mr. cummings, mr. issa will have met his match. mr. mer defense attorney, someone who also has a background as a bond counsel. so he's familiar with wall street. he's a person who has a great amount of skill. if you've ever watched him question a witness, you'll know that he's second to none. he's very powerful. and i think that mr. cummings is going to lead a very strong democratic response to any efforts to engage in innuendo or any taken approach that would be less than forthright. >> congressman cummings on record saying that, we'll go toe to toe on everything and hopefully i'll be ten steps ahead. but as a women who, is the congress mentally prepared for what could be a long, drawn out process, played out probably by the conservative media painting the obama administration and the white house as a bunch of crooks? i mean there has to be some level of attack and return fire on this, don't you think? >> the fact that the caucus saw foyt choose elijah cummings means that they wanted someone who is a battler, someone who is not going t

mr. cummings: true leaders. and so jim oberstar is one who we knew that even in those moments as the great theologian said, when he was unseen, unnoticed, unappreciated and unapplauded, he still did the right thing. that's what leadership is all about. and so we -- generations will be better off because chairman oberstar touched our lives. and i wish him well. with that i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from illinois. mr. costello: mr. speaker, thank you. let me also say to chairman oberstar, he -- i want to thank him for his kind words about this legislation and the work that both myself and mr. petri has done. but actually every team has to have a captain, a leader, and he has been the leader. he's the person that drove every transportation bill in the last several years coming out of the transportation committee on the floor of this house. i've said many times to -- both here in washington and back in illinois, that no one in the congress of the united states or in my opinion in the entire

mr. cummings, mr. oberstar and with his assistance the office of legislative council and i urge all members to support h.r. 6516. and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from maryland. mr. cummings: mr. speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. all time having expired, the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 6516. 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. pursuant to clause 12-a of rule 1, the chair declares the house >> i have a kindle that my briefs are on. i saw that justice scalia said he had them on an ipad, i thought maybe i should do them an an pie aye pad. mine are on a kindle. i also sometimes truck them around in a hard

mr. cummings, and the gentleman from alaska, mr. young, will each control 20 minutes. the chair will now recognize the gentleman from maryland. mr. cummings: i ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days in which to are revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on h.r. 6516. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. cummings: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. cummings: i rise in support of h.r. 6516 to make technical corrections to provisions of law enacted by the coast guard authorization act of 2010. the coast guard authorization act of 2010 is the first coast guard authorizing legislation to become law since 2006. this law represents years of hard work toward improving the services capabilities by addressing the following issues. oil pollution prevention, acquisition reform, port security, marine safety and the coast guard's organizational structure. this law also protects the public and our environment by prohibiting the sale, distribution, and us

mr. cummings. mr. cummings: i thank the gentlelady for yielding and i, too, come here tonight to honor my good friend, chairman oberstar and i honor him for all that he is and all that he's not. chairman oberstar is definitely a pursuer of excellence. everything he does, he does it to the highest level. and he realized how important that excellence is. talked to his staff, i worked with him and his staff tell me if a comment is out of place, that is a problem and that is so significant because one of the things he talked often about is how we have moved in our country in so many ways to cultures of medocrity and so he is a pursuer of excellence. he also is a builder. not only a builder of bridges and roads, but a builder of people. and i am one who, you know, have benefited from his handiwork. he and i were working on several projects and i as chairman of the coast guard subcommittee, he constantly showed me the way to be a stronger and a better chairman. and he always had high expectations of me and be

mr. cummings. >> just a few questions. ioa saskia the presidential question, and that is if the president came to you right now and said commissioner hall, how would you describe the situation and what do you think we should be doing? are we on the right course? how would you see the situation and summarize your report? what would you say to the president? you are ready for that question cried -- right? you knew i was going to ask you that. >> in terms of looking backwards, i think we have had, we have had relatively steady job growth is here. we had about 961,000 jobs this year which is good. but the job growth just hasn't yet strengthened enough to start lowering the unemployment rate. and, while it is not unprecedented to have this long period here where we are waiting for strong job growth to come on, we are going to have to have stronger jobs to start putting people back to work in lowering the unemployment rate. >> and the other question is if somebody is looking at this and they are saying, you know i realize they m

mr. cumming. >> thank you. i want to ask you the president a question. if the president came to you and asked how would you describe the situation and what you think we should be doing? are we on a direct course and how do you see this situation? summarize your support. what would you say to the president? you know i always ask you that. >> in terms of looking backwards, we have had relatively steady job growth this year. we have had about 960,000 jobs this year, which is good. the job losses have not shrink enough to lower the unemployment rate. it is not unprecedented to have this time where we are waiting to have strong job growth come on. we are going to have to put people back to work. >> if someone says they may not be able to get a job any time soon and what are their best prospects for getting a job and what kind of retraining do they need to do, what would you say? what region of the country do they need to be in? >> in terms of the long-term job prospects, a lot of the service sectors like health care are likely to grow over time in the next 10

mr. cumming. >> thank you. i want to ask you the president a question.ituation and what you think we should be doing? are we on a direct course and how do you see this situation? summarize your support. what would you say to the president? you know i always ask you that. >> in terms of looking backwards, we have had relatively steady job growth this year. we have had about 960,000 jobs this year, which is good. the job losses have not shrink enough to lower the unemployment rate. it is not unprecedented to have this time where we are waiting to have strong job growth come on. we are going to have to put people back to work. >> if someone says they may not be able to get a job any time soon and what are their best prospects for getting a job and what kind of retraining do they need to do, what would you say? what region of the country do they need to be in? >> in terms of the long-term job prospects, a lot of the service sectors like health care are likely to grow over time in the next 10 years. there is a changing demographic. there are probably a number

mr. cumming. >> thank you. i want to ask you the president a question.ituation and what you think we should be doing? are we on a direct course and how do you see this situation? summarize your support. what would you say to the president? you know i always ask you that. >> in terms of looking backwards, we have had relatively steady job growth this year. we have had about 960,000 jobs this year, which is good. the job losses have not shrink enough to lower the unemployment rate. it is not unprecedented to have this time where we are waiting to have strong job growth come on. we are going to have to put people back to work. >> if someone says they may not be able to get a job any time soon and what are their best prospects for getting a job and what kind of retraining do they need to do, what would you say? what region of the country do they need to be in? >> in terms of the long-term job prospects, a lot of the service sectors like health care are likely to grow over time in the next 10 years. there is a changing demographic. there are probably a number