mr. harper. mr. harper votes no. mr. lance. mr. lance votes no. mr. cassidy. mr. cassidy mr. guthrie. mr. guthrie votes no. mr. olsson. mr. olsson votes no. mr. kinley votes no. mr. gardener. mr. mom peo. mr. sin singer. mr. griffith? mr. griffith votes no. mr. waxman. mr. dingle. mr. dingle votes aye. mr. marky. mr. towns. mr. towns votes aye. mr. paloan. mr. rush votes aye. aye. mr. engle votes aye. mr. green. mr. green votes aye. mrs. caps. mrs. caps votes aye. mr. doyle votes aye. shekowkk sirks ri votes aye. mr. insly votes aye. ms. baldwin. mr. ross. mr. ross votes no. mr. mathisson votes no. mr. butterfield. mr. butterfield votes aye. mr. barrow votes no. ms. matsui votes aye. mrs. christianson votes aye. ms. castor votes aye. chairman upton. votes no. >> other members wishing? mr. barton. >> mr. barton votes no. mrs. blackburn votes no. mr. gartner? mr. marky. >> no. mr. marky votes aye. >> mr. paloan. >> votes aye. >> other members wishing to cast a vote? seeing none, the clerk will report the tally. mr. waxman? >> mr. waxman votes aye. mr. chairman, there were 19 ayes and 34

mr. harper. mr. harper votes no. mr. lance. mr. lance votes no. mr. cassidy. mr. cassidy votes no. mr. guthrie. mr. guthrie votes no. mr. oleson. mr. oleson votes no. mr. mckinley. mr. mckinley votes no. mr. gardener. mr. gardener votes no. mr. pock peo votes no. mr. kin singer. mr. kin singer votes no. mr. griffith. mr. griffith votes no. mr. waxman. mr. waxman votes aye. mr. dingle. mr. dingle votes no. mr. marky. mr. marky votes aye. mr. towns. mr. towns votes aye. mr. paloan? >> mr. paloan votes aye. mr. rush votes aye. mr. engle votes aye. >> mr. green votes no. mr. duget votes no. mr. caps votes aye. mr. doyle. mr. doyle votes no. mr. shekowsky votes aye. mr. congal ez votes no. mr. insly votes no. ms. baldwin. mr. ross. mr. ross

mr. harper for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman, and certainly thank the two of you for being here today. and mr. wolf, i want to thank you and ms. anderson for the work you've done on this. this may come as a shock, but, you know, it's not always surprising to us to learn that an agency may be dysfunctional. so this is not always a surprise. but we appreciate the candor, and no one should ever be criticized or subject to anything for being very open, which you and ms. anderson have done, so i thank you for that. i believe that gives us some input. but i wanted to ask you a few questions, if i may, mr. wulf. you know, as i look through the report, one of the things that you said sometime were the issue of unions within the organization. can you tell me when the work force in the division was unionized? >> i can't give you an exact date on that. it was before ms. anderson's and my arrival, but i want to say spring of last year, in march. >> well, let's -- can you tell me, does each worker have to cast the vote in order for

mr. harper, for five minutes of questions. >> administrator jackson, welcome. good news. you're almost done. i think we're getting close. you've been very patient. appreciate your attendance and insight as we look at these issues. one of the things that's very important to my state, my district certainly are the technical assistance grant program that chairman has referred to earlier. i filed a bill on that. some of the language that's in there is of great importance to our state as we look at that and how it affects small communities. i want to make sure that the appropriations language is covered on all the bases. so if your agreement as i understood it is to work with him, check with him on those issues to be sure. >> this is on the rural waters. yes, sir. >> and we just -- just want to make sure we take a double check at that criteria to make sure we're in compliance with that language. >> yes, sir. >> all right. looking at this, i believe this is a budget hearing. i know we talked about many other things and things are here and glad to have you here, too, miss bennet

mr. harper, for five minutes of question. >> administrator jackson and welcome. good news, you're almost done. i think we're getting close. you've been very patient. i appreciate your attendance here and your insight as we look at these issues. one of the things that's very important to my state and my district certainly are the technical assistance grant program that the chairman has referred to earlier. i had filed a bill on that. some of the language that's in there is of great importance to our state as we look at that and how it affects small communities. and what all i want to do is make sure i think just follow up on what he said, which was to make sure that the criteria that is set forth by the epa actually tracks that appropriations language and we're covering all those bases. your agreement as i understood it would be to work with him and check with him to be sure -- >> this on the rural water -- >> yes. >> just want to take a double-check to make sure we're in compliance with that language. >> yes, sir. >> i believe this is a budget hearing. i know we'

mr. harper. mr. harper: thank you, mr. speaker. congressman nunnelee, thank you for the opportunity to speak in behalf of national marriage week. what a special time that is to us and i will also say, what an inspiration you and your wife are to my wife and myself on the way that you live that marriage. as we look and we see how our society is today and the prevalence of divorce, the breakdown of the family, i think it's very fitting that we talk for a moment about the importance of marriage and what it means in our lives and while it is not attainable for some family situations or some situations, it should always be our goal to keep the family unit together and hold that bedrock of our society together. my experience with marriage came from watching my mom and dad, you know, my dad was a gunner in a b-17 in world war ii. he came right after world war ii to columbus air force base which is in congressman nunnelee's district, and met my mother at a dance when she came down from lackey, mitches, outside aberdeen. from that point for

mr. harper, for five minutes. mr. harper: thank you, mr. speaker. yesterday in an effort to create american jobs and move an energy supply from a friendly trading partner to the united states gulf coast, the house energy and commerce committee favorably reported h.r. 3548 to the full house. h.r. 3548, the north american energy access act, would end the waiting game that has lasted for over three years by pushing forward approval of the keystone x.l. pipeline. in his state of the union speech two weeks ago, the president promised to significantly expand production of oil and natural gas from offshore and onshore public lands. unfortunately, but not surprisingly, he never mentioned his decision to reject the keystone x.l. pipeline. while the president's comments about expanding oil and gas production in the u.s. were welcomed news to many, i'm not sure how many people took his pledge seriously given his decision on keystone x.l. i am hopeful that the president will follow through on expanding production. i just wish he would have helped our country re

mr. harper for 5 minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. and i certainly think that two of you for being here today. mr. wolf, i want to thank you and ms. anderson for the work you have done on this. this may come as a shock, but it is not always surprising to learn that an agency may be dysfunctional. not always a surprise. we appreciate the candor, and no one should ever be criticized or subject to anything for being very open, which you and ms. anderson have done. that gives us some input. but i want to ask a few questions, if i may, mr. wolf. as i looked through the report, one of the things that you spend some time on were the issue of the unions within the organization. can you tell me when the work force and of the division was unionized? >> i cannot give you an exact date on it that. it was before ms. anderson's and my arrival. i want to say spring of last year, like march. >> well, can you tell me, does each worker have to cast a vote in order for their votes to be recorded? do you know how to process works and nonvoters are consid

mr. harper: thank you, madam speaker. as a member of the committee on house administration, i rise in support of h.res. 496, the 2012 committee funding resolution, with full knowledge of the impact reduced funding levels contained in this measure will have on the committee system. for example, the chairman of the energy and commerce committee, on which i also serve, stated in the day-long hearing in this resolution that his committee would not be able to hold valuable hearings and would have to restrict other committee activities. more than one ranking member stated that committee staff would have to be laid off as a result of the funding reductions contained in the resolution. this is unfortunate. but many american families have faced reduced activities and layoffs as a result of the current economic times and congress cannot exempt itself from such pain. this resolution will roll back committee funding to pre2007 levels and is, i think, a necessary action as we cut spending throughout the federal budget. the committee w

mr. harper. now i'd like to call on my friend, mr. lamborn, the gentleman from colorado, recognize you. mr. lamborn: i request permission to address the house. mr. speaker, i thank the gentleman from mississippi for putting this time together, and i rise today in support of national marriage week. in so many ways from so many sources, marriage is under attack in america. when we consider the many social problems facing our country right now, the erosion of marriage and family is at the core of many of them. scholar michael novack once famously referred to the family as the, quote, original department of health, education and welfare, unquote. because of providing the needs of its members and the next generation. study after study has shown the tremendous advantages for children and society as a whole when there is the sustained presence of mothers and fathers in the home. families in which mothers and fathers strive together to nurture their children have advantages over every other family forum that has been studied to date. today we are seen that marriage is increasingly in trouble in

let's bring in harper's magazine columnist thomas frank, author of "what's the matter with kansas" his latest book is called "pity the billionaire" mrt. >> hey, ed. >> you wrote your book about the people of kansas voting against their own interests eight years ago and it was a smashing hit, it opened a lot of of eyes and a lot of people were saying yeah, that's right. why doesn't this message get across? here we go again in the middle of the country. >> isn't that -- that's the big question, isn't it? you should know i'm not making fun -- the idea of the book wasn't to make fun of people from kansas, i'm from kansas myself. it's to talk about the culture i grew up in, and the funny thing is, not funny, everything there has gotten worse and worse and worse and worse since i wrote the book. why doesn't the message get through? ed, that is the great question of our time. maybe if i had my own tv network, i don't know. >> why would any state think it's okay to raise taxes on the poorest people and cut them for the rich right now, the richest? >> they probably weren't -- i doubt they were trying to sell it that way. i mean the whole poi