mr. blumenauer. mr. blumenauer: thank you, mr. garamendi, for your comments and for your leadership in your native state of california on so many levels and your observation that there's a great deal of economic opportunity, the installed wind energy has exploded in recent years and not only are we producing the energy here in the united states, it's american wind, it's not dollars we're exploiting -- mr. garamendi: there are those who would claim that this place is also a windy chamber. r. blumenauer: and part of what we should be harnessing, that's why i have a small wind energy tax credit i think we could install here in the chamber. but part of the recovery act would dramatically increase the amount of manufacturing here in the united states for that energy. we are joined with one of our colleagues, congressman tonko of new york, who has, before he came to congress, he's been very active in these areas, had his own series of activities providing leadership and technology and energy efficiency, we would be honored for you to jo

mr. blumenauer, or five minutes. mr. blumenauer: thank you, mr. speaker. in the aftermath of the 10th anniversary of the war in iraq this spring, those of us who oppose the war as those who thought it justified are all sorting through what happened. more important, we're united in our support for our men and women in uniform who fought that heroic effort regardless of our feelings about the war's justification or history's verdict. we have an obligation to all those who served to smooth their re-entry and to minimize the price they paid for that war. but there's another group who put themselves at risk for the wars in iraq and afghanistan. i'm speaking of the iraqi and afghan nationals who worked with the american soldiers, thousands who were shoulder to shoulder with our troops, often in the most difficult of circumstances. they provided services as guides and interpreters that literally made the difference as to whether our soldiers lived or died. i've talked to returning service people who made clear how important it was that they had that help and how

mr. blumenauer, for five minutes. mr. blumenauer: i welcome the president's budget submission, which will mark the first time since 2009 that the house, senate and the president have all submitted budgets. it's an encouraging development, but the larger question is whether congress can actually use the budgeting process to show how we will do business differently. despite the media side shows about artificial sequestration crisis, the major issues we have to address to fix the budget and our current deficit are spending on defense, health care and the tax system itself. although the administration has started us down a path to manage pentagon spending in the future, we have barely scratched the surface. there are too many unnecessary bases at home and abroad that should be phased down or closed. there's far too much invested in an antiquated nuclear arsenal which we haven't used in 68 years and contains many, many times more weapons than we would ever need for deterrence. the $700 billion scheduled to be spent over the nex

mr. blumenauer, for five minutes. mr. speaker, monday in the blink of an eye, hundreds of people at the boston marathon were faced with an awful decision. none of them woke up that morning expecting whether they or a loved one was going to need emergency care in a life-threatening situation. we came to think of end of life care as the province of a terminally ill person, often elderly. but that's just one circumstance and not necessarily the most common. the decisions need to be made instantly about whether to amputate a limb and a decision must be made that moment. if a person is in shock or unconscious, who helps make that decision for them? last week, i had two more circumstances where people in my life were faced with totally unexpected life-threatening circumstances that brought these questions into sharp perspective. how dy, anywhere, anytime, do we make sure that these decisions, which are made every day in every state in virtually every city are made in accordance with the best interests and wishes of the patient

mr. blumenauer: thank you, mr. speaker. there is an amazing collection of young people from around the country that are gathering in our nation's capital this weekend. they are part of the annual competition on the united states constitution. my pleasure to visit with my constituents from grant high school in portland this morning. young people who dug deep in the constitution, prepared passionately to defend the principles and developing skills that will last for a lifetime. mr. speaker, it's unfortunate that congress has failed to support the classroom law project, budgetairly. i would hope that there is an opportunity for them to reflect on what these young people are doing and what we could do in addition if we step back up and provided the resources so they could be available for more young people. at a time when america faces challenges and there is a break down in the other body, not even being able to approve something that 90% of the american people want, we ought to be supporting young people who are doing this im