one answering present the resolution is adopted without objection a motion to reconsider is laid on the table house will come to order all members are encouraged to take their conversations off the house floor and those members and staff remaining on the house floor are encouraged are asked to have a see the house will come to order all members are asked to take their conversation off the house floor members and staff on the floor asked take a safe house will continue to suspend until we have water in the house will come to order all members are asked to take their conversations off the house floor or have a seat the house will continue to suspend until we have order in the house members are reminded that we could have an additional three and a half hours on the floor this afternoon which will begin whenever we have order and now one will suspend in the way of water in the house members are encouraged to take their conversations off the house floor have a seated speakers estimate the estimate estimate that we've got as much as three and a half hours left on the floor today which won't begin until we have water in the house members are asked to take a seat or take their conversation off the house floor the house will continue to suspend the spin until we have order in the house all members once again are encouraged to take their conversations off the house floor those who wish to remain on the house floor asked take a seat that applies to members and staff the house will continue to suspend  house on the stage of the union for the consideration of h r twenty five thirty seven which the clerk will report by title a bill to amend the federal water pollution control act relating to beach monitoring and for other purposes pursuant to the rule the bill is considered read the first time the gentlewoman from texas miss eddie bernice johnson and the gentleman from arkansas mr boozman each will control thirty minutes the chair recognizes the gentleman from texas thank you madam authorization of appropriations for the beaches environmental assessment and coastal health baled the beach at through twenty two well first and into low and october two thousand the beach act has provided state local governments and tribes vital funding for cessnock and public notification programs that monitor our coastal waters over the years a subcommittee on water resources and environment has failed numerous hearing s beach program and fat the history of the beach goes back to nine hundred ninety when congressman william hughes of new jersey person introduced the beaches environmental assessment closure and health act of hundred ninety i applaud his vision for fictive coastal water quality criteria and public notification as well as the efforts of congress went alone and congressman bishop the primary sponsor local monitoring and notification grants about ten million dollars and expands the eligible neuters uses for grants under this program for example h r two one to seven thirty five allow states to utilize a portion likely source as opposed to water contamination members on the republican side of the i will take their conversations off the floor exceed coastal water quality criteria these rapid testing methods are designed to ensure that the public is notified of potential home for recreational water within a few hours rather than days as will have a city near an impact on efforts to protect the public from coming into contact with potentially harmful pollutants and contaminants at their favorite beaches in addition r twenty five thirty seven enhances existing public notification requirements including making beach warning enclosures available on the internet the bill clarified that the public must be notified within twenty four thirty seven also requires that a physical san must be posted it any beach where the results of water quality a sample demonstrate the likelihood that the water may be contaminated again providing more information and notice on the condition of the nation's calls the water quality is essential to ensure that the public can avoid contact with potentially harmful pollutants while visiting their favorite beach the bill also enhances e t a s review of individual states and later today our plan to offer a bipartisan management manager's management amendment to the bill to address several technical recommendations made by the environmental protection agency and others that  gentlemen from arkansas they started the houses moving h r twenty five thirty seven the beach protection act of two thousand and seven this is an example of the good we can accomplish when we were able to work in a bipartisan manner to address the nation's water resources needs bitches are important part of american life our nation has nearly twenty three thousand miles of ocean and gulf shoreline along the continental united states fifty five hundred miles of great lakes shorelines and three point six million miles of rivers and streams bases are important part of the coastal watershed providing numerous recreational opportunities for millions of people including fishing boating beachcombing swimming surfing sunbathing and barred watching he chair over one hundred and eighty million people visit coastal waters for recreational purposes this activit supports over twenty million jobs and leads to investment of over fifty bay and each year in goods and services public confidence in the quality of our nation's water is important not only to each citizen who swims but also to the tourism and recreation industries that rely on siphoned swimmable coast waters to improve the public's confidence in the quality of our nation's coastal waters and protect public health and safety congress passed the beaches environmental assessment and coastal health act two thousand commonly called the beach act in the hundred six congress the beach act i aim to limit and prevent human exposure to polluted coastal recreational waters states and local communities to implement beach monitoring assessment and public notification programs the act also called on states with coastal recreational waters to adopt pathogen related water quality standards and directed e p a to conduct research and develop updated water quality criteria to protect human health under the beach act the p s been making grants to states to help them implement programs to beach water quality and notify the public if water quality standards for pathogens are not being met and important indicator progress to date is the fact that all eligible states are now implementing the beach monitoring assessment and public notification provisions of the beach act the number of monitored beaches has increased from approximately one thousand nine hundred ninety seven to more than thirty five hundred in two thousand and six in addition e p a strengthened water quality standards throughout all the cultural recreation waters in the united states all thirty five states and territories with coastal recreation waters now have water quality standards as protective of human health a s water quality criteria this is an increase from eleven states and territories in two thousand further a p i has improved public access to data on beach advisories and closings by improving the agency's electronic beach data collection and delivery systems moreover e p a has been conducting cutting edge research to support the development of new quarter quality criteria to protect human health from pathogens and new monitoring methods to more accurately and rapidly detect pathogens contamination in recreational waters faster and better suspicions are good for public health and good for the economy in beach communities we are optimistic that this work will help state beach managers make the best decisions possible about keeping beaches open or placing them under advisory although a p a in the states have made substantial progress in implementing the beach act there is important work left to do in the areas of monitoring research and updating existing water quality criteria reauthorizing the beach act will enable e p a in the states to complete the important work they have begun so they can better protect public health and safety and continue to improve the quality of our nation's recreational cultural waters so important to the economies of our coastal communities which are twenty five thirty seven passed the transportation and infrastructure committee  would like to thank the chairman of the committee mr oberstar and the chairwoman of the subcommittee on water resources environment eddie bernice johnson and especially a thank you to the ranking member mr maka for all the hard work day a put into  to you a consensus bill that enjoys strong bipartisan support i'd also like to very much thank the staff we have a bipartisan memo that will be offered by ms johnson at the appropriate time it addresses technical and clarifying matters and other matters tremendous bill as a member who has the honor of representing one of the largest states in the country that has shoreline beyond measure in its value i rise in strong support of h r twenty five thirty seven the beach protection act this critical piece of legislation will increase grant funding overseen by the e p a for water quality surveys and for pollution source tracking programs and it will also set a new standard for public notification h r twenty five thirty seven will take important steps to address the serious threat to public health and the economic vitality of coastal counties in northeast wisconsin posed by beach water pollution and human pathogens i would be remiss however if i did not always also recognize the exemplary job performed by the state of wisconsin is to part of natural resources who has been monitoring thirty four the thirty five beaches in door county brown county and kiani counties while i'm also proud to applaud the beach modern standards employed by the state of wisconsin this act will also improve upon the quality of these observations and heighten public safety after all clean water gets good health moreover it will require the e p a to commence a study identify potential revisions in the beach funding distribution formula which currently weighs the beach season considerably more importantly than other factors such as wisconsin's winter season not being adequately measured additionally the bill will call upon the e p a to publish a list of pathogens affecting human health and closing i urge all of our colleagues to support h r twenty five three support of h r twenty five thirty seven the beach protection act and i want to applaud chairman oberstar for his leadership in bringing this to the floor and working with ranking member mica as well and certainly our subcommittee chair bernese johnson has done extraordinary work on this and our ranking member on the subcommittee mr bozeman as well for bringing it to the floor i think in a very bipartisan way i actually was not in the congress back and two thousand when the original b check became law but i really feel that this program could have been designed with my district in mind in michigan we are unbelievably blessed to be surrounded by the great lakes which provide incredible recreational opportunities for boating or fishing or swimming millions of michigan residents and visitors from all over the world come to michigan to enjoy our magnificent great lakes and in fact there are more and more than thirty million people who find their way every year to our beaches and we also have some especially unique challenges in the great lakes region in regards to water quality unfortunately due to inadequate underground infrastructure many areas suffer from during our wet weather events we often see sewage discharge right into the great lakes right along the beaches near big cities like detroit or chicago other populated areas my district faces additional challenges and that we have a very long liquid border that we share with canada in fact on the canadian side of the river next to my district is an area that we call chemical valley which is the largest collection concentration of petro chemical manufacturing plants in north america so we need to worry not only about just charges on the american side but on the canadian side of the border as well frequent and proper monitoring is a critical tool to this area to ensure that those who come to a joy or states natural beauty can do so knowing that the water is clean  the beach act has provided resources to help state and local governments ensure that our beaches are safe for recreational activity and many ways to be checked has been successful and this reauthorization bill in the bipartisan cooperation that went into it has improved enough already outstanding federal program but i do believe that we can do better a two thousand and seven g a o report about the impact of the beach act on the great lakes noted that there were some important successes but also some areas where we need to improve first the g a o found that the formula as used to distribute the big grants does not accurately reflect the monitoring needs of the respective states the e p a takes into account three factors determine the allocation of these grants beach season length beach miles and then bea usage at the current funding levels the beach season factor has a much greater influence than the factors of beach miles and coastal population great lakes states which have beach seasons of little longer than four months lose when compared to southern and western states of course that have a full year season even though the number of people who use the beaches might be similar just an example my home state of michigan is disadvantaged by the minimal consideration given to beach miles in zero six michigan that has three thousand two hundred twenty four shoreline miles received a grant allocation of only two hundred seventy eight thousand by contrast one of our neighboring states that has only sixty three shoreline miles received two hundred forty three thousand so due in part to funding disparity michigan is only able to monitor two hundred twelve of its nine hundred five beaches i'm glad that this legislation helps address this problem by requiring the e p a to conduct a study of the formula for the distribution of grants in accordance with the needs of the states a must report their findings back to the congress and suggest possible revisions for a more equitable distribution of the funds a second recommendation from the g a o report was that congress should consider providing more flexibility for the grant so that they can be used to investigate and remain contamination sources because of the increased monitoring we are able better able to predict which beaches would be contaminated but most cases local officials do not know the source of the contamination a are able to take the action to address the cause if they did they would still not have adequate funds to address the issue this legislation madam speaker will allow states to use their beach act grant to track sources of pollution this change will provide the valuable information that we need to help clean up our waters and reduce pollution before it gets into our waters and i urge my colleagues to support the passage of this legislation now you'll back the balance of my time and also ladies time to expire generally from texas thank you madam chair i'd like thank you thank you madam here and also the septimus the chair the gentlewoman from texas let me ask unanimous consent to enter the state in the record of congressman tim bishop from new york who is a sponsor this bill with myself gentlemen sure quest will be covered under generally thank you madam speaker and let me also say that i appreciate the bipartisan support that this legislation has and certainly the the efforts not only of mr bishop but of our chairman of the full committee of mr oberstar and the subcommittee chairman said he bernice johnson for moving this legislation today that is speaker our nation's beaches are vital not only to residents of our coastal states but also for countless visitors  to visit each year america's beaches are a tremendous resource for those who come to enjoy them and they're a huge economic engine for our coastal states in new jersey alone beaches are the primary driver of a tourism economy that provides nearly five hundred thousand jobs and generates thirty six billion dollars in economic activities for the state each year and all summer long south people flock to the beaches it's my intention to assure that these beach goers that are nations that are there at in new jersey  elsewhere that not only are they this it in clean beaches but they're also swimming in safe waters and thanks to the beaches act a law that was that i helped to author back in two thousand we have made major strides over the last eight years the beach act of two thousand helped us improve water quality testing and monitoring at beaches across the country which is critical to protecting the health of beachgoers the act had three provisions one requiring states to adopt certain e p a water quality criteria to protect beachgoers from getting sick to requiring the e p a to update these water quality criteria with new science and technologies to provide better faster water testing and third to provide grants to states to implement coastal water monitoring programs in new jersey we use some of this grant money to become the first state in the nation to launch a real time web site that notifies beachgoers of the state of our beaches essentially madam speaker this bill is a right to know piece of legislation now despite the actions new jersey and other states have taken since that beach act was signed earlier in the year two thousand this act must be improved and that's why i've introduced the beach protection act of two thousand and seven this bill not only reauthorize the grants to states through two thousand and twelve but as to the annual grant levels from a total of thirty million to a new level of forty million annually we also expand the scope of the check grants from water quality monitoring and notification pollution source tracking efforts and the bill requires that beach water quality violations are disclosed not only to the public but all relevant state agencies which beach water quality authority and i want to mention the rapid testing methods this act calls for the use of rapid testing methods by requiring the e p a to approve the use of rapid testing methods that detect bathing water contamination in six hours or less this is something that i've been advocating for the last couple of years current water quality tests like those used in new jersey only test for bacteria levels and take twenty four to forty eight hours to produce reliable results during which time many beachgoers can be unknowingly exposed to harmful pathogens more immediate results will prevent beaches from remaining open when high levels of bacteria are found the legislation also requires prompt communication with state environmental agencies by stating that all be checked grant recipients make decisions about closures or advisories within twenty four hours in order to ensure coordination in response activities were also requiring each state receiving grants to implement measures for tracking and id and sources of pollution creating a public online database for each beach with relevant pollution closure information posted and ensuring the closures are advisories are issued shortly after the state finding that coastal waters about a compliant so again right to no information to the public were also holding states accountable by requiring the e p a administrator to do annual reviews of grannie's compliance with beach act process requirements now the beach protection act will strengthen current law by requiring states to use expedited testing i don't want to go into rest this is a right to know for our beach goers it's very important and i want to thank everyone on a bipartisan basis for this chamber have consequences and the things that we don't do in this chamber also have consequences and quite frankly there are a lot of things that we are not doing that are having a miss consequence of things like we renewing the fight as a bill the war supplemental long term issues like social security medicare medicaid and we had another with today the colombia free trade agreement things that will have consequences because we've not dealt with us on this floor internal bus an engine macmanus vehicle will be used for a long time to to power pleasure craft on our lakes and beaches the waterways and the public policy but decision that we're taking in here and have taken in here make that use of those boats and jet skis much more expensive public policy decisions that are specifically aimed at increasing the energy costs to all americans things like raising taxes on energy companies so that they are no longer able to use that money to explore for and produce additional crude oil and natural gas restrictions on where we can drill for these additional sources of crude oil natural gas and the gasoline as a result from that to power our water crafts and jet skis and regulations on the production of crude oil or natural gas regulations on the refining of crude oil a natural gas into gasoline that can be used to power jet skis and motorboats and others and even new regulations coming that will increase the cost of electricity to american consumers american businesses all of these public policy decisions that we make in this floor in this house and have made in this house are specifically designed to raise the operating cost of all these vehicles to consumers in america it is the elephant in the room that none of us ought to talk about as we go forward with an energy policy that's put forth by the leadership of this of the current house that is they specifically want americans paying higher gasoline prices because when you reduce supplies as these policies do in the face of increasing demand then the last plan demand works in spite of our best efforts and costs go up as we've seen gasoline prices are an all time high this weekend which will be a wonderful weekend to be on our beaches in the lakes using those water crafts the gasoline that would be purchased to pay for that to recreational use this weekend will be much higher than it would have otherwise been had we taken rational steps with respect to energy policy  chairwoman i rise in support of this legislation which would reauthorize the beach environmental assessment and costo health act or the be checked my district has over sixteen hundred miles of beach front edge on the great lakes in the be checked has been instrumental in providing funding to protect beach growers from bacteria and other dangerous pathogens michigan residents rely on the beach act to fight be checked for funding to protect them in my district residents on sugar island years who say marie michigan depended on this important funding to monitor water that had been contaminated with e coli chloroform and other forms of bacteria without support of big check grants the chip or county health department would not have been able to determine that the pollution was originating from  wastewater treatment plant in canada this legislation would improve the b check program to ensure a fair distribution of funds in july of two thousand and seven the government accountability office released a report at the request of myself and several other great lakes colleagues this report found that the e p a was using a funding formula that prioritize states with warmer climates ignoring other important factors such as beach miles and beach use this formula put great lakes states like michigan and a distinct this advantage making it more difficult for the states to protect their beach goers this legislation addresses this problem by instructing e p a to revise its funding formula by taking factors such as beach miles and beach use in the consideration while monitoring water and tracing the sources of pollution to its origin are important steps to keeping our beaches clean knowledge is only half the battle the july two of seven g a o report also found that while be checked has helped protect beachgoers from food it waters states still do not have the resources they need to clean up this pollution and prevent further problems future problems in fact the latest survey by e p a is estimated that a hundred eighty one billion dollars is the nationwide for infrastructure projects eligible for funding under the state revolving fun i look forward to working with chairman oberstar in the transportation infrastructure committee later this year to address our water and wastewater infrastructure needs and provide more resources resource for state revolving fun i appreciate mr well mr over start work on th debate legislation not on securing reliable and affordable energy but on beaches i suggest that a better use of our time and the american people's time would be to have a serious debate about energy how are we going to make energy more affordable in the short term how we're going to make energy more affordable as the nation needs to be more independent in the long term what will be our primary fuel source in the future and how we get there instead in recent months we've periodical debated shortsighted in fatally flawed legislation that purports to fix our energy problems simply by raising taxes by billions of dollars on domestic energy companies and hoping for the best that's not an energy policy that's a tax increase on every american family energy companies will inevitably pass on their additional cost to consumers at the pump we should be debating legislation to streamline the federal permitting process that has stifled construction of new or refineries we haven't built one in over thirty years now thirty two years to be exact we could be talking about benefiting consumers by simplifying our nation's fragmented gasoline supply the number of regional boutique fuels restricts the movement of our fuel supply and raises costs on americans at the pump we could be debating the merits of opening alaska's arctic national wildlife refuge anwar and the outer continental shelf for energy exploration we know that combined these areas have nearly one hundred billion barrels of oil previous congresses urged on by their radical environmentalist allies made the decision to keep these vast reserves off limits as a result we see oil now at one hundred ten dollars a barrel it's time we revisit the very important issue of being able to go after resources we have available to us in a alaska and in the outer continental shelf what about encouraging the construction of nuclear power plants we began that process in two thousand and five with the passage of the energy policy act but as we stand here today we haven't built a new plant in decades european and asian nations are building the by the dozens india has nine new plants under construction japan is building five more and china has plans to build thirty reactors we in this country have plans for exactly zero on the way let's talk about how we intend to compete with china which is canvassing the globe in its quest to ensure a reliable supply of all reports indicate that the chinese are forming energy partnerships with rogue nations like iran and cuba and cuba is reportedly planning to allow the chinese to drill for oil off the florida keys off our florida keys should we be talking about boosting domestic production simply so we wouldn't have to rely on the mood of third world dictators like hugo chavez would it be nice if prices didn't spike at your neighborhood gas station when terrorists decide to blow up a pipeline half a world away or when there's instability in nigeria now some may argue and they might well be right that oil isn't the long term answer it's a finite resource that may be scarce in the near future as developing nations like china and india continue to expand in the serialize maybe so but should we consider boosting our oil and natural gas supplies increasing our energy independence that might just buy us the time necessary to develop the next fuel source maybe hydrogen fuel cell technology would take us into the next century maybe it's some other renewable resource it could be a combination or maybe something we haven't even discovered yet we don't know we do know that america has substantial reserves of oil and natural gas that we've locked up we place limits these resources could be the bridge that allows america to cross over the choppy waters of opec and third world dictators to the secure footing of affordable and secure energy source of the morrow let's talk about these important things let's not talk about beaches your back generated from texas thank protection act this bill will increase protections for the nation's beaches and the public health i want to commend mr pullen mr bishop and the transportation committee leadership for bringing this important bill to the floor in a bipartisan way despite having one of the most comprehensive beach water quality testing programs of all the coastal state my home state of california has by far the most beach closures and advisories of all the states the state reported over forty six hundred closing and advisory days statewide in two thousand and six this legislation builds on the progress made since the passage of the beach act in two thousand to reduce the number of these closures which threaten public health first the legislation rick increases the funds available to the states and expand those funds to include tracking the sources of pollution that cause beach closer and supposed supporting pollution prevention efforts will also require the e p a to develop methods for rapid testing of beach water so results are available and days and hours not days second the legislation strengthens the requirement for public notification of health risks posed by water contamination the beat the measures will improve the public's awareness of health risks for posed by contamination of coastal waters and create additional tools for addressing the sources of pollution that cause beach closures including leaking or overflowing sewer systems and storm water runoff i know now that some of my colleagues are trying to make this debate into one of energy in our economy this is a bill to help protect the health of our beaches and the health of our economies safe and healthy beaches are strongly tied to our local economies so i urge my colleagues not to be distracted by extraneous arguments madam chair clean water is an economic and public health necessity for california and for all coastal states i urge all of my colleagues to vote yes on h r twenty five thirty seven let's take good care of our beaches i yield back the balance of my time gentleman from arkansas  minutes of course please to support h r twenty five thirty seven base protection act of two thousand and seven and appreciate the efforts of my colleague mr polonca advances legislation it's my understanding just bill will receive overwhelming  bipartisan support it's going to be a totally green board which i applaud but you know it seems to me that the house has other more critical issues to consider such as a rising cost of energy which affects the success failure is of the traveling public to even reach the beaches of the world all and gas prices are at an all time high with national averages topping three and a quarter a gallon a year ago we feared a time when crude all could reach one hundred dollars a barrel and now all is reached one hundred ten dollars a barrel for the first time in history unfortunately energy analysts are saying that prices at the pump are not likely to decrease anytime soon and could rise is how it's three dollars and seventy five cents or maybe four dollars a gallon this year my constituents in the fourth just you could text as well as all americans are very concerned about the ever increasing cost of gasoline and diesel combined with the escalating prices at the grocery store it's costing them more to travel to work it's costing more to provide food for their families they're looking to congress for some of media really for some long term solutions the energy security act that the majority passed and the president signed into law has some good provisions but unfortunately none that will provide americans a relief they need from high energy costs not one barrel of oil is provided in that act entire act there was no mention in the energy act of an increase in domestic production which is one way to help bring down and safe source of energy but with building the new refinery the permitting and construction process is extremely expensive and there are still significant risks to venture capitalists who would otherwise invest ruling with in a realistic time frame america needs relief at the pump now more than ever congress needs to jumpstart efforts to bring down energy cost in the short term and bailed on comprehensive energy policies that recognize the chairwoman i rise today to enthusiastically support the beach protection with over seventy five miles of shoreline along florida's well we're known gold coast on the atlantic ocean my congressional district relies heavily on its beaches to support both our economy and our unparalleled quality of life but keeping our beaches open and thriving requires us to vigilantly fight pollution in our waters according to the natural resources defense council almost twenty seven hundred beach advisory or closure days ratio due to pollution for the state of florida two thousand and six although the number was down from the previous two years two thousand and six represent a record high for closing a posted warnings with the over twenty five thousand such notices across our country madam chairwoman the causes for beach pollution are well know own it often originates from contaminated storm water or media in adequately treated sewage and the effects can be wide ranging and devastating ranging from ear infections and respiratory ailments to hepatitis and dysentery for senior citizens small children and people people with the meat with weak immune systems the results can even be deadly that's why this act the beach protection act is important the legislation will reauthorize the beach act of two thousand and three increase annual funding from thirty million to forty million enabling more beaches to receive federal grants to support state monitoring efforts it will also allow states to use the funds to track and clean up the sources of beach water pollution so that we can prevent future closings and advisories from happening h r two three five seven will also speed up notifications of water quality the unfortunate truth is that many beach managers are using outdated testing methods that are incapable of providing immediate same day results of water quality this means the beach goers sometimes don't even find out until a day or two after their return from the beach that the water they were swimming in was hazardous this delay must stop our constituents have a right to know right away if the water is unsafe and now that we have rapid test methods that can provide results in a little as two hours the e p a must approve them and states must implement them and this bill will require them to do that the beach protection act is critically important for our coastal communities and the millions of americans who enjoy and visit them each year i think the chairwoman again for her work on it look forward to the passage of this bill and you'll back my time thank you gentleman from arkansas thank you madam chair i yield to minutes the ranking member of the energy and air quality subcommittee  upton from michigan gentleman from michigan is recognized for two minutes thank you madam speaker and i they were nice the whip noticed this last week so some good things and some bad things one of the bad things that i didn't see was that we're not addressing what my constituents are talking about and that is gas prices yes this is a good bill beach nutrition has water monitoring there it has great lakes are now part of it and i want to think in particular the members from the great lakes area who were able to include that particularly my friend who represents the east side of michigan candice miller on that committee but as far as i know this bill passed without dissent frankly it could have been under suspension of the rules i bet we would have passed it on a voice vote  thirds of voting in favor of it maybe after this flake amendment maybe there's some the wish that it did come up under suspension so that they wouldn't deal with the flaky earmark amendment will see but you know my constituents back home they're complaining that we're doing things that aren't maybe on the top of their agenda we're talking about steroids we're talking about a whole number of things that doesn't impact the economy or in fact their pocketbook they're talking about gas prices on tuesday when i left to come back from michigan diesel prices were four eleven a gallon gas prices unless unleaded regular three thirty five a gallon i can hardly wait till i go back this week and see what they might have gone to what have we done on this that is the question what are we doing about supply and demand well say some of the things we've done we raise taxes on thank goodness we've got the senate saying no so far because of course if you raise taxes on energy production here those costs are just going to be passed along to the consumer and they'll go up even higher go talk to the french or the british in those folks say they tax gas a lot and they they pay a lot more per gallon there are some things that we haven't done i know some in this body of talk advocated for raising the gas tax by as much as fifty cents a gallon we haven't done that maybe certainly i believe that that's a good thing but we've we've blocked using oil shale from canada you know they they've got a field up in the northwest there that they think rivals the saudis they can actually heat up the sand and the more we are now by twenty twelve our domestic needs we're going to be only producing twelve percent of our gas here that's got to change madam speaker let's not go to the beach and leave our work on done let's pass this bill but let's was this is a quote from speaker nancy pelosi for twenty four zero six democrats have a commonsense plan to help bring down skyrocketing gas prices another quote from majority leader hoyer democrats house democrats have a plan to help her get rising gas prices we need to see those plans we need to hear what those ideas are april sixteenth two thousand and six press release speaker the republican rubber stamp congress has passed two energy bills costing taxpayers twelve billion for giveaways to big oil companies but the republican bills clearly have done nothing to lower gas prices as the price of a barrel  has settled over seventy dollars a barrel nobly to close over one hundred ten today the highest prize in our history democrats have a plan to lower gas prices taking america in a new direction that works for everyone not just a few our plan would empower the federal trade commission to crack down on price gouging to help bring down skyrocketing gas prices increase production of alternative fuels in rescind the billions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies tax breaks enroll to really giving to the big oil companies madam chair i'll say that we have not had any relief from gas prices gas prices are a dollar a gallon more today than they were when the new majority took over we have paid too much attention to when mills bought sickles insulter panels we need to pay attention to domestic drilling we need to pay attention to promoting alternative fuels we have been going in the wrong direction and if you ask the american people right now seventy eight percent of the people say this country is headed in the round direction in a madam chair i promise you our gas prices are headed around direction second i'm surprised at the remarks of the madam chair the gentleman from georgia about bicycling i think we need to pay more attention and do more work for bicycling and we would all do better burning eighty six thousand calories he's a year on the seat of a bicycle than eight barrels of oil a year in our cars in fact gentleman from arkansas thank you madam chair of the three minutes t gentleman from pennsylvania mr peters gentleman is recognized for three minutes i thank the speaker on april the tenth two thousand and eight let the record show oil is one hundred ten dollars and rising natural gas is ten fifty six and rising gasoline and diesel prices at record levels in all our communities folks back home are scared they want us to help them and the men that i will offer later will help the need to act to this bill because it will provide the ability to produce clean green natural gas on out out of sight off shore it'll provide twenty billion dollars to clean up the chesapeake bay in the beaches there are twenty billion dollars to clean up the great lakes twelve billion dollars the san francisco bay clean up energy efficiency and renewables thirty two billion dollars carbon capture the famous discussion in the senate now thirty two billion dollars it will be mandated spending the appropriators can screw it up america's economic future is in trouble energy prices will prevent people from having a job having an economy and being able to afford their vacations and go to the beautiful beaches that we have i think says it best chairman of the congress of racial equality energy is the master resource the foundation of everything else abundant reliable affordable electricity doctoral gas and transportation feels make our jobs health and living standards possible energy is the great equalizer the crater of economic opportunity and environmental justice push energy prices up everybody suffers when energy costs are too much industrialized people off or just leaves jobs incomes and tax revenues vanish government social programs will or town leadership migrate to other cities other countries socially ols multiplied that's why i say the fight over energy is the critical civil rights battle of our era your utility bills the price you pay at the pump your job security are in danger and not just because of the middle east oil wars or competition from china and india our rights are being endangered because of what's happening right here at home nothing this congress is the cause of high energy prices there's no action here to fix the ills of the past for locking up our energies a blot it's not even to be debated it's not even a priority congress is the reason america doesn't compete energy wise and folks in a period of time we won't compete in the global economic economy and we will not have jobs and a future for this country we are the potential of being a second rate nation because we as congress have caused the energy crisis and are refusing to fix rise in support of the beach protection act and as a member who represents the entire atlantic coast and virginia and much of the chesapeake bay i recognize that our beaches are a treasure and must remain clean and safe but we must lift the federal sea drilling of natural gas in the outer continental shelf america has acted to make our energy consumption cleaner and today we use much more natural gas for the generation of electricity we have increased deman without increasing supply the u s is the only developed nation that does not capture natural gas from the outer continental shelf canada has done it for years we all know what cuba's getting ready to do it's american families and american businesses that pay this extra cost and it is driving american businesses overseas simply because of the cost of energy in america we should be a coastal state should be able to decide if this activity takes i support the beach protection act however while we are debating this legislation millions of americans are wondering why and large parts of this country they are having to pay three dollars and thirty four cents a gallon for gasoline and even seventy cents more for diesel fuel they're struggling to cover their cost of their daily commute and they're wondering why is congress debating beach protection when i can hardly afford to drive my children to school and even to go to work american families and businesses are being hammered by the rising fuel costs and it is clear that the end action of this congress will come and it expands to both drivers small businesses and consumers the cost of our inaction was outlined yesterday when we had a hearing in our small business committee about the rising cost of gasoline we heard from five different businesses that testified how their business as are being squeezed with the rising cost of fuel one business in particular was a tracking company who said that his fuel costs had tripled in the last several years and he was really struggling to make ends meet small businesses operate on razor thin margins and they are faced with dilemma is do they cut costs do they cut their business do they raise their prices or do they just go out of business some  about having to cut their salaries of their employees a madam speaker fuel costs that are on the rise are making small businesses fill the heat and consumers are feeling the heat today we need to address the issue of rising fuel costs and help our consumers and our small businesses either way the american worker is suffering small businesses are suffering and this is a very important issue to our nation let's show the people of america that we care and address this issue gentlemen as we come to the floor now when the democrats talk about beaches my constituents in the great state of new jersey suffer their suffering from unrelenting increases in the price of gas up almost a dollar now since the democrats took control of this house so as my conscript this will suffer from higher food costs all related to energy costs as my constituents suffer from higher heating costs all related to energy costs as my constituents suffer from the higher cost of living in general again related to energy costs all of them should be asking what is it that the democrat congress is doing to address this problem of the short answer is nothing really helpful and the long answer is really potentially driving up the cost even higher let me just give you two quick points first the democrats have voted four times now four times to raise taxes and so to make sure that discovering and making sure the america's interests energy independence is that much harder secondly they voted now to lock up almost eighty five percent of known specific energy resources in this country what does that mean what does that translate to the consumer again democrats are making it harder for america to become energy independent from foreign oil now is the time for all constituents a parole americans everywhere across this country to ask what is its democrat congress doing the short answer is nothing much the long answer is potentially driving up the cost of fuel for all of them now is therefore the time for all of us to come to this floor to work together for a change and to make sure that america can in fact become energy independent now is a time democrats we working not against the american is protect america's beautiful coastline from water pollution yet big oil drilling interests have once again filed an amendment that puts our beaches and america's coastlines at risk new offshore oil and gas drilling represents a real hazard to the marine environment of the state of florida but all across the country beaches are coastal environment our marine resources the billion dollar tourism industry in florida should not be sacrifice for a small amount of oil it would only take twenty four hours after a petroleum spill in the eastern gulf for the oil to sully florida's panhandle beaches if the spill was swept up in the gulf powerful loop current pollute the florida keys contaminate estuaries and beaches from the everglades to cape canaveral we only have to look back to two thousand and five when we had three category five hurricanes katrina rita and wilma that caused massive oil spills and pollutants in the gulf of mexico it destroyed one hundred fifteen petroleum petroleum production platforms in the gulf and damaged four hundred fifty seven pipeline drilling off of our beautiful beaches is the pa energy policy of the past if president bush and my colleagues on the other side of the aisle truly wanted to address high oil prices you should have voted with the democratic majority to take the huge tax breaks away from the big oil companies at the time that they are making record profits we're fighting for a new direction on energy policy renewable sources of energy we value our natural environment and we value the public health of our chair i've sat here patiently listen to a litany of speakers come here and address them as a committee of the whole on subjects important to them but irrelevant to the subject matter at hand and one or another maybe several of them said this democratic beach bell just want to remind colleagues that this is the bill of the gentleman from california mr bilbray who has labored for several years on behalf of this legislation we finally move it through committee bring it to the floor and house now so that our doors are being the democratic bill and why are we wasting the house time we bring it under an open rule and then someone says well you should have brought it on suspension and we brought it on suspension that time because it that it complained because they didn't have an opportunity to offer the eight amendments that they're bringing the floor i thought i'm just perplexed by this the tactic it's unworthy of the legislation pending and we worked hard to accommodate the gentleman from california was a legitimate concern i concur with his concern we bring the bill out and we bring we do it in good faith and where we expect at least good faith response from the other side you know the balance of my time gentleman you know back up what i'll type for general debate has expired pursu to the rule the amendment in the nature of a substitute printed in the bill is considered as an original bill for the purpose of amendments and considered read no amendment to the committee amendment is in order except those printed in the portion of the congressional record designated for that purpose the for the beginning of consideration of that there and pro former members for the purpose of debate each amendment so printed may be offered only by the member who caused it to be printed or his designee and shall be considered brett are there any the legislation we're discussing today but i cannot sit idly aside or sit idly and listen to people talk about the high cost of energy when there's been little action and this congress now say this congress to pas congress is and this president congress about solving the high cost of energy to the american consumer the four gallon dollars a gallon they're going to have to pay the last time we passed any energy legislation on this hundred seventy three when you pass a trance alaskan pipeline that's the last time at that time when we importing thirty eight percent of our fossil fuels a day we're importing seventy percent of our fossil fuels mr mrs america keep in mind seventy five percent of that fossil fuel is coming from countries that are not friendly the united states of america we're sending them over there over about five hundred billion dollars a year because this congress this congress has not acted to try to relieve the dependency on fossil fuels from abroad now some people say and i listen the young lady we're going to day can have alternate forms of energy  i'll put a little current a few light bulbs and i'll do that i'll save and turn down the thermostat i'll do that i'll in fact drive my automobile slower most people do not but that doesn't solve the problem of the energy we need to move pro the truck the plane the automobile that train is driven by fossil fuels and if we can get it to become more dependent which we are apparently going to do under the leadership of this congress we'll be in the point where we cannot move our product chipotle abroad  which we produce no receive them seventy percent again from foreign countries and yet we have a tremendous amount of fossil fuels the united states of america that's not being developed the coast of virginia north carolina south carolina has a tremendous amount of oil and the realm of about i would suggest of of about five hundred billion barrels of oil that's available to the american public but we price to the small business community and the person as a community to have their work site we're in a dire shape in this nation as a whole we have to address this issue and i ask my colleagues please quit buying this concept that we're going to do it with windmills and was sun power yes we could use those things yes we ought to use nuclear and yes we do use hydro we don't have the there's the wheel of energy should developed in this congress has not done it has not done it we have this idea we're going to solve the problem look at the energy bill we passed this year through this leadership it produced nothing period nothing that's why the consumer of the day in america is going to that gas pump and by the way is a taxi him every man woman and child is paid two thousand dollars a year to saudi arabia and countries such as because we've set idly on our hands on our hands doing nothing the matter of chairman i suggest respectfully this congress has to wake up i listen to the political rhetoric of all the presidential candidates and no one's addressing the energy issue as in the fact we can't burn fossil fuels because we're losing the ice cap the polar bears are endangered i'll think about this a moment think about the american public and the neighbor economy based fossil fuel driven because of luzon object we must address this i'm asking my colleagues  understand what pandering quit pandering to the interest groups that really are trying to socially structure our nation through fear we have the fossil fuel it is here it should developed we should give the opportunity is that of restricting it and that's what we've done in this congress in my state alone we have just g c we have anwar is passed as house twelve times it passed the senate once and bill clinton vetoed it it's got about thirty six billion barrels of oil available seventy four miles away from the existing pipeline and this congress will not step forth and address that issue alone because it's saying it's going to hurt the environment seventy four miles away from the bike way and not in german i suggest appreciate the opportunity to come to the floor today and talk about an issue that's a vital concern and importance the american people and it may not have been what the majority party want to talk about today but it's what the american people want to talk about that's energy  i don't know if any by they had an opportunity to walk outside the united states capitol today but you heard trucks with their with their horns blaring outside the capitol and they were doing so because they were objecting to the leadership in this congress and the lack of action on energy prices and gas prices that noise resonates across this land and share resonates across this land i had a group of high school students in my office today and they wanted to know what we were doing about energy they'd heard that this congress had passed the energy efficiency act and they wanted to know about the particulars of that ad and so we reviewed the particulars of that act and i said how much more gas do you think we'll get to the pumps in communities across this nation if we increase the taxes on american all companies well that these are bright high school kids i said well not much more and they're absolutely right madam chair because the energy efficiency act quote unquote that this congress passed in this session in this term will produce no energy no new energy so what are side i'm pleased to yield to my friends in california i was listening to your your conversation here on the floor and i wanted to reiterate what's going on outside i think you made the point but there are trucks driving through this capital right now trying to drive around to raise awareness for the people united states that the gas prices too high meanwhile today we're debating a bill on beaches on the floor of the house while gas prices are soaring to four dollars plus a gallon exact and so i think the gentleman from georgia for bringing this up and for yielding to me because this is something that we should be debating on the house floor we should be talking about energy not talking about how we're going to save the beaches reclaiming my time i appreciate your comments and and if you think about what's changed in the last fifteen months in terms of leadership here in washington it's not the other end of pennsylvania avenue the only thing that's changed during the period of time when gas when crude oil has gone from fifty six dollars a barrel to one hundred twelve dollars a barrel the only thing that's changed in terms of leadership in washington is the leadership in congress as feeling as change there must be a cause and effect here somewhere madam chair because gas prices are increasing and the leadership has been woeful in not attempting to deal with this issue and so i would ask my colleagues to bring to the floor issues that are of paramount importance to the american people the issue that's of paramount importance importance in my district is energy and gas prices and this congress is doing nothing about it in spite of the proclamations on the promises made by the there's a novel thought there's a novel thought madam chair there are incredible resources that we have and we've got the tech and the technology and the american ingenuity to do it in an environmentally sensitive way and we ought to we ought to this leadership auto allow that kind of issue to come to the floor and finally alternative fuel it's imperative that we have the kind of research and development and incentivizing alternative fuel formation in this nation in ways that we've never done before not pick winners and losers which is what washington tends to want to do but to incentivize a system that will provide for wonderful entrepreneurial visionary and susie asked dick individuals all across this frustration by the inability of this leadership apparently to address the concerns of the american people to address the concerns of those high school students that were in my office this morning to address those the concerns of those truckers who continue out there outside the capitol blaring their horns and saying wake up wake up madam speaker wake up leadership in this congress wake up and address the issues that are of paramount importance to the american people  paramount issue today is energy and gasoline prices and we must as a congress address that issue in a positive way and i yield back the balance of my don't intend expire members are reminded to address their remarks to the chair fo the needs of the american people when the democrats took the majority we were told that we were going to go back to five day work weeks last week we were in three days we did two votes each day this week we've only done a couple votes each day so and here we are doing a bill that now we're now i'm being told we're not even going to finish the bill today a bill regarding beaches while we have truckers going around the capitol honking their horns trying to get the attention of the united states congress to get the attention of the democrat majority to do something about lowering their fuel price and the answers that we receive from the other side of the aisle are always the same answers the answers so we need take repeal the tax breaks to the oil companies now if we want to repeal the tax breaks for the hill companies that's not going to lower the fuel price as the gentleman from alaska stated the general from georgia stated previously the way that you lower the fuel price and the way that you stop buying fuel from foreign countries is you have to drill in america we have to drill for oil in america i'm a big supporter of solar energy of wind energy there are great renewable fuels but we get less than one percent of our energy from these from these sources so if we want to talk about renewable sources of energy we're going to have to look seriously  nuclear power we're going to have to look at using the oil that we have in this country if we don't want to buy oil from foreign countries these are the times of things that we're going to have to do in this congress but unfortunately we've made this commitment supposedly to the american people that we're going to work five days a week but instead we only work a few hours a day and in that working three days a week today we have to get out of here by four i'm told because the democrats don't want to stay and so they can get on the airplane and fly home we're not going to finish a bill on beaches and meanwhile the american people are outside this congress driving their trucks honking their horn asking for the intention of this congress and this congress is not paying attention we've got to do something t lower these fuel prices madam speaker the democrats are in control they're in the majority we need answers my constituents need answers they need their fuel price lowered they need their electricity costs lowered the only way we can do this is by building nuclear power plants investing in wind and solar power and drilling for oil in america and i would hope as the gentleman from alaska has stated over and over again the last time we've gotten serious about drilling for oil in alaska was one thousand nine hundred seventy three one hundred seventy three and here we are thirty five years later with no more oil production now we used to have at least half of oil came from the united states now we're less than thirty percent of our oil that comes from the united states and we wonder why we keep sending now we send money to venezuela we send money to saudi arabia and the other side of the aisle complains about it but their only answer is that we need to repeal the tax cut to the oil companies so in their last energy bill what did we repeal we picked the american companies that we repealed the tax breaks on the american companies and we gave tax to the venezuelan oil companies so i don't know what we're going to do in this democrat majority to solve the country's problems president bush has said that he will sign a bill to drill for oil in america he will sign any bill that promotes nuclear power these are the answers that the american people need and they should demand from this congress to have those answers and i would hope that speaker that this democrat majority listens to the truckers that are outside right now honking horns trying to get this congress's attention and i am happy at least on our side of the aisle the republican side of the aisle we are taking this opportunity during a bill that rig is we're talking about beaches here but we're trying to bring to the american people to bring the attention of this congress that we need to lower the fuel price and we need to do it today so with that madam speaker i will yield back the balance of my time gentleman your back for what purpose is the gentleman from georgia right struck the last word gentleman is recognized for five minutes thank you madam chair and you know it's interesting that we came here to talk about a big bill and we're finally getting a chance to talk about some energy because most american families are not going to have the money to drive to the beach this year we we look at the price of gasoline right now  earlier quoted some of the quotes from the democratic leadership about how they were going to get a grip and get a hold of the gas prices and bring them down well since they've been in the majority they have actually gone up a dollar per gallon all is gone up about one hundred percent and one what are we telling our people at home i've got to go back and explain to the people of the third district of georgia that that this week rather than addressing the price of gas and our energy situation that we did some beach restoration which is a very worthy bill we did some landscape conservation we name some post offices and we did several other suspensions but i've got to go back and tell them that when they're standing there at the gas pump almost pumping four dollars gas gallon into their car that they need to realize something they need to realize what the majority plan for our future price of motor fuel is the chairman who i have a great deal respect for own the transportation committee mr oberstar who's been here a long time and is very was but he projected or at least proposed a five cents a gallon high for our infrastructure and a dollar per barrel on all energy and commerce chairman is talking about carbon tax he's also talking about a fifty cent per gallon tax on fuel we're talking about taking away these tax breaks from big  you know we can take away tax breaks from anybody but i'm telling you to take a tax break away from a company that is manufacturing products in this country they're not going to just absorb that loss they're going to go up on the price of their products so we're talking about maybe fifty five sixty cents more a gallon so i've got to go back and tell my constituents look here's their plan their plan is to go up another fifty five cents or so a gallon on your gas another dollar on the barrel of all to take away any tax breaks that the big all companies have that hopefully they're passing on to you and your congress just spent thirty thousand dollars to buy a thirty bass sickles so they've got a great plan and i guess this is the great plan that we heard about in so many of these quotes about how they were going to fix the price of gas we've bought thirty bicycles at a cost of thirty thousand dollars we're going to increase the price of gas fifty five cents we're going to take away the price the tax breaks for big also they can go up increase the price on a barrel of all we're not going to do any domestic drilling we're going to depend on changing light bulbs we're going to dip in and own solar power we're going to depend only windmills now manage your i just don't know how much comfort that's going to give the people of the third congressional district of georgia in fact i don't know that if i tell them that that they're even going to believe that that this body this how that is their answer to them paying four dollars a gallon for gas is just going to be hard for me to sell it but if they will pay attention to what's going on up here than i think they'll be convinced that these are the only things that the majority has brought for we need to concentrate on being less dependent on foreign oil we need to look at our own future our own lands our own prospects of what we're doing it is as the gentleman from alaska said regardless of what you think about fossil fuels we're going to be using it and so we need to provide for our self and i think it's a shame that each and every one of us and i know we're going to be through by four o'clock because you know we do need to get home but we're not doing our job we're not doing the business of the people when we constantly go home and people ask us help us help me help me be able to put gas in my car to take my children to soccer practice or go to school or go to the beach so i'm going to go back and i will say ok what we gave you some help we're going to raise the price i of gas and let all this gentleman in we're buying bicycles recognize for five minutes thank you and i to rise sticking up for american families that are struggling with the high prices of many products right now  most of which i hear from my constituents in nebraska is about the price of gasoline at the pump here about groceries as well and of course then when i see a bill like this is the bill that we have up now about making sure that our beaches are clean and we have plans for that i unfortunately under the leadership of the house and senate currently now my first thought isn't well that's absolutely right we need to keep our beaches clean my first thought is is this another environmental tool to make sure that we can't get to drilling in places where we need to get it now lets the frequently asked question about gasoline prices is what are you going to do about it well we have a couple of options that i think cool would alleviate some of the pressure one is we can take the nineteen seventies actions done by the nixon administration to simply set the price we will set the price we will freeze them three dollars and thirty cents it my home we can freeze that well what did that do created about a half mile line for gas and then maybe if you pulled up to the pump you might see that little white piece of paper that said out of gas we can go back to that but the gas prices would be stable but running out of gas begs the question the question is what's causing this now obviously it's just simple high school economics supply and demand folks what we is that oil that we have access to within the united states all that whether it's an wal r or off the continental shelf or shale in colorado or other pockets that have been made into public lands and thereby unaccessible what we've done is this adopt a policy in this country that we want to push the production or creation of fuel out of our country to foreign companies foreign countries that make this reliant on foreign countries in fact about sixty some percent about sixty three percent of our oil needs are imported we use about twenty million barrels per day to meet our energy needs fourteen million barrels per day are imported so as other countries compete with us for that oil on the world market prices increase at the pump i'm not sorry yesterday closing out the markets sweet crude jumped two dollars and thirty cents hitting a new record of one hundred twelve dollars and twenty one cents closing at the closing record of  hundred ten dollars an eighty seven dollars per barrel now we can ask what the solution will be do we just simply raise taxes on oil production or do we say that it's part of our plan to make sure that we can become energy independent and secure this nation's future and but let's admit that those are a generation away if we make that commitment today so what we need to do in the meantime is either be honest with the american citizens and say that our policy is to limit supply in a competitive global market therefore get used to four dollars and then five dollars per gallon of gas or we allow the dream going to take place where we can produce more of our own resources of oil and we can do that i ask the question the other day how much oil and natural gas do we have access to within seventy five miles of our coastline the answer is i don't know because we have been blocked from being able to explore that we can't measure that that's wrong gentlemen times explaining that should be the focus of the bill and that's where i think we should keep the focus of the bill the purpose of this amendment is to make sure that the purpose of the bill is not to protect vulnerable members vulnerable incumbents and  unfortunately that's been the case with a lot of legislation that we've passed in the past and it simply becomes a magnet for earmarks remember earmarks to protect vulnerable members or to reward members or to go toward members in leadership or in high positions on particular committees the beach act authorizes a formula based grant program to help implement state and local beach monitoring assessment notification programs what we don't want to see is money bled off from these formula based programs to member projects unfortunately that has happened and if we don't think that it will happen with this bill and we have our heads in the sand the purpose of this in america is simply to say none of the monies authorized in this legislation will go so toward earmarks that all of the money as it is now will go toward formula based funding now some might say that the beach act has not been historically earmarked that is true that's how it should remain the problem is some of the legislation that has not been historically earmarked is now earmarked in fact when we passed the homeland security bill which we celebrated today five years after we were told this will not be earmarked this will be formula grant based it will be spread out but it will not be earmarked and for four years that remain true but last year the department of homeland security i'm sorry  the the legislation to fund part of homeland security had a boatload of earmarks in it according to taxpayers for common sense the two thousand and eight omnibus bill contained one hundred twenty eight earmarks worth more than four hundred million in homeland security funding according to a story by the hill of one hundred fifty new earmarks worth one hundred seventeen million were airdropped the last moment this these remarks that we said we were going to do anyway in a bill that we said we're not going to earmark these were too obviously to assist vulnerable members many were earmarks in the funding for famous pre disaster mitigation program this is a program intended to quote save lives and reduce property damage by providing funds for hazard mitigation planning acquisition and relocation of structures out of the flood plain in two thousand and seven this program received one hundred one million to fund competitively awarded projects with no earmarks according to taxpayers for common sense in two thousand and eight this program received a boost in funding to hundred fourteen million the nearly half of the amount fifty one point three million was tied to ninety six earmark projects including earmarks for projects that should not have qualified for funding under the program so we could have earmarks in this beach program for projects that aren't even eligible under the formula based funding that's currently here and that's what we should all fear this body has gone far too far over the past several years under republicans and democrats in bleeding off necessary funding for particular for programs just to protect vulnerable incumbents during re election or just to reward particular members and and some people will say well we know in congress better than those faceless bureaucrats in some department well if that is the case then we should put parameters we should provide oversight that's what this body is supposed to do there is a process called authorization appropriation and oversight and that's the process we need to follow not circumventing that process by earmarking that's the purpose of this amendment i hope that we can all agree that this is needed to ensure that this program is not earmarked in the future and with that i believe my time is right now gentlemen you know back from webster but since the gentleman from minnesota right i was in opposition to the amendment gentleman is recognized for five minutes in the one hundred ninth congress we considered the reauthorization of the appalachian regional commission during consideration the bill in committee i proposed a language to prohibit earmarks which have been done time and again in the appropriation process prohibit earmarks in the appalachian regional commission appropriation process the gentleman from arizona supported my initiative and i appreciated his support it was the right thing to do unfortunately the committee did not include that language when the bill came to the floor i worked to defeat the bill because it did not have that and when he returned it's a it's a good bill the initial beach act authorized thirty million dollars about ten million has been appropriated each year and the money goes out by formula to the states there have never been earmarks the preparations committee nor on the on the house floor there ever been attempts to sub allocate the funds each state receives a portion of annual appropriations based on a calculation  each state's varied beach monitoring and notification efforts now and we know very well that ten million dollars is insufficient and because it's and because money is insufficient  why manager members come with a proposal for an earmark to designate money so they are sure that their state or their beach or their city gets their fair at least perceived a fair share of funding but it's never been done on this legislation and we don't need any any such limitation language i think we have a fair formula a specific cost i mean specific focus on the base cost of the states of developing maintaining water quality monitoring notification programs they mileage of the beach the beach use the length of the season and other factors that the administrator of the agency deter armin's to be appropriate that is fair and and i think members of the of this body and of the other body recognize that it's fair and so they have  advocated by member of the other side member from i have highest personal regard and then we had a succession of members standing here complaining that we bring a bill to the floor that should have been brought here on open rules and that should have been brought under suspension if we had brought it on suspension i suspect the same people would come to the floor jerry complain that we didn't have an open rule so we're trying to do the right thing on a right piece of legislation and we ought not to to gimmick purpose the gentleman from georgia writes strike the last word manager gentleman is recognized for five minutes and i want to thank the chairman for bringing it up because i think every bill needs to be brought to the floor like this an open rule so we can have debate this is a breath of fresh air to have an open rule i can't remember the last time we had one so this is a great thing that we have this is a republican action and letting people letting our constituents here are different views on these bills rather than just having it jammed down our throat so i agree with the chairman on that i hope more of these can be brought under the open rule and madam chair i'd like to yield to my good friend from arizona m flight i think that i think the gentleman from georgia for you lee and i want to thank the gentleman from minnesota i could not agree more with virtually everything he has said this is an important bill it was brought  here and it has not been historically remarked that is great we need to keep it that way we need to keep as he so aptly put it members from meddling in this that the purpose of this amendment to keep members from meddling with the formula based programs in the bill is mention that it's unnecessary because it hasn't been historically remarked i suppose the same would have been said had i brought the same amendment last year to the department of homeland security authorization bill or the appropriation bill because it hadn't historically been earmarked we promised not to do that but yet we've been remarked between five hundred million and a billion dollars hundreds of earmarks air dropped at the last minute never debated on the house floor never debated never an opportunity to amend them out and that's what we're trying to do here is to protect this important legislation from the same fate that was mentioned that we've increased the authorization for money in this legislation that is true we did that in the fema grants in homeland security and then earmark it and then earmarks we increased it by a little and then earmark that by a lot excuse it it doesn't take a conspiracy theorist to say that this might be happening here that maybe this is what is going to be attempted here to start earmarking this legislation to get these programs that are funded by formula to instead fund members who need protection in their reelection or who need to be rewarded in some other way that's not how we should business do business the purpose of this amendment is recognizing the importance of this legislation and making sure that members said is just making sure that we're perfectly clear to anybody on the conference committee or any other process that this bill goes through that we're not to airdrop these  earmarks that we never have a chance to to discuss i mean it's very seldom that we get to discuss anything on the floor in a manner that would be unable to talk about this beach restoration bill as we are today so i think it's a great thing that we're having this open discussion and again i want to comment that i hope that one day the moc constituents from georgia's third can gradual district which is not that far away from the beach will be able to have the money that won't pinch their budget to be able to drive to the beach right now in georgia you're paying three dollars in twenty nine cents a gallon which is a dollar more gallon paid when the hundred tenth congress started and we had all the empty promises the smoke and mirror gadgets that came from the majority that day were going to somehow that they had some kind of miraculous plan to lower gas prices we have yet to see that plan we've talked about raising the fuel tax we've we've talked about raising the price of a barrel of all we've actually prior to getting in charge you know it almost reminds me of a dog inside a fierce that's really barking yelping warning to get out and in warning to convince just master that it can go out in do the things it wants to show that it can do and then once you get the gate it just canada lays down under a tree and scratches his ear or something so i'm ready for some action not think the american people are ready action bring out this this amendment is a proposed solution in search of a problem the beaches environmental assessment and coastal health and the beating which this legislation i'm in was introduced to limit and prevent human exposure to polluted coastal recreation water and tooting those along the great lakes the initial b to authorize thirty million dollars annually to assist state and local government to implement beach monitoring assessment and public notification programs firms authorized under the initial beach act and under the legislation we considered today go either to the environmental protection agency or this strip it to individual states on a formula basis each state receives a portion of annual appropriations which hamp hovered around ten million dollars based prevacid for an equitable allocation of bonds among states at current appropriation levels section man of this legislation requires e p a to conduct a study put to until revisions to the formula with a specific focus on base cost to states of developing and maintaining water quality monitoring and notification programs the state their it beach monitoring and notification needs including beach maui beach you think and length of beach season and other factors that the administrator determines to be appropriate none of the funds appropriated under this legislation go out to the states a local communities under a congressional earmark this amendment has no bearing on the authorities under the beach act our a p s beach program thank you madam chair and i i rise in strong support of the fly commem because the american people need taxpayer protection more than we need beach protection now i understand this is important legislation that congress is considering today and i do not rise to trivialize this bill it has its moorings in and its law its heritage in in bipartisan foundations i rise rather to say that the time has come for this congress to get serious in large ways and in small ways about the epidemic of earmarking that has taken hold of the federal budget process fiscal year two thousand and eight according to one estimate legislation is passed in all in one catchall omnibus bill included some eleven thousand six hundred ten earmarks in all of those different appropriations bills in the course of the year costing taxpayers some seventeen point two billion dollars it was the second highest number of earmarks any congress has ever proved it represented a three hundred thirty seven percent increase of a fiscal year two thousand and seven was a flake amendment says in effect that that none of the funds appropriated pursuant to this section may be used for a congressional earmark as defined by the house rules now this is part and parcel of an effort by many of us  i believe while it is being led by republicans i believe there are many in the other party who understand that earmarks is a cancer in the belly of the federal budget and we must address it the flake amendment seizes this opportunity and this moment of this legislation that says that should the beach protection act of two thousand and seven be signed into law that at no point in the future may it be used as a vehicle for earmarking and as as the author of the legislation or the author of this amendment has suggested we have been assured in the past before that those things pertaining to homeland security the department of homeland security and would not become vehicles for earmarking and they have and for my part let me say this is not an issue that i am interested in demagoguing madam chair for my part through the course of my career up until very recently i have requested earmarks  special projects for my district but i must tell you having having negotiated when republicans were in charge for earmark reform having supported democrat efforts for earmark reform at the end of last year when i saw a bill come to the floor of this congress with hundreds of unexamined earmarks dropped in at the last minute in the dead of night that hadn't been subject to the scrutiny of the american people demand i knew it was time for a change and so i had to tell the people of my district that i could no longer be a part of this flawed system and i i commend the gentleman from arizona for his extraordinary leadership on this issue but i want to challenge my colleagues to support the flake amendment but but let's just begin there let's let's support a moratorium on earmarking in this congress and the american people know there's something fundamentally wrong with the way we spend the people's money especially when it comes to  earmarks and frankly i used an analogy not long ago madam chairman of an airplane when when you're flying an airplane through the air in the in the meters on the control panel tell you that something's wrong with the engine the first thing you do is put the plane on the ground and get the hood open and find out what's wrong well many of us who are advocating an earmark moratorium believe the time has come for us to put the plane on the ground in a bipartisan way embrace an earmark moratori and reform this system in the way that congressman frank wolf and jack kingston have suggested in their commission format and let me say as i close in strong support of the flake amendment that there's enough blame to go around on this earmarking business i recognize earmarking came of age under republican control of the congress and i'm not rising here to point fingers i am however rising to say that we need to change the way we spend the people's money and the only way we we will do that is by embracing the bold leadership that congressman jeff flake has brought to this congress in connection with the beach protection act but also means embracing a moratorium and coming together republicans and democrats liberals and conservatives and saying we're going to push away from the table and we're going to bring fundamental earmark reform to the american people that's my hope and i urge support for this amendment as a first step in that direction and  for what purpose the gentleman from arkansas and the strike the last war gentleman is recognized for five minutes i agree with mr fly can mr pants about the situation of needing to and certainly earmarking to protect vulnerable members in fact anything of that certainly is not for the good of the counter to go to congress or whatever i guess what i question is is that that in this particular amendment in this particular bill i think it's inappropriate for this program is for me about iced grants program and that has not been in earmarked in the past and there's no plans to earmark it in the future we're not talking about beach restoration we're not talking about beach reclamation we're talking about a bill that allows states allow speeches to monitor pathogens so that when a family from arkansas goes to florida or a goes to south carolina or wherever they go and they pull up that they can with safety get out and swim in the waters without being a cesspool i wish that more people would sneak you know an earmark in the night to protect their base again that's that's not going to happen with this bill it's not the purpose of the bill so i would say i would ask that we vote against this and yet again feel very which i fully concur but i would also like to take this opportunity to compliment the gentleman from indiana on a very thoughtful reasoned balanced and principled statement that here to the purpose of the amendment and stuck to the  and to quote a often poorly used phrase the opponent's death protest too much i've not heard anything really really as to why it's inappropriate for this to be attached to the legislation how this would cripple the legislation how this would prevent the monitoring processes how this would prevent the grant based programming from functioning i've just heard arguments that list don't do it as we've never done it that way before  and i'm persuaded that out of the department whole issue curity example this idea that let's just because we've not done it before we won't do it in the future and i would prefer to have a straight for which statement in this important legislation we had an event  this past year where young man all of this legislation what effect if that happened in one of the lakes in texas where a young man had an amoeba born get into his brain and it killed a freak tragic accident and obviously this legislation is why it's in inappropriate to have this earmark restriction this statement flat out statement that i think both sides can agree on because while earmarking doesn't really fix the overall spending pattern overall spending problem that we have in th because nobody knows at the annual budget is a set and every one of those nickels that are getting that get allocated to the appropriations committee will get spit the most all of this earmark churn happens within that number is so to the extent that we do away with all earmarks it really won't impact the total amount spent my grandchildren of whom i have seven have a fifty three trillion dollar debt staring them in the face because we have made fifty three million dollars and unfunded promises to each other issues that we think are important to my generation and my parents generation but we're taking their money to pay for it and so anything that we can do to begin the process of restricting spending on issues  to time but to expose it to the air marking process i think is is inappropriate and i hope that i'd like i said that the members who oppose just the mechanics of this give up those of us who don't understand the mechanics why a earmark restriction that the fly commit would put in place cripples and hamstrings this otherwise good legislation because all of us want safe water to swim in to play in but we also want my grandchildren to be able for to address the issues they have in front of them some fifty years from now with their money and quite frankly it's going to take hercules an effort among all of us here and everybody listening today to rein in that fifty three trillion dollars in unfunded promises continue to simply let those slide and those failed actions have consequences and we're going to added another one today that for the colombia free trade agreement by refusing to take action on the for colombia free trade agreement we've left more work done  we go about this business and all of that has consequences as many of my colleagues have said it has consequences on energy policy it has consequences on the fiscal policy this country and i think this is a simple step on a simple bill that would allow  and almost half an hour ago now when i saw the debate on the floor and my friend and colleague mr flake was here since of speaking about his amendment and i thought i would come down to hear him his closing remarks and hear the other side then say that they agreed to the amendment because i thought in an essence this was an amendment that both sides of the aisle could reach across and find unanimity in agreement with if we believe the rhetoric that we heard last year and if we believe the rhetoric that we hear oftentimes from the other side of the aisle about their desires to rein in spending to address the earmark situation problem and to work with republicans to try to deal with it as we heard during their campaign to come to the majority as they have now on the floor as well so my surprise and perhaps i should not be surprised to find that as of this time a half hour later into the debate on a simple amendment to say that we should not be having earmarks in this bill a bill that never had earmarks before the other side of the aisle the democrat side of the aisle cannot agree to it you know earlier when the general debate on this bill was on the floor i came to the floor and said in light of all the issues that we're discussing right now it's amazing that we're about to go into the weekend break and be discussing beaches as opposed to some other fundamentally important issues that are striking and hard at the hearts and the wallets of the american taxpayers in the state is in the state in new jersey as well one of precipitously which was the high cost of oil you know the democrats have been charge of this floor now of this house for over almost a year and a quarter and during that time we've seen the price of gas at the local gasoline stations go up by almost a buck and you would think that that would be something first and foremost that they be addressing but no they are addressing a spending bill and beeches as we have before us again maybe i should not be surprised because it wasn't hillary clinton who said that she has more ideas on spending than there are dollars in d c well in light of the fact that the other side of the aisle the democrat majority will not even consider to support the flag amendment which would try to rein in some of that wasteful wanton abuse that we see an earmark here apparently democrat house leadership  taking a page from hillary clinton's playbook they too have more ideas on spending than there is dollars in d c to spend it that was just indicated a moment ago well this is not the purpose of the bill to do earmarks well it's not the purpose of the bill than it should be an easy lift to support this amendment to eliminate earmarks from the bill secondly someone suggested from the other side well if we're going to do in this one we should do it all other bills like this i agree and i'm sure mr fl would come to the floor as well and say he will put this in any a bill coming to the floor to say that we should not have earmarks and i thought you just rose to that point and finally the point was made i think from this side of the aisle well it hasn't been done in bills like this before but what a better time than right now and i commend the gentleman mr flake for bringing to the floor if not now when if both sides of the aisle are as adamantly opposed to abuses in earmarks as both sides of the aisle says that they are then why shouldn't they support the make sure that members don't meddle in it that it is there to protect the waters in the beaches not to protect incumbents for reelection and that's what this is about and i thank the gentleman for yielding and