ms. castor votes chairman upton. no. >> others wishing to cast a vote? seeing none, the clerk will report the tally. >> mr. chairman, there were 19 ayes and 34 nays. >> the amendment is not. the next vote will occur on the doyle amendment and those in favor will sayos opposed will say no. the clerk will call the roll. >> mr. barton votes no. mr. sterns votno. mr. whitfield votes no. mr. shim kiss votes no. mr. pits votes no. mrs. bono mac votes no. mr. walden votes no. mr. terry votes no. mr. rogers votes no. mr. mi rick votes no. mr. sullivan votes no. mr. murphy votes no. mr. burgess votes no. mrs. blackburn votes no. mr. bill bray votes no. mr. bass votes no. mr. skilis votes no. mr. lata votes no. mrs. mcmorris rogers votes no. mr. harper votes no. mr. lance. mr. lance votes no. mr. cassidy votes no. mr. guthrie votes no. mr. olsson votes no. mr. mckinley votes no. mr. gardener votes no. mr. pompeo votes no. mr. kin singer votes no. mr. griffith votes no. mr. waxman. mr. dingle. mr. dingle votes aye. mr. markiy votes aye. mr. towns. mr. towns votes a

ms. castor. >> thank you. welcome. citizens across america value clean air and clean water. so i want to thank you and everyone at epa for what you're doing to protect our air and our water and for your partnership with states and local communities. now, two of the most important partnerships with our local communities involve the state -- the clean water and safe drink water loan programs. these are the vital dollars that help with storm water infrastructure, replacing old pipes. waste water infrastructure that's not real exciting, but they are vitally important when it comes to keeping our neighborhoods clean and our water bodies clean all across the country. they're important job creators too and the recovery act gave us a nice shot in the arm to help create jobs while at the same time leaving with us a lasting legacy of important infrastructure improvements. the issue is that the needs all across the country outweigh the resources. how would you characterize the backlog right now in storm wat

ms. castor: thank you, mr. speaker. the bill is a special valentine a love letter of the republicans undiing devotion to big oil. no others compare. the problem is with the republican congressional leaders' blind passion for big oil, they demonstrate an animosity to american families and businesses. it has been less than two years since the deepwater horizon disaster and republicans now propose to drill for oil just about anywhere. have safety measures been adopted by this congress? no. do they recognize that there are special places across america that are not appropriate for oil drilling? not really. for example, the bill would allow drilling off the beaches of florida. florida's tourism industry employs more than one million people. tourism and fishing are multibillion industry, drilling closer to our shores puts those jobs at risk. yet, that's what the republicans propose here and for what? the c.b.o. says if you drill off the coast of florida that would generate $100 million. $billion or 100 million? bp decimated t

ms. castor who spoke about the reduction in the 2013 budget of $359 million for the clean water and drinking water state revolving funds. i hope there might be a way to try to restore some of that money because my state of new york has received many millions of dollars to protect our watersheds and make upgrades and repairs to our sewer systems and epa's most recent drinking water infrastructure survey indicates that new york will require $29.7 billion over 20 years to ensure continued delivery of safe, public drinking water. so i want to emphasize that. and i hope you can find some way to restore those cuts. >> i want to talk about frocking. that is something in my state that is sahh hot topic. we have many, many people who are fearful of fracking. we don't want it to contaminate the drinking water or have fracking by the watersheds. that is sahh concern that i have. on the other hand, it has the potential to create many jobs in western new york, as it has been doing in western pennsylvania. and i know mr. green had spoken with you about it. with the -- with the study. i think the study is

ms. castor. >> thank you, mr. chairman. welcome, mr. secretary. i would like to ask you about identity theft and tax fraud. because in the identity theft and tax cut n. the fall of last year. she said where are all the criminals on the street. all the other drug dealers are gone. then they raided a motel with rooms where they had laptops set up one after another, and they found where all the criminals were, and they were filing fraudulent identities to claim the -- filing the tax returns to get refunds. they have quite a racket going on. they call it turbo tax because it's so easy. and they can put in hundreds of these. and you should see what the postmaster general have. just row afro of those debit cards, green dot, other checks coming to post office boxes. some that they've been able to get -- in fact, the bust last year was $130 million worth. and that's just the tip of the iceberg. this is not just in tampa, florida. this is happening all over the country. and we have got to get a handle on it. here is one of the problems. the tampa police de

ms. castor: thank you, mr. chairman. mr. chairman, i'm very pleased to see so much bipartisan support for legislation to devote 80% of the fines and penalties under the clean water act from the b.p. deepwater horizon disaster to the gulf of mexico. and i reluctantly have to oppose this amendment because the amendment is entitled restore and that is one of the pieces of legislation that, on the one hand, does devote 80%, but on the other is completely flawed. and so for that reason i'm going to have to urge everyone to vote no. but, let's not lose momentum here. let's redouble our efforts in this congress as soon as possible to pass legislation that does devote 80% of the fines and penalties to the gulf of mexico. the problems with the restore act are many, it doesn't focus on gulfwide research and recovery it does not devote the kind of resources to long-term monitoring in the gulf of mexico. there are many other areas in -- that many other areas in america enjoy. for those reasons i urge a no vote. the chair: the gentleman

ms. castor: thank you, madam speaker. i ask my colleagues to support the stock act when it comes up later today. the stock act is the stop trading on congressional knowledge act. it essentially bans members of congress from using their position and information that is not available to the general public for their own personal gain, such as purchasing stocks based upon information we learn from a briefing here on capitol hill. public office is a public trust , and rules that apply to our neighbors and americans all across the understand should equally apply to members of congress. i'd like to congratulate my colleague, congresswoman louise slaughter from new york, and congressman tim walz from minnesota, who have worked on this legislation year in and year out. colleagues, we should all vote in favor of the stock act. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from arkansas seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. >> thank you, mr.

ms. castor: we both know, because -- mr. cassidy: we both know, because of market forces, its costs are 40% cheaper than originally conceived. that is the power of getting the patient the ability to go from plan to plan. if she doesn't like that plan, next year she chooses another. and the bad plan goes out the of business if enough seniors do that. that's the same concept behind medicare part d. we have other colleagues to speak. i have one more thing. i'm always struck when my democratic friends say they want the american people to have the same type of plan that members of congress do. the premium support model is the same type of plan you and i have. we pick among an array of programs we pick the one that works best for us, that matches our pocketbook. if we're poor we pay nothing at all, if we're rich we pay a little bit more. but most of us in congress are in this middle range. we get the plan that benefits our need. that is the widen-ryan plan totally. we actually give the american people the same sort of deal that me

ms. castor: mr. chairman, i rise today in support of the bipartisan expedited line-item veto and recisions act. as a member of the budget committee and a co-sponsor, i'd like to thank chairman ryan and ranking member van holen for their work and -- van hollen for their work and cooperation. mr. chairman, i support a line-item veto because the congressional appropriations and spending oversight is broken. they're broken. almost every year appropriation bills are rolled into one massive package at the end of the year with little opportunity to review, debate or amend the provisions. that means members have little ability to eliminate a wasteful expenditure or program. this past year was a perfect example. despite the expressed desires of speaker boehner that we would have open debate and have open amendments on every appropriations bill, that did not happen. instead, the bills were rolled into one huge package in the 11th hour, released with -- i think ranking member van hollen said, 15 hours to review