mr. grayson: thank you very much, mr. chairman. i appreciate the comments of the committee's chair but i must respectfully disagree with him on the merits. with respect to the gulf of mexico, it stretches 100 miles off the shores of florida. a matter that is of great importance in my state. furthermore, the fact is we cannot specifically restrain a future court from deciding contrary to the gentleman's opinion unless we do so in this bill. now, we've already had the experience this week that on tuesday a certain number of members of this body were disappointed by a supreme court decision, and on wednesday other members were disappointed by a supreme court decision. both of those decisions had to do with federalism. both of those decisions had to do with the construction of legislation. if we want to ascertain and commit to the fact that we're not changing current law, the only way to do that is to say that we are not changing current law. by not doing so we would be giving in effect the hostage to future courts for the end of time.

mr. grayson, is recognized. mr. grayson: this amendment strengthens existing provisions in the bill by preventing the award of contracts by money allocated under this bill to offer to principals who have been convicted or had a civil judgment granted against them for such action as fraud, theft, bribery, making false statements, tax evasion and so on. it would be unconscionable if we allowed taxpayer money to be given to contractors who have been convicted of such things as bribery and therefore i offer this amendment to prevent that. i yield the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from florida, mr. grayson. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it and the amendment is agreed to. for what purpose does the gentleman rise? >> i have an amendment at the desk. the chair: the clerk will report. the clerk: amendment offered by mr. runyan of new jersey. at the beginning add

mr. grayson: thank you. the chair: for what purpose does the gentleman from washington seek recognize snigs -- recognition? mr. hastings: i rise to claim time in opposition. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. hastings: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. hastings: this is unnecessary amendments to delay the work of congress and expanding offshore energy production in order to create once again millions of new american jobs to lower energy prices, to strengthen our national security. h.r. 2231 is similar to legislation passed last congress and fully upholds existing states' rights within their boundaries and offshore areas. nothing in this bill changes the fundamental 60-year-old relationship between states and the federal government enshrined in the submerged lands act or the outer continental shelf lands act. this bill is focused on activity in federal waters and respects states' abilities to control and govern their waters. states' authority is no

mr. grayson: mr. chairman. i ask unanimous consent that we move on to the reading of the next amendment. the chair: without objection, the clerk -- the first -- the reading of the first amendment is spended -- suspended. the clerk will report the second amendment. the clerk: at the end of the bill before the short title add the following new section, section, none of the funds made available by this act may be used in contravention of the first, second -- first, second or fourth amendments to the constitution of the united states. at the end of -- at the end of the bill before the short title add the following new section, section, none of the funds made available by this act may be used for the purchase, operation or maintenance of armed, unmanned aerial vehicles. the chair: the gentleman from florida is recognized for five minutes on his en bloc amendments. mr. grayson: thank you very much, mr. chairman. with regard to the first amendment, this amendment is identical to language that was inserlted in the mili

mr. grayson, or his designee, which shall be considered as read, shall be separately debated for 10 minutes equally divided and controlled by the proponent and opponent. the gentleman from washington, mr. hastings, and the gentleman from oregon, mr. defazio, each will control 30 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from washington, mr. hastings. mr. hastings: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. hastings: mr. speaker, i rise today in strong support of h.r. 1613, the outer continental shelf transboundary hydrocarbon agreement authorization act. the bill was introduced by our colleagues from south carolina, mr. duncan, a member of the natural resources committee, and will provide the certainty needed to move forward with offshore energy development in certain areas of the gulf of mexico, along our nation's maritime boundary with mexico. former secretary of state hillary clinton and mexican foreign secretary espinoza, signed this long awaited agreement in february of 2012. since that tim

mr. grayson, is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader. mr. chairman, i rise today to discuss a shocking revelation reported in the media starting last wednesday, that is nine days ago, regarding the scope of the n.s.a.'s spying program, including both foreigners and americans. the n.s.a. is the national security agency. its duty as part of d.o.d. to protect us against foreign attacks. just as d.o.d. is expect to secure us from foreign attacks. and the d.o.d. like the c.i.a. is on the side of the firewall dealing with foreign threats as opposed to the f.b.i. and the justice department who deal with domestic threats. as of a week ago last wednesday, the guardian reported that a particular court order had ordered verizon, the largest cellular telephone company in america, to turn over its call records for all of its calls. all of its calls. i have the document from "the guardian's" website here in front of me. it is a document that was issued as a secondary order by what's known as the fisa court. that court is the foreign intelligence surveilla

grayson and his parents it's a miracle and truly a great, great gift. so great to see that reaction. >> adorable. >> thank you, natalie. >> and mr. roker is not joining ugs. >> where are you, al? >> it looks like i'm in old new york downtown on fifth avenue and delancy. we're at universal orlando resort in florida. it's all part of a big grand opening that's going here, transformers, the ride 3-d and man, this is big. we're going to bring it to you, and we have the creative director of the ride joining us. you might have heard, he's a small film director, steven spielberg. he might make a big movie. never know. that's all coming up later. let's show you what's going on. i got amazing video to show you. i mean, this is incredible stuff. let's go to the video first if we can. this is a water spout, lakeside cable park in grand isle, louisiana, a wake boarder was doing this, robert vegas got this video. look, it's a water spout, which is basically a tornado over the water. this is amazing stuff. i mean, it caused minor damage. for the most part nobody was injured. but that just incredible video. wow. almost looks like special effect