i thank my colleague from new jersey, mr. holt, for his work on this amendment. mr. chair, i rise today in support of the holt-runyan amendment which takes further steps toward keeping veterans alive by dedicating $20 million to suicide prevention outreach within the v.a. for fiscal year 2012. suicide is always tragic, but suicide by a veteran, especially young veterans of iraq and afghanistan, is especially troubling. v.a. officials tell us that one in five suicides in america is a veteran and that the suicide rate of male veterans is twice that of the general population. while most of these are older veterans, young male veterans are still more likely to commit suicide than those who have never served in iraq or afghanistan. when the suicide rate of veterans of iraq and afghanistan spiked in 2004, congressmen responded by increasing v.a.'s budget for mental health by merely 1/3. this allowed v.a. to create a veterans crisis line and place suicide prevention coordinators in every medical center. but if any veteran who needs help cannot get help or does not know it's

gonzalez: i yield 15 more seconds to mr. holt. mr. holt: the desire that seems to exist to cut recklessly valuable services rather than engage in the hard work of making government work at its beth. i urge my colleagues to vote no on this misguided bill. i yield back my time. mr. harper: i yield three minutes to the gentleman from colorado. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. >> in listening to the -- mr. gardner: in listening to the opposition for this statement, it makes it sound the elections assistance commission is a branch of the justice department that is there to enforce the right to vote. it doesn't do any of that at all. the primary goal for the election assistance commission was after the florida recount, the problems there in the 2000 election, that according to the help america vote act, the state such as colorado, that i was secretary of state in, we're going to have to have a voter registration system that would be interactive, interactive database to make sure there wasn't fraud or it

mr. ader holt: i reserve a point of order. the chair: the gentleman from texas, mr. cuellar, is recognized for five minutes in support of his amendment. mr. cuellar: thank you, mr. chairman. i want to thank the chairman and ranking member mr. price for all the work they've done for border security. this is an amendment similar to mr. mccaul's, that adds $32 million to the marine interdiction and recruitment and takes $60 million away from the office of undersecretary for management and another $60 million from the science and technology management administration. again this is to purchase at least two additional u.a.v.'s, and make sure that they have the operations and maintenance and with that, i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman may not reserve the balance of his time. does the gentleman yield back? mr. cuellar: i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman from alabama insist on his point of order? mr. ader holt: i withdraw my reservation but oppose the amendment. the chair: the reservation of the point of order is withdrawn

mr. ard holt, and the gentleman from north carolina, mr. price, each will control 30 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from alabama. mr. aderholt: thank you, mr. chairman. i yield myself as much time as i may consume. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. aderholt: it is my honor to present the fiscal year 2012 appropriation bill for the department of homeland security. the chair: the chairman of the appropriations committee is absolutely right, the house is not in order. members will take their seats. and with discussions retire to the cloakroom. the gentleman from alabama. mr. aderholt: thank you. it is nye honor to present the fiscal year -- it is my honor to present the appropriations bill for the department of homeland security. this bill before us today, perhaps more than any other bill, exemplifies the difficult choices that need to be made in order to address our nation's fiscal crisis. this bill demonstrates how we can fully fund vitalseri ogmshi ao dung enngvell furthermore this bill does not represent a false choice between fiscal responsibility and