mr. chaffetz: mr. speaker, i move that the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 4053 as amended. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: union calendar number 509, h.r. 4053, a bill to intensify efforts to identify, prevent, and recover payment error, waste, fraud, and abuse within federal spending. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from utah, mr. chaffetz, and the gentleman from new york, mr. towns, each will control 20 men's. the chair recognizes the gentleman from utah. mr. chaffetz: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. chaffetz: i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous materials on the bill under consideration. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. chaffetz: thank you, mr. speaker. federal agencies made an estimated $108 billion in improper paymen

mr. chaffetz: i'd like to yield to the gentleman from kansas, one of the sponsors of this bill, mr. yoder. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. yoder: i want to echo the comments of my friend and colleague from missouri, across the kansas city border, who so eloquently described the majesty and beauty of the world war i memorial and museum we have in kansas city. it's truly a national tribute. to spend time on the house floor to take a moment to pay tribute to the men who sacrificed in worrell war i and to designate this world war i museum the national world war i memorial is something i want to thank him for letting me take part in. i want to thank the gentleman from missouri, mr. cleaver, and the gentleman from texas, mr. poe, who spent so much time on this legislation. as has been said, 2014 will mark the 100th anniversary and centennial war. the frank buckles world war i memorial act will promote the freedoms and ideals of this will honor frank buckles that ted poe and so many others described today. it's sometimes difficult for kansas and missouri, as madam

mr. chaffetz: thank you, madam speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. chaffetz: i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. chaffetz: thank you, madam speaker. at this time i'd like to yield such time as he may consume to the original sponsor of this bill, the gentleman from texas, mr. poe. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. poe: i thank the gentleman from utah for yielding. and his support on this legislation. and also the gentlewoman from district of columbia. madam speaker, they said that world war i would be the war to end all wars, but it wasn't. it was a world war, it encompassed the entire globe and most of the countries in the world. the war started in 1914, the united states entered in april of 1917. the united states entered the war for t

mr. chaffetz of utah. the chair: the gentleman from utah is recognized for three minutes. mr. chaffetz: thank you, mr. speaker. i thank the gentleman from texas. i rise in support of senate bill 2170, the hatch act modernization act of 2012. i'd also like to thank and commend ranking member cummings and his work with chairman issa for bringing this bill to the floor on a bipartisan and bicameral basis. i want to commend senator mike lee for his concern, particularly what happened in utah, and his good work with senator akaka. the bill wouldn't be here without their good work and i commend them both on working on, again, in a bipartisan way. i'm also a proud co-sponsor of h.r. 4152, sponsored by ranking member cummings. i'm glad to come together with him, which is the house compan wrong to senate 2170. senate bill 2170 makes long overdue reforms to the hatch act which became law nearly 75 years ago. while numerous reforms of this legislation includes -- are all important, i haddy like to highlight the reform made by section 2 of this bill. in may of this year the oversight and g

mr. chaffetz: i have no further speakers and reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from the district of columbia. ms. norton: i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from utah. mr. chaffetz: i would like to thank representative poe for introducing this legislation. the intill bipartisan in its approach, it creates a means for properly commemorating the centennial of the great war and honoring those who fwallantly fought. i urge my colleagues to vote in concurrence with the senate amendment to h.r. 6364 and remind people that no taxpayer dollars will be used to carry out this act. i encourage my colleagues to vote in favor of this an yield back the balance of our time. the speaker pro tempore: the question is will the house suspend the rules and concur in the senate amendment to h.r. 6364? those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. ms. norton: i object to the vote on the grounds that a quorum is not present -- the speaker pro tempore: in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 being in the affirmative

mr. chafe et cetera -- he is not -- chaffetz, he is not seeking time. mr. speaker, as we close for the christmas season, i just want to make a few comments about what has transpired today, and i think it is noteworthy that those members who are departing have talked about what it means to serve in the u.s. house of representatives and how grateful we are they have chosen that service. and we each have made a commitment to make certain that we are committed to pushing, pushing the federal government to get its fiscal house in order. indeed, mr. hensarling many times has said that that is our primary goal as conservatives because we know that the greatest threat to our nation's security is our nation's debt. many of us talk about admiral cullen's comments when he said the greatest threat to our nation's security is our nation's debt. and this week as we have looked at the so-called fiscal cliff and looked at the expiration of the tax cuts. as we have worked through the growing and just rolling debt that is sweeping over this government, as we have watched thi