ms. norton, ms. maufas, ms. wynns? >> yes. >> welcome to the pack. >> we have a final closing comments. >> hi. thank you, gabriela, you need to go to bed now, honey. public comment and consent items, members of the public can address them but cannot sever them. she was going to wait. >> thank you. board discussion on the consent show only across the board of the superintendent in their discussion severs the item for discussion. public comment on consent items? i don't think we have. mr. kelly, do you have? yep. >> thank you very much. i'm dennis skully from the united educators of san francisco. and i've taken a number of items that i would like to call your attention to. and i grouped them. and the first grouping from k-24 through 44 i believe i added, 59 to it, items that include they come from grants that have to do a safety or equity for the most part. and i raise this to ask because of the ongoing concern that the union has over the cut of the hours for the security age, the t-10s. if there's anything in these gra

ms. norton: mr. speaker, i move to suspend the rules and pass the bill, h.r. 6510. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 6510, a bill to direct the administrator of general services to convey a parcel of real property in houston, texas, to the military museum of texas and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from the district of columbia, ms. norton, and the gentleman from alaska, mr. young, will each control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from the district of columbia. ms. norton: i ask the speaker to pause a moment. ms. norton: may i proceed, mr. speaker? the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized and it will be the gentleman from florida, mr. diaz-balart, who will control the other side. the gentlewoman from the district of columbia. ms. norton: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include

ms. norton: madam speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentlewoman. ms. norton: i rise today to support h.r. 1746 as amended, a bill to re-authorize the previous disaster mitigation program. this program authorization expires with the current continuing resolution. the previous act to mitigation program is authorized in section 203 of the disaster relief and emergency assistance act and first authorized by this committee in the disaster mitigation act of 2000. my subcommittee held a hearing in which we received testimony on empirical evidence that show that this predisaster mitigation program manages to get a substantial reform on this investment with some estimations as high as four to one return to the national government. examples of mitigation activities highlighted at the hearing include the seismic strengthening of buildings and fraps requiring repepively flooded-repetitively flooded homes. and the buildings of safe rooms and houses and other buildings to protect from high winds. the

ms. norton, mr. yee and ms. wynns? >> yes. >> the thoughts for the evening? >> thank you. since the agenda is a little bit long, i'll keep my remarks a little bit short. you might be aware that or governor-elect terry brown hosted a meeting in los angeles to talk about just how bad the deficit is in the state of california. and as you recall, just a reminder of people that before te elections people said that the deficit was somewhere between 15 to 18 billion dollars and after that election went to $25 million. now they're starting to talk about that it's more in the neighborhood of $3 1 billion. i know last year we made humongous cuts and furloughs and we've reduced the school year by four days. we still have a long ways ahead of us. i want to remind the public of that, as january rolls around it's just around the corner. we're going to need the input of our entire community to speak with our legislators because the cuts will just be tremendous in the future years. just a brief reminder. i also wanted to congratulate and i believe later on she'll be here president kim. as

ms. mccollum: i thank the gentlelady. i would now like to recognize the delegate from washington, d.c., eleanor holmes norton. ms. norton: i thank the gentlelady from minnesota for yielding. i come to the floor this evening because a colleague of iconic reputation is about to leave this house. now jim oberstar will do very well. i wish i could say the same for those we leave behind. he is more than the institutional memory of the transportation and infrastructure committee. sure jim has a legendary memory that he lends to the committee members ever so often. but you cannot describe jim's work with particular pieces of infrastructure that you may see here and there. you just can't do it. jim's work has been for so long and so deep and so influential, that it will be almost impossible for it to ever be repeated in this house. for jim has spent his entire career and by that, we mean not only his career as a member, but as a staff member most influential with members, with the t and i committees or public works, whatever you want to call it. we call it jim's committee. and members often expect staff to specialize with

ms. norton: i thank my good friend. i knew he wouldn't leave me behind. mr. speaker, i am particularly grateful this evening to chairman brady for working so closely with me on the bill for statues for the district of columbia, a bill i have introduced for years, but that did not move until mr. brady became chair. however, ranking member dan lungren deserves special thanks for today's bill. when he said he could not support my bill for two statues for the district, he didn't say no to everything. he introduced his own bill for one statue for the district and one for each of the territories. the bill before the house this evening is essentially that bill, the lungren bill. our bill, the bill i have introduced for our original bill, the bill i have introduced, the two statues, the statue for the district of kwlum yeah was introduced only to give some small recognition to the taxpayers of the district who get little recognition for their taxpaying status. in the end, in the spirit of compromise represented by mr. lungren's bill, i decided that we should seek to

ms. norton: i want to thank the gentleman for yielding but i need to thank him for much more. for not only sponsoring this bill but for shepherding this bill. it was not always smooth sailing but it was mostly smooth sailing because its underlying purpose is so clear and necessary. i appreciate that it's been a bipartisan bill, both here and in the senate. i certainly appreciate its bipartisan sponsorship by representative biggert and you, mr. carnahan. i know that this bill will be gratifying to mr. oberstar who has presided over much of the building of the federal inventory during his extraordinary serve in the house. i want to thank mr. lincoln diaz-balart, with whom i worked so closely not only on this bill but the many bills and the many hearings we have held together. madam speaker, what we are -- we have to consider is the federal building inventory amounts to $43 billion of investment of the taxpayers of the united states over many decades. it is clearly irreplaceable. some of it is familiar to us all. the buildings here in washington, such as the justice department, o