ms. norton? >> ms. wynns? mr. yee? er, cuse me? >> aye. five ayes. >> thanks for bringing the resolution. item s board member reports any standing committees. >> yeah, so the curriculum and program committee at the board of education was held on monday maverpblg 59. we had three informational item an update on transitional kindergarten and the review of the fifth l.e.a. monitoring report. so concerning the monitoring report this is the -- this is the fifth monitoring report but we're in the third year of implementation. as you know san francisco unified school district is an improved district because we are not meeting our target latino, african-american and students with disabilities free lunch program. our report, i think was, well, i don't know -- i don't think it was a good report, really. it said -- it really said sort of we're in the right direction but there are certain things that need to be done concerning education and one of it was that our budget was not aligned with our goals for special education and that it has a heavy empha

ms. norton: i thank the gentleman for yielding. the american people will be puzzled by why we can't get out of this house what has traditionally been the most popular bill, the transportation bill, an they will hope we're not on the road to the 30-plus f.a.a. extensions that we had before. you know it won't do to say, like two kids you did it too, we did it, you can do it, therefore we can do it. none of us should have done it. but in any case we know we don't have to do it this time. the senate has passed a bill that we could pass as well. so we know the compromise can happen because they passed a bill with more than 2/3 of their own house, including many republicans signing on, compromise is possible. if you believe in compromise. and i'm afraid this bill shows that we have a majority that does not. they are on record saying that they must have 218 votes from their caucus alone. that will say to the american people if we need to pass a bill that will have only people from our party voting for it, while the senate has passed a bil

ms. norton, for 30 minutes. ms. norton: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, i come to the floor today to begin a series of half-hour conversations containing information that i believe many members -- simply do not have. especially considering how often the constitution and the framers have cited. i have no reason to believe that there is any intention on the part of any member to deny democracy to any american citizen in our great country. so during these half-hour special orders i will be offering some evidence and information that go all the way back to the framers and come forward into the era when the district of columbia was granted home rule in order to try to inform members of the standing of the district of columbia, which is often referred to as the federal district. it is of course not a federal district. it is a hometown of 600,000 residents which has been granted full and complete authority to govern itself, too late in this era but not too late in the history of the country because as the cunigan, the -- because as the country began, th

ms. norton. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized for three minutes. ms. norton: i thank the gentlelady from new york for the consistent leadership she has given this important legislation since it was passed. it took us a number of years to get it passed in the first place. it's never been off our radar screen. and especially to my good friend from wisconsin who comes forward in very compelling ways to ask that we vote no on the previous question so that we can consider the violence against women act which may well expire, making it, i fear, a real target for the appropriation committee, because the bill shall not have been re-authorized. mr. speaker, i visited a safe house last week in my district because i wanted to hear why a woman would make a decision to stay at home with an abuser rather than leave? i'm not sure i understood in my heart why she would assume the risk rather than leave. i'm glad i went. there were eight women there, different ages, some had children. for the first time i understood in the most poignant and practical way, i understood w

ms. norton: i thank the gentleman for yielding. the american people will be puzzled by why we can't get out of this house what has traditionally been the most popular bill, the transportation bill, an they will hope we're not on the road to the 30-plus f.a.a. extensions that we had before. you know it won't do to say, like two kids you did it too, we did it, you can do it, therefore we can do it. none of us should have done it. but in any case we know we don't have to do it this time. the senate has passed a bill that we could pass as well. so we know the compromise can happen because they passed a bill with more than 2/3 of their own house, including many republicans signing on, compromise is possible. if you believe in compromise. and i'm afraid this bill shows that we have a majority that does not. they are on record saying that they must have 218 votes from their caucus alone. that will say to the american people if we need to pass a bill that will have only people from our party voting for it, while the senate has passed a bil

ms. norton: mr. speaker, i rise in support of s. 1710 and pleased to speak in support of the bill of renaming the united states courthouse at 222 west 7th avenue in anchorage, alaska as the james m. filts gerald united states courthouse. judge james fitzgerald is considered one of the founding fathers of law in the state of alaska and dedicated his life to public service and well respected throughout the community. judge fitzgerald was a world war ii veteran serving in the u.s. army and u.s. marines and awarded the distinguished flying cross and air medal for his military service and honorably discharged in december of 1946. after his military service, judge fitzgerald earned his l.l.b. and b.a. simultaneously and graduated in 1951. soon after graduation, judge fitzgerald was appointed as an assistant u.s. attorney in alaska and anchorage, alaska, willing to take on law enfoirment and corruption. he was appointed by the governor of alaska as legal counsel for the state and was apointed as the state's

ms. norton, there are a number of people on both sides of the aisle who have passionately worked on this issue and i'm proud to report, mr. speaker, this is very report in its nature. i also want to thank our chairman, chairman issa, who was very instrumental in passing out of committee to the floor, as well as ranking member cummings, and certainly our majority leader, mr. cantor, for allowing and encouraging this bill to come to the floor. i appreciate the bipartisan nature. these are the types of things that we should be doing as a body, to make sure that we're improving the process and streamlining the disposal of real property that happens in this country. most are somewhat amazed to understand that our federal government has roughly 900,000 buildings and structures under its ownership. the g.a.o. in 2011 estimated that the federal government holds 45,000 underutilized properties that cost nearly $1.7 billion annually in order to operate. again, these are underutilized. in fact, more recently, the o.m.b. comptroller testified before the senate subcommittee that the government contro

ms. norton: shakespeare says let me count the ways. i'm finding it difficult the reasons to oppose the republican's unbalanced, no-growth budget that threatens us to send us back into a recession, but when the tightest fit in the federal government says that the republican budget would, and here i'm quoting, make it extraordinarily difficult for the federal government to do its basic business, i listen. the federal government, mr. chairman, is labor-intensive. when the o.m.b. says there will be 4,500 fewer federal agents on the border working the criminal cases and performing national security, i listen. when the o.m.b. says we won't meet basic standards for food safety, i am listening. we simply cannot keep freezing pay for federal employees which amount to deep cuts and replacing every three with only one and expect to continue protecting the american people at the same time. this budget federal employees while they are down and kicks their vital work right with them. it guarantees the growth of the unaccountable contractor sector, w

ms. norton: i thank the gentlelady for leading this special order for our good friend and colleague, donnell payne, whose passing leaves me shocked and deeply saddened. after 12 terms of outstanding service in the house of representatives, don was a friend, he was more than a colleague, he was the kind of friend you could always strike up a conversation with about matters technical or just matters at hand. because don was easy of manner but strong of conviction. don turned out to be a real path breaker and history maker. he came to congress as the first african-american to serve in congress from the state of new jersey, he followed the great peter ridino, who had served newark for decades. newark had become a majority african-american city, but don grew up in a neighborhood that was as italian as it was black and felt comfortable with people of all ethnic groups. when congressman ridino who was chair of the house judiciary committee, this was before i came to congress but it was much commented upon, don, who had run against him several times, indeed, was the logical person to win that electi