mr. gibbs: mr. speaker, i yield three minutes to the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. kelly. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized for three minutes. mr. kelly: thank you, mr. speaker. i'd like to thank the gentleman from ohio, but i'd also like to thank a lady and a member who i call our lady of the lakes, ms. kaptur, thank you so much for speaking out like you do about the great lakes. mr. bishop, a great colleague and friend. we all understand what makes the great lakes great. that's the whole important we're talking about. this is a gift from god. now, you heard mr. joyce talk about some of the statistics, but when you think about it, if you close your eyes for one minute and visualize in your mind's eye the continental united states, the land mass, the volume of fresh water contained in our great lakes would cover that land mass by 9 1/2 to 10 feet. it is an incredible amount of water, but more importantly, it is an incredible gift from god. we have to protect t

mr. gibbs: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and and their remarks include extraneous material on her-h 5764. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentleman from ohio is recognized. mr. gibbs: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. gibbs: mr. speaker, i rise in support of h.r. 5764, the great lakes restoration initiative act of 2014. the great lakes are an important resource for the united states. more than 30 million people live in the great lakes region and the lakes help support over $200 billion a year in economic activity. to help ensure coordination between federal, state, and private parties in protecting and restoring the great lakes, a great lakes interagency task force of federal agencies was created in 2004. in 2010, the task force released an action plan as part of the great lakes restoration initiative to accelerate efforts to protect and restore the grea

mr. gibbs: mr. speaker, i, too, urge my colleagues to support this bill and 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 the bill h.r. 1378, as amended. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 having responded in the rules are the suspended, bams, and without objection -- the bill is passed, without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table and without objection, the title is amended. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from florida seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, i move to suspend the rules and pass h.r. 5059, as amended, the clay hunt suicide prevention for american veterans, or the clay hunt s.a.v. act. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 5059, a bill to direct the secretary of defense and the secretary of veterans affairs to provide for the conduct of annual evaluations

mr. gibbs: prior to his election to congress, he served in the united states navy, worked as a school teacher and a principal in stark county schools. served in the ohio senate and the board of education and was a member of the ohio house of representatives. he was elected to the congress and served 18 consecutive terms until his retirement in 2009. during his tenure in congress, he served as chairman of the house appropriations subcommittee for labor, health and human services and education. where he worked across party lines to improve educational opportunities, work force training programs and health care. he was passionate advocate for research and advancement of science. the congressman built himself a regular guy. he was the son of a dairy farmer and part of a high school graduation class of only 25. ralph loved serving here because he cared about the people and helping improve the quality of lives. in this house, he was a pragmatic leader willing to find solutions to tough problems. i pe

mr. obama is now pushing forward aggressively on his promised agenda and ignoring his most ardent critics. joining me now, michael gibbs and michael steele. i never got the sense the president had this, if you will, bucket list. that he was moving along, step by step, incrementally, dealing with boehner and the rest of him. but he seems like he's got something going. do you sense something new here? >> i think the president made some fundamental promises, dating back to 2007 and 2008. and i think the biggest one you mentioned that's on that list that he would like to see some real progress on is closing the prison at guantanamo bay. i think you take that wish list, though, and you have to break it apart. there's half that list or part of that list you can do through your own policy, and there's another side of that list with stuff that has to go through congress. interestingly enough, some of those issues appear on both sides. you can empty guantanamo bay by transferring those that have been cleared to transfer, you can't formally close it, though, until congress authorizes you -- >> but you can empty it? >> you can. y