mr. ehlers is here for a number of reasons. first of all, the history of harmful algal bloom legislation really ose its existence -- owes its existence to this the gentleman. as a scientist, as someone who cares passionately about his state and the great lakes, i'd say without any hesitation, the great lakes have had no stronger champion in the congress than this gentleman here, dr. ehlers. and for that matter, i believe science itself has had no stronger champion. and if you look at his contributions on the great lakes, harmful algal blooms, i just mentioned. invasive species, he's been a champion in trying to fight the zebra muss sell, which is the kind -- mussel, which is the kind of thing when someone says, why are we trying to fight this? well, it costs hundreds of thousands a year in property loss and economic loss. yesterday we were on a panel together, and he was raising the very important issue of the possible invasion of carp into the great lakes system which would devastate the sports fishing and other industries in

mr. lipinski and my good friend, vern ehlers, dr. ehlers, for this legislation. i ask all of our colleagues to support this legislation, and, madam speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from georgia yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from oregon. mr. wu: thank you, madam speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. wu: i want to agree with my good friend and colleague from georgia that america does indeed, does indeed have the best health care system in the world. if you can pay for it. and the great struggle in which we find ourselves today is the challenge of coming together, of coming together to help all americans be able to pay for their health care. and i want to thank my friend for his service as a physician and as a member of this body. i also want to thank dr. ehlers , a ph.d. and physicist, for his service in this body. we have worked on many issues together in a bipartisan fashion because these tend to be the issues which come before the science and

ehlers, as i mentioned earlier, has been instrumental for many years on this and of course connie mack has been as well and i thank the gentlemen for their input. mr. hall has offered some suggestions and of course as we move that forward and work with the senate we'll try to make sure we incorporate as many of those as we can. finally i'd like to recognize the staff who worked so diligently on this bill. ongoing research and development implementation of an action strategy are key components to addressing this environmental challenge and h.r. 3650 helps move us forward in each of these areas. i urge my colleagues to support h.r. 3650 and again reserve the balance of my time. although i guess mr. hall has already yielded. one last thing i'll say. understanding the impact of harmful algal blooms in fresh water is absolutely critical. if a major metropolitan area develops a toxic algal bloom, as i mentioned earlier, it will be extraordinarily difficult to remove the toxins from the waterway. it has happened in some smaller communities. it is extremely costly and can present a huge health crisis. we need to understand how to prevent this and we need