mr. chairman. the chair: mr. speaker, the committee of the whole house on the state of the union having had under consideration h.r. 2354 directs me to report that it has come to no resolution thereon. the speaker pro tempore: the chair of the committee of the whole house reports that the committee has had under consideration h.r. 2354 and has come to no resolution thereon. mr. frelinghuysen: mr. chairman. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey. mr. frelinghuysen: i ask unanimous consent that when the house adjourns today it shall adjourn to meet at 11:00 -- 10:00 a.m. tomorrow. the speaker pro tempore: is there objection? without objection, so ordered. the chair lays before the house the following personal request. the clerk: leave of absence requested for mr. ellison of minnesota for today. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the request is granted. under the speaker's announced policy of january 5, 2011, the gentleman from new york, mr. reed, is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee

mr. cardoza of california. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 340, the gentleman from california, mr. cardoza, and a member opposed, each will control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from california. mr. cardoza: thank you, mr. chairman. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. cardoza: mr. chairman, i rise today to offer an amendment that would remove the onerous requirements onto properties that already have existing flood protection and would prevent unnecessary economic harm to communities already struggling to recover. my amendment strikes the language in the -- requiring fema to include on its flood maps areas of residual risk. i'm offering this amendment because large areas across the country, such as larm parts of my central valley -- large parts of my central valley of los angeles and orange county are already protected by existing levees and have no history of flooding but would find themselves in newly designated residual risk floodplains unde

chair, the noes have it. the amendment is not agreed to. mr. nadler: mr. speaker. the chair: pursuant to clause -- mr. nadler: i ask for a recorded vote on that. the chair: yes, the gentleman is recognized. the question offered by the gentleman from new york will be postponed. the clerk will read. the clerk: page 127, line 22, operation and maintenance, navy, $6,749,489,000. operation and maintenance, marine corps, $3,571,210,000. operation and maintenance, air force, $10,739,587,000. operation and main nance defensewide, $9/11, 312, 876,000. the chair: for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? >> i have an amendment at the desk. the chair: the clerk will -- will the gentleman specify the amendment? mr. poe: it's page 128, line 17. the chair: the clerk has two amendments with the same page number. could you provide a little bit more specification on the amendment? mr. poe: strikes $1 billion. the chair: the clerk will designate. the clerk: amendment offered by mr. poe of texas, page 128, line 17, after the dollar amount, insert, reduce by $1 billion. page 129, line 1, after the d

scherer and the members of the board of directors -- mr. chair and the members of the board of directors. earlier, i shared the news of mr. ford's moving on, and it was painful for me because i sat where you set when we went through the work of replacing the former director at that time, mr. burns. we did a national search, and we believe with all of our hearts that we found the top tier of candidates for our agency. i believe mr. ford did an excellent job under all of these circumstances in which he had to labor, and i wanted you all to know, and i wanted to stick with you because i understand how difficult these decisions and transitions are. you hear all these people -- this ought not happen, this is unfair. i wanted you to know that you were in my prayers as you make the decisions for the agency, as i am praying for mr. ford as he goes through this time. thank you for being as fair and just as equitable as you can with one another. chairman nolan: we appreciate it. good to see you. i could not agree more with your comments. ok. >> item 12 --

the chair: mr. speaker, the committee of the whole house on the state of the union having had under consideration h.r. 2551 directs me to report it has come to no resolution thereon. the speaker pro tempore: the chair of the committee of the whole house on the state of the union reports that the committee has had under consideration h.r. 2551 and has come to no resolution thereon. for what purpose does the gentleman from florida rise? mr. crenshaw: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that during consideration of h.r. 2551, pursuant to house resolution 359, the following amendments be permitted to be offered out of the specified order. amendment 10 by mr. flake and amendment 11 by fl flake. the speaker pro tempore: is there objection? without objection, so ordered. pursuant to house resolution 359 and rule 18, the chair declares the house in the committee of the whole house in the state of the state of the union in further consideration of h.r. 2551. will the gentleman from gentleman -- georgia kindl

mr. chairman. the chair: mr. speaker, the committee of the whole house on the state of the union having had under consideration h.r. 2018, directs me to report it has come to no resolution thereon. the speaker pro tempore: the chair of the committee of the whole house on the state of the union reports that the committee has had under consideration h.r. 2018 and has come to no resolution thereon. pursuant to clause 12-a of rule 1, the house will stand in recess subject to the call of the chair. petry could have done. >> "washington journal" continues. host: in this segment we are talking about u.s. policy in afghanistan and iraq. we want to begin the segment by talking with the defense policy reporter with bloomberg news. she joins us by phone. she has traveled with defense and that i ton patte iraq. talk about what you heard the defense secretary do while he was overseas. guest: it was interesting to watch secretary panetta and compare how he handled the trip and his interaction with troops and with foreign leader

mr. paulsen of minnesota. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 358, the gentleman from minnesota, mr. paulsen, and a member opposed will each control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from minnesota for five minutes. mr. paulsen: mr. speaker, i rise to offer this amendment really to help ensure that we maintain prudent regulation of the financial services industry. mr. speaker, under current law there are five nonvoting members of the financial stability oversight council, including a state insurance regulator and a state bank regulator. this seeks to ensure and only clarify that these regulators on the financial stability oversight council who do not have voting rights still have the authority to challenge any regulations that are brought forward or put forth by the consumer financial protection bureau. for example, while it's clear that the cfpb does not have the authority to regulate insurance, it could put forth a regulation that actually negatively impacts the industry and the economy. so it just

mr. kucinich of ohio. the chair: the gentleman from ohio, mr. kucinich and a member opposed will each control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from ohio. mr. kucinich: americans are turning to their federal government for relief from high gas prices. approval of the keystone x.l. pipeline will lead to the opposite result and will actually raise gas prices principally in the midwest. in fact, some of the states that will suffer the worst gas price increases are the same ones that will have to bear the environmental burden of this pipeline. it's not just my conclusion, but the conclusion of trans-canada. this is the conclusion of international energy consultant, the company that trans-canada hired to evaluate its keystone x.l. pipeline and this is the conclusion of oil market economist. this is why they want to build this pipeline. my amendment simply requires the secretary of energy to analyze the effect of the proposed pipeline on increased gas prices for american consumers. and to determine if this pipeline is just an effort to m

mr. chairman. i rise in support of the amash-kucinich amendment, and i'm proud to be a co-sponsor. at the same time, call on other members to join us on the floor right now for this important debate. mr. chairman, i've been struck in recent days by the profound lack of seriousness in washington when it comes to confronting this illegal war we're fighting in libya. last week at a news conference, the president dismissed congressional concerns about war powers authority in his libya policy, and i quote him, he said all kinds of noise about process. and at the same time, the u.s. senate essentially punted on the issue earlier this week, pulling the plug on an important debate that the country needs because a few republican senators complained that they canceled recess only to deal with the debt ceiling and they were not going to discuss libya. but perhaps it was right here in the house that we've seen the most incoherence on libya. right before we adjourned almost two weeks ago, this body voted ag

mr. chairman. the chair: mr. speaker, the committee of the whole house on the state of the union had under consideration h.r. 1938 pursuant to haas resolution 370 . the speaker pro tempore: the chair of the committee of the whole house on the state of the union reports that the committee has had under consideration bill h.r. 12938 and pursuant to house resolution 370 reports the bill back to the house with an amendment adopted in the committee of the whole. under the rule, the previous question is ordered. is a separate vote demanded on any amendment to the amendment reported from the committee of the whole? if not, the question is on the adoption of the committee amendment on the nature of a substitute as amended. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. the amendment is agreed to. the question is on the engrossment and third reading of the bill. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. third reading. the clerk: a bill to direct the president to expedite the consideration a

chair: jabts. the gentleman from vermont. mr. welch: i move to strike the last word just for purpose of clarification. the chair: does the gentleman seek unanimous consent? mr. welch: yes. the chair: without objection. mr. welch: just a clarification. member from new jersey, vermont has about one-third nuclear power, that was misreported, one-third nuclear and one-third hydro and one-third other. mr. frelinghuysen: this is from the e.i.a. 22% is hydro and 72% is nuclear. nothing to be ashamed of. mr. welch: that is news to us in vermont and there is a dispute about the relicensing of the current nuclear plant we have. and i yield back. i yield back. the chair: the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from vermont. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the noes have it. the amendment is not agreed to. mr. welch: i request a recorded vote. the chair: pursuant to clause 6 of rule 18, further proceedings on the amendment offered by the gentleman from vermont will be postponed. for wha

mr. blumenauer for a recorded vote. the chair: pursuant to clause 6 of rule 18, further proceedings on the question of the gentleman from virginia will be postponed. for what purpose does the gentleman rise? mr. kucinich: i have an amendment at the desk. the chair: the clerk will report the amendment. the clerk: amendment offered by mr. kucinich of ohio. on page five, line six, after the dollar amount $decreased by $3 million. page one, line -- page 33, line six, after the dollar amount, insert raised -- increased by $3,600,000. mr. kucinich: this will bring the modest budget for the gulf car illness program in line with that of its peer programs to $10 million too many veterans of the first gulf war suffer from persistent symptoms such as chronic headache, widespread pain, cognitive difficulties, unexplained failure, gastro intestinal problems and other abnormalities not explained by traditional medical or psychiatric diagnoses. research shows as these brave soldiers age, they are at double the risk for a.l.s. or lou gehrig's di

mr. young. the chair: for what purpose does the gentleman from alaska rise? mr. young: i move to strike the last word. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. young: mr. chairman, members of the body, in all due respect, this is about the state's -- states' right. this does not preclude the state of alaska, the coast guard or anything of enforcement on the yukon river. it does not allow them to enforce inspections for boats on the river that are private. not in a business but private. and i have to tell you a little story about this. this is the really i am very adamant about this. the park service is for the people. it's not for the park service. and the park service of alaska has become very frankly like i would say an occupied army of a free territory. i'll give you an example. this man arrested was 70 years old with his wife who happened to be from germany. i'm going to bring that up a little later. and a couple. 70 years old, 70 years old, 69 years old and 68 years old on a cruise on the yukon river and a very sea weather worthy boat, coa

mr. speaker -- the chair: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. johnson: i yield back. the chair: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from new york rise? >> mr. speaker, i move to strike the last word. the chair: the gentleman from new york is recognized for five minutes. mr. nadler: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, this country is in the middle of a great crisis. entirely an artificial crisis created by an attempt by one political party to blackmail the entire country into adopting its program of destroying medicare and social security and food stamps and unemployment and all the things that many of our people depend on. why do i say it's an artificial crisis? because the debt ceiling increase is something we normally do. seven times during president bush's administration. some people think to raise the debt ceiling is to say we are going to borrow and spend more. no, we're not. you raise the debt ceiling in order to pay for bills you already incurred because of decisions made two and three years ago, mostly during the bush administ

mr. frelinghuysen: madam chair. the chair: the gentleman from new jersey. mr. frelinghuysen: move to strike the last word. madam chair -- the chair: does the gentlelady from ohio yield back her time? does the gentlelady from ohio yield back her time? ms. kaptur: yes, i would yield back my time. the chair: the gentlelady from ohio yields back her time. the gentleman from new jersey. mr. frelinghuysen: i rise to oppose the amendment. the amendment -- the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. frelinghuysen: the amendment that has been rewritten somewhat would reduce funding for salaries and expenses in order to increase funding for energy efficiency and renewable energy activities at the department of energy. within this year's extraordinarily tight budget constraints the bill cannot fund programs that overlap improperly with the private sector, for one, or for that -- or do not have pressing needs for additional appropriations. in other words, madam chair, i can't support reducing funds for an account that -- especially for accounts in administrative purposes th

mr. chairman. the chair: mr. speaker, the committee of the whole house on the state of the union has had under consideration h.r. 2018 and pursuant to house rule 347, i report the bill back to the house with an amendment adopted in the committee of the whole. the speaker pro tempore: the committee has had under consideration the bill h.r. 2018 and pursuant to house resolution 347 reports the bill back to the house with an amendment adopted in the committee of the whole. under the rule, the question is ordered. is a separate vote demanded? if not, question is on the adoption of the committee -- of the committee aamendment in the nature of a substitute. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. the amendment is agreed to. the question is on engrossment and third reading of the bill. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. third reading. the clerk: a bill to amend the federal water pollution control act to preserve the authority of each state to make determinations relating to

mr. chairman. the chair: mr. speaker, the committee of the whole house on the state of the union, having had under consideration h.r. 2354, direct mess to report that it has come to no resolution thereon. the speaker pro tempore: the chairman of the committee of the whole on the state of the union reports that the committee has -- the chair lays before the house a communication. the clerk: the honorable the speaker, house of representatives, sir, i write to inform you that i have notified chairman bonner and ranking member sanchez of my resignation from the ethics committee of the house of representatives. it is because of my high regard for the ethics committee and its vital nonpartisan role in enforcing the standards of official conduct in the house of representatives that i make this decision. having recently announced my candidacy for the united states senate, i want to ensure my status as a candidate for higher office does not in any way cause the work of the ethics committee to become fodder for politics or

mr. burgess of texas. the chair: the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from texas, mr. burnless. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. the amendment is adopted. for what purpose does the gentleman from indiana rise? mr. visclosky: i move to strike the last word. i realize we are at the end of the amendment process. i do not want to take members' time unduly. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. visclosky: i want to make a couple of observations and close the debate. i, again, want to thank chairman frelinghuysen as well as the chairman of the full committee, mr. rogers and -- mr. rogers, and mr. dicks, the ranking member. i said at the beginning, mr. frelinghuysen has been a leader on energy and water issues but has been a tremendous partner. this process has been transparent. it has been open. it has been thoughtful. as people who have followed the last five days understand we have not agreed on every issue but worked very closely together. i truly

mr. dicks. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for four minutes. mr. dicks: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the chair: without objection. mr. dicks: i rise to state my opposition to h.r. 2584, the f.y. 2012 interior and environmental appropriations bill. before i state my opposition, i want to recognize chairman simpson, ranking member moran -- i -- moran for their hard work in putting together the interior and environmental appropriations bill. i want to thank their staff for developing this bill. that being said, the low allocation foisted on the interior subcommittee made it impossible to develop a bill that is responsible and reasonable. so it is no surprise that the resulting bill will harm the environment and our ongoing efforts to preserve our natural heritage. two potential damages is it should the lowest spending in the land and conservation fund if more man 40 years and funding levels for e.p.a. not seen in over a decade. overall the allocation is 7% below the amount enacted in the current year which will have a negati

the chair: the gentleman from florida is recognized. mr. crenshaw: has his time expired? the chair: the gentleman from new jersey's time has expired. mr. crenshaw: i ask my colleagues to vote no on this. i thank him for bringing us the attention. i think it's strange that it has not been funded for the past 15 years. i think now is the wrong time to crank it up. maybe there's some private, non profit corporations that could do this on a volunteer untear bay -- voluntary basis. the chair: the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from new jersey. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. the amendment is agreed to. mr. crenshaw: madam chairman, i ask for a recorded vote. the chair: pursuant to clause 6 of rule 18, further proceedings on the amendment offered by the gentleman from new jersey will be postponed. for what purpose does the gentleman from washington rise? mr. dicks: i move to strike the requisite number of words. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for five minutes.

the chair: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. dicks: i -- >> i rise in opposition to the gentleman's amendment. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. dicks: the gentleman was good at making the -- making the case against this amendment. first of all, i rise in opposition to the amendment, the bill provides an additional $250 million to improve or replace inadequate schools located on department of defense bases operated by local education authorities and the department of education. most o the local authorities. they have identified 80 local education authority within the continental united states that are inadequate because of poor condition or lack of capacity to accommodate the number of students enrolled. initial funding in the fiscal 2011 bill will address approximately 13 of these schools. 42,000 school-aged dependents are enrolled in schools on d.o.d. bases that are owned and operated by either l.e.a.'s or the u.s. department of education. it is based on former defense secretary of defense remarks at

mr. chairman. the chair: mr. speaker, the committee of the whole house on the state of the union having had under consideration h.r. 2584, directs me to report that it has come to no resolution thereon. the speaker pro tempore: the chair of the committee of the whole house on the state of the union reports that the committee has had under consideration h.r. 2584 and has come to no resolution thereon. for what purpose does the gentleman from south carolina rise? >> mr. speaker, i send to the desk a privileged report from the committee on rules for filing under the rule. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will record the title. the clerk: report to accompany house resolution 372, resolution for providing consideration of the bill 2587 to prohibit the labor relations board to close, relocate or transfer any employment under any circumstance. the speaker pro tempore: referred to the house calendar and ordered printed. pursuant to house resolution 363 and rule 18, the chair declares that the house and the committee of

the chair: mr. speaker, the committee of the whole house on the state of the union having had under consideration h.r. 2354 directs me to report it has come to no resolution thereon. the speaker pro tempore: the chair has examined the journal of the last day's proceedings -- the chair of the committee of the whole house on the state of the union has reported that it has come to no resolution thereon. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, the chair will postpone further proceedings today on which to suspend the rules on which a recorded vote or on which the yeas and nays are ordered and which it incurs objection under clause 6 of rule 20. any recorded vote will be taken after 6:30 p.m. today. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from texas rise? >> mr. chairman, i have a bill at the desk. the chair: the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 417, a bill to amend the energy conservation act and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: pu

mr. chairman. the chair: the gentleman yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman from idaho rise? mr. simpson: to strike the last word. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. simpson: let me associate myself with the words of any good friend from virginia and his comments on this. the walberg amendment would return the n.e.a. funding to the 2006 left-field lines. the n.e.a. is funned in this bill at $135 million which is a $20 million reduction from the fiscal year 2011 enacted level, a $32.5 million reduction from the fiscal career 2010 enacted level and a $10 million reduction from the fiscal year 2008 enacted level. i was asked earlier by a member, would you support just going back to the 2008 level? we could do that but we'd have to add another $10 million to it and we don't have it. this would take it back to the 2006 level, as i said. overall, the committee has cut $2.11 billion in this -- $.1 billion in this bill. this is on -- $2.1 billion in this bill. this is on top of what we cut earlier. i think

mr. chairman, if i might, i wanted to start by acknowledging the loss of our valiant capitol police, officer jacob j. chestnut and detective john gibson of which were honored today and just wanted to acknowledge the men and women of the united states capitol police for their service and my sympathy, again, to the families of officer chestnut and detective john gibson. i also wanted to make note of my worshiping with the norwegian seaman's church yesterday in houston and let the norwegian people and the people of norway know that america stands with them during this very difficult time. i thought it was appropriate to acknowledge those tragedies because it is a time when we have had to come together and i also believe that as we look at where we are today, there should be an opportunity for us to be able to come together, so i'm disappointed in this legislation because it really does not seem to call us to do that. i want to remind america and my colleagues that we are 50 states, but there are t

chair: clerk will read. the clerk: amendment offered by mr. heck of nevada, page 28, amend line 16 -- page 28, line 15, nuclear waste disposal, $25 million. the chair: for what purpose does the gentleman from nevada rise? mr. heck: i have an amendment at the desk. the clerk: amendment offered by mr. heck of nevada, page 28, amend line 16 through 18 to read as follows. carry out the purpose of the nuclear waste policy act of 1982, public law 97-425, including the acquisition of real property or facility construction or expansion, $25 million to remain available until expended and be redifed from the nuclear waste fund providing that it shall be provided to the state of nevada to conduct appropriate activities pusht pursuant to that act as $2 million shall be provided to local government. to conduct appropriate activities pursuant to the act. the distribution of the funds shall follow the current formula used by local government, provided further that $20 million shall be provided for the purpose of research and development in accelerator transmu

supervisor campos: thank you very much, mr. chair. thank you again for continuing to focus on these very important issues. chief, thank you for the presentation. i, unfortunately, have to leave the meeting early, because i have to attend to another matter involving another commission. but i wanted to ask you something. is there something that we can learn or that we have learned in terms of what other jurisdictions within the state are doing to address these changes? i am wondering if we're sort of keeping our eye on what is happening statewide, so that, you know, we also take advantage of any creative or innovative approach that may be out there as well? >> thank you, supervisor campos. all of the chiefs are meeting on a regular basis regarding the best practices that are out there. we are also having -- there has been an award by the national institute of corrections and also a private foundation to where they have been convening different parts of the system together to learn from one another. there will be another large statewide

mr. nadler. the chair: the gentleman -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one and a half minutes. mr. nadler: i rise in support of this resolution. and in opposition to any unilateral declaration of palestinian statehood by the united nations. how can a dispute between two peoples be resolved by unilateral decision of one? the path to peace has been clear for many years an provided for by security council resolutions and the oslo accord signed by the israelis and palestinians. these provide for settlements negotiated between the party a settlement that's the result of two states, the state of israel and that of palestine. secure borders an the status of the refugees of 1948 and their descendants. is an attempt by palestine to delegitimize israel and give their state a reason to keep fighting israel and refuse the alleged right of return to undermine the jewish state. the palestinian authority shoulding plain to its people that a pal stipian state can only be achieved by recognizing a

mrs. capito: i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentlewoman reserves the balance of her time the gentleman from massachusetts, mr. frank, is recognized. mr. frank: i'm appalled at the gentleman saying it's un-american. and he made a misstatement when he said we took a good idea and ruined it. if it was such a good idea, why was ohe opposed to that good idea? he's making a big deal of the fact that we switched our view after listening to people, after having hearings, we made a change. that's why you have hearings. we desaied after debate that the model of the control of the currency a single individual, appointed by the president, was a better model for the consumer agency, to so does everyone else who supported it. the gentleman from alabama said, that was a good idea and you runed it. the gentleman from alabama was opposed to it when it was a good idea. he was opposed to the notion of an independence consumer agency. he makes a point of stressing that, yes, after hearing, a single individual would be better than a consumer h

the chair: is there objection? mr. frelinghuysen: i reserve a point of order on the gentlewoman's amendment. the chair: the point of order is reserved. without objection, the reading is suspended. the gentlewoman from california is recognized for five minutes. ms. lee: thank you. madam chair, i join my esteemed colleague, mrs. january schakowsky from illinois, -- mrs. jan schakowsky from illinois. this amendment would freeze the department of defense's programs at the fiscal year 2011 levels unless the financial statements of the department of defense for f.y. 2011 are ready to be audited in six months from the date of enabilityment. however, this amendment would exempt -- enactment. however, this amendment would exempt military personnel and national guard, these personnel accounts would be actually exempt. also the defense health program account from this potential funding freeze. it also contains a waiver for any potential harm to national security or combat forces. in these financial times, they're very difficult fi

mr. visclosky: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the chair: without objection, the gentleman is recognized. mr. visclosky: mr. chairman, i would like to express my appreciation to chairman frelinghuysen and his staff for their efforts to be inclusive and transparent in drafting this legislation. chairman has ensured that the energy and water subcommittee continues its tradition of bipartisanship and within the constraints of the allocation he has done very wonderful work. while i hope that we can modify some elements of the bill, i would observe that our differences are marginal and our agreement is fundamental. also i would like to join the chairman in thanking the other members of the subcommittee and also all of our staff for their exceptional good and dedicated work. as the chairman mentioned, the allocation for energy and water is more than $1 billion below fiscal year 2011. this allocation was necessitated because of severe cuts to crucial programless. while i appreciate the chairman's considerable efforts and recognize difficult choice

good afternoon, mr. chair, members of the board. as mr. ford has mentioned, a management audit of each of the sfmta divisions was requested by the board of supervisors in 2010. mr. ford and his office and also the city services auditor from the controllers selected sustainable streets as the first of the divisions to be audited. to be followed each year by another division within the agency. the audit set out to assess five areas. one, how well the division maintains the city and county of san francisco's traffic markings, signals, and signs. compliance with major contracts with basic city contracts. whether the division prevents scheduling conflicts. and whether the division's off street model is advantageous to the city. finally, the adequacy of the division's performance measures. the auditors' staff has been working very closely with my divisions. i want to thank them for their diligence and also their spirit of collaboration. and i think a lot of the results that come out of this audit would be very useful in helping us to do great me

[unintelligible] >> good afternoon, mr. chair. members of the board -- [chime] the first one, i think there is a petition from the neighbors, the general area in that vicinity does have parking effective until 9:00 p.m., and for the reasons that mr. toronto mentioned. there is heavy activity from the clubs and restaurants in that area. with other areas that are similar. -- we have other areas that are similar. >> on c, i guess the question was has there been specific about reach? >> yes, it was a petition. they originally wanted a four- hour limit. we were not able to accommodate them superviosr wiener >> ok. -- we were not able to accommodate them. >> ok. >> 12 folsom, now instead of running until 5:00 p.m., they are running until midnight. every day. it is not utilized much, so this will allow the left-turn no. 12 bus heading north bound, so it can turn into the bus the zone on the other side of the st.. -- it can turn into the bus zone on the other side of the street. we will work with ms. hiyashi and her staff. on the last ite

mr. scalise. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. scalise: thank you. would the distinguished chairman of the energy and water development subcommittee yield for a point of clarification? mr. frelinghuysen: i would be pleased to yield. mr. scalise: thank you, mr. chairman. section 501-a provides for the corps of engineers more than $1 billion in emergency supplemental funding for disaster relief. the section makes those funds available, quote, for emergency expenses for repair of damages caused by the storm and flood events of 2011. am i correct in my understanding that included in the damages to be addressed by section 501-a is the loss of navigational channel dimensions caused by or exacerbated by this year's floods? mr. frelinghuysen: if the gentleman would yield. the gentleman from louisiana is correct. the intent of section 501-a is to fund the repair of damages to levees and navigation channels caused by the floods of 2011. the committee has provided more than $1 billion in title 5 of

mrs. capito: i reserve the balance of myime. the chair: the gentlewoman reserves the balance of her time the gentleman from massachusetts, mr. frank, is recognized. mr. frank: i'm appalled at the gentleman saying it's un-american. and he made a misstatement when he said we took a good idea and ruined it. if it was such a good idea, why was ohe opposed to that good idea? he's making a big deal of the fact thatwe switched our view after listening to people, after having hearings, we made a change. that's why you have hearings. e desaied after debate that the model of the control of the currency a single individual, appointed by the president, was a better model for the consumer agcy, to so does everyone else who supported it. the gentleman from alabama said, that was a good idea and you runed it. the gentleman from alabama was opposed to it when it was a good idea. he was opposed to the notion of an independence consumer agency. he makes a point of stressing that, yes, after hearing, a single individual would be bett than a consumer hearing

[voting] >> mr. chair, we have three ayes and one no. >> the motion passes. madam clerk can you call item number five? >> item number five, executive officer's report. >> ms. miller? >> i have no report, thank you. >> but, i'm sorry, i do want to introduce -- i'm going to have jason interview our new intern. i just wanted to get the opportunity to introduce our intern for the summer. last summer, she had different tasks to do. she is currently going to u.c. davis and is looking to do green type work in her future. i just wanted to welcome her do our internship program. thank you. >> thank you very much. >> colleagues, any questions? is there any public comment on this item? any money -- body wanting to speak? public comment is closed. madam, can you call item number six. it's within the jurisdiction of the commissioner. seeing none public bhick comment is closed. item seven? >> item number seven, future agenda items." >> colleagues any member of the public that would like to speak? seeing none, public comment was closed. >> just a quick question in terms oaf

. >> thank you very much, mr. chair. good morning, supervisors. thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today about what is probably the most significant change in criminal justice history since the 1980's, when california, then governor brown, went from a indeterminate sentencing to determinant of the governor has noted frequently that that was probably one of the largest mistakes that he made, and if he could go back and change it, he would. we have seen with the aftermath of that decision is, having worked in the present system for almost three decades, that their population becomes overt burdened and resulted in a lawsuit that went to the supreme court that now the state is facing in terms of their population issues. and the realignment was a major motivator behind that. the state did have, in the backdrop, this lawsuit where they needed to drop population. the court is basically forcing them to reduce the population by 33,000. i think that is an important element as we look at the plant and a wide happen to know what the results will

. >> mr. chair, members of the committee, i am with the environmental working group. when the board passed the current ordinance last summer, it was obviously because of overwhelming concern of the public's right to know and concern about the potential long-term health effects of cell phone radiation. this concern, i believe, was confirmed -- i left my mouth apparently at home today -- by the world health organization, but at the same time, this is an incredibly complex issue. i think the revised ordinance reflects these complexities and response to them in a nuanced way. i think it is also less burdensome to retailers. i do not think that the burdensome is that significant, quite honestly. the ordinance will ensure that all consumers in san francisco will receive easy to understand information about cell phone risks. there are several steps they can take to reduce exposure, which is quite hard to find in a real detailed way. certainly from a government entity. this ordinance really remains a landmark right to know measure, and i urge you to vote yes. supervisor avalo

. >> mr. chair and supervisors, the community has been engaged in reviewing and discussing this issue surrounding regulation to clean up bayview-hunters point for more than a decade. no other site in the country has undergone as much investigation, remediation, community process. there are more than 30,000 ground water samples. more than $700 million has been spent on the cleanup of the site. article 31 of the health code called for additional oversight of the shipyard. it predated this. it was and still is the most unique program in the country that regulates and reviews construction at this level in detail to be protective of the public. multiple regulatory agencies charged with public health and the environment are calling for the cleanup of the site. there have been peer reviews of the process implemented by dph. it has been concluded time and again that the shipyard does not pose a risk to human health or the environment. as recently as last year, the epa concluded that dph were utilizing best

>> thank you, mr. chair, supervisors. i would like to thank the mayor's office of the work force development, a supervisor elsbernd, and the many others that have helped us to come to this point. there is a certain urgency in this, and that is the performing arts center, which we would like to be built on this land. the performing arts center is eight multimillion-dollar public project that will employ 32 will create hundreds of jobs, many of those san francisco jobs because city college as a two- year-old local hiring policy that is working very well in chinatown, so this is not just a city college issue. i believe it is an issue for the economy of the city of san francisco, and the urgency is that this $90 million project is funded with $30 million with state funding which was just put into the budget, that the governor just signed. the problem is, we do not have title to the project. we could lose that $30 million, and then the project is dead, so we urge that your committee pass this and that the board passed this as

. >> mr. chair and commissioners, thank yofistsyou. the important and exciting for the commission to be taking on this issue and to be thinking hothrough how to play a role. it cannot be done unless everyone across the country is part of the moving forward. i often say that i think the public has already decided that compehensive immigration reform is necessary, but it's only a matter of time until congress catches up. after explaining my own connection, i want to give you a snapshot of what's been happening in the last few years to put some of this discussion into context. my own connections with a name like giovagnoli are third generation battalion. i'm not even sure what generation on my mother's side in terms of scotch irish dutch immigrants from virginia to missouri. i never really thought about immigration much growing up. my grandfather was italian. i was aware he had a different life from me. and very grateful for the opportunities that he give us. my father was the youngest child growing up in the depression. all they wanted t