mr. womack: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on h.r. 4664, and then i may include tabular material on the same. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. pursuant to house resolution 847 and rule 18, the chair declares the house in the committee of the whole house on the state of the union for consideration of h.r. 4664. the chair appoints the gentleman from new york, mr. williams, to preside over the committee of the whole. the chair: the house is in the committee of the whole house on the state of the union for consideration of h.r. 4664 which the clerk will report by title. the clerk: a bill making appropriations for financial services and general government for the fiscal year ending september 30, 2024, and for other purposes. the chair: pursuant to the rule, the bill is considered as read the first time. general debate shall be confined to the bill and shall not exceed one hou

mr. womack, for five minutes. mr. womack: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today to recognize a legend in university of arkansas athletics, coach lance carter, long time coach of the women's track and cross-country program. . . . he retired after having won seven ncaa championships, including a trifecta in 2019, winning the ncaa indoor, outdoor, and cross-country titles. carter has been -- his program has been named the program of the year twice in 2022 and 2023 by the u.s. track and field and cross-country coaches association. his career numbers are staggering. nine national coach of the year honors. 45 conference championships. 25 regional championships. 46 s.e.c. coach of the year awards. 654 all americans. 472 of them first teamers. and 31 academic all americans. he's represented the united states five times on the international circuit, including the 1992 summer games in barcelona. team u.s.a. head coach in the 1999 world outdoor championships, and coach of the u.s. women at the 2003 world cross-country championships in brussels. coach carter cam

mr. womack: thank you, mr. chairman, and my thanks to the minority side for giving me an opportunity to speak. i rise in opposition to the gentleman from florida's amendment. we're not always going to hate the f.b.i. i realize there are people on my side of the aisle that don't like some of the activities of the f.b.i. i'm not going to pick an argument on that. but what i will argue is that it is bad policy for the congress to be taking steps to deny a federal agency that is in serious need, in my opinion, of an improvement to their headquarters. now notice, i said improvement. i didn't say some massive big expansion necessarily. but what i do know is that when i toured the f.b.i. headquarters, i saw it in a state of disrepair that is going to need the attention of the owners of that property. and that's us. so to deny the f.b.i. the opportunity to be able to explore other alternatives, i think, is a bit shortsighted. give me an additional 30 seconds? mr. pocan: 30 second. the chair: the jell is recognized. mr.

mr. womack. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. womack: thank you, mr. speaker, and i thank the gentlelady from texas for her leadership on this issue. i rise in strong support of our friends in israel. i want to thank the chairwoman and my friend, ms. granger, for bringing this vital amendment to the floor for the opportunity to speak on it. mr. speaker, the choice today is pretty clear to me. we either support our israeli friends or we don't. we've heard and will continue to hear complaints about the funding offset and the lack of nonisrael funding in this bill. look, each member is entitled to their opinion but at the end of the day this bill will provide over $14 billion in support of israel for this war in support of these murderous terrorists. that's the important part. these aren't just numbers, mr. speaker, on a piece of paper. real lives are at stake here. this funding will save israeli lives through replenishment of its missile defenses and give israel the ability to rid the world of dangerous terrorists, and it will help re-establish deterrenc

mr. womack. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. womack: thank you, mr. speaker, and i thank the gentlelady from texas for her leadership on this issue. i rise in strong support of our friends in israel. i want to thank the chairwoman and my friend, ms. granger, for bringing this vital amendment to the floor for the opportunity to speak on it. mr. speaker, the choice today is pretty clear to me. we either support our israeli friends or we don't. we've heard and will continue to hear complaints about the funding offset and the lack of nonisrael funding in this bill. look, each member is entitled to their opinion but at the end of the day this bill will provide over $14 billion in support of israel for this war in support of these murderous terrorists. that's the important part. these aren't just numbers, mr. speaker, on a piece of paper. real lives are at stake here. this funding will save israeli lives through replenishment of its missile defenses and give israel the ability to rid the world of dangerous terrorists, and it will help re-establish deterrenc

mr. womack or mr. hill in arkansas without this, just to name a few. the funding in this committee bill is already woefully short of ensuring the national network is safe, reliable, and on time. funding for the national network has already been cut by 35% from $1.2 billion to $776 million which if enacted would radically reduce or suspend service on rail lines across the country. it also cuts funding for the amtrak work force of more than 20,000 employees including almost 3,000 employees in the state of pennsylvania. i support robust funding for amtrak and its national network so that we can have safe, reliable passenger rail service across the country. we need investments in rail, not these draconian cuts. i urge my colleagues to vote no on this amendment and i reserve. the chair: the gentleman from illinois reserves. the gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized. mr. perry: thank you, mr. chairman. we absolutely do need investments in passenger rail but private companies won't do it because it loses money. amtrak is happy to do it because it's not th