mr. blumenauer, mr. speaker, my friend, mr. blumenauer, has never sat on the side as a member of the minority having been denied the opportunity that he has just said that he is denied today in the appropriations process because never before has he or any member of this institution had all of the appropriations rules handled under a closed process such as this. mr. speaker, at this time i'm happy to yield three minutes to my very, very hardworking colleague from morristown, new jersey, the distinguished ranking member of the subcommittee on energy and water. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey is recognized for three minutes. mr. frelinghuysen: i thank the gentleman for yielding. i rise in opposition to the rule but in support of the underlying defense appropriations bill. there is nothing more important than the safety and security of our nation and our people. this underlying bill will provide our troops, all volunteers, the resources and tools they need and will allow them to continue their heroic work to p

mr. blumenauer, votes aye. mr. kind. mr. kind votes no. mr. pascrell. mr. pascrell votes aye. ms. berkeley. votes aye. mr. crowley. mr. crowley votes aye. mr. van hollen. votes aye. mr. meek. mr. meek votes aye. ms. schwartz. ms. schwartz votes aye. mr. davis of alabama. mr. davis of alabama votes aye. mr. davis of illinois. mr. dafrs of illinois votes aye. mr. ethridge. mr. ethridge votes aye. ms. sanchez. votes aye. mr. higgins. votes aye. mr. yarmouth. votes aye. mr. camp. mr. camp votes no. mr. haringer. votes no. mr. johnson. mr. johnson votes no. mr. brady. mr. brady votes no. mr. ryan. mr. ryan votes no. mr. cantor. mr. cantor votes no. mr. linder. votes no. mr. nunness. votes no. mr. tae barry. mr. tea barry votes no. ms. brown-waite, votes no. mr. davis of kentucky. mr. davis of kentucky votes absolutely no. mr. reichert. mr. reichert votes no. mr. bustany, votes no. mr. heller. mr. heller votes no. mr. roskam, votes no. mr. chairman? >> absolutely yes. >> mr. chairman votes absolutely yes >> 23 yeas, 18 nays. >> members, the bill is passed, all members have two days to f

mr. blumenauer: i seek unanimous consent to speak out of order.he speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. blumenauer: just a moment ago, i heard the minority whip profess interest in working with the democrats to reform the health care system. yet i'm sad to say that the minority whip, the minority leader, have been part of an effort to deal with fear and misrepresentation, attack -- attacking bipartisan legislation that would have den precisely that, reform the health care system. sadly, mr. speaker, there are some here who simply are not expressing the sense of urgentcy that most of us feel from the american people, a sense of urgentcy about fixes a broken health care system that costs too much, produces wildly uneven results, and leaves too many outside the system of coverage and others with health insurance at risk. we cannot continue along this path. americans are not getting the help they need, even if they have insurance coverage. i was -- i must say, i was disappointed, to say the very least, to see the attack on bipartisan

mr. blumenauer, for five minutes. mr. blumenauer: thank you, madam speaker. one issue that is too often out of sight and out of mind is the quality and the condition of our drinking water and waste waugh pipes under the -- wastewater pipes under the ground. just six months ago we watched in shock as people were airlifted from people caught in a vehicle on river road just outside of washington, d.c., because of the failure of a single croded pipe installed over -- can roded pipe installed over 40 years ago. in fact, 40,000 miles of pipe and sewer pipe are over 80 years of age. this morning there was a water main break that closed 23rd straight near the george washington hospital. the e.p.a. estimates that american communities suffered more than 240,000 water main breaks last year. combined with overflowing combined sewer systems causing contamination, property damage, disruption in water supply and often massive traffic jams. the american society of civil engineers estimates an average of $6 billion -- six billion of gallons of water is lost to leakage, anothe

mr. blumenauer: i appreciate my good friend on letting me speak on behalf of this. the last bill was paid for, but because of the republican refusal to rightsize the trust fund, it was scaled down. but it was paid for. it wasn't rightsized for america. mr. oberstar and the committee are working to try and do this. i hope this is the last time we come to the floor to deal with the short-term deficit in the highway trust fund, but unfortunately, we're going to come back again. mr. oberstar and his chair, my good friend, mr. defazio working on a new vision for transportation and i hope that we have that on the floor sooner rather than later. along with this is the notion of how we squeeze more value out of each federal dollar invested. that is part of the work in the department -- of the new department of transportation. it's part of what the committee is working on and we as congress need to be involved with that. new vision, more value, but frankly, we're going to need more money. we haven't raised the gas tax since 1993. there isn't the resources available to meet w

mr. blumenauer for one minute. >> thank you, mr. chairman. based on the principles of ending taxpayer bailouts and getting the government out of the business of picking winners and losers and restoring market discipline our plan calls for a simplification for consumers not duplicate shade -- duplication the sick and needing some firms as too big to fail and creating a permanent bailout authority doesn't reform the system and doesn't protect the act taxpayers. adding more regulation when our original wants -- regulators the original ones on getting the job done doesn't fix the problem. if they are regulatory holes we should fill them. if we can streamline the number of agencies and reduce the overlap we should do so. we need reform that titans the ragged restructure and protect the tax payers rather than more bailouts and more bureaucracy we need to make more market discipline and more taxpayer protection available. i yield back. >> the gentleman from north carolina for two minutes and 40 seconds. >> thank you mr. chairman and i want to welcom

mr. blumenauer. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. blumenauer: thank you. thank you, mr. chairman. i appreciate the gentlelady's courtesy in permitting me to speak on this, as i appreciate her leadership in being able to advance a cause that's near and dear to both of our hearts. mr. chairman, i will speak for two minutes. in the course of that time there will be 10 children around the world who will die needlessly from water-borne disease. we have been working over the course of the last five years for the united states to exercise its appropriate leadership to try and eliminate this tragedy. i deeply appreciate the work that the subcommittee has done. indeed, in the manager's amendment it takes an increase from last year and has a further increase of $25 million, meaning $335 million to help implement our water for the poor act. the world's number one public health problem. mr. speaker, we have a million people -- a billion people -- excuse me -- who lack both sanitation and clean drinking water without which children cannot learn in school. the sick, inc

mr. blumenauer and i come here on the budget committee tried to pass that amendment and failed to do thatn the budget resolution. i encourage you to continue advancing these things as we have got to find savings. what is the administration's proposal to continue on this and have you had other success in other committees suggest agricultural committee? >> representative ryan, we are working hard with the treasury department to try to make sure we first and foremost in sure the payments that are to be received or received by those entitled to them. as you probably know there were reports on anecdotal reports of people who were not farmers receiving payments. we are working with the irs and we hope to ensure and verify people receiving payments are in fact entitled to them and we think there will be savings there. we are in the process of looking at a number of other ways there could potentially be savings. this year is the year which we will be discussing crop insurance in the deal we have with insurance companies. we think that deal needs to be examined and looked at so the taxpayers recei

mr. blumenauer, is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader. mr. blumenauer: thank you, madam speaker. i always enjoy listening to my good friend, the gentleman from ohio, with whom i have worked on a number of projects. i have the greatest respect for him. but i don't always agree with his analysis. and it's interesting to listen to people who are claiming that they are concerned that they have been shut out of the process so that they are irrelevant. i do think there is some real question about the relevance of some of my friends on the other side of the aisle, but that is a decision that they and their leadership have made consciously . i don't think that my good friend from ohio falls into the description of what his fellow ohioan has declared that republican legislators should be. minority leader boehner has said they shouldn't be legislators, they should just be communicators. because their job is more a political one, not being involved with the process. that is why their budget plan was not a budget plan but it was a press release. in fact,

mr. blumenauer, for five minutes. mr. blumenauer: thank you, madam speaker. we in congress and the new administration have been given a gift of serving in a time of opportunity to solve some of the long festering problems with american health care system. one opportunity to achieve true reform is to provide greater value to patients when they are most vulnerable, when loved ones are facing the last few weeks of life. today, these patients have a wide variety of treatment options available. we can test them, hook them up to machines, poke them with needles, perform all sorts of heroic measures. and where appropriate we can accomplish amazing results with virtually no cost to older citizens. yet, when it comes time to help people understand what their choices are, to have their questions answered, to be able to shape treatment for what their values and interests might be, we fail them utterly. house bill 3200, health care reform, does have a simple solution to empower people and their families. yet, this carefully crafted provision has been attacked by some opp

mr. blumenauer, kindly take the chair. the chair: the house is in the committee of the whole house on the state of the union for further consideration of h.r. 3326, which the clerk will report by title. the clerk: union calendar number 128, h.r. 3326, a bill making appropriations for the department of defense for the fiscal year ending september 30, 2010, and for other purposes. the chair: when the committee of the whole rose on wednesday, july 29, 2009, all time for general debate had expired. pursuant to the rule, the bill is considered as read for amendment under the five-minute rule and the bill shall be considered as read through page 147, line 4. no amendment shall be in order except the amendments printed in house report 111-233. each amendment in part a in the report may be offered only in the order printed in the report, may be offered only by a member designated in the report, shall be considered as read and shall be debatable for the time specified in the report equally divided and controlled by the proponent an

mr. blumenauer: my good friend from florida suggested that by having the administration follow the law that if in cost of living has not increased sufficiently, that there isn't a cost of living increase for social security as somehow an adnrgs -- administration assault on senior citizens. rather a bizarre notion when we think about their record when they were in charge seeking to undercut formulas like that and move them back in the other direction. or when it comes to health care, when our friends on the other side of the aisle pushed through, strong-armed their prescription medicare drug coverage program, did not seek concessions from the pharmaceutical industry, twisted arms, have the doughnut hole that has a massive gap in coverage, and no mechanism to pay for it. what we are doing at this point is trying to move forward in a constructive fashion to give the american people choices, follow the law, save money and improve the quality of care. the speaker pro tempore: for whaturpose does the gentlewoman from oklahoma rise. ms. fallin: address the house for one minute, revise and extend.

mr. blumenauer: thank you, sir. mr. dingell: i thank my colleagues.the speaker pro tempore: the house will receive a message from the senate. the messenger: mr. speaker, a message from the senate. the secretary: mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: madam secretary. the secretary: i have been directed by the senate to inform the house that the senate has passed with an amendment h.r. 3183, making appropriations for energy and water development and replated agencies for the fiscal year ending september 30, 2010, and for other purposes, in which the concurrence of the house has requested. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from illinois. mr. shimkus: thank you, mr. speaker. before i yield time to my colleague from florida, i'd like to recognize myself for 15 seconds. mr. speaker, i want to recognize my colleague, mr. putnam, and mr. costa, for their bill, the safe fee act. it was of great help when they did that. i'd like to yield as much time as he may consume to my colleague from florida, mr. putnam. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recog