mr. hastings: mr. chairman, i claim time on the -- the chair: the clerk will designate the amendment. the gentleman has an amendment? mr. hastings: yes. the chair: the clerk will designate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 6, printed in house report number 112-590, offered by mr. hastings of florida. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 726, the gentleman from florida, mr. hastings, and a member opposed, each will control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from florida. mr. hastings: thank you very much, mr. chairman. this bill is an irresponsible giveaway to the mining industry that has taken enormous profit at american taxpayer expense. one section in particular is extremely disturbing. section 205 of the bill eliminates awarding of attorneys fees to litigants bringing successful legal challenges against certain agencies' actions like the issuing -- issuance of a mining permit. eliminating the possibility of fee shifting mation litigation prohibitively expensive for groups a

mr. hastings: mr. chairman, i'm pleased to yield two minutes to the gentlelady from tennessee, mrs. blackburn. charmede the gentlelady is recognized. mrs. blackburn: i thank the gentleman for yielding time. just last month, the administration announced its proposed final lease plan for developing the u.s. offshore energy resources for the next five years, 2012 to 2017. there was a lot of anticipation about this and we thought that finally the administration would hear the calls that have come from this house saying, you know, we need to increase our american energy supply and we need to create jobs. but we were disappointed. our calls for release obviously fell on deaf ears. instead of opening up 98% of the u.s. offshore, which is currently unleased for energy exploration, the president's plan will make the situation worse by closing 85% of our offshore areas to energy production. i think that's significant. because you have to ask the question, what do you really want if you want energy independence,

mr. hastings: mr.ker, i move to suspend the rules and pass h.r. 1237 as amended. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 1237, a bill to provide for a land exchange for the trinity public utilities district of trinity county, california, involving the transfer of land to the bureau of land management and the six rivers national forest in exchange for national forest system land in the shasta-trinity national forest and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from washington, mr. hastings, and the gentleman from the northern mariana islands, mr. sablan, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from washington. mr. hastings: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. hastings: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. spea

mr. hastings: i have one more beyond me. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts reserves. mr. markey: i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from washington. mr. hastings: madam speaker, i am very pleased to yield an additional minute to the gentleman from louisiana, mr. landry. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from louisiana is recognized for one minute. mr. landry: madam speaker, i just wanted to take a moment to discuss with my good friend from massachusetts some of the statistics that he was laying out for the american people here on the floor. the problem is that we are lacking the demand for energy right now because people are out of work. because of high unemployment, people are not driving back and forth. that means they are not utilizing gasoline. so he's right. the amount of oil that we are having to import today has been reduced because people are out of work. now, what happens if, this is a big if, we can crank this economy back up? and we can do what ever

mr. hastings: what page? mr. johnson: the overall scheme of this bill is -- mr. hastings: what page? i ask you -- i am yielding him to -- the chair: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. johnson: you are not interested. mr. hastings: reclaiming my time. the chair: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. hastings: the gentleman has his own time. i am very pleased to the gentleman will yield to the gentleman from arizona, mr. gosar, a member of the natural resources committee. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. gosar: thank you, madam chairman. i rise today in support of h.r. 4402. my home state of arizona is known for the five c's, cattle, cotton, citrus, climate and lastly copper. people have been digging in arizona for precious metals like copper for centuries. nearly one in four people in arizona were miners. without a doubt mining -- mining is not what it's used to be. minerals such as copper, lime, ash are mined throughout my district. these minerals employ constituents, jobs that pa

mr. hastings: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. hastings: i thank the gentlelady for yielding me the customary 30 minutes. i'd like to address just very briefly and that is that when we began this session of congress, we were advised by our republican colleagues that we were going to bring up each measure individually and discuss them. this is a structured rule that does contemplate the opportunity for many members to participate, but it isn't an open rule and what it is is it's a measure as the base bill that has cobbled six distinctly different measures, evidenced by the number of thanks that had to come from dr. foxx to the various committees. i do agree with the one, dr. foxx, where you thank the young man from creating -- for creative thinking. this is out of the box when it comes to us as far as process is concerned being creative, cobbling six pieces of legislation with another to make seven is a bit much. this rule

mr. hastings: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume or the balance of the time in light of the fact i don't think anyone else is going to speak on this amendment. i clearly understand my colleague's position as set forth. the one thing i cannot abide and offer by way of constructive criticism is the fact that all over this nation too often we find that polluters cause our streams, rivers and waters to be damaged. i'm a fifth generation floridian, and i heard the gentleman in the rules committee and on the floor today speaking pridefully and rightfully about his children. i've seen the damage in florida, and i've seen much of the damage that's been done around the nation. while it is true that the legislation as offered would allow for the president to come to congress for approval, by the time congress gets through doing anything, the pollution that we are trying to avoid may very well have overtaken us. we have a very fragile ecosystem in our country, and as it pertains to water it wo

mr. hastings: thank you, madam speaker. i move to suspend the rules and pass h.r. 6167. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 6168, a bill to direct the secretary of the interior to implement the proposed final outer continental shelf oil and gas leasing program 2012-2017 in accordance with the outer continental shelf lands act and other applicable law. the speaker pro tempore: the chair would like to remind all persons in the gallery that they are here as guests of the house and that any manifestation of approval or disapproval of proceedings is in violation of the rules of the house. so pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from washington, mr. hastings, and the gentlewoman from massachusetts, ms. tsongas, will each control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from washington. mr. hastings: madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under conside

mr. hastings did that post on facebook. >> right. the big concern, i think, is when you look at a netflix, you could see where in six months the company ceases to exist. to invest, could it pop, get taken out, yeah. that's auto there. but i wouldn't bottom-fish in this name at all. >> ford feeling european headwinds. after doubling its forecast for european losses to more than $1 billion. good to have you on the show, welcome. >> thanks for having me. >> how do they get out of europe's way here? >> i think first of all ford already had cautioned people about their european operation back at the end of june. so the nude today that they would lose $1 billion in europe isn't new news. most people had been expecting that. >> gm's in the same boat, obviously. but the point is, can it get worse? you're looking at a stock, as we said, at the lowest level since 2009. it's barely hanging above nine bucks. >> right. i think you need to put it into perspective, though. europe is a smaller portion of ford. north america is two to three times the

mr. hastings in 1993 as well so there are three of us that were here. the point that i make is let's remember what republicans and president clinton did with the capitol gains tax rate as we move ahead so there may not have been specific changes to the 1993 tax increase bill. there were dramatic reductions in the tax rates played a big role in that economic growth. stomachs before mr. sherman. the question my mother would ask as she's one of your biggest fans is this america laments the fact we can't just do those things we agree on. i think that you are right about that and they lament that in the context of the health care bill. 80% of which america what if every done but americans wanted to push it through their bad way and the transportation bill they can agree so why don't we go ahead and funded the roads we can deal with the revenues that are already coming in and deal with the rest of that leader? >> i wouldn't have characterized that as of the leadership that you have shown over these months. why can't we do those little things that we already a

mr. hastings, to suspend the rules and pass h.r. 236 as amended on which the yeas and nays are ordered. the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 2362, a bill to facile tit economic development by indian tribes an encourage investment by turkish enterprises. the speaker pro tempore: the question is, will the house suspend the rules an pass the bill as amended. members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a 15-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.] the speaker pro tempore: on this vote the yeas are 222, the nays are 160. 2/3 not being in the affirmative, the rules are not suspended, the bill is not passed. vote vote -- the unfinished business is the vote on the motion of the gentleman from alaska, mr. young, to pass the rules senate 2034. to suspend the rules and pass s. 2039 on whic

mr. hastings, history -- during the same period of time, mr. chairman, i would like to with anonymous unanimous consent with the statement of the -- >> without on section. >> i might add, mr. chairman, this one does not say, as many have in the past, that our staff would recommend all to the president it be vetoed if the president are were presented with hr6079. he would veto it. >> i hope you have a copy it to the gentleman to the right so he can understand between the staff recommendation and the statement. i think it's clear the president would if handed this bill would repeal it. he would -- i'll let you take care of it. thank you, mr. chairman. 17 months ago the house took the step of adopting a resolution instructing house committees to do some very specific things regarding our health care. and since that time, as been mentioned here several times, we voted thirty times, tomorrow will be thirty one to repeal our measures having to do with the affordable care act. i wonder how well the committees have followed those instructions -- and i

in fact, yesterday at our rules committee, chairman hastings admitted during the rules committee hearing when questioned by mr. mcgovern that this bill applies to a lot more than strategic and critical minerals. in fact, chairman hastings when asked on this issue said, we talk about aform of minerals as being rare earth. there is no question they are rare. but to say some minerals aren't critical to our well-being i think defies logic. chairman hastings went on to cite the use of sand and gravel to build our interstate system as an example of a critical use. a lot of what the gentleman from utah said is true. it is important. however when we are talking about sand and gravel, they don't fit the commonsense definition of a strategic and critical mineral production act that were cited by the gentleman being of national importance. the chairman of the committee has made clear this bill isn't about rare earth minerals at all, it's not the kind of bipartisan bill that's targeted at critical resources. rather it's about giving mining companies a blank check to take anything they want out of the ground anywhere, any

mr. hastings and not have a few comments. u.s. news and world report reports that 81 new irs workers will be hired solely to deal with the tanning tax. mr. pallone started off saying, my constituents should move on. i just want ask. mr. andrews was here when they passed the tip of built in 1996-- the hippa bill in 1996. mr. levin was here. mr. pallone voted no. there was a concerted effort to deal with those issues in a bipartisan way. only 2 votes against it in the house. it was done and a bipartisan way. the reason falconjk cannot move on is this was not done -- the ere -- the reason folks cannot move on is this was not done in a bipartisan way. the folks in my district still do not like it. why don't we just move on? the reason i do not move on is i have constituents telling me to get rid of this bill. what is the experience in your district? >> mine is similar. it is not just patients. it is employers. all we caning, figure out to do is to lay people off. as a physician, my opposition colleagues are saying, if this comes throug

mr. woodall. >> it will be unreasonable to listen to m r. hastings and not have a few comments. 81 new i.r.s. workers will be hired solely to deal with the tanning tax to make sure the tanning tax is implemented. mr.pallone started off saying, my constituents say with you should lose all. i want to ask, i know mr. andrews was here when we passed the hipaa bill back in 1986. mr.levin was here at that time. you all voted no as the bill passed the house but voted yes when it came back. mr.pallone also voted no. there was concerted efforts there to deal with issues a bipartisan way. only two votes against it in the house. it was done in a bipartisan way. the reason folks can't move on this was not known a bipartisan way. this was something rammed down the threats -- throats of people. my friend from new york say, people are going to like this bill. people have been looking a think the bill for two years. mr.pallone said why don't we just move on? the reason i don't move on because i have constituents tell me to get rid of this bill. >> mine is similar. the people say look you got to do away with

mr. berman, john kline and george miller, chairman smith and ranking member conyers, chairman doc hastings and ranking member ed markey and certainly senator jeff bingaman and senator murkowski who serve as chairman and ranking member of the senate committee on energy and natural resources for all they have done on behalf of the insular areas. i cannot thank my colleagues enough for standing with me because i know that passage of this bill is only possible today due to their support. i thank the committee and staff leadership for their working in close association with my office which will benefited the associated states of micro neice yeah and the territory of american samoa. as my chairman alluded to about the section, it is very simple. this is located -- for the benefit of information to my colleagues, the area is located in the marshal islands. this is where we exploded 43 of our nuclear bombs out of the 67 nuclear bombs that we exploded in our testing program from 1943 to 1962. in the process, this is where we exploded our hydrogen bomb, which is only 700 times more powerful than the

mrs. christensen: i rise to speak in strong support of h.r. 3706, legislation i introduced to provide for chief financial officer for the government of the virgin islands. i want to begin by thanking chairman hastings and ranking member markey of the natural resources committee forer that support in making it possible for h.r. 3706 to be on the floor today. i also want to thank subcommittee and fisheries, wildlife chairman john fleming and of course raking member sablan for their support as well. today, as you heard, marks the fourth time in nine year this is house will consider legislation that i have sponsored to provide for a c.f.o. for my congressional district, the u.s. ver gin islands. it has passed in the previous three times. while i have been severely criticized by some for its introduction, there are many who support it. but i continue to believe that having an independent professional third party being responsible for determining the amount of revenue that the local government has available to spend for an enshoing fiscal year would be a positive development for our government and is generally supported by a broad cross section of our electorate. when i first sponsored the first c.f.o. b