mr. nolan: yeah. mr. garamendi: minneapolis? mr. nolan: yeah. just tragic. i've got several thousand had bridges in my district alone and several hundred of them are -- have been certified as obsolete and in disrepair, in need of repair. of course there are thousands and thousands of those bridges across the country. i held three transportation hearings back in minnesota here recently. unanimity of agreement on what needs to be done is really quite unique. generally you get 50 people in a room in minnesota and you have at least 40, 45 opinions. mr. garamendi: in california you'd have 150 opinions if you had 50 people. mr. nolan: everybody agreed, as you pointed out, we need a long-term plan. so that you can plan accordingly and then do it responsibly, in the most efficient and economical way. everyone came up and said we needed for our economic growth and our business and they understand that, as you were pointing out earlier, good infrastructure is the foundation, it's the foundation for every single successful economy in this world. and i've said to people

mr. nolan: the choice today is simple no child should be expected to endure deteriorating school rooms to get an education. i urge my colleagues to adopt the amendment. thank you, mr. speaker. the chair: does the gentleman reserve -- the gentleman from minnesota yields back his time. for what purpose does the gentleman seek recognition? >> i seek time in opposition to the gentleman's amendment though i do not oppose it. the chair: without objection the gentleman from minnesota is recognized for five minutes. mr. kline: thank you, mr. chairman. i thank my colleague from the cold north of minnesota for this amendment. it is atalling that sometimes it's taken us 10 years to identify a problem when we can't do anything about it. we're compromising the education of vulnerable children. we're compromising their health and safety. as my friend mr. nolan said. and we're certainly compromising their education and their hopes for better future. that's why we've got to look more closely at this issue. tha

mr. nolan and others who have been here for years. we've only been doing it for the past 10 1/2, 11 years. this is a great cause. so important to us. many of you have had the same experiences. someone, you know someone in your family, family loved one, yourselves who has gotten caught up in the criminal justice system. this is a big issue. and this is one that's exciting. we can all work together on and put our differences aside and just focus on something that's really going to help a lot of people. that's what we should really, really focus on. let me just focus on the u.s. justice system, is probably the best justice system in the world. we have a lot of dedicated public servants, defense lawyers, public defenders, you name it, they do a good job. but our system still needs a lot of work, obviously, as we're here today. we think it needs to be improved. it fulfills the bill of rights. that's what this is all about at the end of the day as americans. it needs to better protect americans. all and especially the most disadvantaged and

be part of this forum and more importantly glad to be one of the voices and there are many here, mr. nolann doing this for the past 10 1/2 and 11 years. this is a great cause and important to all of us and the stories you're hearing today and many of you in this room have heard and many of you have had same experiences you know someone in your family or someone you know that have got caught up in the criminal justice system and focus on something that could help a lot of people and that is what we should focus on and i'm hopeful that the leaders in this room could hope us with that. let me say, i think the u.s. justice system is the best in the world. we have a lot of dedicated public service ants police officers, defense lawyers public dependers, they work hard and do a good job and they work hard but our system still needs a lot of work as we sit here today. and we think it needs to be improved and so it fulfilled the promise of the declaration of independence and the bill of rights and that is what this is all about at the end of the day as americans and it needs to protect all american

mr. nolan: thank you, mr. speaker. i'd like to begin by thanking chairman kline for his work on this important legislation, of course our ranking member bobby scott as well, and the members of the committee and the rules committee for allowing us to offer this amendment here this evening. mr. speaker in short, my amendment ensures that indian children will not be expected to attend school in buildings that are delabtated and dangerous. under title 5 of house resolution 5, the federal government has an obligation to fund and maintain these schools. it's time to honor that obligation and send the message to our students in indian country that their education and their success in life are important to all of us. and expecting them to go to school in facilities in utter disrepair simply does not send that message. according to the department of interior there are 63 schools funded by the bureau of indian education that are listed in poor condition. for example, the school on the leech lake reservation in my district is hou