mr. burton: yes. mr. poe: yes. in the western part of texas, near el paso, the juarez drug cartel operates bringing drugs into the united states. they have hitmen that are called the azteca gang and they have been specifically hired as to target our border patrol agents, $250,000 bounty on their head for kidnapping or murdering of them. that is correct. mr. burton: you know, i wasn't aware of that and i doubt if any of my colleagues, our colleagues, were aware of that. the sheriffs and all the law enforcement agencies down there, they're aware of it as well? mr. poe: law enforcement is aware of this situation. all the law enforcement is aware. mr. burton: who in the world would want to be a border patrol agent or work on that border if they know that there's a $250,000 bounty on their head by the drug cartels? mr. poe: i don't know. they're amazing people, the law enforcement, all of them, the federal agents, the state agents, the sheriffs, local law enforcement. they're amazing people who work on the border becaus

mr. burton: you know, mr. speaker, this is so muddied up i don't know that anybody who is paying attention really understands what's going on. this is just a process. that's all it is. the people who are going to decide whether or not any territory becomes a state is this body and the senate. but what we are asking for is a recommendation from the people of puerto rico. they are dying for this country. more have died percentagewise in conflicts than any state in the union. and their governor wants this plebiscite. their representative wants this plebiscite. their state senate wants this plebiscite. and the state house of representatives wants this plebiscite. they know what this bill is. they come and they have testified before the resources committee. they know. and they represent the people of puerto rico. so these people coming down here from new york and every place else, they don't know. they don't know what they are talking about. the people -- no, i will not yield. ms. velazquez: i am not asking that. t

mr. burton's ready again. i yield to him. mr. burton: i thank my colleague from texas for yielding. i just want to follow up on what my other colleague from texas just said. he was quoting the attorney general of texas, mr. gregg be a ot, and -- abbott, and there was one clause in his letter which i thought bared repeating. he said, if there are to be any limitationser, any limitations on the federal government, then commerce cannot be construed to cover every human activity under the sun, including mere human existence. the act of doing absolutely nothing does not constitute an act of commerce that congress is authorized to regulate. this parallels what we were talking about earlier with the national recovery act. because it was designed to cover everything. back in the 1930's, we talked about a couple of examples, and this attorney general is quoting pretty much what the justice was talking about when he wrote the opinions, the 9-0 opinion, that destroyed the national recovery act. saying that the federal federal government didn't have the right to run everything. and i think that

mr. burton: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that today following legislative base and any special orders heretofore entered into, the following members may be permitted to address the house, revise and extend their remarks and include therein extraneous material. mr. moran, april 21 for five minutes. mr. poe, april 21 for five minutes. mr. jones, april 21 for five minutes. and mr. thompson today for five minutes. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentlewoman from california. ms. woolsey: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that today following legislative business and any special orders heretofore entered into the following members may be permitted to address the house for five minutes, revise and extend their remarks, and include therein extraneous material. mr. skelton, missouri. ms. lee, california. ms. woolsey, california. ms. berkley, nevada. ms. sutton, ohio. mr. heinrich, new mexico. mr. defazio, oregon. mr. smith, washington. mr. sestak, pennsylvania. mr. larsen of washing

mr. burton: let me just -- i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. let me just say that, mr. poe from texas, my good friend who just spoke, he added a little bitive levity but it was very important, the point that he was making, in that we have the ability in this country to really deal with things like agriculture and insects that might come in and contaminate our crops. but we have a serious, serious problem on the 1,980-mile border between us and mexico. the administration has cut some of the money from the whole project of putting fences and more border patrol agents on that border and it's a war zone, as mr. poe has said. mr. poe is the leader in pointing out the problems with what's going on the border between texas and mexico as well as the border all the way between the united states and the whole country of mexico. and so i'd just like to say, if i were talking to the president or anybody in his administration, listen to mr. poe and the guys who have been down there on that border, they know and the sheriffs and the police in arizona and all

mr. burton, today and april 14, 15, and 16 for five minutes each. mr. jones today and april 14, 15, 16, and 20 for five minutes each. mr. moran, today, april 14, and 15 and 20, five minutes each. mr. neugebauer today, five minutes. ms. ros-lehtinen, today, april 14 and 15, five minutes each, ms. foxx, today, april 14, 15, and 20, five minutes each. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from ohio rise? ms. sutton: i ask that today following legislative business and any special orders heretofore entered into, that the following members may be permitted to address the house for five minutes and revise and extend their remarks. ms. sutton for five minutes, ms. woolsey of california for five minutes, ms. kaptur of ohio for five minutes, and mr. defazio of oregon for five minutes. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. under the speaker's announced policy of january 6, 2009, and under a previous order of the house, the following members are recognized for five minutes each. ms. sutton of ohio. ms. sutton: madam

mr. burton: i'm going to pass on my five-minute special order so mr.er can start on his special order. the speaker pro tempore: we have one more. ms. jackson lee of texas. ms. jackson lee of texas. ms. jackson lee: permission to address the house for five minutes, revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. ms. jackson lee: thank you very much, madam speaker. over this weekend, the governor of arizona raised up the idea of prayer and in her remarks, she indicated that she prayed for strength and prayed for our state. i rise today to pray for arizona and this nation and those who would think that a law that was signed by arizona governor raises any level of constitutionality. but i agree with the governor of arizona. they have been waiting very long. there is a crisis, that is necessary to address. and madam speaker, many of us on this side of the aisle have tried over and over again. former president george bush, in the last administration, tried. but that's where reasonable minds will disagree. so i would ask the governor to ask her

mr. burton: i thank the gentlelady for yielding. you know, i think my colleagues have very eloquently explained the contents of the bill and what we need to do. but the thing i'd like to talk about for a minute or two is the ramifications for america and the rest of the world if we don't do something. we get about 30% to 40% of our energy from the middle east, and if i were talking to the american people i would just say to you that if you look at your lights and you look at the energy you need for your car and for everything else, heating your house, you need to realize that if iran develops a nuclear capability and that whole area becomes a war zone, the persian gulf, where a lot of oil is transported to, we will see a terrible problem as far as our energy is concerned and that would directly effect our energy. it's important we do something and do something very, very quickly. we've waited too long. we've talked about negotiating with iran and putting sanctions on them for the past four or five years, trying to get our allies to

mr. burton: i thank the gentlelady for yielding. have very eloquently explained the contents of the bill and what we need to do. but the thing i'd like to talk about for a minute or two is the ramifications for america and the rest of the world if we don't do something. we get about 30% to 40% of our energy from the middle east, and if i were talking to the american people i would just say to you that if you look at your lights and you look at the energy you need for your car and for everything else, heating your house, you need to realize that if iran develops a nuclear capability and that whole area becomes a war zone, the persian gulf, where a lot of oil is transported to, we will see a terrible problem as far as our energy is concerned and that would directly effect our energy. it's important we do something and do something very, very quickly. we've waited too long. we've talked about negotiating with iran and putting sanctions on them for the past four or five years, trying to get our allies to work with us. the fact of the ma

mr. burton: i thank the gentlelady for yielding. you know, i think my colleagues have very eloquently explained the contents of the bill and what we need to do. but the thing i'd like to talk about for a minute or two is the ramifications for america and the rest of the world if we don't do something. we get about 30% to 40% of our energy from the middle east, and if i were talking to the american people i would just say to you that if you look at your lights and you look at the energy you need for your car and for everything else, heating your house, you need to realize that if iran develops a nuclear capability and that whole area becomes a war zone, the persian gulf, where a lot of oil is transported to, we will see a terrible problem as far as our energy is concerned and that would directly effect our energy. it's important we do something and do something very, very quickly. we've waited too long. we've talked about negotiating with iran and putting sanctions on them for the past four or five years, trying to get our allies to

mr. burton of indiana. >> request permission to address the house for five minutes and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. burton: madam speaker, it's the end of the week, another week has gone by and the middle east continues to be a tinder box waiting to explode. abraham lincoln said let the people know the facts and the country will be saved. it's hard for us to get the facts sometimes. the president of the united states, mr. obama, this week, had a summit that was supposed to deal with nuclear proliferation and had leaders from all over the world there and were talking about how to stop the proliferation of nuclear weapons from getting into countries that may cause a problem and weapons that may get into terrorists' hands that may destroy an awful lot of the human race, but he didn't talk about iran. it almost never happens anymore. he doesn't talk about iran. they say there are going to be sanctions put on iran that is going to stop them from developing their nuclear weapons program, but the sanctions never take place. we have been

mr. burton. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from indiana is recognized. mr. burton: i'd say i am a great admirer of duke university. i lean a little bit more toward butler since i'm from indianapolis, indiana. i thought duke played a great game. and i want you to know there is no truth to the rumor that butler intentionally missed that last basketball shot because they didn't want to hurt duke's feelings. are you listening over there? anyhow, congratulations to duke university and to butler university. butler's a very small school. it's a private school in indianapolis. and for them to reach the final game in the national championship is a real tribute, not only to the school and the players. we had great players. but to a great young coach who has only been coaching for three years. of course, the duke blue devils are always tough, always tough, and i'm proud to say we want to congratulate them. but the bulldogs did a great job, they were a great team, and next year we're going to get them. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from ohio is recognized. ms.

mr. burton from indiana. ms. kaptur from ohio. mr. forbes from virginia. mr. defazio from oregon. under the speaker's announced policy of january 6, 2009, the gentleman from texas, mr. burgess, is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader. mr. burgess: i thank the speaker for the recognition. i thank the minority leader for allowing me to speak this afternoon during the leadership hour. it is always a significant event to be asked to speak during the leadership hour and certainly appreciate the confidence shown in me by the leadership. this afternoon i thought we would talk a little more about the health care bill passed by this house last month because it is an important subject and one that continues to cause problems across the country. almost any place you go people want to ask you questions about why did you do this bill and what does it mean for me and what can i expect going forward? mr. speaker, i know i need to confine my comments to the chair and i will do so, but if i were to be able to speak to people directly, i would encourage them to look at a

mr. burton of indiana. mr. defazio of oregon. mr. forbes from virginia. ms. ros-lehtinen of florida. mr. bilbray of california. under the speaker's announced policy of january 6, 2009, the gentleman from california, mr. royce is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader. mr. royce: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, as we watch the senate move on legislation yet again toward a cloture vote on senator dodd's legislation, i think it's worth noting some of the concerns that many of us have, and that many economists have, with the dodd-frank approach on the legislation. i begin with focusing on a past occurrence, the rescue of investment bank bear stearns in the spring of 2008. the federal government has committed trillions of taxpayer dollars to institutions like fannie mae, freddie mac, a.i.g., citigroup, and bank of america, out of fear that the demise of any of these too-big-to-fail institutions would strig arer a systemic crisis and collapse of the global financial system. for my own part, i make the observation that i thought -- i voted against those bailou

mr. burton of indiana. mr. defazio of oregon. mr. forbes of virginia. mr. dent of pennsylvania. under the speaker's announced policy of january 6, 2009, the gentleman from missouri, mr. akin, is recognized for of minutes as the designee of the minority leader. -- for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader. mr. akin: thank you, madam speaker. i appreciate being recognized as we are on occasion, on wednesday, after the house business -- the main part of the business is closed, we have an opportunity to take a look at various topics and subjects, usually we have chosen subjects of significant importance to americans, ones that affect everybody's lives. and it might seem odd in that we have already passed the government takeover of health care bill that we would go back to that bill, but i think there is continuing information that is being released that a lot of people may not have known about when the bill was passed. additional facts and figures, which are at a minimum quite disturbing. the facts and figures that i thought would be important to talk a little bit about

mr. burton from indiana. ms. berkley from nevada. for what purpose does the gentleman from florida rise? mr. klein: speak out of order and claim my time. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. klein: mr. speaker, i rise today tore support house resoln 260nd acknowledge both the sacrifices and the celebrations of the israeli people on their independence day. 62 years ago, the founders of the jewish state gathered together to declare, quote, our exile from the land of israel, the jewish people remain faithful to it. never ceasing to pray and hoping to return the restoration of the national freedom, closed quote. in every turn of jewish history, expulsion after expulsion, the vision and dream would keep the jewish people going. it was this hope that fueled the establishment of the state of israel and through every battle and every war, the words of the israeli proclamation of independence continue to hold true.