mr. marino: mr. speaker, the american historical record has always been the worse the recession the stronger the recovery. however, although the national bureau of economic research states, the recession ended five years ago. we could agree the recovery has been anything but strong. facts are something this administration fights with vehement opposition. nevertheless, the simple fact is this is the slowest recovery our country has witnessed since the truman presidency. after the deep recession that gan in december of 2007, employment has risen sluggishly at best and has risen much more slowly than in the other recoveries, for certain. according to the c.b.o., employment at the end of 2013 was six million jobs short of where it would be if the unemployment rate had returned to its prerecession level. this is why i've introduced h.r. 2641, the responsibly and professionally invigorating development act of 2013, also known as the rapid act. the rapid act creates a streamlined federal environmental revie

mr. marino, for five minutes. thank you, madam speaker. madam speaker, earlier this week our friends on the other side of the capitol, the democrats, burned the midnight oil in a strange effort to call attention to global warming. unfortunately for some of our friends in the senate, hot air from the chamber will not bring down the temperature in our atmosphere. instead of stoking the rhetorical flames through hours of meaningless grandstanding, i hope the democrat senate will use some of its time to hotline the critical job-creating bills that have been put on ice on harry reid's desk. mr. speaker, our constituents don't want to be left out in the cold. we need action today on bills to create jobs. madam speaker, i hope members of this body will join me and hold the democrat senate's feet to the fire by calling on them to pass bills that will refire america's economic engine, and i yield back the remainder of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the chair recognizes the gentleman from illinoi

mr. marino: i thank the chairman. mr. chairman, the president has sworn a complete -- has shown a complete disregard for the rule of law. rather than upholding and enforcing the law as written by congress, president obama has decided to rewrite them however it pleases him. the united states constitution, to which every president swears an oath, commands that the president, quote, shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed, unquote. as a former u.s. attorney, i took an oath to execute fully my duties. i took this oath very seriously, and that meant following the rule of law even though i disagreed with it. it's time to hold the president accountable for violating his oath of office and restore balance between the three branches of government. i would like to remind my colleagues that there's an old and -- power corrupts absolute power corrupts absolutely. and just recently, the president was caught on an open mic saying, i'm the president, can do what i want. my colleagues, i ask you to join me in supporting h.r.