mr. whitfield: mr. speaker, i request the yeas and nays on the legislation. the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays are requested. those in fare of taking this vote by the yeas and nays will rise and remain standing until counted. a sufficient number having risen, the yeas and nays are ordered. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, further proceedings on this motion will be postponed. for what purpose does the gentleman from kentucky seek recognition? mr. whitfield: i move to suspend the rules and pass h.r. 316 the collinsville energy promotion act. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: union calendar, h.r. 316, to extend the deadline for commencement of certain hydroelectric projects. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from kentucky, mr. whitfield and the gentleman from new mexico, mr. lujan, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from kentucky. mr. whitfield: i yield myself such time as i may consume. h.r. 316

mr. whitfield: well, my time has expired. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentleman from maryland, mr. hoyer, for five minutes. mr. hoyer: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, tonight the president will once again walk into this chamber and lay out a vision for how to strengthen america in the years ahead. properly, part of that vision will include the need to solve our deficit challenge and address the looming sequester. that dangerous set of automatic indiscriminant spending cuts that are due to take effect in just under three weeks. but instead of working with democrats to avert the sequester through a big and balanced solution or frankly even a short-term balanced proposal, a growing number of house republicans are instead engaged in a dangerous blame game. majority leader cantor joined in that this weekend claiming that the president is the one who proposed the sequester in the first place. what he didn't say was, of course, the republicans offered a piece of legislation called cut, cap and balance. the

mr. whitfield of kentucky. the speaker pro tempore: the chair announces the speaker's anountment pursuant to 22 u.s.c. 6913 and the order of the house of january 3, 2013, of the following member on the part of the house to the congressional executive commission on the people's republic of china. the clerk: mr. smith of new jersey, co-chairman. the speaker pro tempore: under the speaker's announced policy of january 3, 2013, the gentlewoman from maryland, ms. edwards, is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader. ms. edwards: thank you, mr. speaker. in this chamber we've heard over the last several days numerous speakers who have spoken quite eloquently about the impact of sequestration on their communities, their constituents across this country. and i dare say there are many americans who have no idea what sequestration is, but they will come to know, mr. speaker, exactly what sequestration is when they figure out that of the range of programs and services that impact them and their comm

mr. whitfield, to suspend the rules and pass h.r. 267 on which the yeas and nays are ordered. the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: union calendar number four, h.r. 267, a bill to improve hid ro power and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: the question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill? members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a five-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 speaker pro tempore: on this vote the yeas are 422. the nays are zero. 2/3 having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed, and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. would members please clear the well of the house? will the house please come to order? would members please clear the well of the house? would t

congressman whitfield and congressman cooper of nashville, tennessee, with major general michael walsh who is the deputy commanding general. so i have had a number of meetings on this subject, mr. president, and i am determined to get some result one way or the other, and i'm delighted to have the republican leader, senator mcconnell, my colleague senator corker from tennessee and senator rand paul of kentucky as cosponsors on the legislation. now, when they say with a large number of problems facing our country from iran to the sequester, why is a united states senator in fact for and a number of congressmen interested in fishing? well, mr. president, there are 900,000 tennesseans who buy fishing licenses each year, and one of my jobs is to represent them, and i know and they know that these are some of the best fishing areas in our state. this is an area where grandfathers and grandsons and granddaughters go on saturdays and go during the week. there are lots of tennesseans who consider these prize properties and their lands, these are public lands, and they feel they have a right to be there. now, the problem is that the corps of engineers wants to erect physical barriers b