observing asian american and pacific islanders contributions highlights their importance of building our america. for example, chinese immigrants played a significant role in construction of the first transcontinental railroad which was completed on may 10, 1869. asian americans and pacific islanders have contributed to this country through the arts, commerce and every other aspect of american culture since they first arrived in the 19th century. whether it is in the arse or government or science or -- arts or government or the science they have played a fundamental role in our nation's technological and economic expansion. as well as the every other fabric of life we can think of. their accomplishments are too numerous to count. their influence is felt throughout our country. the month of may once again gives us the opportunity to thank and honor asian americans and pacific islanders and recognize them for their many contributions. now, in the past and certainly in the future. thank you, madam speaker. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves

faleomavaega: he was also instrumental in helping establish the pacific island development program. on that, i yield back. the chair: the gentleman yields back. the gentlewoman from florida. ms. ros-lehtinen: i continue trow serve. the chair: the gentleman from california. mr. berman: for purposes of a colloquy, mr. chairman, i'm pleased to yield a minute to a former member of the committee, member of the budget committee and ways and means committee, mr. blumenauer. the chair: the gentleman from oregon is recognized. mr. blumenauer: i rise to urge that clean water and sanitation be addressed at the highest level of the state dapt and usaid. it remains the greatest preventable health problem, accounting for two million deaths a year ago, a child dying every 15 seconds and half the illness in the world. we can not meet our goals without addressing this crisis. on earth day, i introduced the bipartisan paul simon water for the world act with a goal to provide 100 billion of the world's poorest with first-time access to safe drinking water and sanitation. i'd like to work with you, mr.

madam speaker, the asian american and pacific islander community is composed of over 15 million people who on a daily basis are are making signature contributions to the betterment of our country. for example, in addition to being one of our country's fastest growing minority groups, the asian american and pacific islander community is also responsible for generating an estimated $326 billion annually for our economy as entrepreneurs and business owners of over 1.1 million businesses. while asian pacific american heritage is certainly worth recognizing and celebrating year-round, the country and the asian pacific american community have traditionally come together in the month of may to celebrate and commemorate asian and pacific american heritage. that all began back in 1977 when representative frank -- representatives frank

the daily transiting of international passengers to destinations in the united states, other pacific islands, major cities in the pacific rim, including, japan, korea, taiwan and australia. the security arrangement requires significant resources to be expended in constant around the clock monitoring by security personnel to prevent the co-mingling of transiting and departing passengers. the security enhancements made subsequent to the terrorist attacks of september 11, 2001, particularly with respect to preventing the co-mingling of passengers at our airports all across the country have been costly and in some cases difficult to fully implement. moreover, the current decrease in tourist arrivals and departures due to the economic downturn erodes the financial capability of small airports to implement such security improvements. the guam international airport authority has been operating from a waiver from the t.s.a. for several years. the t.s.a. and the guam international airport agree that the temporary solution which amounts to placement of removable par tissue ons and use of security staf

specific populations, so we face the challenges in collecting data on native american and specific pacific islanders and the populations as well as some specific hispanic populations across the board, but from the data that we have seen and have seen over the past two or three decades, we have seen a continued confirmation in the existence of health disparities in minority populations. what is the cause of these disparities? it is certainly multi factorial. there is the need -- disease diagnosis and diagnosing specific diseases with the minority communities, but looking at this and the population, as well, it is related to socio-economic and environmental come individual, and personal factors, as well as other social determinants of health. you will hear more from this panel, but as we look in terms of the etymology, it is important to recognize that this is definitely a multi-factorial process, for the disease processes in minority communities. individual risks include poverty, low help the literacy, behavior, as well as lack of insurance or underinsurance as well as a lack of a regular source of c

basically restructured and some what dispersed our forces further in the pacific, although it did move some army command to the big island. number one, how do you see that change in our laydown posture and how that affects our relationship with japan? and as a subset of that, bomb -- guarm. it is -- as a subset of that, guam. it is a little bit further ease at a lot further south. it will be a challenge to move the marines around. can you talk about both of those? >> it is a great question, and one on which we are spending not an insignificant amount of time and effort. as you state, dpri is not just guam. there are a number of other subsets, all of which are in some process of execution. we are going to take a navy air went out, move it down. the japanese have built an entirely new runway down there. we are shuffling around some army flags, and i do not mean to sound trivial. it is very important to us in the japanese. we are combining with the air force in japan to have a combined operation center, which will be very important. all through those 18 other parts, on track, generally well funded, and very beneficial to us

that are basically restructured and somewhat dispersed our forces in the pacific although we did move some commands into the big island. how do you see that change in our lay-down posture and how that affects our relationship with japan? >> uh-huh. >> so there's an a and the b is, as a subset of that, guam. guam is a little bit further east and a lot further south and it's going to be a challenging place not to train marines but for you and your successors to move them around. so could you talk about both of those? >> sure, it's a great question and one in which we're spending a not insignificant amount of time and effort. the defense policy review initiative and a subset of that, the aip plan, as you state the dpri isn't just guam. there are a number -- 18 other subsets of dpri all of which are in some process of execution now. we're going to take the navy air wing out of that and move them down. the japanese are building an entirely new runway down there. you may have seen it before you left. we're shuffling around some army flags and some -- again, i don't mean to sound trivial. it's very important to us and to the