that there's a chance the drug use and violence will now return but just looking at congressman lamar smith he really seems like somebody speaks for the minority community right i'm betting he's never even been to an urban area in his old life but like i said finally congress has acted and the white house has said the president will sign the bill into law so we have to applaud them for that. education reform is a touchy subject in america but barack obama has decided to take it on so that americans can continue to compete with the rest of the world. just last week we learned that in a single generation america went from number one to twelve and college completion rates for young adults used to be known now with a plan that encourages charter schools and a race to the top program in which the states with the highest scores and success rates receive an extra check from the government that's all part of his plan also central to it is to ask for accountability from teachers but teachers unions who are one of the most generous sources for the democratic party are up in arms they're saying there

i want to thank the chairman of the judiciary committee, john conyers, ranking member, lamar smith, and representative fortenberry for their support on this measure. i urge my colleagues to support this important legislation and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman reserves her time. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. smith: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. smith: i co-sponsored this legislation sponsored by chairwoman lofgren and i urge my colleagues to support it. we have a tradition of welcoming new comers and met one million immigrants a year as many as all other countries combined. this continues thisen rossity by ensuring parents who want to open hair hearts and homes to children from around the world are able to do so. the act provides that u.s. citizens can adopt foreign children and have the children considered immediate relatives for immigration purposes if the children are adopted while under the age of 16 years. american families who initiated adoptions of foreign childre

i thank the judiciary committee chairman, ranking member lamar smith, the members of the judiciary committee and the co-sponsors of this bill for their support. and i greatly thank senator leahy, jeff sessions and long leadership on this issue. and i should say particularly senator leahy who is such a gentleman in moving this bill forward. i urge my colleagues to support this legislation and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves and the gentleman from florida is recognized. mr. rooney: i recognize myself for such time as i may consume. thomas jefferson observed that the only security of all is in a free press. the agitation it produces must be submitted to. it is necessary to keep the waters pure. it's safe to say jefferson would not take kindly to the subject of h.r. 2675. in the wake of 9/11, the american media has become alarmed over a phenomenon calmed libel tourism which is the practice for suing for libel in a country with weaker free speech protections than the united states. surprisingly, most of these suits are filed in great britain. as i

conyers: i am sure my good friend, lamar smith, is not recommending that with all the tragedy and suffering that has occurred in this area of the country, that we go back and go over these same issues one more time. the laws are ancient, they're out of date, we have witnesses, we wrote a bill based on it, this process has been done numerous times and i now, with some pride, yield the distinguished speaker of the house, nancy pelosi, one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the distinguished speaker is recognized for one minute. the speaker: thank you, mr. speaker. i thank the gentleman for yield and am most grateful to him for bringing this legislation to the floor. i saw the hope in the eyes of the victims of the oil spill come to my office. these families came, 11 of the families were suffering from the loss of a loved one on the rig. they came to me and said that they were on their way to see chairman conyers. they were filled with hope that he would advance the spill act. i heard their stories, they made their appeal for legislation about safety and about the spill act. we held hands, we pr

i joined with lamar smith and a letter sent to the president and attorney general to ask them to drop the charges. i sent a letter to our attorney general to have him join in to make sure tha we do not do the same thing here in kansas. we do not build a fence, we will not solve the problem. >> 37. >> i only would say that it is important -- let me say it is a silly waste of money for the federal government to sue arizona. they need to use that money to improve border security. they need to use that money to enforce the law. what a silly use of taxpayer dollars to challenge arizona and their constitutionality of enforcing the law. all arizona is doing is to protect life and property of the citizens of the state. they should be applauded, not sued. >> next question. foreign policy. the chairman of the republican party michael steel recently said that president obama does not understand that the one thing you do not do is engage in a land war in afghanistan because everyone who has tried over 1000 years of history has failed. george will wrote that the american undertaking in afghanistan

i'd also like to thank chairman payne and ranking member lamar smith, bobby scott for their support and their recommendations that are included in the bill as well. i especially like to thank the gentleman from california, the former attorney general, dan lungren, now congressman, an expert on megan's law because he was at the forefront in his state in implementing the megan's law for his enormous contribution, and ted poe, who is the co-chairman of the victims caucus for his hard work and compassion who are victimized by any number of crimes, including the crimes that we are talking about today. i'd also would like to thank sheery rickert, christine wells and janice kajiavata, who has done yeoman's work. and the n.g.o.'s that have collaborated with us. the covenant house, which has done a petition drive, and world vision and my distinguished friend from nevada, i thank her for her leadership as well. this is a bipartisan bill, and hopefully it will become law for one reason, to protect children. mr. speaker, our national and various state versions of megan's law has revolutionized how

i joined with lamar smith and a letter sent to the president and attorney general to ask them to drop the charges. i sent a letter to our attorney general to have him join in to make sure that we do not do the same thing here in kansas. if we do not build a fence, we will not solve the problem. >> 37. >> i only would say that it is important -- let me say it is a silly waste of money for the federal government to sue arizona. they need to use that money to improve border security. they need to use that money to enforce the law. what a silly use of taxpayer dollars to challenge arizona and their constitutionality of enforcing the law. all arizona is doing is to protect life and property of the citizens of the state. they should be applauded, not sued. >> next question. foreign policy. the chairman of the republican party michael steel recently said that president obama does not understand that the one thing you do not do is engage in a land war in afghanistan because everyone who has tried over 1000 years of history has failed. george will wrote that the american undertaking in afghani

co-sponsored by all three of my colleagues from san antonio, congressman charlie gonzalez, congressman lamar smith, and congressman henry cuellar. my colleagues in the senate, senator kay bailey hutchison, has also introduced companion legislation. the san antonio missions is the largest concentration of catholic missions in north america, and served as some of the most well private representations of spanish colonial history. influence and cultural in the southwest. it is on this foundation that the city of san antonio was established and today the nations serve as an important reminder of the connections to the city's rich past. built along the san antonio river in the early 1700's by spanish missionaries, the missions became important social and cultural centers of the time. today, four missions still stand and continue to be active parishes. establishes as a national park in 1978, the national park service and city of san antonio have worked diligently to restore and preserve the missions and the surrounding river area. after years of generalization, the area along the river is at last being r