mr. shimkus' amendment and mr. inslee's and i congratulate them on bringing this very important amendment to the floor in this appropriations bill. just across the savannah river in from high district is the savannah river site. i've been over there many times. i'm very concerned about the storage of nuclear materials that avail on the site. and that's happening all over this country. we hear people talk about this as nuclear waste and i don't view it that way. in fact, there's a tremendous amount of energy in the fuel rods and nuclear material that's been stored at facilities all over this country. we just don't know how to utilize it and we're just beginning that process, some of these fast reactors, small modular reactors would burn up a lot of this nuclear material and provide energy that's drastically needed. but, mr. chairman, one man from rhode island and his staffer who left from being a staffer in the u.s. senate and went to the administration has, what i consider to be illegally closed up this administrat

mr. shimkus of illinois. an amendment number 47 by mr. broun of georgia. the chair will reduce to two minutes after the first vote in this series. the unfinished business is the request for a recorded vote on amendment offered by the gentleman from utah, mr. matheson, on which further proceedings were postponed and on which the ayes prevailed by a voice vote. the clerk will redesignate the amendment. the clerk: amendment offered by mr. matheson of utah. the chair: a recorded vote has been requested. those in support of the request for a recorded vote will rise and be counted. a sufficient number having arisen, a recorded vote is ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. this will be a 15-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.] the chair: on this vote the yeas are 168.

mr. shimkus. mr. shimkus: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend. the chair: without objection. mr. shimkus: thank you, madam chairman. listen, this debate is about u.s. energy security, north american energy and jobs. the original keystone pipeline cost $2 billion. thousands of u.s. jobs. the expansion of the refinery bordering my district and bordering the chairwoman's district is thousands of jobs and an expansion of a refinery. keystone x.l. will help us create thousands of new jobs, expanding the pipeline, expanding new refineries, getting down to the refineries in texas. listen, the canadians are going to build this pipeline in one or two directions. they're either going to go south to help us become north american reliant and secure in energy or they're going to build this pipeline west to put it on tankers and to ship it to china. now, i would ask my colleagues, what's more environmentally safe, secure and sound -- a pipeline or a supertanker? what's better for our country, to have that oil coming to the united states or to have that oil going to china? i think the answe

mr. shimkus: thank you, mr. speaker. i taught high school government history for four years. for a bill to become a law it must pass both chambers, then it must be signed by the president. the house has now passed two bills which raise the debt ceiling, cut spending and addresses a balanced budget amendment to the constitution. this historical reform for the first time ties a debt increase to a cut in spending. it is long past time for the senate to pass something, their negligence threatens the fiscal health of this nation. once they do we conference the bills which is where compromises are then resolved. or we can pick up their bill. but until then the world waits. and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from oregon rise? >> address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman from oregon is recognized for one minute. mr. blumenauer: mr. speaker, last night we heard the speaker of the house, john boehner, talk about how he s

mr. shimkus: thank you, mr. speaker. as we are talking about debts and deficits, financially, i'm here to talk about a freedom debt and freedom deficit that's occurring in parts around the world. one i have been focused on a lot is the country of belarus. the last dictatorship in europe. the political and economic and human rights situation in belarus has significantly deteriorated. a total of 33 opposition leaders and activists are still being held in prison for peacefully protesting against the dictatorial regime in 2010 presidential elections. slept protests have sprung up on an online campaign called revolution through social networks which encourages people to come to their locality, central squares, every wednesday to, press discontent with the lukashenko regime. journalists and ordinary people have and continue to be arrested. the authorities have also launched a distributed denial of service attack on opposition websites. the united states and the european union continue to condemn these activities. we must think

mr. shimkus from illinois. we all worked on this amendment together. it's a good amendment. as i think mr. schock explained, the bachus amendment gives the administrator the authority to allow for a possible fourth and fifth suspension of the mandatory purchase for certain communities that are making adequate progress in the flood protection system. it's a commonsense amendment. it's a bipartisan agreement, and i urge its adoption and not only support the amendment but the underlying bill as well. i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from illinois is recognized. mr. schock: thank you, mr. chairman. i would yield the balance of my time to the author of the amendment, the chairman of the committee, spencer bachus. the chair: the gentleman from alabama is recognized. three minutes. mr. bachus: i appreciate the remarks of the gentleman from illinois and simply think i believe it's a noncontroversial amendment. it will encourage local governments to undertake repairs and remedial efforts. i believe it is a

mr. shimkus: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, we are all glued to our televisions and the internet watching the egyptian people, christian and muslim alike, demanding free and fair elections for the first time. the history of the christian church in egypt far exedens that -- exceeds that than islam. extreme groups attacked the fellow egyptians simply because they are christians in an attempt to drive them out of egypt. in some cases they were successful. our country was founded on the principles of religious freedom. as a christian and member of the house of representatives, i'm hopeful that this example of a broad range of beliefs of 435 members will stand as an example to the egyptian people. i will ask the egyptian people and the current military leadership to stand with the christian minority in egypt and ask them to surely practice their faith is not impugned by the current leadership or the one that may be elected in the future. i will continue to keep the helicopteric christians in egypt in my prayers and i will a