ms. ros-lehtinen, and the gentleman will each control 20 minutes. ms. ros-lehtinen: i ask that all members have five days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentlelady is recognized. ms. ros-lehtinen: i rise in strong 130r9 of h.r. 3159, introduced by my good friend from texas, judge poe this bill stands for the simple proposition that consistent evaluation and transparency will improve the effectiveness of u.s. developmental assistance around the world. h.r. 3159 will require the president to establish guidelines for measurable goals for monetary -- monitoring and evaluation plans that can be applied with reasonable consistency to all overseas development assistance. i urge my colleagues to support h.r. 3159 and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady reserves the balance of her time. the gentleman from virginia is recognized. . mr. connolly: i rise in support of h.r. 3159. i would like to thank my colleague from texas, mr. poe,

ms. ros-lehtinen, and the gentleman from verge, mr. connolly, each will control 20 minutes. ms. ros-lehtinen: i ask that all members have five legislative days to revise and extend than include extraneous material on this bill. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentlelady is recognized. ms. ros-lehtinen: i will place my statement in the record and reserve the plans of our time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from virginia is recognized. mr. connolly: i thank my colleague for her eloquence on this matter, i also support the resolution, will insert a statement into the record and yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. ms. ros-lehtinen: i yield back the balance of our time. the speaker pro tempore: the question is, will the house suspend the rules and agree to joint resolution 44. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 being in the affirmative -- ms. ros-lehtinen:, mr. speaker, i object to the vote on the grounds that a quorum is not present and make a point of order that a quo

ms. ros-lehtinen: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognize. ms. ros-lehtinen: i rise to support this strongly bipartisan measure which condemns the latest provocation by north korea. pyongyang has once again violated past united nations resolutions and the assurances goive six-party partners. i would like to take this opportunity to sincerely congratulate president-elect park for her victory in south koreaest's hard-fought presidential election. the republic of korea is one of our nation's closest friends in asia. ours is a steadfast alliance forged in the crucible of war. two decades ago, with all eyes on europe, the united states prematurely celebrated victory over communism and an end to the cold war but in 1989, the same year the berlin wall fell, tanks roll spood tiananmen square crushing in a bloody massacre the hopes of the chinese people. while communism was gone in europe it was revitalized in the world's largest nation. pyongyang's missile launch awakens us to a fact that communis

ms. ros-lehtinen: thank you very much, mr. speaker. i move that the house suspend the rules and agree to h.r. 3783, as amended. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentlelady is recognized. ms. ros-lehtinen: i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to insert extraneous material onto the record on this measure. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. ms. ros-lehtinen: thank you, mr. speaker. i'd like to yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized. ms. ros-lehtinen: i appreciate it. mr. speaker, i rise in strong support today of h.r. 3783, as amended, the counter iran in the western hemisphere act of 2012, a bill introduced by my good friend from south carolina and a member of our foreign affairs committee, mr. duncan, who is here with us. in september, the house acted and passed the duncan bill overwhelmingly, and last week the senate further reiterated its strong bipartisan and bicameral su

ms. ros-lehtinen: i yield such time to the gentleman from >>> this is live, the floor of the house of representativeslegislative business is taking place in the house tonight, but members are not voting on any measures related to the fiscal cliff. as we've been reported, the senate won't tonight either. although they're talking and we expect them to come back tomorrow morning at 11:00. as we all know from past battles, today's fiscal cliff fight is, sadly, typical. in fact, this congress is on track to go down as the least productive congress since recordkeeping began. in the course of nearly two years, the 112th congress has passed 219 bills that have actually been signed into law by president obama. but a lot of these laws were insignificant, things like the names of post offices. and a slew of bills passed by the house had no chance of passing the senate or getting the president's signature, like repeated attempts to repeal the affordable care act. the influence of the tea party lawmakers have been a clear factor. >> the tea party, which is not even on the screen about a year ago at this time, is

woodall: at this time it's my great pleasure to yield to the gentlelady from florida, chairwoman ros-lehtinen. ms. ros-lehtinen: thank you so much. and i thank the gentleman for arranging this for us. and i also rise to commemorate the 34 years of jay pearson's career as a member of the republican cloakroom, the republican floor staff, the speaker's office. he's held many possessions -- positions. but the 113th congress, mr. speaker, will suffer due to his retirement and members on both sides of the aisle will certainly feel his absence. by the time i came to the u.s. house of representatives, jay was already a seasoned veteran of the archaic world of house parliamentary procedures. to this day, never far from jay's side, is his jefferson's manual of rules with its well-marked pages and notes, written in the margin -- notes written in the margins. hiser tocal expertise and institutional knowledge will not easily be replicated. precious few know this house better and what we are losing is substantial. but jay is far more than just a fountain of institutional knowledge. he is a familiar and comfort

ms. ros-lehtinen: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise here to ask for the immediate release of u.s. marine john hammer, who has been imprisoned by mexican authorities since august where for a time he was being shack willed to his bed. lance corporal hammer is an outstanding young american combat veteran who took every reasonable step to ensure that he was safely and legally transporting the anti-firearm that he inherited from his great-grandfather and he spoke with our own custom and border patrol agents who assured him he would be fine as long as he registered it with mexican authorities. once in mexico, john attempted to register his old-fashioned sears and roebuck shotgun and was immediately arrested as if he were a gun runner. i'm calling on our state department to act swiftly to get john released and i'm calling on our department of homeland security to explain how their agents could have given john this wrong instruction. john has suffered enough. let's bring him home to his family where he rightly belongs in time for christmas. thank you, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore:

ms. ros-lehtinen: thank you, mr. speaker. we have no further requests for time and we yield back the balance of our time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back. the question is will the house suspend the rules and concur in the senate amendment to h.r. 3783. so many as are in favor say aye. any opposed say no -- the gentleman from -- >> on that i request the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays are requested. all those in favor of taking this vote by the yeas and nays will rise and remain standing. a sufficient number having arisen, the yeas and nays are ordered, pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, further proceedings on this motion will be postponed. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? mr. smith: i move the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 6621, to correct and improve certain provisions of the leahy-smith america invents act, and tighted 35, united states code, as amended. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the