mr. conyers: mr. speaker, pursuant to house resolution 17 -- the speaker pro tempore: the house is not in order. the house will be in order. will all members please take their conversations off the floor? the gentleman from michigan is recognized. mr. conyers: thank you, mr. speaker. pursuant to house resolution 1756, i call up the bill h.r. 5281 with the senate amendment thereto and i have a motion at the desk. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill, designate the senate amendment and designate the motion. the clerk: h.r. 5281, an act to amendment 28, united states code, to clarify and improve certain provisions with regard to litigation against federal officers to federal agencies and for other purposes. senate amendment. mr. conyers of michigan moves that the house concur in senate amendments number 1 and 2 and concur in senate amendment number 3 with an amendment. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to house resolution 1756, the motion shall be debatable for one hour eq

mr. conyers: mr. speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. poe: i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass senate 1421. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed, and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman, mrs. davis from california seek recognition? mrs. davis: i move to suspend the rules and concur in cincinnati akon current resolution 147 -- concurrent resolution 75. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title. the clerk: senate concurrent resolution 75 a, to grant use of the capitol rotunda. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from california. mrs. davis: i ask unanimous consent

mr. conyers: gregory meeks, new york. one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york is recognized for one minute. mr. meeks: who are we? we call ourselves american citizens. we're proud to be american. why are we proud to be americans? well, we were raised in american schools, we love our country, we studied our history, we wanted to prosper, we wanted to be able to do the things that cause us to be free. we care about children. what we're talking about here is a group of children who all they know is what we know. in fact, many of them have no idea that they were not american citizens. they grew up loving this country. they grew up aspiring for the same things that we have, that all of a sudden they find out that they can't continue with their education, that they can't go into the military. if we are truly americans, if we truly care about kids, if we truly stand for our core values we will tell those children because those children are as much american as each and every one of us. the speaker pro tempore: the gen

mr. conyers: and provide millions of our fellow world citizens with the gift of water. madam speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: mr. burton of indiana. ms. ros-lehtinen from florida requests five minutes and will be recognized. ms. ros-lehtinen: i thank the speaker. i would like to honor a great public servant and a dear friend, congressman lincoln diaz-balart, who after 17 years of distinguished service to our south florida community here in congress is retiring. the house of representatives is indeed losing a great man and a dedicated leader. lincoln diaz-balart has left a legacy that is extensive and worthy of praise. he has led a life guided by his principles and he has not wavered in his conviction. convictions based on his love for this great country and the freedom that it embodies. lincoln's story is truly an american story. having fled the castro regime with his family, he became a fierce and staunch defender for human rights and the rule of law throughout the world. he became a voice for those whose own voices are sigh lentsed

mr. conyers, mr. yarmuth, ms. kaptur, mr. defazio and ms. woolsey. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. under the speaker's announced policy of january 6, 2009 and under a previous order of the house, the following members are recognized for five minutes each. mr. frank of massachusetts. mr. frank: mr. speaker, i have been troubled by what seems to me a mistake in focus in the debate about reducing the deficit. i agree it is important to reduce the deficit and i believe i'm more focused on reducing the deficit than my colleagues on the other side of the aisle who have put deficit reduction aside in favor of a fairly indiscriminate degree of tax reduction. couple weeks ago, reducing the deficit was the number one priority. but reducing taxes on the wealthiest in america overtook it. what troubles me is the extent to which people mainly on the republican side and elsewhere as well have said what we need to do to get -- get the deficit down is to reduce entitlements. that's a polite way of saying they want to cut social security, medi

mr. conyers from michigan. the chair will recognize mr. poe from texas. the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. poe: request permission to address the house for five minutes, to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. poe: madam speaker, it was about midnight when gunfire erupted in a remote area of rio rico, arizona. a city near the border of mexico and the united states. border patrol agents and unknown gunmen exchanged shots in the dark and one shot proved to be deadly. claiming the life in this war zone, our southern border, the third front. radio chatter alerted dispatch of the incident and a call for assistance was received this tuesday night about 11:00 p.m. border patrol agents were making rounds in a very isolated and rugged area just north of the bordertown. they were trying to catch bandits, the kind that target illegal immigrants. they rob and steal and pillage those immigrants and our border patrol agents protect those immigrants. banditos have long stole from these individuals. but while on pat

mr. conyers, respectable individual whom i count as a friend and have always had a good personal relationship with, said that's why we're having these hearings to find out. you think we can't fix the problems by providing reparations, we're hold hearings to see if we can figure it out. if we're having a discussion about whether you can compensate people for labor day they did as slaves in the first half of the 19th century who howe do you sort out who is descended from slaves and who is not. they don't know how to answer the question, but they think there should be a redistribution of wealth. this also comes out of the mouth of our president, it's very clear when he made the state optometrist joe the plumber when he said share the wealth. and it been clear when he played the class envy card time after time after time and divided americans against each other for a whole series of reasons. and a lot of it has to do with how much money each of us make. forgetting that it's the american dream to become a millionaire, to pile another million on top of that, the second million is easier than the fi

mr. chairman conyers noted. such information may indeed be extremely valuable to public understanding. second, a case-by-case balancing of harm against benefit would be unrolled and or predict the ball and impractical. claire wolfe in the realm of free speech and why we get the government so much authority to restrict speech of its own employees rather than insist in every case the government demonstrates the harm outweighs the benefit. tired as we learn from history there is a great questions to leave both government officials and even the public to overstate potential harm in times of national anxiety. the straight clear and present danger serves as a barrier to protect us against that nature. and finally, essential principle of the first amendment is a suppression of the speech must be the government last, rather than as first resort in addressing potential problems. if there are other means by which government can prevent or reduce the danger, it must exhaust those other means before it can even entertain the prospect of suppressing freedom of speech. in the secrecy situation, the

mr. chairman conyers noted. such information may indeed be extremely valuable to public understanding. second, a case-by-case balancing of harm against benefit would be unrolled and or predict the ball and impractical. claire wolfe in the realm of free speech and why we get the government so much authority to restrict speech of its own employees rather than insist in every case the government demonstrates the harm outweighs the benefit. tired as we learn from history there is a great questions to leave both government officials and even the public to overstate potential harm in times of national anxiety. the straight clear and present danger serves as a barrier to protect us against that nature. and finally, essential principle of the first amendment is a suppression of the speech must be the government last, rather than as first resort in addressing potential problems. if there are other means by which government can prevent or reduce the danger, it must exhaust those other means before it can even entertain the prospect of suppressing freedom of speech. in the secrecy situation, the

mr. chairman conyers noted. such information may indeed be extremely valuable to public understanding. second, a case-by-case balancing of harm agnst benefit would be unrolled and or predict the ball and impractical. claire wolfe in the realm of free speech and why we get the government so much authority to restrict speech of its own employees rather than insist in every case the government demonstrates the harm outweighs the benefit. tired as we learn from history there is a great questions to leave both government officials and even the public overstate potential harm in times of national anxiety. the straight clear and present danger serves as a barrier to protect us against that nature. and finally, essential principle of the first amendment is a suppression of the speech must be the government last, rather than as first resort in addressing potential problems. if there are other means by which government can prevent or reduce the danger, it must exhaust those other means before it can even entertain the prospect of suppressing freedom of speech. in the secrecy situatio, the most o

i thank chairman conyers and mr. scott, chairman scott as well for their leadership in bringing forth this bill. i also applaud congressman sablan for the sponsor of this legislation for his dedicated leadership on this issue and many others that have been promoting the interest and safety of the people of the northern mariana islands and the american samoa which is represented by eni faleomavaega. when we amend the omnibus crime control and safe streets acts of 1968 to treat american samoa and the northern mariana islands as separate states, we will allow the appropriation funding for vital important criminal justice programs that will keep these communities safe and they deserve them. there are over 60,000 -- 66,000 people living in american samoa and there are over 48,000 people living in the northern mariana islands. each of these islands has their own unique culture, history and their own way of dealing with things, including their challenges. the people of these islands deserve separate funding under this legis

i want to also thank chairman conyers of the judiciary committee and mr. scott of the judiciary committee for agreeing to this bill. let me move it forward before the end of this session. finally, i want to thank a gentleman mr. rahall introduced us too, stanley "goose" stewart, one of our witnesses who captured the attention of this committee on a bipartisan basis. the governor of the state, senator rockefeller of the state, as he explained what was going on in this mine to the detriment of the workers, to the -- leading to the death of these 29 men and how they were prevented from speaking out and how they were intimidated and how people were discharged if they tell the truth about what's taking place in the mines. that's why this legislation is necessary. because there's no other place for these miners to go to get safety. there's no other place for them to go to get justice. there's no other place for them to go to get enforcement of the law. and it's only the law that keeps them in a safe working place. but unfortunately, there's still miners in this

mr. owens: thank you. madam speaker, i want to thank chairman conyers and chairman thompson for their leadership and bringing h.r. 4748 to the floor with the senate amendment. our northern border with canada spans over 4,000 miles, the longest open border in the world. i am intimately familiar with the unique status of our shared border. my congressional district in upstate new york includes 13 ports of entry and border crossings and nearly 2,000 jobs depend on a stable trading relationship with our northern neighbor. we currently lack a unified approach to stopping the flow of drugs across the northern border. as the southern border has witnessed the spread of violence that has accompanied the increased drug trade, we must be proactive and vigilant in ensuring that our northern border remains safe and open for business. . organized criminallements are increasingly exploiting the northern border. according to the 2010 national drug threat assessment, the amount of ecstasy seized at or between northern border ports of entry increased 594% from 2004 to 2009. in 2009 there were 1,100 drug related arrests in new