mr. blumenauer: mr. chair, i would -- the chair: the gentleman from oregon. mr. blumenauer: i respectfully request a recorded voit. the chair: the gentleman from oregon -- the chair: i respectfully request a recorded vote. the chair: the gentleman from oregon requests a recorded vote. pursuant to clause 6 of rule 18, further proceedings on the amendment offered by the gentleman from oregon will be postponed. the clerk will read. the clerk: page 17, line 17, overseas humanitarian disaster and civic aid $103 million to remain available until september 30, 2016. cooperative threat reduction million,108,000 to remain available until september 30, 2017. department of defense acquisition work force development fund, $51,875,000. title 3, procurement, aircraft procurement army, $5,295 ,957,000 to remain available -- to remain available for obligation until september 30, 2017. ssile procurement, army, $1,217,483,000 to remain available for obligation until september 30, 2017. procurement of weapons and act combat vehicles, army, $1,703,736,000 to remain available for obli

mr. blumenauer. mr. blumenauer: thank you. there are some who claim we really don't need to move forward with this. because maybe or maybe not the administration's plan will work as they say. maybe it is affordable. maybe it will create those jobs that will improve air quality, reduce carbon emissions. but they say it really doesn't matter what the united states does. it's ironic because some of the same people who are denying climate science are then turning around and saying, but it won't matter what we do because the indians and the chinese are building a coal emissions plant every week or two. so anything that the united states does will really be drowned out. will lose its effect because of other events. this argument is wrong on all counts. it's not as much as we need to do. i'm absolutely convinced, i stand here on the floor of the house today absolutely convinced over the course of the next 20 years we will not only implement the requirements of this carbon emission rule, but we will go beyond it. we will go beyond it.

mr. blumenauer: i have an amendment at the desk, mr. speaker. the chair: the clerk will designate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 7 printed in house report 113-493 offered by mr. blumenauer of oregon. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 641, the gentleman from oregon, mr. blumenauer, and a member opposed, will each control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from oregon. mr. blumenauer: thank you very much. this is an old friend to the committee and the floor. my friend, congressman hastings, and we couldn't have him retire from congress without doing this one more time. mr. speaker, i'd yield myself two minutes. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. blumenauer: thank you. by way of background, for those who haven't walked through this before, in 1995 congress desiring to encourage bidding on leases in certain deepwater areas of the gulf of mexico, provided relief from the normal applicable royalties payable to the united states. and what we found in the course of this, it worked. people bid on t

mr. blumenauer. mr. speaker, i appreciate the with mr. y to be here blumenauer and particularly mr. garamendi who have long histories, longer than i've been in the house, of pushing for transportation issues and i think that this is a rather sad and tragic moment in our history, the interstate highway system was put in place in 1956 and who would have thought that when we got into the 21st century that the congress of the united states would fail to keep that system in a top condition. the transportation bill affects americans in every state of this country. a robust federal investment in transportation is an economic engine strengthening hundreds of communities and the thing that i have said often in my district and frankly in hearings is the best stimulus for the economy. the very best stimulus is a transportation bill. and the weird thing is that the infrastructure is the back bone of our economy upon which businesses, families and communs thrive so everyone is involved in this, red or blue, urban, rural, we all rely on transportation infrastructure. ensuring economic prosperity

mr. blumenauer, i yield back. mr. blumenauer: thank you very much, congressman cleaver. and i appreciate your painting a very powerful picture, taking it home as an example, and the work that you've done both in congress and as a local leader, a mayor, a member of the city council. you understand this. you understand that the infrastructure in kansas city, missouri, used to be a point of pride. it was something that brought people together. but that's not unique to your community or mine. infrastructure used to be a point of pride that united americans across this great nation. 152 years ago the transcontinental railroad, under i might say a republican president, president lincoln, helped us be able to develop the united states, it tied the country together, it helped in terms of the opening up of the west, and the united states from that point until the end of world war ii had the finest passenger rail system in the world. not there anymore. as was referenced under the leadership, signed into law by president eisenhower, there was a bipartisan initiative, a democratical

mr. gohmert of texas. amendment number 4 by in blumenauer of oregon. amendment by mr. nadler of new york. an amendment by mrs. walorski of indiana. the chair will reduce to two minutes for any electronic vote in this series. the unfinished business is the request for a recorded vote offered by the gentleman from texas, mr. gohmert, on which further proceedings were postponed and on which the noes prevailed by voice vote. the clerk will redesignate the amendment. the clerk: an amendment offered by mr. gohmert of texas. the chair: a recorded vote has been requested. those in support of the request for a recorded 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 is 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 representatives.] the chair: o

mr. blumenauer, for ive minutes. mr. blumenauer: thank you, mr. speaker.e recent news accounts of horrific murder and rape of two young girls in india shocked the consciousness. but one of the items that was interesting is that few of the news accounts actually detailed what put those young women at risk. julie mccarthy of npr had a story which highlighted one of the greatest human global health challenges that created this situation. they were indeed attacked, raped, and hung from a tree after they were caught in the field. these two young women didn't have access to a toilet. and like so many women around the world, but particularly in india, they went out into the fields at night to relieve themselves. and they went in a pair to minimize the likelihood that they would be isolated. this is offensive on so many levels. it is emblematic of violence against women, the vicious attitudes by people towards lower castes, and the complicated dynamic of castes in rural india. but it is a testimony to the need to be able to have these young women and others around

mr. blumenauer of oregon. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. blumenauer: yes, i rise in support of mr. royce's amendment. i want to work with him on an offset that i think would be a little more desirable, but the notion here somehow that we are going to undercut the reforms that were achieved in the farm bill that requires food on average to take 74 days longer when you use u.s. source commodities, when it's going to be on average 25% more expensive, and to talk about our, quote, foreign competitors, when we're talking about being able to purchase locally from people who are on the edge of impofferment rather than flooding american commodities that are more expensive late in the game and undercutting local production i think is a sad step forward. i appreciate the gentleman's leadership and strongly urge support of this as we work for better offset. mr. royce: i am open to working with the chairman and ranking member to find an appropriate offset in conference, however it's esen torble adopt this amendment now so this matter can be set. we can

mr. blumenauer: seek permission to speak out of order for one minute. the chair: is there objection? he committee will be in order. the gentleman from oregon is recognized for one minute. >> a high school is a terrific institution in my district. i was there recently. a kids -- they gave me wooden bow tie with a bicycle on it. in a scene that is achingly familiar, this morning at ren olds, a -- reynolds, a shooting occurred, a student killed, a teacher wounded, the shooter died. the school and law enforcement recently completed drills to deal with these sad circumstances and luckily, it went off without a hitch and there were no further injuries. it went as well as could be expected where a massive regional response from law enforcement on the scene. i would ask, mr. speaker, that the house observe a moment of silence in support of the victims, their families and the community. the chair: the house will observe a moment of silence. the chair: without objection, two-minute voting will be resumed. the unfinished business is a request for recorded vote on amendment number one printed in

mr. blumenauer: thank you, madam speaker. like many americans, i was transfixed by the magnificent victory, not just in the final game five of the nba finals, but by every one of these magnificent games, a superb effort against a very good miami heat team, dominated by a person widely acknowledged to be the best player in the nba. now, as a life-long portland trail blazer fan and one who remembers the excitement of being a long-suffering season ticket holder who had the joy of being in our coliseum when we won the nba championship more years ago than i care to remember, i appreciate the dynamic that is involved with this five nba championships over the last 17 years. i confess, i've also become a fan of the spurs. their organization, their coach, gregg popovich, but also their approach to the way they do business, and they have some important lessons for america. i feel very strongly that we on capitol hill and indeed most americans could learn a great deal by paying attention not just to the success but how the spurs became

mr. blumenauer, for five minutes. mr. blumenauer: thank you, mr. speaker.rica faces many challenges at home and abroad. we're watching deterioration in the middle east. we're watching the problems dealing with climate change and global warming. many of the problems seem beyond our control. they're hard and complex. some are political fodder where the two parties are in a pitched battle and deny fundamental science. this is what concerns our constituents. why can't we get along and get something done? well, there are many issues that are not so hard, not so complex, not so controversial. one of these areas that has historically been a subject of people coming together in this chamber and getting something done deals with our infrastructure. america, sadly, is falling apart. our infrastructure used to be the finest in the world, from il passenger transportation, highways, water, sewer. now it's slowly steadily falling. it's been rated 14th in the latest global rankings from the experts that analyze that, and it's falling further. our investment of -- as a per

mr. blumenauer: members of congress come to the floor to take the opportunity to urge we deal with the great issues of the day -- the failure of the house of representatives to deal with the climate challenge, global warming, to reduce senseless gun violence and the crying need to rebuild and renew america and pay for the rebuilding. but there are also a range of other issues that don't on the surface appear to be that important but play a critical part in the bigger picture. today, i'd like to address just one small part of the bigger picture, because this is national poll nater week where we recognize -- pollinator week where we recognize the importance of honey bees and over 250,000 other species that poll nate our food and -- pollinate our food and creates $20 billion to $30 billion of agricultural production in the united states every year. honey bees alone are responsible for pollinating in one in every three bites of food we eat, nearly hundreds of varieties of fruits depend on honey pollination. now, most legislation -- there evidence of wild pollinator declines. these are important

mr. blumenauer, for five minutes. mr. umenauer: thank you, speaker.esterday was the 74th school shooting incident since the horrific day in sandy hook, december, 2012, where 26 people, including 20 children, were slaughtered. only this time it was my district. the second largest in the state of oregon was the scene of a tragic murder of emilio hoffman, a junior varsity soccer player, a volunteer soccer coach. he was gunned down, a teacher wounded and a shooter, apparently an ex-student, dead. i was struck by just a few days arlier when the onion, the newspaper, had their response to the recent spayed of shootings that's shaken us all. the onion headline read, no way to prevent this, says only nation where this regularly happens. the article read that in the days following a violent rampage in southern california in which a lone attacker killed seven individuals, including himself, and seriously injured over a dozen others, citizens living in the only country where this kind of mass killing routinely occurs reportedly concluded there was no way to prev

mr. blumenauer, for five minutes. mr. blumenauer: thank you, mr. speaker. today many members of congress awoke listening to n.p.r. for yet another story about norfolk, virginia, the area of the united states on the eastern seaboard where we've seen the most rapid increase in the sea level. this matters being home to the largest naval base in the rld, placing in question its long-term survivelt -- surviveability. story in "the washington post" several weeks ago talked about the impact this is happening on the waterfront, including one church that is being forced to relocate. i love the pastor's comment that his parishioners should not have to consult a tide table to determine whether or not they can go to church. the news also included the supreme court's third affirmation of the power of the e.p.a. to regulate greenhouse gases, setting hopefully at rest the long-term battle over whether or not we can deal with this critical area of carbon pollution. we also have seen a media blitz from a coalition of respected senior officials, republicans, democrats and in

mr. blumenauer: thank you. i must join with mr. price, mr. quigley, the reference here to the tiger program is incomprehensible in terms of what one would think congress and even our friends in the republican majority should be supporting. these are amongst the most popular programs that we've had in transportation. and the goal of the tiger program was to maximize the impact. it required local communities to come together, aven cross jurisdictional boundaries, to figure out how to leverage the most impact from this program. mr. price referenced the heritage trail in indianapolis. i've heard the mayor of indianapolis give a spirited explanation of what difference that's made in the revitalization of that community. it is leveraging over 60 -- over $60 million to be able to improve the livability of indianapolis. i was in philadelphia watching the program there, where the entire region came together for a $23 million program for bike and pedestrian which would not be possible under the restrictions that republicans have inexplicably designed.