what this amendment -- and my opposition to this amendment is not because of the substance of the amendment and the provisions but it's how it got here. there were a number of amendments that were proposed last night in the rules committee. almost all of them were turned down. there were amendments that had substantive purposes offered by members on my side of the aisle that were turned down. the ranking member of the full committee offered an important amendment that was not made in order. the ranking member of the subcommittee, myself, offered an amendment that was important and was not made in order. and yet we have taken three proposed amendments that were offered in the subcommittee and rolled them together in one manager's amendment and brought it to the floor, three democratic proposed amendments and rolled it into a manager's amendment. this is not the tradition of what a manager's amendment should be. and so while i can't complain about the amendments -- the amendments that were offered per se if they were offered individually and had been allowed by the rules committee to be allow

the amendment is agreed to. it is now in order to consider amendment number 25 printed in part c of house report 111-143. for what purpose does the gentlelady from texas rise? ms. johnson: i have an amendment the desk. the chair: the clerk will designate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 25 printed in part c of house report 111-143 offer by mrs. eddie bernice johnson of texas. the chair: the gentlelady from texas, ms. johnson, and a member opposed will each control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentlelady from texas. ms. johnson: thank you. let me begin by thanking the chairman and congresswoman ros-lehtinen for all of their hard work and dedication to improving the lives around the world. my amendment affirms that the use of child soldiers is unacceptable. it is a violation of human rights and the prevex and elimination of child soldiers should be a foreign policy goal of the united states. around the world children have been recruited by armed forces and exploited as soldiers. amnesty interna

attention to this amendment. i hope to secure their support today for adoption of this amendment and i look forward to working with them to ensure that this issue is addressed appropriately in conference. and finally, i want to state that the issue of protecting indigenous culture as this amendment does with respect to traditional fishing practices is important not only to myself but to our colleagues from american samoa and hawaii. and i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: for what purpose does the gentleman from virginia rise? >> claiming the time but i'm not in opposition. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. wolf: i have no objection and yield back the balance of the time. the chair: the gentlelady from guam. >> will the gentlelady yield for purposes of accepting the amendment? the chair: the gentleman from west virginia is recognized. >> we have no objection to the amendment and accept the amendment. the chair: does the gentlelady yield back? ms. bordallo: i yield back the balance of my time. t

the amendment is agreed to. . it is now in order to consider amendment number 3 printed in house report 111-182. for what purpose does the gentleman from massachusetts rise? mr. mcgovern: mr. chairman, i have an amendment at the desk. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will designate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 3, printed in house report number 111-182, offered by mr. mcgovern of massachusetts. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 572, and the order of the house of today, the gentleman from massachusetts, mr. mcgovern, and a member opposed each will control 10 minutes. the chair now recognize mr. mcgovern. mr. mcgovern: i yield myself two minutes. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. mcgovern: this amendment requires the secretary of defense to provide congress by the end of the year with an outline of our exit strategy for u.s. military operations in afghanistan. this bipartisan amendment offered by representatives walter jones, shelly pingree, barbara lee, and me does not demand a timeli

the amendment before us, mr. chairman, simply looks to provide options for solving this problem on guam and potentially, as well as other airports in the u.s. territories. more importantly, it would provide guidance for funding and implea mentation of these improvements. i thank the chairman and his committee staff for his work with me and for the record, i urge passage of the next amendment, number two, sponsored by congressman jackson lee and congressman hastings and i yield back. the chair: the gentlewoman from guam reserves the balance of her time? ms. bordallo: i yield back. the chair: for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania rise? mr. dent: i rise to claim opposition to the amendment, although i have no real objection. the chair: without objection, jarred for five minutes. mr. dent: i would like to say i support the amendment. guam international airport does not serve passengers traveling internationally from those passengers traveling domestically. there is no separation either by a separate f

you want amendments? fine. do amendments. there was nothing but agreement by our majority leader to say to the republicans, just offer some amendments. give them some amendments you want to offer and then go ahead and offer them. a senator: will the senator yield? mr. dorgan: i would be happy to yield. the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. sanders: i thank my friend from north dakota on his efforts on the important issue of tourism but for consistently standing up for consumers sick and tired of paying artificially high prices at the gas pumps. i want to take this moment, if i might, just to explain what my amendment is about. mr. dorgan: madam president, rather than yield for a question let me yield the floor and ask him to explain the amendment and then get the floor back. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. sanders: this amendment enjoys widespread supports from a very diverse coalition of organizations throughout this country who shared the common concern that the price of gas and oil

the amendment is agreed to. it is now in order to consider amendment number 18 printed in part c of house report 111-143. for what purpose does gentlelady from arizona rise? mr. kirk: i have an amendment at the desk. the chair: the clerk will designate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 18 printed in part c of house report 111-143 offered by ms. kirkpatrick of arizona . the chair: the gentlelady from arizona, ms. kirkpatrick and a member opposed will each control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentlelady from arizona. mr. kirk: thank you, madam chairwoman. over the past year-and-a-half we witnessed record levels of violence along our southwest border. since the beginning of 2008, over 7,500 people have died as drug cartels have fought over trafficking routes between mexico and the united states. as the fighting has continued in mexico, those of us who live in border states have seen our communities threatened. many communities in my home state of arizona have seen gang violence on the rise and th

the amendment is adopted. it is now in order to consider amendment number 8 pritchtprinted in house report number 111-127. for what purpose does the gentleman from arizona rise? mr. flake: i have an amendment at the desk. the chair: the clerk will designate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 8 printed in house report number 111-127, offered by mr. flake of arizona. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 474, the gentleman from arizona, mr. flake, and a member opposed, each will control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from arizona. mr. flake: i thank the speaker. let me say from the outset this is i believe a bipartisan amendment. similar amendment has been adopted in previous authorizations. so i'm pleased to offer it. h.r. 2200 as we know establishes a new grant program that would provide grants to operators of general aviation airports for projects to enhance perimeter security, airfield security, and terminal security. noticeably absent from the language however is the determinatio

it's not a bipartisan amendment as manager's amendments are supposed to be. i urge a no vote and yield back. the chair: the gentleman yields back. the question son the amendment offered by the gentleman from -- the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from north carolina. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair the ayes have it. mr. rogers: i ask for the yeas and nays. the chair: does the gentleman ask for a recorded vote? mr. rogers: recorded vote. the chair: further proceedings on the amendment will be postponed. for what purpose does the gentleman from california rise? mr. lewis: madam chairman, i have an amendment at the desk. the chair: clerk will designate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 5 offered by mr. lewis of california. the chair: the chair recognizes the gentleman from california. mr. lewis: thank you, madam chairman. as i proceed with this amendment, i want to one more time associate myself first with the remarks of think ranking member regarding the manager's amendment but in turn expres

, my amendment, part of the en bloc amendment. this amendment requires the department of defense, mr. speaker, to report to congress on the plight of our service men and women who along with their children suffer from intrafamilal international child abduction. the movement of our service members make them especially vulnerable to the risks of international child abduction. attorneys familiar with this phenomenon estimate that there are approximately 25 to 30 new cases of international child abductions affecting our service members every year. one man, commander paul tollman, came in my office partly because of the publicity about david goldman and his son, sean goldman, the brazilian case i had been working on and he came in and said, you have to hear my story. it's a heartbreaking story of a man deployed to japan. he and his wife regrettably had a split. she is now deceased, and yet for six long years he's been trying to get his daughter back and has been unable to. the de facto custody is with the maternal grandparents. again,

i rise in support of this en bloc amendment which includes the castor-bilirakis amendment, an amendment i introduced jointly with my good friend and colleague, mr. bill lack is -- mr. bilirakis of florida. serving in combat operations, they would be provided with a monthly postal benefit that they can transfer to their families or to a charitable organization so they can afford to send care packages and other communications while they are serving bravely overseas. just think of the benefit to our brave men and women serving in combat operations, a benefit to their morale, a boost in their morale when they receive that letter from home, when they receive that all-important care package. now th effort, mr. speaker, has been ongoing for many years. it has been included in past defense authorization bills, passed the house last year only to be taken out in conference. it is time to get this provision enacted as a standalone bill, h.r. 707, the home front to heroes act. we have more than half of the house of representatives as co-sponsors. it's time to get this done finally, and i yield back

the amendment is not adopted. the unfinished business is the request for a roared vote on amendment number 1 printed in part d of house report 111-183 offered by the gentleman from arizona, mr. flake, on which further proceedings were postponed and on which the noes prevailed by voice vote. the clerk will redesignate the amendme. the clerk: part d, amendment number 1, printed in house report 111-183 offered by mr. flake of arizona. the chair: a recorded vote has been requested. those in support of a the request for a vorded vote will rise and be counted. a sufficient number having arisen, a recorded vote is ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. this will be a two-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 the chair: the nays are 320. the amen

bilirakis: i have an amendment at the desk. the chair: the clerk will designate the amendment. the clerk: printed in house report 111-183, offered by mr. bilirakis of florida. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 573, the gentleman from florida, mr. bilirakis, and a member opposed will each control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from florida. mr. bilirakis: thank you, madam speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. bilirakis: i rise to offer this important amendment will increase visa screening capabilities overseas to stop the entry and to our country of terrorists, criminals and others who may wish to do us harm. as a member of the homeland security committee and ranking member of the subcommittee on management, investigations and oversight, i have come to understand the importance of being proactive in strengthening our homeland security. at the same time, i have become concerned about the inadd qua cyst -- inadequacies and background checks on those seeking temporary admission to a country. while man

. >> the mccain amendment. >> i know it's the mccain amendment, but i had an amendment to the mccain amendment or the modification, but it wasn't filed. his is, mine's not. i thought the deadline for coverage of the bill was next week. last week the deadline came and went. some of us were confused about that in regard to the process. the modification that i had, and i'll read it, it's very quick. i think some others have shown the same concern. we are talking about drugs coming in from estonia, romania, bulgaria, et cetera, et cetera, and you move to the mideast and it gets shaky. we had that one case and you'll remember it, i think, senator mikulski that, bottle or prescription bottle that came in from iraq, of all places. so i think it is a very real threat. my modification since i have missed the deadline on the amendments, but again i thought we were going to do this under the coverage section and my deadline on the amendment on that would be next week. it simply says this act shall become effective only if the secretary certifies to the congress that the implementation of this a

they are policy amendments. and in that includes amendments that would have blocked federal funding for acorn, an organization that has the elements of a criminal enterprise and has admitted to producing 400,000 fraudulent voting registrations that have been involved in intimidating lenders and now under the employment of the united states white house. and we can't get a debate on that and vote on an amendment like that and can't have a discussion about the intelligence impasse that has been created because of the allegations against the c.i.a. made by the speaker of the house and we are supposed to operate a government with these huge policy issues that hang in front of us and do a debate on spending, which everything that's offered by the minority party that reduces the spending is going to be voted down by the majority party because they have said, let's have a debate on that, they are eager to vote for more spending. and this bill which increases funding under these titles by last year by $12 billion, expans

connolly's amendment. though i do support his amendment to clarify the purported intent of section 526 of the energy independence and security act of 2007, i believe it does not do enough. the department is aggressively seeking alternative sources for their vehicles and section 526 poses a serious barrier for these efforts. we need to instruct them to continue this work. i reserve think him -- my time. the chair: the gentleman from virginia. mr. connolly: i yield one minute to mr. grayson. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. grayson: the purpose is to identify for the contracting agencies the correct tradeoff between cost and price and technical factors. as it stands right now, our scheme for defense procurement does not identify what the -- what it should be. in the hopes of saving money, we are saying they must allow cost or price to be 50% of the evaluation scheme or explain why not. that's the purpose of the amendment. i anticipate we'll save a great deal of money for the taxpayers and troops.

i urge the amendment be adopted. and we change the law to remove this restriction, which to me, doesn't make much sense. the chair: the gentleman yield back? mr. berman: i yield back. the chair: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from illinois. mr. kirk: i appreciate the chairman's work. when we first saw how this restriction could impede the hunt for the two top al qaeda terrorists, ayman zawahiri and osama bin laden, for a poorly paid official, and there are many who are patriotic good servants in afghanistan and pakistan especially, we ought to be able to offer this reward. this will significantly incentivize the hunt for some of the people who killed the most americans. i urge adoption. the chair: the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from illinois. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair. the ayes have it. the amendment is agreed to. mr. kirk: i would ask for a recorded vote. the chair: pursuant to clause 6 of rule 18, further proceedings on the amendment

the amendment is agreed to. we now consider amendment number 12 printed in house report 114-143. cloim amendment number 12 baferede ms. ginny brown-waite of florida. the chair: the gentlewoman from florida, ms. brown-waite, and a member opposed each will control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from florida. ms. brown-waite: just a few moments ago i rose to point out what i believe is unnecessary spending. i suppose it's not a coincidence that i rise again to point out what i believe is another unnecessary spending item. section 303 of the foreign relations act before us authorizes funding for the establishment of a lessons learned center. if money were no object i think it may be a fine thing to do. in fact, it's thoord imagine that anything produced by the center would not be used. however, as you can imagine many of my colleagues are wondering why would anyone oppose the center. they might point out that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. mr. chairman, in some way m

this amendment's real simple. this amendment says, you know what? let's do what families are doing and taxpayers are doing, what small business owners are doing, let's live on exactly what we were functioning on just one year ago. in fact, it wasn't even one year ago. nine months ago we were still going on a continuing resolution on 2008, living on the 2008 appropriated levels. let's do that. instead of increasing spending in this bill by 21% over what we were functioning on just nine months ago, let's do what all kinds of families and taxpayers and small business owners are doing. in fact, unemployment in our district runs anywhere from 10% to 16% in the 11 counties that i have the privilege of representing. there are families, taxpayers and small business owners who are living less on what they were living nine months ago. but the federal government can never get bio less but only the families and taxpayers that have to do it. our amendment says let's go back to where we were nine months ago. government should be able to function on that amount of

i don't know how many amendments would have been offered if we had an open amendment process. but guess what, i don't believe, mr. speaker, for a second that 127 amendments would be offered. i think it would be many, many fewer than that. but when the members of this house, democrats and republicans alike are told that they can't even make germane modifications to their amendments that there was little choice other than to have members file many, many, many different amendments so we will at least be able to allow this process to proceed. chairman obey referred to the fact that the issue of global climate change, the issue of health care, all issues that the democratic majority wants to bring to the forefront in the next couple of months. we understand elections have consequences, and those are issues that they clearly have a right to bring up. we want to address those issues in a slightly different way, but we don't believe that we should be addressing those issues at the expense of the very important process enshrined in article 1, section 9 of the u.s. constitution, and tha

this amendment is common sense. it's a sound measure that would reverse the administration's $1.2 billion cut to missile defense. it would restore the 35% reduction to the nation's ground based mid course defense system located in alaska and california. which is designed to protect the u.s. homeland. it would restore investments in vital research and development like the airborne laser program which is on the cusp of demonstrating breakthrough technologies. i urge my colleagues to support this amendment to do so otherwise would be irresponsible. the chair: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from arizona continue to reserve his time. . mr. franks: i would like to yield to other members here. i will now yield to the distinguished ranking member of the strategic forces committee, mr. turner for one minute. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. turner: thank you, mr. speaker. thank you, mr. franks. i rise to speak in favor of the franks amendment. i was disappointed with the administrat

i strongly support this amendment by mr. bachus. it's a good amendment. expedited screening services are provided to frequent flyer travelers and registered travelers at our nation's commercial airports all the time. yet our service men and women, many with metal items such as combat boots, medals, badges, often need additional screening. our brave service men and women are on the frontlines in the fight against terrorism. surely some kind of expedited treatment at an airport scheck point is the least our country can do for them. currently there is no formal t.s.a. requirement or process in place to screen our service men and women in any expedited fashion. at some airports transportation security officers may escort members of the armed forces to the front of the checkpoint, but at other airports no such special treatment is given. so mr. bachus' amendment is an excellent one. it's just common sense that a formal checkpoint screening process should be established for service men and women who sacrifice so much for their country. finally these men and wom

but those amendments who carry value, those amendments who will stand the test of time, and those amendments that are right for the american people, independents, republicans, and democrats alike will pass this body and should loued -- allowed a vote. the majority last night argued that we were dilatory. i would argue it was democratcy. 20 minutes on an amendment is hardly dilatory. with 120 amendments, the worst case scenario, mr. speaker, would be four 10-hour days. i'd ask for 30 more seconds. mr. diaz-balart: 30 sonds. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from illinois is recognized for 30 seconds. mr. schock: is four-10-hour days to debate 64 billion of american taxpayer dollars? we have seen the waste created by the haste of this body of the happy spending majority that this body has. with the stimulus bill, the overbloated omnibus bill, and now this bill which seeks to increase spending by over 12%. i urge a no vote on this rule to allow democracy to continue in this body. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentlewoman from new york. ms. sla

on amendments. we do need to get committee work done. i am not going to make that request. i am going to make a request of the -- where did he go? it's a little hard to make a request of him if he is not here. >> senator mccain left me a note asking me to manage the amendments because he has to go back to armed services. >> my request is for him to defer this to the coverage section. it is coverage. it could be voted on there. i suspect it won't change a single vote, but that would allow us to put in an amendment without changing the precedent for the committee for second degree amendments. i suspect it will get the same result at that time that it would right now. i would just ask for that courtesy, partly because i have no way to know what the proxies would be on my committee for either the, what would be a second degree amendment or the mccain amendment. i'm not prepared for that. >> why don't we do that. why don't we have -- senator mccain's staff is here. no? oh, there you are. >> they would ob

we support the idea of the amendment but oppose the amendment. the chair: the gentleman from missouri has one minute remaining and the other gentleman from missouri has 1 1/2 minutes remaining and the right to close. mr. akin: i very much appreciate the cooperation that's always exissed on the armed services committee. i hate red tape and paperwork and am very open minded to work along these lines. i think our concerns are very much the same on this issue and i look forward to working with you. unfortunately, in trying to get the thing drafted the way we wanted, we ran out of time today. we're just going ahead, offering the amendment. but i look forward to working as we have time in the weeks ahead. i yield back. the chair: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from missouri. mr. skeleton: the bill that we send to the senate and subsequently to the president for his signature is supposed to mean exactly whate says. it's in the english language, it's clear, and we expect the department of defense to follow it to the letter. those we direct, dut

notwithstanding that disagreement, there were 127 total amendments. one amendment just now that mr. schock, my good friend, he and i have a good relationship, we've traveled together, i think he's a good member, he offered we accepted it. notwithstanding that, it took 20 minutes of debate and would be stouget a vote. if you multiply 25, say 15 minute vote. if you multiply that by 127, you come to a high number, making it impossible for us to complete the appropriations process by the end of this jewel. if we don't finish it by the end of july we won't have the opportunity to conference with the senate and therefore would not be able to complete the process in a timely fashion. i don't know whether that's the objective of some, but it is certainly not my objective. as a result, i was not here but mr. obey felt it necessary for us to go to the rules committee for the purposes of constraining time so that in a body of 435 people in which everybody has an opportunity to do five minutes and perhaps get to some -- get yielded some additional time from somebody else who takes five minutes,

chairman, this amendment is identical to the amendment approved by the house last year. its purpose is quite simple. for over 40 years the names of students and instructors at the former u.s. army school of the americas and now the western hemisphere institute for security cooperation were available to the public. all you had to do was make a phone call, write a letter, file a request and the names were provided. suddenly in august of 2006 the names became classified. the on reason cited by the defense department for denying the names was the list includes personal information. but nothing about the request had changed. no one had asked for new information and certainly none of a personal nature. so for the past three years the names of graduates and instructors have remained secret, well, almost secret. names constantly pop up in p.r. materials, sometimes with a public, but the public -- sometimes with a photo, but the public denied access. not once has there been a whisper that they were targets. those were pretty turbulent years with civil wars in central america, dru

designate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 98

what does my amendment do? it says that this stimulus money we put into this -- into homeland security, some $2.7 billion on top of the $43 billion that we had already approved for f.y. 2009 and now we're talking about approving $43 billion for 20 10, it says we're going to have to tighten our belt and takes that stimulus money out. why would you do that? what we've heard from number of people, including a number of officials is, we may not be spending this correctly, we may not have gotten this right. when people back home are having to tighten their belt and are looking at the largest deficits in history, they want kang to get this right. what it does is it serve miss programs, but it doesn't let them continue to spend this $2.7 billion that quite honestly we didn't have to begin. with it's one thing to spend additional money when you have it, but when you don't have it, it's another issue. people back home are faced with that same issue. i got a letter from one of my constituents in abilene, texas, the other

the amendment is agreed to. pursuant to clause 6 of rule 18, further proceedings on this amendment offered by the gentleman from texas will be postponed. it's now in order to consider amendment number 7 printed in part c of house report 111-143. for what purpose does the gentleman from washington rise? mr. larsen: i have an amendment made in order by the rule and i ask for its immediate consideration. the chair: the clerk will designate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 7, printed in part c of house report number 111-143, offered by mr. larsen of washington. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 522, the gentleman from washington, mr. larsen, and a member opposed will each control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from washington. mr. larsen: thank you, mr. chairman. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. larsen: mr. chairman, this amendment will protect intellectual property rights or i.p.r. for american businesses by ensuring robust comp

i had many amendments. but the democrats denied my constituents, denied the american people the ability to have my voice and others heard. they're stealing our grandchildren's future with this outrageous spending. we've got to stop it. the american people need to stand up and say no to this steam roller of socialism that's being brought by the democratic majority and their leadership. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from colorado continues to reserve his time. mr. perlmutter: i ask my friend how many speakers he has. mr. dreier: let me say, there were a number of members expected to be joining us, i would say to my friend, and the fact is that they were anticipating a debate taking place on the rule and very, very courageously, my friend has been the only member on the democratic side to stand up, and i'm the one standing here defending the rights of democrats, i'm happy to say, so if the gentleman might want to talk for a couple of minutes while i wait for my col

chairman, i am offering this amendment. what would this amendment do? it would apply direct and unambiguous pressure on the international atomic energy agency to halt its assistance to those countries of proliferation concern by withholding from the u.s. contribution almost $4.5 million. why that amount? that is equal to the amount that the agency spent on nuclear assistance to iran, syria, cuba, and sudan in the year 2007, the most recent fiscal year for which figures are available. opponents of my amendment may counter that denying funds to the iaea for any purpose will weaken its nonproliferation efforts. let me be clear, mr. chairman. this amendment does not affect safeguards or inspections. it is stunning to stand here and be forced to say that the international atomic energy agency's technical nuclear assistance is adding to this threat, but it is and we cannot let it continue. unfortunately we cannot expect the cooperation of this agency, the i.a.e.a., in fixing this problem because the agency's attitude was summed up by a senior official who whe

the amendment is agreed to. it is now in order to consider amendment number 2 printed in house report 111-182, as modified. for what purpose does the gentleman from california rise? mr. mckeon: mr. chairman, it's my pleasure to introduce this amendment. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the chair: the clerk will designate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 2, printed in house report number 111-182, as modified, offered by mr. mckeon of california. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 572, the gentleman from california, mr. mckeon, and a member opposed, each will control five minutes. the chair now recognizes the gentleman from california. mr. mckeon: thank you, mr. chairman. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. mckeon: mr. chairman, it's my pleasure to introduce this amendment that honors a good friend of mine, a good friend of the house of representatives, a good friend of our armed forces, and the american people, congressman john mchugh. mr

there is not a single amendment to this bill in fiscal year 2003, but this year we had 127 amendments filed on the bill as of the tuesday deadline. that suggested to us we were in for what potentially could have been a repetitive change of dill tearous and ill considered amendments none of of which would have allowed us of getting closer to our goal of getting these bills completed and signed into law by the president. what became clear this week the minority was not ready to agree to a clear and firm schedule for the finishing the work on appropriations bills, we decided we had no alternative but to go ahead with a clear and concise plan. our proposal sets out a best balancing act between doing the people's business and still giving both parties ample opportunity to shape the bills with amendments and discussion. under the schedule we will setaside a structured rule that provides for no additional amendments other than the ones previously agreed to by the rules committee. each of those amendments shall be debatable for 10 minutes. i firmly believe that given the refusal of the minori

i would urge adoption of the amendment. as i mentioned when you look at the bill itself, you see again the spoil system that's occurring here. 71% of the dollar value of earmarks in this legislation go to just 25% of this body. 71% goes to 25%. that's not an equal distribution. as we know mother nature does not target those districts represented by appropriators or powerful members. yet we have a system that awards earmarks gaced on those criteria -- based on those criteria. mr. rothman: is the gentleman aware there will be five areas across the country that will be supported by this program as determined by this organization which has been established by 50 states and the territories? mr. flake: that's right. i am also aware that the department of homeland security has a similar program that does similar things. yet we are earmarking over and above on top of that. i simply think that if we don't like the way the department of homeland security is allocating resource, we need to change that. but we need to give them guidanc

so this amendment is not necessary. this is a blocking amendment. this is an in the way amendment. this amendment is written so broadly that it would also prohibit commonly accepted techniques that the census bureau uses for quality control and other surveys. next year the census bureau will use sampling as a part of its coverage measurement program in order to escalate how well it counted the enre country. this amendment interferes with that. the census bureau uses sampling for other statistical work, including the american community survey. it provides congress and the public with specific and valuable data about our nation's population. that is what states and local governments need in order to make the best decisions they can make. it is important, too, for policy making at the federal level. we want to make sure that the bill can still provide this necessary information. please do not tie their hands. as chair of the committee that has oversight of this, i urge my colleagues to oppose this amendment. this is an awful amendment. it does not do anything to help to get to where w

the clerk will redesignate the amendment. the clerk: part a, amendment number 1, printed in house report number 111-184, offered by mr. dicks of washington. the chair: for what purpose does the gentleman from idaho rise? mr. simpson: i request for a recorded vote on amendment number 1. the chair: the request for recorded vote has been withdrawn. pursuant to the voice vote the amendment is adopted. the unfinished business is the request for recorded vote on amendment number 3 printed in part b of the house report number 111-184, offered by the gentleman from nevada, mr. heller, on which further proceedings were postponed and on which the noes prevailed by voice vote. the clerk will now redesignate the amendment. the clerk: part d, amendment number 3, printed in house report number 111-184 offered by mr. heller of nevada. the chair: a recorded vote has been requested. those in support of the request for recorded vote will rise and be counted. a sufficient number having arisen, a recorded vote is ordered. members will record the

>> i have an amendment at the desk. the chair: the clerk will designate the amendment. the clerk: part b, printed in house report 111-183 offered by mr. poe of texas. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 573, the gentleman from texas, mr. poe, and a member opposed will each control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from texas. mr. poe: the amendment i'm offering today section to add additional funding to the highly successful and widely supported national predisaster mitigation fund. at a time of deficits and government spending, this is good for the taxpayer. according to a study first released in 2005, the natural hazard mitigation saved an independent study to assess the future savings from mitigation activities performed by the group called the multihazard mitigation council stated for every dollar spent omit gation, $3 to $4 are saved. the congressional budget office issued its cost savings and confirmed the savings derived from the program. this amendment that i'm offering could save anywhere from $96 million to $128 million in future disaster co

the chair: amendment number 5. is that the amendment the gentleman is offering? amendment number 5? mr. flake: i believe so. i'm prepared for whichever. i'm sorry? number 29. does that -- number 5. number 5. the chair: the clerk will designate amendment number 5. the clerk: part c amendment number 5 printed in house report 111-183 offered by mr. flake of arizona. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 573, the gentleman from arizona, mr. flake, and a member opposed will each control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from arizona. the gentleman will state his parliamentary inquiry. >> could we ask the clerk to please read the text of the amendment so we can be sure which amendment is before the house? the chair: without objection, the clerk will report the amendment. the clerk: at the end of the bill, before the short title, insert the following, section, none of the funs provided in this act under the heading federal emergency management agency, national predisaster mitigation fund, shall be available for a grant to the harris county flood control district, texas. >>

the amendment is agreed. to it is now in order to consider amendment number 10 printed in part c of house report 111-143. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from florida rise? ms. brown-waite: the amendment that's at the desk. the chair: the clerk will designate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 10 printed in part c of house report 111-143 offered by ms. ginny brown-waite of florida. the speaker pro tempore: the -- the chair: the gentlewoman from florida, ms. brown-waite and a member opposed each will control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from florida. ms. brown-waite: we have a problem as every american in this chamber knows, american is facing unprecedented trillion-dollar deficit a ballooning national debt and steadily growing entitlement obligations. yet each and every time the house comes together to consider spending bills, evidence abounds that very few tough choices are being made. as i'm sure my colleagues will readily agree, never in the history of congress has there

is open for -- bill is open for further amendment. >> colburn amendment number 12. >> colburn amendment number 12, please. [inaudible] >> let me explain to you i look at health care i.t. and there's no question we we need it and it's quite a help. the bill wasn't allowed on till 2011. why is that? there's no interoperable standard that's completed. we all want interoperable standard. if you want to save lives and cut costs to mauro you will vote for this amendment. let me explain why. under the into a kickback a hospital in a big city is prohibited from using their computer software giving that to the providers would it be radiologists or family practitioners or surgeons or obstetricians their purchasing power especially groups of hospitals and chains of costa was tremendous. they have the latest of their. if tomorrow there is no antikickback on just this section where they could share their software with all the doctors that practice after hospital you would automatically bring 50% of the hospital physician practice in this country up to the latest level of interoperable. you also woul

jordan: i have an amendment at the desk. the chair: the clerk will designate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 100 offered by mr. jordan of ohio. the chair: the gentleman from ohio and a member opposed will each control five minutes. the gentleman from ohio is recognized for five minutes. mr. jordan: i thank the chairman and thank my ranking member and the chairman of the subcommittee. the chairman of the subcommittee was just boasting about the fact that the committee reduced the amount of dollars appropriated in this bill from what the administration had requested. i think it's important to point out that request came after we had the stimulus, the omnibus, tarp, all the spending had taken place in the first six months of this congress. i don't know that's anything to brag about. this amendment actually goes back to what this congress was allocated and what was being spent in the various agencies. it would reduce the spending in this bill by $12,500,000,000 prior to the stimulus. it is about preserving opportunity for our children and grandchildren. the american p

those amendments -- you had a gregg amendment 9 related to shared decision-making and you had gregg amendment 10 related to data collection. >> those are both agreed to, as i understand it. >> i would agree. then when we get a aquarium, we could do a unanimous consent. >> we'll just accept those when we get a aquarium. i would offer gregg amendment 35. >> do we have that out? >> as soon as one more member shows up, we'll consider these amendments that have already been discussed. >> what page is -- >> which title is this? >> it goes to title 2, generally, title 3 and title 4, generally. it's the g.a.o. review of the activities of those titles. >> if i can -- we now have -- is that right? do we have 10 or 12 here? we only have 10. i'm sorry. we still have to go forward. i apologize. we're still missing people. >> i can talk about it if you don't mind. >> go ahead. >> mr. chairman, as we all know, in the -- >> the house is coming back in. members approved a spending bill earlier today for the commerce and egypt and the house is coming back in now to file a rule on a spending bill for the legisl

i think this manager's amendment is a good amendment. i urge all my colleagues to support it. and i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman from california reserves the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from new jersey rise? mr. smith: i claim the time. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for 10 minutes. mr. smith: thank you very much. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. smith: mr. speaker, at precisely the same time as president barack obama continues to assiduously assure americans, including graduates at notre dame university last month, that he wants to reduce abortion at home and abroad, his administration is aggressively seeking to topple pro-life laws in sovereign nations, a clear, deeply troubling contradiction. first mr. obama rescinded the mexico city policy, a pro-life reagan era executive order, that ensured that the half billion dollars in population control funds appropriated by congress each year only went to foreign nongovernmental organizations, family planning, organ

. >> feet mccain an amendment. >> i know but i have a an amendment for modification but it wasn't filed, this is an mine is not a i thought the deadline for coverage a section was next week. last week the deadline came and went. some of us were a little confused about that in regards to the process and the modification i had a is very quick because i think some others have shown the same concern and we're talking about drugs coming in from the stoning of a slovakia, hungary, bulgaria, albania is cetera and any move to the mideast against shaky. we even had that one case in your remember the bottle or that prescription bottle that came in from iraq of all places so i think it is a very real threat. my modification since i had missed the deadline on the eminence but again i thought we were going to do this under the coverage section of my deadline on the amendment would be next week. but simply said this act shall become affected only the secretary certifies to the congress the implementation of all pose no additional risk to the public's health and safety and results in a significant red

speaker, i rise in support of the amendment i have offered, amendment number 98. i begin by congratulating the chair mollohan and raverpbinging member on all of their important work on this important legislation and i thank the rules committee for making this amendment in order. mr. speaker, currently once taxpayer dollars have been appropriated by congress to grant accounts, there is no accountability required of those funds. my amendment would fix this problem and make sure the taxpayer dollars are accounted for after we have appropriated those monies. in an august, 2008, report on grants management, the g.a.o. recommended that the office of management and budget report annually on expired, undispursed grant accounts but unfortunately no action has been taken on this recommendation and taxpayer dollars are siting unused in these accounts. my amendment is similar to what was required in the american recovery and reinvestment act. my amendment ensures there is clear oversight of taxpayer dollars. the amendment requires oversight and accountability of expired, undi

amendment number 3 printed in part b by mr. king of iowa. amendment number 2 printed in part b by mr. duncan of tennessee. amendment number 7 printed in part b by mr. poe of texas. amendment number 4 printed in part b by mr. king of iowa. amendment number 6 printed in part b by mr. neugebauer of texas. amendment number 7 printed in part c by mr. flake of arizona. amendment number 5 plinted in part c by mr. flake of arizona. amendment number 2 printed in part c by mr. flake of arizona. amendment number 1 printed in part c by mr. flake of arizona. amendment number 1 print the in part d by mr. flake of arizona. the chair will reduce to two minutes the time for any electronic vote after the first