mr. dicks: would the gentleman yield? first, mr. simpson, i want to commend you for your leadership in the inteaor environment subcommittee and support of the program. there is no doubt that the program is a worthwhile and beneficial program that plays a significant role in combating global warming and improving air quality. this is why this subcommittee has continued to fund and support this program. we provided $60 million in both fiscal years 2009 and 2010 and additional $300 million through the recovery act. to date only 32% of the funds appropriated for this program through the recovery act have been spent. i understand that e.p.a. plans to obligate all the recovery act funds before they begin a solicitation for the 2009 funds. it could be well into 2010 before the 2009 funds are spent. . president obama's request for deera, and this bill provides that. i will work with you, mr. calvert, congresswoman matsui has talked to me about this, e.p.a. and stake holders in hopes of improving and streamlining its grant-making process and

mr. dicks: i understand my colleague's problem and with our -- we are going to work with him and try to work this out. with the other body. but i realize how serious this is and we'll work with him until we get a satisfy -- satisfactory solution. mr. tiahrt: i thank the chairman. . mr. dicks: i would like to yield -- if i could be recognized again. i want to welcome -- yield two minutes to congressman connolly of virginia for the purposes of a colloquy. the chair: the gentleman from virginia is recognized. mr. connolly: i thank the chair and i thank my distinguished friend, chairman of the subcommittee. heritage programs have been proven to be effective vehicles in improving tourism and conservation. many citizens have worked with members of congress to designate new heritage areas. one of the areas is the journey through hallowed ground. i appreciate the chairman including funding and other heritage areas in his markup. i ask if he perceives an opportunity to see that in financial cycles and i

mr. dicks: would the gentlelady yield to me? i want to rise in strong support of her amendment and the speaker's amendment. this is a very important project. and i urge a no vote on the campbell amendment. and i appreciate the gentlelady for yielding. ms. woolsey: reclaiming my time. madam chair, angel island is a national historic landmark that is in desperate need of repair and rehabilitation. i urge my colleagues and i thank the chairman for supporting this . to vote against this amendment. this project is not a bridge to nowhere but a bridge to our past. i thank you and i yield back. mr. dicks: the bridge from nowhere was not an appropriations committee project. this was a project of the house transportation committee and our committee had no responsibility for this. the chair: does the gentlewoman reserve? ms. woolsey: i reserve. the chair: the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. campbell: how much time is there remaining? the chair: the gentleman has 1 1/2 minutes remaining. mr.

mr. dicks: i rise to claim the time in opposition. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. dicks: i understand that citizens and the carson city board of supervisors are concerned about the interior department plan to build an urgently needed new wildfire facility, but it is premature to cut off funding for this proposal. the environmental analysis is still out for public review. we should not halt this important project before the analysis and the public input can be analyzed and considered. carson city is a fire-prone area. it is important for the federal agencies to move ahead with an inter-agency center so they can be more efficient and effective firefighters. this joint new facility will support the silver hot shot crew, a key part of the firefighting force. the interior department has already spent funds for the planning and design of this particular project, so we should not stop or undualy delay its implementation. both the interior department and the forest service

mr. dicks: mr. chairman, i yield myself such time as i may consume and i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman's time is reserved. mr. dicks: it is my privilege and pleasure to present the interior, environment and related agencies appropriations bill to you today. this very fine bill is the product of many hours of hearings and briefings, always with bipartisan input and excellent participation. i'm particularly pleased to present the bill with my friend, mike simpson. the bill before us provides historic increases for the environment, natural resources and native american programs, especially indian health. it also includes significant allocations to protect our public lands, invest in science and support important cultral agencies. at a time and a total of $3 billion, this bill is an increase of 17% above last year. chairman obey recognizes that the programs funded through this bill have been chronically underfunded and provided the allocation necessary to reverse that trend. f

mr. dicks: thank you for yielding. is this the cascade ecosystems in mount baker? mr. hastings: yes. mr. dicks: this is in the forest service? mr. hastings: that is correct. mr. dicks: this is the first i have known of this. my colleague from washington state, i understand your long and very principled position on this issue. i would be delighted to take a look at this and report back to the gentleman on what i found out and see what the situation is with the forest service. mr. hastings: reclaiming my time. i appreciate that. again, the basis of that is as i have heard from my local county commissioners, smaller rural counties and they're concerned about the loss of revenue, rightfully so. i want to make sure that on anything like this, they are at least made whole. and i appreciate the gentleman taking a look on that and i would yield if he has more to say on that. mr. dicks: i appreciate the gentleman bringing this to our attention and we look forward to working together as we have on many p

amendment number 1 printed in part a by mr. dicks of washington. amendment number 3 printed in part b by mr. heller of nevada. amendment number 4 printed in part b by mr. jordan of ohio. amendment number 6 printed in part b by mr. stearns of florida. amendment number 1 printed in part c by mr. campbell of california. amendment number 3 printed in part d by mr. campbell of california. amendment number 3 printed part c by mr. campbell of florida. amendment number 1 printed in part e by mr. campbell of california. and amendment number 4 printed in part c by mr. campbell of florida. the chair will reduce to two minutes the time for any electronic vote after the first vote in this series. for what purpose does the gentleman from idaho rise? mr. simpson: is the clerk going to designate the amendment that's before us? the chair: the unfinished business is the request for recorded vote on amendment number 1 printed in part a of the house report 111-184 offered by the gentleman from washington, mr. dicks, on which further proceedings were postponed and on wh

mr. dicks: the park service strongly supports it. the chair: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. campbell: i appreciate the gentleman's point and i appreciate the gentleman's passion for the project. but as i mentioned before, that is not the point. the point i believe is that there are 434 others of us who have parks that we may believe are greater in need than this or are just in need as this and is this the way that we should allocate scarce resources around the various national parks that we have in the country? and i think it's not. and with that, i yield back. the chair: the gentleman yields the balance of his time. the gentleman from indiana is recognized. mr. visclosky: i make the observation that the gentleman talks about other parks, but we are a society. taxpayers of northwest indiana pay for projects that potentially reduce flooding in a city like dallas, texas. the taxpayers in the state of illinois may pay taxes to make an investment in oak ridge in the state o

mr. dicks. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from washington is recognized. mr. dicks: we appreciate you yielding time. and i just want to say to my colleagues that i believe this is an extraordinarily good bill. mr. simpson and i worked together on a bipartisan basis to craft this legislation. our staffs worked together very effectively. and we had an open process, an open subcommittee markup where any member could have offered any amendment that they wanted. we had a full committee markup where any member of the appropriations committee could have offered an amendment, either side of the aisle. and many were offered. and i just want you to know that i understand mr. simpson's statement here. he feels badly that we don't have an open rule. i would have preferred an open rule. but, when we took control of the house, all of a sudden, we had an extension of time on these bills. and i can remember the last year i was the ranking member, mr. taylor was the chairman. i think we went about eight

mr. dicks: mr. speaker, today in seattle a memorial service is taking place for the university of washington's legendary football coach, jim owens, who passed away on june 6 leaving a legacy that extends far beyond husky stadium where he coached for 18 years. in fact, that legacy extends here to the nation's capital because i was one of the many individuals he recruited, coached, and counseled on and off the field and we remained friends for nearly 50 years. he was a remarkable leader. assuming job of head coach at the university at the age of 29. it was said he brought a work ethic and coaching style that would have intimidate add marine corps drill instructor. that was accurate. i can say that from personal experience. he had high expectations and he could be tough. he once told me i was fine on defense as a linebacker, but i was the weakest weak guard on the team. but most of all he was a real leader. and he was successful. three years after arriving at the university he produced a rose bowl cham

and mr. dicks asked that you be here. mr. james gollac, mr. doyle, you want to say a few words. >> thanks, mr. chairman. it's a pleasure to welcome my friend at today's hearing. jim and his family have been at the same location in pittsburgh since 1935. a business that's still owned and operated by his family. they started with a hudson franchise and then they sold cars from amc, jeep, and later eagle. several mergers later, they were a successful jeep dealer until 1999 in 2000 they acquired the chrysler franchise and now they are a chrysler jeep dealer and have sold over 10,000 new and used vehicles over the last few decades. they have consistently held the highest customer satisfaction rating for sales and service in the state of pennsylvania. and i welcome you, jim. >> next is mr. duane paddic of new york thanks for being here. last but not least, is mr. frank blankenbeckler iii of waxahachie, texas. frank is here with his son, austin and thank you for coming. joe, do you want to say anything about your witness? >> is it time to introduce t

mr. ayers, the bomb that went off in the town house, that was intended for for dicks, it was un mail bomb meant to go off at a dance at fort dix. why not come clean about it to dlly? leat did you have to do with that bomb? y wthe book discusses that's length. the fact is that the people who hatw the whistle on what they were up to in the town house was a loss and it was something we peod very hard to work away from. that was a terrible, terrible decision by the people who were there. fortunately it didn't actually become what it might have become. unfortunately it did kill 3 of our dear friends and comrades. we did write about it and come ome.n about it. i am hesitant to ask you to buy the book, get it at the public library. i won't get a nickel. >> host: do you stay in touch with kathy wilkerson or any of the others? >> of course. one of the interesting things to me, i want to refer back to the comment from the woman who praise us for sticking with our values. most of the people from the 60s eeneration have stayed true, in the pig picture, tried to live in harmony with our values. of cou

dick lugar of indiana. i hope my colleagues will follow his example. thank you. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cornyn: mr. president, i rise to speak once again on the nomination of harold koh, who the president has nominated to be legal advisor for the state department. just to put this in context, as the senator from massachusetts has addressed, the legal advisor is a very important job at the state department. he is responsible for providing guidance on important legal questions, including treaty interpretation and other international obligations of the united states. he gives the secretary of state legal advice during negotiations with other nations. and so it is the legal advisor can be a very influential voice in diplomatic circles, especially if he or she has particularly strong views on america's obligations to other nations in multilateral organizations. based on my review of dean koh's record, i don't believe he's the right man for this job. his views are intentioned with what i believe are core democratic values in that he would sub

mr. president, in the era of the gm takeover, as we know, washington controls the purse strings, pays the bills, dick taits the rules. the same would be true of a washington health care co-op. as leavitt put it, washington health care would result in americans be co-opt rather than being given a co-op. americans are concerned about the cost of the bills being imposed on the other side. an estimate shows that the bill in the "help" committee -- health, education, labor, and pensions -- or the draft bill crate creteed by the senior senators from massachusetts and connecticut -- that's the piece of legislation we're talking about -- would cost $1 trillion over the course of 10 years. but only would reduce the number of uninsured by 16 million people. so $1 trillion would bring 16 million people into the insured status. for those that would be newly covered, the cost would be $65,185 per person. for ten years of coverage. that's only a preliminary estimate for part of the plan. of course, a preliminary estimate does not tell the whole story. what would it cost to cover the remaining 31 million who are th

dick cheney and i were out flyfishing. [laughter] >> and he kind of taken aback by this and i said you were so great, mr. vice president. we run for president one day? let's bring up right now richard russo. he has written a wonderful book that old cape magic. and i would just turn it over to him. he has some great dick cheney stores as well. [laughter] [applause] >> thank you. not having a morning show of my own i had to write mine down. i hope you don't mind. that old cape magic, my new novel, was supposed to be a short story. otherwise, i wouldn't have even begun it. my previous novel, bridge of sighs, had left me drained. the needle on my creative gas tank bouncing off the empty. somehow i had to know you could write a book about despair without feeling just a little bit of that particular emotion yourself. i had imagined that lucy lynch, my protagonist was a haunted one. he, not i., would have to make his solitary journey halfway across his own personal bridge. nothing but darkness and loss awaiting him on the other side. before finally turning back on the advice of a dead man, he and i were not exactly psychic twi

mr. will. a first of all abc in the white house, there will be no money that will come out -- c-span news to talk about dick durbin and can i disagree with you on iran and north korea. i believe iran is more dangerous than north korea. north korea banks from the food and get it all from china iran, they fun hezbollah and libya, they fund hamas. there are finding al qaeda in iraq so myself i think they are a lot more dangerous. >> guest: the caller may be right, they may be more dangerous and he certainly right that they are dangerous. >> host: this is martha in rockland, maine on democrats line. >> caller: hello? this is martha clarke in that rock landed and out like to ask mr. well, why you included insurance companies in the health equation at all. they bring nothing to the table are in the business to make money and to prevent health care. thank you. >> guest: that seems to me is an eccentric view of the current function of history of insurance companies and our country. i don't know quite how to grasp the thought of there to prevent health care. are they trying to make a profit? yes and the way you make

dykes dykes -- mr. dicks: i just want to commend everyone for staying last night to work on this very important bill. i want to thank mr. simpson and his staff and all the members of the committee. i think this is one of the best interior appropriation bills that i can ever remember. and i really do want to -- the chair: the gentleman will suspend. the house is not in order. the gentleman may proceed. mr. dicks: i want to thank mr. campbell for being so cooperative, but i think we ought to move ahead here and get to final passage. but, again, thank you all for supporting, and i hope you all will support this bill. i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman yields. the clerk will now read. the clerk: page 119, line 23, this act may be cited as the department of interior, environment and related agencies appropriations act, 2010. the chair: under the rule the committee now rises. the speaker pro tempore: mr. chairman. the chair: madam speaker, the committee of the whole house on the state of