mr. kratovil, thank you for participating. mr. boccieri before iield to you, i hope you will accept my heartfelt apology for even thinking that congressman kratovil could be younger than you, sir. mr. boccieri: you are forgiven this time. let me just thank my colleagues for joining us here tonight on this very important dialogue about the course of our country. now is not the time to let up off the accelerator. now is the time to put the gas down, put the pedal to the metal because this is about our national security, my friends. the c.i.a. is saying it. the department of defense is saying it. both democrats and republicans alike running for president said it last year. and a whole host of presidential candidates and presidential minds before that said that this is a matter of our national security. this is not an issue of partisan politics. it's about patriotism. this isn't an issue about democrats or republicans, it's about america. and where will our course be in the years to come? 40% of the oil from from the middle east. our f

mr. kratovil: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, the first district of maryland is defined by a national treasure, the chesapeake bay and the surrounding watershed. during the winter, the wetlands and surrounding habitat of the bay are home to a significant population of migratory water foul, including american black dusk, mallards, canvasbacks and canada geese. however, too many of these birds and their habitats are at risk. protecting these birds is vital because they play an integral role in the ecosystems across the country and serve as invaluable harvingers of environmental change. protecting their habitats are also imperative to our constituents who consider themselves passionate outdoors men and women. part of our culture and heritage on maryland's eastern shore and elsewhere in the country include activities such as bird watching, hunting, hiking, die yaking and fishing. in fact, according to a 2006 survey conducted by the united states fish and wildlife service, 1.6 million individuals participate in hunting and wi

mr. kratovil? mr. kratovil: you are absolutely right. there was a lot of talk obviously in this bill about climate change and that was certainly a significant part of it, but the bottom line is, what was more important to me in terms of voting for this is exactly what you said, national security and creating american jobs. and the energy bill clearly presents an incredible opportunity to spur innovation and create new jobs in this country and that was one of the big reasons i supported it. i want to go back to something you said about the fluctuation in prices. again, the irony in this country is that oftentimes we are faced with a crisis and we deal with whatever that crisis is but we never deal with the underlying issue that causes the crisis. and you were talking about the gas fries prices. a year ago when it was $4 a gallon, the population was saying, what are we going to do about this? it's outrageous that we are sending money overseas to the people who seek to destroy us. what are we going to do about it? and a year later, people i

mr. kratovil said, the bill isn't out of the committees and we are already talking about voting on this. we feel the same way, that there has been very will willingness to work together to try and get a health care plan right. and mr. speaker, the way that i believe we get it right is to tell the people of this country exactly what would be in store for them by the insistence that there be a government plan involved in their health care. so i would tell the gentleman, we obviously stand ready to work with him and the speaker to perfect a plan that could get much larger than just probably the small majority that he'll be able to produce, given the news reports that we're hearing. and with that, mr. speaker, i would like to ask the gentleman about his anticipation of next week's appropriations bill, the d.o.d. bill. and he and i, as the gentleman knows, have had a long-standing discussion on the rules. we on this side of the aisle have been extremely upset, as he knows, about the change in precedence of this house, that somehow it was ok for this house to leave the precedence of rules and

mr. kratovil said, the bill isn't out of the committees and we are already talking about voting on this. we feel the same way, that there has been very will willingness to work together to try and get a health care plan right. and mr. speaker, the way that i believe we get it right is to tell the people of this country exactly what would be in store for them by the insistence that there be a government plan involved in their health care. so i would tell the gentleman we obviously stand ready to work with him and the speaker to perfect a plan that could get much larger than just probably the small majority that he'll be able to produce, given the news reports that we're hearing. and with that, mr. speaker, i would like to ask the gentleman about his anticipation of next week's appropriations bill, the d.o.d. bill. and he and i, as the gentleman knows, have had a long-standing discussion on the rules. we on this side of the aisle have been extremely upset, as he knows, about the change in precedence of this house, that somehow it was ok for this house to leave the precedence of rules and t

mr. kratovil said, the bill isn't out of the committees and we are already talking about voting on this.e feel the same way, that there has been very will willingness to work together to try and get a health care plan right. and mr. speaker, the way that i believe we get it right is to tell the people of this country exactly what would be in store for them by the insistence that there be a government plan involved in their health care. so i would tell the gentleman, we obviously stand ready to work with him and the speaker to perfect a plan that could get much larger than just probably the small majority that he'll be able to produce, given the news reports that we're hearing. and with that, mr. speaker, i would like to ask the gentleman about his anticipation of next week's appropriations bill, the d.o.d. bill. and he and i, as the gentleman knows, have had a long-standing discussion on the rules. we on this side of the aisle have been extremely upset, as he knows, about the change in precedence of this house, that somehow it was ok for this house to leave the precedence of rules and to

mr. alder, currie, childers, cooper, fattah, gordon, harman, holden, mish showed, mitchell, murphy, peterson, scott, space, taylor, wilson, at mire, barry, bowen, boyd, chandler, davis,le ellsworth, griffith, herseth sandlin, kratovil, melancon, tanner and thompson, all we're asking you to do is vote for the bill you co-sponsored. that's all this does. vote for what you've co-sponsored. put your votes with your -- where your co-sponsors are. we can make this bill better and make it bipartisan. we will help you deliver the margin of victory. let's do this together. let's have that vote. i yield. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back his time. all members are reminded to please address their remarks to the chair. for what purpose does the gentleman from south carolina rise? mr. spratt: mr. speaker, i rise in opposition to the motion to recommit. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. spratt: this resolution is too clever by half. our colleagues across the aisle have not had some sudden epiphany and decided this bill is something they could embrace. this is an effort not to push the bill across the finish line but kill it before it gets past the house. we worked for mon