mr. connolly of virginia. amendment number 14 by mr. amodei of nevada. amendment number 15 by mr. markey of massachusetts. amendment number 16 by mr. landry of louisiana. amendment number 17 by mr. rigell of virginia. amendment number 18 by mr. holt of new jersey. amendment number 19 by mr. wittman of virginia. amendment 21 by mrs. bass of california. amendment number 23 by mrs. capps of california. amendment number 25 by ms. speier of california. amendment number 26 by ms. delauro of connecticut. the chair will reduce to two minutes the minimum time for electronic vote after the first vote in this series. the unfinished business is the request for a recorded vote on amendment number 1 printed in house report 112-540 by the gentleman from washington, mr. hastings, on which further proceedings were postponed and on which the noes prevailed by voice vote. the clerk will redesignate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 1 printed in house report 112-540 offered by mr. hastings of washington. the chair: a recorded vote has been requested. those in support for the request for a re

mr. connolly of virginia. 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. leong. -- 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: the yeas are 208 and nays are 207. with one present. amendment is adopted. the clerk will read. the clerk: this act may be cited as the energy and water development and related agencies appropriations act, 2013. the chair: for what purpose does the gentleman from new jersey rise? the gentleman will suspend. the committee will be in order. mr. frelinghuysen: i move that the committee do now rise and report the bill back to the house with sundry amendmen

mr. connolly: mr. chairman, i have an amendment at the desk. the chair: the clerk will designate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 8 printed in house report 112-540 offered by mr. connolly of virginia. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 691, the gentleman from virginia, mr. connolly, and a member opposed each will control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from virginia for five minutes. mr. connolly: mr. chairman, throughout the 112th congress, the republican leadership has invested a staggering amount of time and effort in gutting our nation's clean water and air productions. as of this month this house has voted 247 times in support of anti-environmental bills, amendments and riders including 77 votes devoted to dismantling the clean air act alone. as we debate yet another bill that seeks to gut the public health and welfare protections provided by that act, and as we witness democratic attempts to protect public health get defeated time and again on party line votes, one

mr. connolly, two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. connolly: the 112th congress is the first in history to hold a cabinet member in contempt. when they say it's not about politics, you can be sure it's about politics. the majority's irresponsible and unprecedented contempt vote brings dishonor to this house which has been so clouded in judgment, that it's incapable of addressing a fundamental separation of powers conflict in a serious and fair fashion. in refusing to engage in good faith negotiations with the department of justice and the attorney general, the majority has exposed this contempt citation for what it really is, an extraordinarily shameful political witch-hunt aimed at trashing an honorable man. it's unacceptable. we're rushing to the floor, this unprecedented contempt resolution. yesterday, ranking member cummings sent a letter to the speaker highlighting 100 errors, omissions, mischaracterizations of fact contained in the contempt citation itself. rushed out of our committee last week on a party line vote. although some

mr. connolly: on behalf of myself and mr. lewis, i ask for a recorded vote. the chair: a recorded vote is requested. pursuant to clause 6, rule 18, further proceedings on the amendment offered by the gentleman from virginia will be postponed. it is now in order to consider amendment number 14. for what purpose does the gentleman from nevada seek recognition? . . the clerk: offered by mr. amodei of nevada. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 691, the gentleman from nevada, mr. amodei, and a member opposed each will control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from nevada. mr. amodei: thank you, mr. chairman. thank you for recognizing me on this amendment, on this important piece of legislation. the domestic energy and jobs act, in addition to developing our abundant oil and natural gas reserves, is also important for purposes of recognizing another part of the energy sector. and that is our mineral resources. an often forgotten component of america's economic engine and advantage over other nations is our mineral and coal production. minerals a

mr. connolly of virginia. amendment by mr. mcclintock of california. amendment by mr. garrett of new jersey. amendment by mrs. capps from california. amendment by mr. gosar of arizona. the second amendment by -- first amendment of broun of georgia, second amendment of mr. broup of georgia, third amendment of mr. broun of georgia. the chair will reduce to two minutes the rest of votes. the request is on a recorded vote on the amendment offered by mr. connolly on which further proceedings were postponed. the clerk will redeath the amendment. the clerk: amendment offered by mr. connolly of virginia. the chair: a recorded vote has been requested. those in support of a recorded vote will rise. a sufficient number having arisen, a recorded vote is ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a 15-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 expr

mr. connolly. [ no audio ] >> i've lost nine seconds. sorry. welcome to both of our panelists. thank you, mr. chairman. just to clarify, i'm confused. epa is not proposing a general broad regulation of fracturing. it's only proposing fracturing within the statutory framework provided in the 2005 legislation and a subsequent court ruling. is that correct? >> yes, that's correct. we're interpreting the statute and the regulations. >> but if, for example, it does not involve diesel, you're not regulating the process. >> that's correct. diesel fuels is in the statute. that's what we're implementing. congress imposed the obligation on hydraulic fracturing operations using diesel fuels to obtain a permit and the guidance explains how to do that. >> and this assertion of regulatory responsibility in this particular lane involving diesel was actually insisted upon, is that correct, or ruled upon by a court? >> the court determined that hydraulic fracturing was covered under the uic class 2 program that was in 2001. congress took action in 2005 that limited that permitting requirement on

mr. connolly, for fife minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman, and thank you to our panel for being here today. i especially want to well -- welcome dr. hall from the great george mason university in month virginia, in my district, so we're delighted to have you here. maybe, dr. hall, i could given with you. i'm looking at the -- i'm listening to your testimony, and i can infer from what you're saying when you talked about how originally this process was established, the lockup, and the control of data and reporters waiting at their trusty typewriter to get it out. i think you were leading us to believe that technology maybe has passed us by and, um, i'm looking at -- just as legitimately, i think, ms. dalglish has warned us about, gee, even with the best of as well ass, government -- intentions, government insisting on government-controls computers compromises the first amendment rights of the fourth estate, government also has a legitimate concern, after all, you know, the media are profit-making entities. that have motives that go be

mr. connolly, i would like to have any evidence you have to back that up because the epa administrators actually told us she was not aware of any contamination of groundwater at this point. so any evidence that you may know of at that point we would love to be able to add to the record as well. >> certainly. and i would remind the chairman that the energy and commerce staff conducted a study of chemicals used in fracturing and found at least 29 toxins, including carcinogens such as benzene, napt lean to contain these one known carcinogen. be glad to submit the study for the record. >> would not have a problem with the carcinogens being there in that. the issue is it getting into the drinking water. before i begin, i would like to recognize my colleague from utah, mr. bishop to do an introduction of one of his constituents who will sit on our panel today. we'll introduce the panel, but actually get into your testimony as soon as we come back from votes. >> i thank you, mr. chairman. apparently you have had one speech for, one against. do i get to do the tie breaking here? >> let's do the introduc

mr. connolly: mr. chairman, at a time when we should be working together to find ways to save taxpayer money and reduce the deficit, this bill proposes to waste millions of dollars on research into efish yishent and highly polluting energy extraction process known as oil shale. for 100 years, oil shale advocates and big energy companies have been selling us the promise of cheap energy through oil shale. despite those efforts, no company has been able to deliver on that promise. it's time to end the sham and stop wasting taxpayer dollars. that's why this amendment which i offer with my good friend, congressman jere red polis from california, would save $25 million and invest it in deficit reduction. despite what some in the industry might claim, oil shale development won't produce affordable american energy or jobs. mr. chairman, just a few weeks ago interior secretary salazar pointed out that the house majority continues to confuse shale oil with oil shale. two completely different things. while they c

mr. connolly. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. connolly: i thank my colleague, mr. polis. i rise to urge my colleagues to defeat the previous question. if we defeat the previous question, we'll move immediately to consideration of an amendment that will ensure that members of congress do not shield themselves from changes in health care benefits that would reduce the level of care for our constituents. in fact, we might even call this, what's good for the goose amendment. in fact, the simple, commonsense amendment would add a new section at the end of the legislative branch appropriations act to prohibit any proposed repeal of benefits in the social security, medcare, medicaid or the affordable care act from taking effect until it is certified that a majority of members in this body and the senate are no longer eligible, whether through automatic or voluntary withdrawal, to receive the same benefits being repealed. my colleagues will recall in the health care reform debate, we responded to false claims about members of congress hav

mr. connolly of virginia. an amendment by mr. kucinich of ohio. an amendment number 9 by mr. burgess of texas. and amendment -- an amendment by mr. reed of new york. an amendment by ms. loretta sanchez of california. an amendment by mr. polis of colorado. an amendment by mr. lugen of new mexico. an amendment by mr. chabot of ohio. an amendment by mrs. blackburn of tennessee. an amendment by mr. mulvaney of south carolina. an amendment by mr. flake of arizona, an amendment by mr. king iowa. an amendment by mrs. lummis of wyoming. the chair will reduce to two minutes the time of any electronic vote after the first vote in this series. the unfinished business is the request for a recorded vote on the amendment offered by the gentleman from nebraska, mr. fortenberry, on which further proceedings were postponed and on which the yeas prevailed by voice vote. the clerk will redesignate the amendment. the clerk: amendment offered by mr. fortenberry of nebraska. the chair: a recorded vote has been requested. those in support of the request for a recorded vote will rise and be counted.

mr. connolly, two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. connolly: the 112th congress is the first in history to hold a cabinet member in contempt. when they say it's not about politics, you can be sure it's about politics. the majority's irresponsible and unprecedented contempt vote brings dishonor to this house which has been so clouded in judgment, that it's incapable of addressing a fundamental separation of powers conflict in a serious and fair fashion. in refusing to engage in good faith negotiations with the department of justice and the attorney general, the majority has exposed this contempt citation for what it really is, an extraordinarily shameful political witch-hunt aimed at trashing an honorable man. it's unacceptable. we're rushing to the floor, this unprecedented contempt resolution. yesterday, ranking member cummings sent a letter to the speaker highlighting 100 errors, omissions, mischaracterizations of fact contained in the contempt citation itself. rushed out of our committee last week on a party line vote. although some

mr. connolly, two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. connolly: the 112th congress is the first in history to hold a cabinet member in contempt. when they say it's not about politics, you can be sure it's about politics. the majority's irresponsible and unprecedented contempt vote brings dishonor to this house which haseen so clouded in judgment, that it's incapable of addressing a fundamental separation of powers conflict in a serious and fair fashion. in refusing to engage in good faith negotiations with the department of justice and the attorney general, the majority has exposed this contempt citation for what it really is, an extraordinarily shameful political witch-hunt aimed at trashing an honorable man. it's unacceptable. we're rushing to the floor, this unprecedented contempt resolution. yesterday, ranking member cummings sent a letter to the speaker highlighting 100 errors, omissions, mischaracterizations of fact contained in the contempt citation itself. rushed out of our committee last week on a party line vote. although some o

mr. connolly, for five minutes. mr. connolly: mr. speaker, this congress' failure to extend renewable energy tax credits is already costing my home state, the commonwealth of virginia's jobs. a cbs news reported last night, virginia is losing a wind turbine development to spain because the united states doesn't have the right policies and tax incentives in place for renewable energy development. a spokesperson for the wind energy company, says the uncertainty of the future of those tax credits for wind energy and the lack of federal energy policy caused the company to invest in spain instead of virginia. the jobs to construct and maintain that turbine will be spanish, not americans. the so-called strategic energy production act, coming to the floor this week, actually perpetuates the problem by doubling down on oil and gas to the detriment of developing renewable energy sources in virginia. even the governor of virginia said the lack of energy policy was one of the reasons we are not moving forward with this project in america. presi

mr. connolly. >> thank you, mr. chairman. mr.galvin come you are the acting commissioner of the bureau of labor statistics. >> correct. >> is shared and made note of little while ago that her former colleague, now the secretary of labor was herself the author some environmental legislation with the whole issue of classification of green jobs. just to clear that up, has to secretary herself personally intervened to ensure the green jobs get classified or reclassified as such? >> no, she has not appeared in developing our definition, we did a very thorough survey of what other federal statistical agencies around the world had done. we looked at the various states had done. we talked to, as mr. hall said earlier, experts and other cabinet agencies the sort of a green portfolio, environmental protection agency is, cartman of energy, for example. we came forth with a draft definition, published in the federal register for comment by the american public. got something like 150 comments, process them, made some changes and it came out w

mr. connolly, for five minutes. mr. congressly: when we look at this economy, we should ask, what would ronl reagan do? when he took office in 1981, president reagan inherited an economy in deep recession. during the past three years, a number of republicans laud the accomplishments of ronald reagan in spurring economic recovery during that decade. as they often point out president reagan cut taxes. of course so did president obama. the recovery act which i proudly supported cut taxes for 95% of all americans, averaging $400 for individuals and $800 for families. when that tax cut expired and when republicans refused to extend it, i was again proud to join president obama to enact the payroll tax cut, averaging $1,000 per family. but tax cuts alone do not make a robust recovery. the other thing ronald reagan did was preside over a nation with a sharp increase in public sector employment from local, state, and federal levels because while today's republicans may try to argue otherwise, teaching jobs, firefighters have jo

mr. connolly: mr. speaker, if congress were a musical then republicans would be little orphan annie.ause with the urgent challenges facing our nation, americans staring at a pending fiscal cliff, an economic calamity that the g.o.p. simply said maybe we'll get to tomorrow. let's revisit the little orphans the g.o.p. has left behinded. needed transportation and jobs bill, the medicare doc payment fix, the debt ceiling recollection tension, the student loan interest rate hike, the sequester, indiscriminant cuts, the expiration of the bush tax cuts, the a.m.t. taxes, the payroll tax cut which would collectively cost families $4,000 more next year. the impact to our economy of these poor -- for these poor little orphan is a staggering $10 trillion. c.b.o. said this will send america back in a recession. the republicans need to recognize that every orphan deserves a home and work with us in a bipartisan responsible solution or it's going to be a hard knock life for us. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from tenness

mr. connolly: thank you, madam speaker. american innovators contribute to an economy second to none and provides strategic advantage to national security, but where will the advancement of tomorrow come? the u.s. ranks 27th in the world in graduates with science and engineering degrees, and the last thing congress should do is to make education less affordable. yet that's exactly what will happen on june 30 if congress fails to act. interest rates on student loans will double. hiking the yearly payments, $1,000, for more than seven million students in this country. republican roots of tying students loan interest rates to the evisceration of plea van hollenive health care for women and children was an unconscionable partisan employ. no -- ploy. no parent should be forced to choose between their child's health or education. no woman should have to choose between breast cancer screening and a student loan. lower interest rates were the result of our partisan cooperation with the democratic congress and republican president. w

mr. connolly: i implore my colleagues to consider if we want to be the first congress in history to hold a sitting cabinet member in contempt of congress. do we want this to be one of the most partisan house of representativeses of all time so clouded in judgment, so besotted with rain cor and partisanship that we're incapable of addressing vital separation of powers conflicts in a serious and fair fashion. further negotiations are clearly available if we want a solution. i urge my colleagues to join me in restoring honor and dignity to this house by opposing the nuclear option, a contempt citation. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from colorado seek recognition? >> madam speaker, i ask yams consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my rashes. the speaker pro tempore: without objection the gentleman is recognized. >> a vital part of our economic viability is continued access to capital. they need to increase lending to small businesses. that's why today i have introduced the small business lending for jobs act of 2012. thi