mr. blumenauer: i appreciate the gentleman's courtesy. i have certain sympathy to what my friend from california talked about. there are areas to able to move forward and the problem with the approach that is taken here has no chance of being enacted into law and includes a mindless approach in a formula basis that s no reality basis going forward. we have used government regulation to be able to fine-tune legislation. can it be done better? i have no doubt. one of the things i feel strongly about, it's not a case of having a mindless formula or unelected bureaucrats. i find that my friend on the other side of the aisle have pasms of angst and furry about unelected bureaucrats dealing with the affordable care act to maintain tarts for medicare savings. but they have gone to unelected bureaucrats in this regard. one of the things that i think not portant is that we implement a theory here that would engage us in more rulemaking, more expenses. this would effectively, dramatically increase the amount of time and energy, reducing the flexibi

mr. blumenauer, until 10:00 p.m. mr. blumenauer: i appreciate the opportunity to come to the floor this evening to speak about an armed standoff that is taking place in my state of oregon. this is the ninth day of armed national of the wildlife refuge where we have reckless behavior on the part of out of state zealots who have taken over the federal resources. this is really hard to comprehend for a moment. as has been mentioned by numerous commentators, imagine what would happen if armed protestors who were of a different color or different religion occupied a different facility in chicago or washington, d.c., or philadelphia. we would not tolerate that behavior. we would watch people move in to remove in. and yet here, we are talking about the ninth day, with impunity these people have undertaken to exert their own vision for an amazing region. this high desert plateau in eastern oregon, a region of vast, high desert with key lakes and wetlands, that is the wildlife refuge that was created in 1908 by president teddy roo

mr. blumenauer, for five minutes. mr. blumenauer: thank you, mr. speaker. traditionally we start the new year on a note of hope, notwithstanding troubled headlines and difficulties at home and abroad, the new year's an opportunity to consider the future afresh. to reflect on opportunities, past accomplishments, and new opportunities. i appreciate president obama beginning the new year with a continued focus on gun safety. his modest proposal was greeted with predictable opposition and scorn as some republican politicians attempted to distort it all out of proportion . to change the subject to a nonissue. the confiscation of guns of law-abiding americans when virtually all responsible american gun owners support reasonable background checks to make it more difficult for people we all agree should not be armed to get control of guns. it's interesting to speculate on what would have been the response in today's superheated contentious political climate with the efforts a generation go to reduce the highways from unnecessary auto deaths or the hundreds of thous

mr. blumenauer, for five minutes. mr. blumenauer: thank you, mr. speaker. one recalls the state of the union that president obama inherited upon taking office. overwhelming problems occasioned by the near collapse of the economy. 700,000 jobs lost before he was even in office half a month. and it would take many months more to arrest the slide. there were fierce battles, arguments about whether we should spend money to help people in industries. his work was complicated by the announcement early on by the republican leader in the senate that his number one goal was not to fix the economy or deal with health care or the environment or national security, it was to prevent president obama from being re-elected to a second term. time has shown that the money that was spent was critical. and most independent experts agree that we should have invested more heavily in things like rebuilding and renewing america. even so, our performance has been better than any of the other developed economies. but those results were achieved with divisions and arguments that cont

mr. blumenauer, for five minutes. mr. blumenauer: thank you, mr. speaker. with the odd drama playing out in oregon where armed thugs have taken over a federal wildlife facility, it's important to reflect on what the wildlife refuge system is all about. if these people had any argument with the president, it was with president roosevelt who 108 years ago established the national wildlife refuge as a response to protect national resources, especially the slaughter of wild birds for feathers to adorn women's hats. it's ironic the president, who in his younger days, was part of the slaughter of the buffalo in a magnificent ecosystem. he realized the necessity of protecting these resources. today we benefit from the foresight of this conservation president who provided the cornerstone of environmental protection that enriches us all. the notion that somehow this is a wild west where people can do with public land what they want is thoroughly discredited. this mindset from the 1800's that there were endless wide open spaces people could do what they wished, when

mr. blumenauer: thank you, mr. speaker. today's the ninth day of armed occupation of the federal wildlife refugin oregon. lawless recklesbehavior as th autobahn society puts out, putting one of america's most important wildlife refuges at sk and threatening federal employees. david jenkins, points out they are trampling on the rights of every american, they are the opposite of conservatives and they will continue to bullly, threaten and test the limits of -- bully, threaten and test the limits of civil society until they're stopped. jenkins urged the obama administration to follow teddy roosevelt'advicthathe law must be enforced with resolute firmness. i fully understan policy differences that compromises must be me and thathere will be mistakes. i've worked witmy republican colleague, greg walden, in the -- whose neighboring district goes all the wayo the iho bord, as we struggle to make broad, federal policy work better for everyone as we spe several years developing a vision for mount hood that included protections for w