and citizens of the county would be willing to do if you gave them a chance, to his credit, he said, all right, i will give them that chance. and he did. we went to work on legislation. took a full year. i worked with the hammonds, worked with stacy davis, all kinds of folks. put a staffer on it full time. multiple staffs. and we worked with the environmental community and others. and we created the mountain cooperative management and protection act. model legislation, never been done before, because i said, we don't have to live by past laws, we write laws. so we wrote a new law to create a cooperative spirit of management in the county. hammonds were parter that -- part of that discussion. they say, we saved a running inholder.rotected we tried to do all the right things and create the kind of

partnership and cooperation that the citizens should have. then we fast forward on that particular law, not long after that became law, and it was heralded as this monument law of great significance, new era in cooperation and spirit of cooperation. , some of those involved on the other side and some of the agencies decided to reinterrupt it. the first -- reinterpret it. the first thing they tried to do was shut down this running camp because they said too many, maybe more than 20, run down this canyon backup, as they had for many, many years. they wanted to shut it down. we said, no, the law says historical standards. then the bureaucrats, because we said, you should have your historical access to your private property, if you're up on the mountain, you should maintain that access like you've always had it. you know what the bureaucrats said.

they began to solicit from the inholders in this area how many times did you go up there last year? you see, they wanted to put a noose around the neck of those who were inside. that was a total violation of what we intended. and we had to back them off. the bureaucracy wants to interpret the laws we write in ways they want. and in this case, they were wrong. not once, but twice. and then a couple years ago, i learned, that despite the fact we created the first cow-free wilderness in the united states under this larbgs and said clearly in this law that it would be the responsibility of the government to put up fencing to keep the cows out as part of the agreement, the bureau of land management said,, no we're not going to follow that law. they told a rancher they to build a fence. -- they had to build a fence. i networked with my democratic colleague from oregon who was

part of writing this laufment he said, you remember that, right? i said, yeah, i didn't like it, but that was the case. b.l.m. still wouldn't listen. so we continued to push it. and they argued back. it turns out there had been a second rancher who brought this to my attention, who they were telling had to do the same thing. build feanls. when the government was supposed to, under the law, i wrote. the agency, the arrogance of the agency, was such that they said, we don't agree with you. there aren't many times, mr. speaker, in this job when you you can say, i know what the intent of the law was. but in this case, i could. because i wrote the law. i knew the intent. oh, that wasn't good enough. no, no, no. no, no. the arrogance of these agency people was such that we had to go to the archives and drag out 2000, es from -- well, 199 and 2000, when we wrote this law, from the hearings that had all the records, from the hearings and the floor

discussionses, to talk about the intent. our retired member, george miller, actually we used some of his information. they were still reluck land to follow it. so -- reluctant to follow it. so i put language in the bill that restated the federal laufment do you understand how frustrated i am at this? can you imagine how the people on the ground feel? can you imagine? if you're not there, you can't. if you're not there, you can't. you ridicule them. portlandland, oregonians, running the thing. meals for militia. let's have fun with this. this is not a laughing matter from any consequence. nobody's going to win out of this thing. this is a government that has gone too far for too long. now, i'm not condoning this takeover in any way. i want to make that clear. i don't think it's appropriate. there's a right to protest.

i think they've gone too far. but i understand and hear their anger. right now, this administration secretly, but not so much, is threatening in the next county over that looks a lot like this one to force a monument of 2 1/2 million acres, we believe. i believe this is outrageous, it flies in the face of the people and the way of life and the public access. there's a company, keen shoes, it already has a big marketing campaign. this is about selling shoes. for god's sakes. i call on the president, if he wants to help reduce the tension that's out there, to walk away from this. and if he doesn't want to walk away and say, no, we're not going to do that, to help us bring down this level of

frustration and anger, then at least be honest, or his secretary of interior needs to be honest with us, and tell us they are going to do it. either they are or they aren't. but all they are is being cow -- coy. that feeds into this. it feeds into the anger that i feel. it feeds into the anger out there. so, the president should say, i'm not going to do a national monument. i'm not going to add more fuel on this fire in the west. we fought other issues. more than half of my district is under federal management. or lack thereof. they've come out with these proposals to close roads into the forest. they've ignored public input. they often claim to have all these open meetings and listen to the public and then, in the case that will a-- of witman, the forest supervisor who was

eventually relieved because of this, i believe, completely ignored all the meet, all the input, all the work of the counties, and the local people, and said, forget it. i'm going my own direction. there were 900 people who turned out at the national guard amry where they had a public hearing, standing room only and beyond, furious. you see, how do you have faith in a government that doesn't ever listen to you? how do you have faith in a government that, when elected representatives write a law, those charged with the responsibility of implementing it choose to go the other direction and not do so? that is what's breaking faith between the american people and their government. and that's what has to change. the other thing that has to change, the law under which the hammonds were sentenced. now, they probably did some things that weren't legal.

i've given you the size and the acreages that burned naturaly. i haven't gotten into the discussion about how these fires are often fought and how the federal government frequently will go on private land and set a fire without permission to back burn. that happens all the time. in fact, in the berry point fire down in lake county, they set fire on private timberland as a back burn, while the owners of the property were putting out spot fires down in the canyon. i drove down there afterwards. they're darn lucky to have come out alive. there's nobody sentenced under the terrorism act there. oh, heck no. it's the government. they weren't sentenced. nobody was charged. oh, it just happened. now, fires are tough to fight. i have great respect for firefighters. there are always exo side on how these fires get fought.

i can tell you a few years back, i held a meeting as the fire was being put out, that the fire crews came in, went on private ground, lit a back fire on private ground behind a fence line, that then burned out the farmer's fence, the rancher's fence, and burned all the way over and down into a can con -- canyon where there was a wetland, that would have been the natural break so top the fire from the other side. they never needed to burn that land. these things happen in the course of fighting fire. doesn't mean they're right but rare is it that somebody ends up five years in prison. let me tell you what the senior judge said when he sentenced the hammonds the first time. judge michael hogan, senior federal judge, highly respected in oregon. he sentenced dwight hammond to three months and steve to a year, there were different offenses here. and he said, i am not going to apply the mandatory minimum and

because to me, to do so under the eighth amendment, would result in a sentence which is grossly disproportion at to the is he veryity of the defenses here. the judge went on to say, and with regard to the anti-terrorism and effective death penalty act of 1996, this sort of conduct would not have been conduct intended under the statute. when you ask, you know, what if you burn sage brush in the suburbs of los angeles, there are homes up the ravines, it might apply. out in the wilderness here, i don't think that's what the congress intended. and in addition, it just would not meet any idea i have of justice proportionality. it would be a sentence which would shock the conscience to me. closed quote. senior judge mike hogan. when he did the original sentencing. but you see, under this 1996

law, under which they were harged and convicted, it turns out he had no judicial leeway. he could not mete out a sentence that was proportionate to what the crime was. so, yesterday dwight and steve went to prison again. dwight will be 79 when he gets out. steve will be about 50. meanwhile, the county on the ranch, susie will continue to try and survive. 6,000-acre ranch. she needs grazing permits to make this happen. it would be a cruel and unjust access to way, those grazing permits were not extended.

what possible good could come out of bankrupting a grandmother? trying to keep a ranch together. while her husband sits in prison, her son sits in prison. what possible good? they'll serve their sentences. there's nothing short of clemency that the president only can offer that we can do. but we can change that law. and we should. so nobody ever is locked in like that, for a situation like this where a jeern -- senior judge, literally on his final day on the bench, said, this goes fu far. goes too far. they appealed that by the way. and lost. but i believe the judge was right. we have to listen to the people .

we have to understand why events like this are taking place in our communities. they're taking place in cities, we've witnessed that. and we try and get our heads around it. there are more people from the city, so there are more members from the cities. there aren't many of us that represent these vast, wide-open, incredibly beautiful, harsh districts like the one i do. and people there love the land. it was the ranchers who came up with the concept of the cooperative management. was the ranchers who love the mountain and know that for them to survive they have to ake care of the range. they're good people. sons and daughters by a higher

roportion fight in our wars. and die. and i've been to their funerals. so to my friends across eastern oregon, i will always fight for you. but we have to understand . ere's a time and a way hopefully the country, through this, understands we have a real problem in america in how we manage our lands and how we're losing them. it's not like we haven't tried here, mr. speaker. year after year we pass bipartisan legislation to provide more active management on our forests so we don't lose them all to fire and we're losing them all to fire. and we're losing firefighters' lives, homes, watersheds, great

resources for the west. teddy roosevelt would roll over in his grave. he created this wildlife refuge in 1908. there are some bad actors there in the 1980's by the way that were very aggressive running the refuge, basically threatening eminent domain and other things, that took ranches. it was bad. the that lasted for at least a decade or more. it's gotten better, though. it's not perfect. there's a much better refuge, the refuge and the ranchers work together. in 2012, the refuge opened itself up to the ranchers for hay and feed because there was -- because theirs was burned out because of this big fire. so there was a better spirit problems. till these

and the threat of watts of the u.s. shutting down stock ponds and irrigation canals and a way of life. threat of fire every year that seems to not be battled right and just gets away. and no one's really held accountable. the continued restriction on the lives of the men and women who, for generations, have worked hard in a tough environment. it's just gone too far. it's hurtful. and i hope people understand how serious this is felt and how heart felt this is. by those who pay their taxes and try to live by the law and do the right things. and how oppressed they feel. by the government they elect and

the government they certainly don't elect. and how much they will always defend the flag and the country and their sons and daughters will go to war. some will not come back. and they have not not from this area. there's a better solution here. the president needs to back off on the monument. he b.l.m. needs to make sure suzy hammond isn't pushed into bankruptcy and they are -- and her ranch taken by the government and added to those that have been. and we need to be better at hearing people from all walks of life, all regions of our country, and understanding this anger that's out there and what we can do to bring about correct change and peaceful resolution.

it's not too late. we can do this. it's a great country. we have the processes to do it right. with that, mr. speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: under the speaker's announced policy of january 6, 2015, the gentleman from texas, mr. gohmert is recognized for the remainder of the hour as the designee of the majority leader. 36 minutes. mr. gohmert: thank you, mr. speaker. i do appreciate the words of my friend from oregon. hese are difficult times and

even more difficult when unfairness comes from the united states government with all its power, with all its resources, hen it begins to pick on american citizens. when it uses its resources to oop on americans, especially when it uses resources to spy on americans in order to help maintain power of the government over the people. one of the problems with obamacare provides every american's medical records to the federal government. as if the federal government didn't have enough personal

information, consumer finance protection bureau, they've, in the process of gathering people's credit card, debit card information, supposedly to protect individuals. and what we've seen in our jew -- in our judiciary committee as we've had hearings on the abuses by federal government bureaucrats is there seems to be this desire among different agencies and departments, got no business having a swat team. but they want one. they want military power. to go out and take people down whenever they get ready. and one of the things for many years that congress has not done an appropriate job of keeping in check is, criminal laws. there are far too many criminal laws, the number of which we

on't know exactly, but which allow a violation of a regulation to be a crime which allows the full power of the federal government to go after individuals. we heard the horror story about the fellow from the northwest trying to create a better battery, gets run off the road by three black suburbans, gas out of his little efficient car, thrown down on s chest, boot in the back, handcuffs on, no idea what he'd done. never even had a traffic ticket.

turns out he had violate -- he hadn't violated any law necessarily, but he had mailed a package to alaska that he knew needed to go by ground only so e checked the box ground only. he didn't know that he needed a little sticker with an airplane with a line through it so he didn't put that on. the result was he was run off the road, thrown to the ground, handcuffed, drug to jail, then drugged off because the federal government gets to pick their venue and since they knew he didn't really know people in alaska and that's where the package was going they drug him to alaska. to prosecute there. , n he was finally acquitted maybe it was jury nullification,

they thought it was too unfair, then the prosecutors, the power f the federal government and the vindictive people that control things decided they couldn't let him get away with only having done months in jail. so having ransacked his home under a search warrant because he didn't put the little sticker on the package he mailed, they nt back through all of the accounting of items found, the inventory, and found that there were some chemicals that are required not to be abandoned, and a regulation, again, regulation, some bureaucrats put in place, not congress, but --

that required those substances would never be left for more than 14 days and since the prosecutors had had him drug off to alaska, put in jail up there, he was involuntarily forced to lee the substances, they were properly stored, but they were successful in prosecuting him for abandoning the substances. or the retired gentleman down in houston who wasn't able to testify before our committee because he had had a stroke while he was incarcerated because of the over aggressive prosecution by the federal government. he had gotten -- he had a greenhouse, raised orchids, sold to some local forests. gotten a package from south

america, apparently it wasn't properly packaged, according to some bureaucrat's regulations and therefore he was at -- he had his home raided, ransacked, his wife testified she called home, didn't recognize the voice of the person answering, she asked who it was and they said, who is this? she said, i called my home. to talk to my house. -- to my husband. i have a right to know who you are. t was a federal agent. he was handcuffed in his own kitchen because somebody sent him a package from south america hat didn't meet some cubicle

jockey's idea of what was properly sending a package. during the year and a half in prison, he had a stroke, couldn't communication. -- communicate. or the poor guy that had lobster shipped to him that he was arrested, incarcerated, charged with violating not american law, but american law that says if you violate a foreign law, then you can be arrested in america, and they alleged that he violated caribbean islands laws and that country's attorney general said, no, we don't believe he violated our laws. nevertheless, he was incarcerated. the stories go on and on. of abuse when a government becomes all-powerful the way this one has come close to

being. and when congress doesn't adequately rein it in, doesn't for o be a lot of hope americans across the country to be able to stand in the face of such an overwhelming power as ur federal government. so i appreciate my friend from oregon talking about situation with the bureau of land management, fish and wildlife service. it seems that there are people within the interior department that have an insatiable appetite for acquiring more and more and more land.

more and more private property taken away from private individuals. it's getting out of control. and if any landowner dares to say, i want to keep my own private property, then they can have a right to worry that the federal government will come after them and harass them, make their lives miserable until they finally consent. that's why we should have removed the president's ability to just name land as a national monument, as president clinton d with the world's largest deposits of coal in utah. put it off limits by calling it a national monument. it was never