mr. rahall, each will control 10 minutes. and the house will be in order. and the chair would recognize the gentleman from washington, mr. hastings. mr. hastings: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. hastings: mr. chairman, 2008 campaign, president obama plainly declared the policies he supports would bankrupt american coal production. the obama administration has waged a war on coal, coal jobs and the small businesses in the mining supply chain and the low cost energy that millions of americans rely on. mr. chairman, the house is not in order. the chair: the gentleman is correct. the committee will be in order and the chair would ask members to take your conversations in the back of the chamber, to remove your conversations from the floor, please. take your seats. the gentleman from washington. mr. hastings: thank you, mr. chairman. mr. chairman, amazingly, the obama administration has denied that they have launched a war on coal, yet the facts are stubborn things. just this week, alpha natural resources ann

mr. rahall, for his leadership on this and other issues on this bill. despite my concerns about the deauthorized amounts in the bill , h.r. 2903 is good public policy is necessary to eliminate inefficient government actions and to expedite disaster recovery. mr. speaker, i urge my colleagues to join in supporting this bill. and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from from the district of columbia, ms. norton, reserves. the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. denham: mr. speaker, i yield three minutes to the gentleman from oregon and chairman of the subcommittee on communications and technology, mr. walden. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. mr. walden: i thank the chairman and i thank my good friend from california for his terrific work on this legislation, the bipartisan piece of legislation, very important to citizens of this country. i also want to thank you for this colloquy. i'm concerned -- i plan to support your bill. it is a good bill. i want to clarify because