ms. ros-lehtinen: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized. ms. ros-lehtinen: i rise in strong support of senate bill 1280, kate puzey peace corps volunteer protection act of 2011. this is the culmination of bipartisan and bicameral efforts to remedy long-standing problems in the peace corps regarding the way that rapes, sexual assaults and other violent crimes committed against peace corps volunteers serving overseas are handled. senate bill 1280 incorporates structural reforms in the peace corps that i had proposed in my bill, h.r. 2699. these are based on recommendations made by the peace corps inspector general and also incorporates the essential provisions of representative poe's h.r. 2337 to bring best practices to the peace corps' response to victims of sexual assault. both of these bills, mr. speaker, were adopted by our house foreign affairs committee by unanimous consent. senate bill 1280 is named in honor of a brave peace corps volunteer from the state of georgia, who lost her l

ms. ros-lehtinen: thank you, i thank the gentlelady from ohio for yielding me the time and i congratulate her leadership on this important fiscal issue that permeates throughout our society and throughout our families and throughout the entire budgetary crisis we find ourselves in. i'm so pleased that for the first time in nearly 15 years, the house will be voting this week on a constitutional amendment to balance the federal budget. as a mother and a grandmother, i have long supported this proposal. itle will ensure that we fix the burden -- it will ensure that we fix the burden, and that's what they are, the burden of endless deficits that's fallen on future generations. unfortunately, as you know, mrs. schmidt, the need for this amendment has never been greater. a constitutional amendment can set us on the path to long-term, fiscal stability, and restore confidence after decades of deficits. two queers ago, the -- two years ago, the united states experienced its first trillion-dollar federal budget deficit. we thought things were bad then. last year, we experienced our second trillion

ms. ros-lehtinen: i thank my good friend for the time and i rise in strong support of the coast guard re-authorization bill being considered on the floor today. i have the unique pleasure of representing over 265 miles of pristine coastline ranging from miami beach all the way down to key west. in fact, two of the largest coast guard sectors in the united states, sector miami, commanded by captain christopher scrabba, around sector key west, congressmanned by captain patrick cuatro, are in my district, ensuring that the brave men and women of the coast guard have the tools they need to effectively patrol our coast is of utmost concern to me and all the residents in my congressional district. this is a fiscally responsible re-authorization of the u.s. coast guard. it will include practical reforms to ensure greater efficiency in replacing aging assets and improve utilization of all its resources. this is particularly important in my district as our two sectors have been working day and night to stop drugs from being smuggled into our country. these drug smugglers are becoming more sophisticated, more b

ms. ros-lehtinen, and the senior democrat ranking member, mr. berman, that yesterday republicans and democrats on that committee came together to pass what i consider to be very powerful legislation that would work against the propagation of nuclear weapons by iran. and i think that legislation is something that i hope will be brought to the floor promptly and supported by members from both sides. i think it's important to understand what more we could do and why it's so important to do it. this is another productive day throughout our country. people are going to work in our cities and our small towns and our suburbs. they are going to classes at universities and schools, they are visiting their loved ones in hospitals. it is, thank god, a normal day in america where we can do the things we want to do. but you know, a day 10 years ago in september of 2001 started like a normal day, too. september 11, 2001, was a beautiful, blue-sky, crystaline day and it ended as one of the worst days in the history of our country and the pain of that day is fe