mr. hastings: mr. chairman, i am pleased to yield two minutes to the gentleman from virginia, another valuable member of the natural resources committee, mr. wittman. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. wittman:thank you, mr. chairman. i'd like to thank the chairman also, for his leadership and work on making sure we address the energy needs of this nation. virginia has the opportunity to develop offshore energy in an environmentally friendly and responsible manner. like any industrial or commercial activity, energy production has its risks, however those risks have been significantly mitigated and offshore energy production can be conducted in a safe and responsible manner. unfortunately, the administration has halted any further oil and gas development in the atlantic ocean. our economy continues to struggle and any further increase in energy prices will exacerbate that struggle. we are now working to regain our footing, as unemployment hovers at 9%, with the unrest in the mid

mr. hastings: mr. chairman, the committee is not in order. the chair: the gentleman is correct. the house is not in order. the house will come to order. the gentleman is recognized. mr. hastings: thank you very much. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. hastings: the average price of gasoline has gone up 10 cents just in the last week and is now about a cent and a half nationally from $4 a gallon. my compare -- by comparison, the price was $1.84 a gallon when president obama was sworn into office. in my home district in central washington last week, i heard from farmers, the foundation of our region's economy, who are finding it harder and harder to pay these high energy prices. i have no doubt my colleagues from other parts of the country have heard similar stories. the pain is being exacerbated by the actions of this administration. this administration who for the past two years has repeatedly blocked, hindered and raised the cost to access our americ

mr. hastings: mr. chairman, i yield 1 1/2 minutes to the gentleman from virginia, mr. goodlatte. the chair: the gentleman from virginia is recognized for 90 steckeds. mr. goodlatte: i rise to engage the chairman in a colloquy. mr. chairman, as you know i am committed to ensuring that revenue sharing of the benefits of o.c.s. development are returned to those coastal states where drilling is occurring or may occur, like virginia. can you share with me and other members of this body whether this will be addressed by the committee? i yield to the chairman. mr. hastings: i thank the gentleman for yielding. the answer is we will be a focus and a priority. when i first introduced the bill before us today i stated these are only the first steps in this congress' efforts to increase american energy production. the committee will continue to move on an array of bills that will introduced in advance as part of the american energy initiative. coming soon will be the bills focus on expanding offshore production, o

mr. hastings: madam speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from colorado is recognized. mr. lamborn: thank you, madam chairman. i would point out that it's skewing the statistics and not accurate to say the u.s. has only 2% of the world's oil reserves. when you look at b.t.u.'s, energy production, we have more energy available in this country than any other country in the world. and looking at oil specifically, we have 145 billion barrels of recoverable oil according to the c.r.s.. so that is much larger than what some people say. and on the point of whether the president has taken a position, this is the statement of administration policy on this bill and there's no veto threat in here. so if we are fortunate to see this bill not just pass the house but the senate as well i'm sure the white house will seriously consider this and i would be hopeful that it would be signed into law. with that, madam chairman, i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman

mr. hastings: mr.an, i yield 1 1/2 minutes to the gentleman from virginia, mr. goodlatte. the chair: the gentleman from virginia is recognized for 90 steckeds. mr. goodlatte: i rise to engage the chairman in a colloquy. mr. chairman, as you know i am committed to ensuring that revenue sharing of the benefits of o.c.s. development are returned to those coastal states where drilling is occurring or may occur, like virginia. can you share with me and other members of this body whether this will be addressed by the committee? i yield to the chairman. mr. hastings: i thank the gentleman for yielding. the answer is we will be a focus and a priority. when i first introduced the bill before us today i stated these are only the first steps in this congress' efforts to increase american energy production. the coittee will continue to move on an array of bills that will introduced in advance as part of the american energy initiative. coming soon will be the bills focus on expanding offshore production, on shore p

mr. hastings: mr.aker, i'm very pleased at this time to yield three minutes to my good friend, the distinguished gentleman from maryland, the ranking member of the committee on intelligence, mr. ruppersberger. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from maryland is recognized. mr. ruppersberger: thank you, mr. speaker. i want to recognize the distinguished mr. hastings for his hard work on the committee. i had the privilege of working with mr. hastings and know he was committed to supporting our intelligence professionals. he was a leader on the issue of diversity in the intelligence community, and i applaud him for those efforts. having a diverse intelligence community work force is not the right thing to do but it's critical to our commission. -- not only the right thing to do but the critical to our commission. i join michele bachmann to support h.r. 754, the intelligence authorization act for fiscal year 2011. i thank her for her comments about partisan politics. the intelligence committee is a bip

mr. hastings: thank you, mr. chairman. can i inquire how much time on both sides? the chair: the gentleman from washington has 15 3/4 minutes, and the gentleman from massachusetts has 16 minutes remaining. the gentleman from washington. mr. hastings: i'm pleased to yield one minute to the gentleman from new mexico, mr. pearce. the chair: the gentleman is recognize. mr. pearce: i'm pleased to rise in support of h.r. 1230 to restart american jobs. the current five-year lease plan would have aloud for the sale of four leases off the coast of virginia and three in the gulf of mexico. the president and his agencies are continuing to block these sales. it's time to stop that blocking. we're talking about jobs, the nation is faced with 8% to 9% continuing unemployment. the jobs offshore are good, high-paying jobs, $400 a day, $50,000 a year. recently the president had strong rhetoric to georgetown university, saying he's going to increase oil and gas production in america, yet the administration's actions are moving us the opposi

mr. hastings: i reserve a point of order. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new mexico is recognized for five minutes. mr. lujan: mr. speaker, the house is not in order. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is correct. the house will be in order. the gentleman may proceed. mr. lujan: mr. speaker, my colleagues, american families are hurting right now. when the cost of gas at the pump rises, that means that the cost of groceries goes up, the cost of goods goes up. and the cost of just getting to work goes up. the american people need relief and the way this legislation is written, it will do nothing to decrease the price at the pump and will do nothing to lower the international price of oil.%m1 day today my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have said that drilling more is the -- mr. speaker, the house is not in order. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is correct. the gentleman may proceed. mr. lujan: and if my republican colleagues believe that indresing drilling in the u.s. will lower gas prices, then

mr. hastings: mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from florida. mr. hastings: mr. speaker, i ask for the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays have been requested. those favoring a vote of the yeas and nays will rise. a sufficient number having arisen, the yeas and nays are ordered. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20 , further proceedings on this question will be postponed. pursuant to house resolution 257 and rule 18, the chair declares the house in the committee of the whole house on the state of the union for further consideration of h.r. 1231. will the gentleman from colorado, mr. gardner, kindly take the chair. the chair: the house is in the committee of the whole house on the state of the union for the further consideration of h.r. 1231, which the clerk will report by title. the clerk: a bill to amend the outer continental shelf lands act to require that each five-year offshore oil and gas leasing program offer leasing in the areas of the most perspective oil and gas resources to establish a natural oil and gas production goal, and for other

mr. hastings. mr. young: mr. chairman, i rise in support of this amendment that corrects a drafting error in the bill that was discovered by the legislative counsel after h.r. 1231 was supported -- having bipartisan support. it -- i'd urge support for the amendment. i yield back. the chair: does the gentleman reserve his time? the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from massachusetts rise? mr. markey: i claim time in opposition although we have no objection. the chair: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. markey: we have no objection. and we urge swift passage. i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman from massachusetts yields back. the gentleman from alaska -- mr. young: yields back. the chair: yields back. the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from alaska, mr. hastings -- the gentleman from alaska, mr. young, for the gentleman from washington, mr. hastings. those in favor say aye. those opposed,

mr. hastings of washington for today and the balance of the week, mr. hinojosa of texas for today, ms. mccollum of minnesota for today and mr. markey of massachusetts for today, mrs. napolitano of california for today, mrs. pastor from florida for today and tuesday, may 24, and mr. sutton of ohio for today. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the requests are granted. under the speaker's announced policy of january 5, 2011, the gentlewoman from the sixth district -- i'm sorry, from vermont -- from the virgin islands, mrs. christensen, is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee for the minority leader. mrs. christensen: thank you, mr. speaker. and i'm pleased to lead the congressional black caucus in this hour to talk about jobs and the need for job creation in communities across this country. and before i begin i'd like to skrks mr. speaker, unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the subject of this special order which is jobs. amid reports of improvement in the economy a

mr. hastings of washington, for his leadership in bringing both these bills to the house. h.r. 1229 is a bill that goes to the heart of the bureaucratic delays which are permitting approval of drilling permits within the gulf of mexico and modifies the standards and procedures governing federal leases and permits in order to streamline the patriots sess, making developments of these domestic resources a reality instead of status quo paying lip service to drilling thrure bureaucratic inaction. h.r. 1330 is a bill that would direct the sale of oil and gas leases within the outer continental shelf reversing a failed administration policy of canceling and delaying those processes. mr. speaker, over the last few years many republicans have come to this floor and have sung the same refrain of show us the jobs. it was indeed a nice song and a catchy tune, so catchy that the minority of today seems to have been picking up on that kind of song as well. i don't expect to hear that today or at least we ought not because the two bills in this rule are real bills that create real jobs

mr. hastings: i ask unanimous consent to correct the record with reference to two votes. i was in room 2103 of the rayburn building and the electronic buzzer did not go off. i missed the vote on the democratic motion to recommit on h.r. 1216, had i been present, i would have voted yes, and on final passage of h.r. 1216, had i been present, i would have voted no. thank you, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman's statement will be entered into the record. for what purpose does the gentleman from california rise? >> i ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on h.r. 1540. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. pursuant to house resolution 276 and rule 18, the chair declares the house in the committee of the whole house on the state of the union for the further consideration of h.r. 1540. will the gentlelady from michigan, mrs. miller, kindly take the chair? the chair: the house is in the committee of the whole house on the state of the u

mr. hastings. unfortunately due to an illness, he's not able to be here this week, but i spoke with him yesterday and he's doing a lot better and he has every degree of confidence, high level of confidence we are going to be able to effectively address this issue of working to drive energy prices down, to diminish the kind of dependence we have on foreign sources of energy, and the very, very, very important issue of creating jobs here in the united states of america which continues to be our priority. so i thank my friend for yielding. i encourage my colleagues to support this rule and to support the underlying legislation. and i'm happy to say that we have been able to make most all of the amendments in order that were submitted to us, and as long as they comply with the rules of the house, the cut provision are jermaine. we tried to make those -- germane. we tried to make those of those this order. we had more amendments considered here in the first few months of this congress than we did in the

mr. hastings from washington. mr. stutzman: these bills along with h.r. 1230, the restarting american offshore leasing now act that the house passed last week will help us move away from our dependence on foreign oil by opening restrictions placed on the outer continental shelf. allowing us to tap into our domestic resources. doing this will provide jobs to more americans and lower our gas prices. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. pursuant to clause 12-a of rule 1, the house will now stand in recess subject to the call of the chair. >> the coast guard's persist interpresence in patrolling the u.s.-mexico border has signaturely reduced the amount of people attempting to enter the u.s. on boats illegally but the aging coast guard ships have made this a challenging task. he testified today at the senate appropriations subcommittee on homeland security. louisiana democratic senator marry landrieu, chaired this hearing. >> i call the subcommittee to word. the -- to order. the purpose

mr. inslee: thank you. first, i wish my friend, doc hastings from washington, is with us today. he's not feeling well, but mr. young is doing an admirable job with the weak argument. i report they're getting represented. i want to point out, we have not seen horrendous damage to any ecosystem from a wind spill yet. if you spill little wind you don't end up covering large gulf areas with hydrocarbons or destroying oyster or shrimping grounds like in the gulf. we are simply saying that before we move forward with additional offshore drilling we ought to have reasonable safety protocols, we ought to address speculation and we ought to have an energy policy that looks at all of the above. you know, my friends across the aisle told us you were going to give us an all-of-the-above policy. you have given us an all-of-the-below policy. i yield back. the chair: the gentleman from alaska. mr. young: my friend from washington, you may not have a wind spill but there's opposition to wind power, and wind is extremely expensively and only can be successful as long as it's subsidized by the tax