mr. defazio. mr. speaker, i rise in support of the fast act, or first long-term surface transportation bill, in nearly 10 years. i want to thank chairman shuster and ranking member defazio for their bipartisan leadership, and it has truly been an honor to work on a committee where we can show the american people that we know how to work together. mr. speaker, transportation moves our economy. passing the fast act will shift america's infrastructure into higher gear. this legislation brings american families tens of thousands of new good-paying jobs while promoting safer, more efficient travel on our transportation infrastructure, and it sends more dollars to our local communities who know their needs best. i will associate myself with the remarks of my colleague, representative brown, when i say that this is a wonderful gift to the american people for this holiday season, and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from pennsylvania. mr. shuster: thank you, mr. speaker. it's now my privile

mr. defazio. i think mr. capuano said it accurately, this is what transportation and infrastructure bills should be coming to the floor in a bipartisan way because this is good for america. nothing to do with republicans or democrats. but what's good for the american people and the american economy and the surface transportation board is the federal economic regulator of the freight system. since it was passed, i believe mr. capuano mentioned, our freight rail system is the envy of the world. it's strong and vibrant. it does a great job, but this s.t.b. re-authorization and making some of the significant changes i know is going to be beneficial to everybody. mr. denham kicked off a list of different stakeholders, people that utilize the rail that are in favor of this and they sat down and worked it out. it will allow them to run efficiently and improve the nation's economy. i'm not going to go through all the description as mr. capuano did a great job of that. giving them authority that is going to streamline

mr. westmoreland -- defazio for today, mr. gene green of texas for today and mr. westmoreland for today. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the requests are granted. under the speaker's announced policy of january 6, 2015, the entleman from texas, mr. gohmert, is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee for the majority speaker. mr. gohmert: we heard what is proposed as a commonsense fix to our second amendment and that is, ok, surely you can agree that anyone on the no-fly list should not be able to walk in and buy a gun. we've had friends across the aisle that pointed out that, like the times square bomber, she said, you know, he could have gone in and bought a gun. i'm told now that that's not actually the case. that he specifically could not have, but he was going to blow up new york's times square. he didn't need a gun. he was going to blow people up. but a lot of us, when we first hear, well, shouldn't that be a no-brainer? if you're on the no-fly list you shouldn't be able to buy a gun. but then when you find out that the no-fly list is composed o

mr. defazio of oregon for today, mr. farr of california for today, mr. ruppersberger of maryland for today through december 3. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the requests are granted. under the speaker's announced policy of january 6, 2015, the gentlewoman from illinois, ms. kelly, is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader. ms. kelly: thank you. mr. speaker, i ask that all members be given five days in which to revise and extend their remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. ms. kelly: mr. speaker, tonight is a night of action and reflection for this congress. this evening the congressional black caucus will take a look at a number of significant events that have occurred this year. and discuss the urgent and pressing concerns of today. in the a winning weeks of 2015, we will have this moment of reflection in order to examine the issues that have caused our community the greatest concern. this conversation must be had, so we have to have an honest and impactful dialogue that will help congress engage com