to be here, particularly happy to see from capitol hill my friend and former colleague senator amy klobuchar and representative chris smith, who has been such a longtime champion in these issues. both of them are two champions in this fight. i'm delighted to see the first lady's chief of staff, thank you for being with us. also, i want to recognize jeff zucker, the head of cnn. cnn has made a special cause of this. i see their accountability reports as i travel around the world. and, jeff, i'm very appreciative to cnn for their commitment to this cause. there are members of the diplomatic corps here, and that is absolutely vital to us because international cooperation is the key to our being able to have an impact and make progress, and we are. there are leaders from civil society here. they are -- all of them bolstering the networks that are built around the world to fight back, increasingly creating sophisticated strategies. and that is the only way we will succeed in this battle. it is a battle against money. it is a battle against evil. it is quite remarkable that in the year 2015 we fac

but as amy klobuchar has told me we stood our ground, all of us, but we found common ground. that's important. we stood our ground but we found common ground. that's how we're supposed to do things around here. and, you know, i look at my friend who is going to speak shortly from maryland, and i know he set the pace with senator corker in working out some very difficult issues in the foreign relations committee and which i'm so proud to serve and so proud of my leader on that committee senator cardin. they set the pace over there. and then patty murray worked with lamar alexander and they came out with an education bill. and then i worked with senator inhofe and he worked with me, and mitch mcconnell worked with senator durbin. and we came out with a product that is supported by a majority of both caucuses. i'm proud of the product. i know it's not perfect. i know if i had my way i would have drawn up a very different bill. so would senator inhofe. so would senator mcconnell. so would senator durbin. but here's what's at stake -- i'll show you the bridge again -- this is what

to be here, particularly happy to see from capitol hill my friend and former colleague, senator amy klobuchar, and representative chris smith, who has been such a longtime champion on these issues. both of them are two champions in this fight. i'm delighted to see the first lady's chief of staff, thank you for being with us. also, i want to recognize jeff zucker, the head of cnn. cnn has made a special cause of the accountability reports as i travel around the world. jeff, i'm very appreciative to cnn for their commitment to this cause. ttheir members of the diplomatic corps here, and that is absolutely vital to us because international cooperation is the key to our being able to have an impact and make progress, and we are. there are leaders from civil society here. they are -- all of them bolstering networks that are built around the world to fight back increasingly creating sophisticated strategies. that is the only way we will succeed in this battle. it is a battle against money. it is a battle against evil. it is quite remarkable that in the year 2015, we face a modern version of slavery

bipartisan group is senator john thune, south dakota, another member of the ag committee senator amy klobucharsenator chuck grassley, senator hidely heitkamp senator mike enzi, and senator sherrod brown all members, with the exception of senator enzi, all members of our ag committee. what we're trying to do is come up with a solution to the country-of-origin labeling issue. this is an issue that's been in w.t.o. court for sometime. it involves the united states, canada and mexico, our very good trading partners. what we're working to do is to find a solution that addresses the w.t.o. issues as far as country-or-origin labeling in a way that makes sure that we are w.t.o.-compliant so that there are no duties or tariffs that can be levied against any of our ag exports or any other exports. but, at the same time, for those who want to use country- country-of-origin labeling on a voluntary basis they're able to do so. that would preserve what's known as the grade-a label, which is simply means born, raised, and slaughtered or processed in the united states. so for beef, pork, chicken if it's born,

the bill was introduced by senator amy klobuchar and our colleague, mr. nolan introduced a house version. i think it is appropriate to monitor his legacy by naming a post office in his hometown of chisholm. he was born in chisholm minnesota, on september 10, 1934, and graduated from the high school there in 1952. . he later earned a master's degree from the college of europe in brussels belgium. he of course, as a lot of people knew he was very fluent in french and liked to express himself on many trips in french. before running for congress himself, he served on the staff of -- >> the house is not in order. the speaker pro tempore: members, please take your conversations off the floor. the gentleman from tennessee will continue. mr. duncan: thank you mr. speaker. before running for congress himself, congressman oberstar served on the staff for congressman john blatt knick of minnesota from 1963 to 1974. in that capacity he worked with congressman blatt knick on all of the legislation from the public works and transportation committee and congressman ober