mr. scalise: mr. speaker, tonight we're going to talk about the devastation that was caused by hurricane katrina and of course it starts with the more than 1,800 lives that were lost. people from louisiana, mississippi, florida, alabama and georgia, who all lost their lives through this devastating storm. but, mr. speaker, we're also going to talk about something else. that's the strength and resiliency of the people of the gulf coast who persevered, who rebuilt and ultimately mr. speaker, we're going to talk about the recovery of the people of the gulf coast from this devastating storm. i'd first like to yield to my friend from the great state of alabama, mr. robert aderholt, as much time as he may consume. mr. aderholt: thank you. mr. speaker, i want to just mention to you that it's hard to believe that it has been 10 years ago in the early morning hours of august 29, just a month from today, that hurricane katrina slammed into the gulf coast. as a category three hurricane. with sustained winds up t

mr. scalise from louisiana. the chair: the gentleman from louisiana is recognized. mr. scalise: i thank the gentleman from georgia for yielding. mr. chairman, if you look at what is happening in our economy, why the economy is struggling so badly through this obama economy, it's because of radical regulations coming out of washington. every time i go home and meet with small businesses in southeast louisiana, the common thread is that it's not the local business down the street that's the main threat to their business. the main threat to small businesses throughout my district and i hear it from my colleagues, are the thousands and thousands of pages that come out of these federal agencies, these radical regulations that come out of these federal agencies unelected bureaucrats that are imposing, in essence, new law, making it harder to create jobs in this country. taxpayers deserve a federal government that's more efficient, more effective and more accountable and that's what the reins act does. the reins act forces real accountability in regulations that are coming out

mr. scalise discuss, people came together. we now have an amazing progress amazing recovery of our schools in south louisiana. amazing recovery in our economy. as a matter of fact, mr. speaker, we now have tens of billions of dollars in economic development projects on the horizon while in other areas you're seeing people losing jobs, seeing businesses close. you're seeing small businesses shut down and a trend of more small businesses closing than opening across the nation. but in louisiana mr. speaker, tens of billions of dollars in new economic development projects on the horizon. as a matter of fact we have the largest foreign investment in u.s. history committed to projects in south louisiana. we're seeing a manufacturing renaissance. and it's happening because our people are so resilient. because we've come back. because we've come together. and because we've plotted a path to the future. using the natural resources that louisiana is so blessed work the amazing maritime transportation system we have. and the amazing natur

mr. scalise for five minutes. >> thank you mr. chairman. mr. adelstein you talk in your opening statement of a lot a lot of the work that's been done to expand spectrum within this committee where we have come together to make more spectrum available and our chairman has been a great leader in that effort too. one part of that equation absolutely is expanding more spectrum and of course the other part of that is your members very few build it out and to build that infrastructure to take advantage of the spectrum. if you could share with us some of the challenges or hurdles that your members face to make the investment that they can make to take advantage of that spec and to make more spectrum available in the marketplace. >> spectrum has been quite a hurdle. you saw $41 million was spent for a limited amount of spec and white tape. better than the cbo estimate. >> hopefully cbo recognizes the value of spectrum. >> the fact is that was a 12% increase in available commercial mobile sector. if you're a 12% increase in throughput and 700% we are do

mr. scalise: it's clear that the administration wanted to deal with iran at any cost and unfortunately they got a deal with iran at a dangerously high cost. i think history will look back if this is able to go forward, on this bad deal as the sanctions beginning of iran's paths to a nuclear weapon. and that's dangerous not only for america, but for all of our allies throughout the middle east, especially israel. we will fight hard to reject this deal using every tool we have. mrs. mcmorris rodgers: we are a little over six months into america's new congress and on issue after issue, what you have seen is we are promoting solutions, 21st century solutions to the challenges that americans face all across the country. we trust people to make better decisions for themselves than the federal government ever will and our goal is to empower people, empower families empower communities to be able to make those best decisions. just look at the student success act. which is about empowering local leaders, parents, teachers and students. last week we passed by big bipartisan support the 21st century c

mr. scalise: thank you mr. speaker. i thank the gentleman for yielding. i rise in support not only of the rule but of the underlying legislation with the reforms that are included not only in the bill but in the amendments that are coming forward in this rule. and i first want to commend chairman kline and his staff for working over the last few months with many members of our conference that had some real issues they wanted to see addressed in the bill and i want to talk about a few of those. specifically the salmon amendment that this rule makes in order that brings forward the ability for parents to opt out of testing in a way that doesn't impact the local school system. this comes out of question of whether or not you trust parents to make the right decisions for their children. in making real reforms that give parents more control, getting washington out of those decisions and allowing local innovation to move forward and allowing parents to make those decisions about what's best for their children. so the salmon amendment does that. i strongly suppo

mr. scalise: i think history will look back, if this is able to go forward, on this bad deal as the sanctions beginning of iran's paggets to a nuclear weapon. and that's dangerous not only for america, but for all of our allies throughout the middle east especially israel. we will fight hard to reject this deal using every tool we have. >> we are a little over six months into america's new congress and on issue after issue, what you have seen is we are promoting solutions 21st century solutions to the challenges that americans face all across the country. we trust people to make better decisions for themselves and the federal -- than the federal government ever will and our goal is to empower people, empower families, empower communities to be able to make those best decisions. mrs. mcmorris rodgers: just look at the student success act. which is about empowering local leaders, parents, teachers and students. last week we passed by big bipartisan support the 21st century cures act which is gisksing hope to millions of americans for life-saving innovation. we passed the resilient federal fores

mr. scalise: thank you, mr. speaker and i thank the gentleman from wisconsin for bringing this steve gleason act to the floor. steve gleason is somebody who served as an inspiration for people in louisiana going back to the 2006 game when the superdome was reopened after hurricane katrina, that night was one of the galvanizing moments that helped bring the city of new orleans and inspire the people of new orleans to come back and he blocked the punt at the end of the game to win the game. i was in the dome that night and my wife and i were was euphoric as everybody in that building. the reason steve inspires people today is not because of what he did on the football field but because what he has done to serve as an inspiration for people with all disabilities since he was diagnosed with a.l.s. and mr. speaker what he's done is go out and show that he is able to exhibit his voice because of the speech generating device that he has. this isn't something he wants for himself but for all people who have something to