immensely intelligent, extremely athletic, the best tackle in the nfl, said from a mother's perspectiveety deemed him of value less. my son got off the bus every day at poplar and ridgway and walk to school. 30 or 40,000 cars a day past him. there was not a soul inhis world that care whether that young man lived or died. he would have fallen dead right there on the street and no one would have known him to contt. he was not using the correct last 93 he was not sure what his first name was. the things that you take granted an and still in your kids every day -- society deemed michael oher value the spirit you taken into law home and you love him and you give them hope you give him opportunity, and people, it will change a light. i have lived it. i have lived it. this young man was so close to falling through the cracks that it will rock your world when you really think about the opportunity that could have been lost with this young man's life. and just through everyday circumstances, our paths crossed. in our house we call it a miracle. childbirth is truly easier to explain them how we g

immensely intelligent, extremely athletic, the best tackle in the nfl, said from a mother's perspective. society deemed him of value less. my son got off the bus every day at poplar and ridgway and walk to school. 30 or 40,000 cars a day past him. there was not a soul in this world that care whether that young man lived or died. he would have fallen dead right there on the street and no one would have known him to contact. he was not using the correct last 93 he was not sure what his first name was. the things that you take granted an and still in your kids every day -- society deemed michael oher value the spirit you taken into law home and you love him and you give them hope you give him opportunity, and people, it will change a light. i have lived it. i have lived it. this young man was so close to falling through the cracks that it will rock your world when you really think about the opportunity that could have been lost with this young man's life. and just through everyday circumstances, our paths crossed. in our house we call it a miracle. childbirth is truly easier to explain the

we put plans together, and we know not everything is going to go to plan, and we have to be flexible nfl to change plans at a minute's notice, and that is not what is happening with this. + with he stafford act, there are certain programs in there that we would like to see. for example, disaster unemployment insurance. that is one that we were not able to acttvate in this disaster, as well as crisis counseling, and there is going po be a lot of that, as well as other assistaace. what our concern is if the system could be hero flexible, then i think we could see a better result. we have seen emergency management involved since 9/11. this goes back to 1990 and there has never been a cat stroveg oil spill like this. >> all right. let me ask about that because one of the i guess challenges here is you have a private company, bp, who really ultimately has responsibility for most of this. but then you also have the federal government who is very involved in the response. tell the subcommittee if you can about how your state has bben able to coordinate with the federal government and with bp an

they will be congratulated by nfl star michael orr and deputy secretary of education anthony miller. and we wish these young people continued success in their personal, professional, and educational goals. we also thank congresswoman sheila jackson lee and congressman gus bilirakis, who serve on the congressional awards board of directors. their contributions to the program are an important part of this congress' support of the outstanding youth who participate in the congressional awards program. once again, i express my support for senate bill 2865 and the re-authorization of the congressional awards program. i urge -- i urge my colleagues to join me in support of this bill. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves his time. the gentlelady from washington. mrs. mcmorris rodgers: thank you, i yield myself such time as i may consume. i rise in support of the congressional award program re-authorize act of 2009. this bill -- the awards program is a public-private partnership to recognize america's youth ages 14 to 23. applicants excel in servic

the lot of you saw the celebration in the streets and felt of five of what this nfl team did and howt lifted us as a community. it is like it changed overnight from the saints' victory in miami. people started coming to new orleans again, not just for mardi gras, but because, we have had to overcome a lot of the bad publicity from katrina. we are fighting on this front to try to make sure people understand not one bit of seafood is being released unless it has been tested. we have been very proactive on that. the final front we are fighting is to fight for the existence of our culture and coastline. the inundation of saltwater because of oil production on our wetlands, they are the first and second lines of defense long before it hits our levee system which is being rebuilt now. all i am asking for is give new orleans a chance. keep us in your prayers, but if you have the opportunity to come down, come on down because we are tied to the oil and gas industry, the seafood industry and the tourism industry. these are the three big industries in louisiana and we are being strangled on al

the lot of you saw the celebration in the streets and felt of five of what this nfl team d and how itifted us as a community. it is like it changed overnight from the saints' victory in miami. people started coming to new orleans again, not just for mardi gras, but because, we have had to overcome a lot of the bad publicity from katrina. we are fighting on this front to try to make sure people understand not one bit of seafood is being released unless it has been tested. we have been very proactive on that. the final front we are fighting is to fight for the existence of our culture and coastline. the inundation of saltwater because of oil production on our tlands, they are the first and secondines of defense long before it hits our levee system which is being rebuilt now. all i am asking for is give new orleans a chance. keep us in your prayers, but if you have the opportunity to come down, come on down becae we are tied to the oil and gas industry, the seafood industry and the tourism industry. these are the three big industries in louisiana and we are being strangled on all three f