and the house here on c span sprite almighty god of love and mercy god of power and god of might today we pray the understanding to always seek your wisdom and justice it is through your authority righteously ministered that our leaders are enabled to govern this nation with laws and acted for our betterment and so today we pray for your spirit that they might be properly guided by your divine charity and an unassuming faithfulness give both counsel and courage to the leaders of this great body and its members as well as other government leaders of these united states of america may they always seek your purpose and the well being of this great people grant now your unfathomable protection that they lead our country with the honesty of providence and the integrity of high ideals we ask all this through christ our lord amen thank you the chair has examined the journal of the proceeding today at the previous day's proceedings and announces to the house her approval there of pursuant to roll clause one of rwanda general stands approved the pledge of allegiance of the led by the gentleman arkansas congressman walden that of speed i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands one nation under god indivisible with liberty and justice for without objection the gentleman from arkansas mr ross is recognized for one minute thank you madam speaker today i rise to recognize as my dear friend reverend dr and state senator hank wilkins the fourth of pine bluff arkansas who just delivered our opening prayer and is our guest chaplain of the day reverend dr wilkins the faith and dedication to his community and state is an inspiration dahl of us who know him there on his thirty one years in the ministry reverend dr wilkins has emphasized the need for faith in our daily lives i'm proud to have had the distinct honor to serve with hank in the arkansas state legislature as both senior pastor of st james united methodist church and as a arkansas state senator r puts the people he represents first and as a true and bassett or arkansas it's been a blessing for me to know hank and his wife phyllis and their family and i hope that this message of compassion this prayer of compassion and respect for others will be one that we all strive to achieve as we go about doing the work of the people let us remember the prayer reverend dr state senator hank wilkins delivered on the floor of the united states house of representatives on agriculture committee on appropriations committee on appropriations committee on armed services committee on armed services committee on the budget committee on the budget committee on education and labor committee on education and labor committee on energy and commerce committee on energy and commerce committee on financial services committee on financial services committee on foreign affairs committee on foreign affairs committee on homeland security committee on natural resources committee our natural resources committee on oversight and government reform committee on oversight and government reform committee on rules committee on rules committee on science and technology committee on science and technology committee on small business committee on small business committee on standards of official conduct committee on standards of official conduct committee on transportation and infrastructure committee on transportation and infrastructure committee on veterans affairs committee on veterans affairs committee on ways and means the committee on ways and means permanent select committee on intelligence permanent select committee on intelligence the chair will entertain up to fifteen for the request for one minute speeches on each side of the aisle what purposes omit from wisconsin rides without objection zones recognized mr speaker during the past year i had the high honor of working with republicans and democrats alike in the house agriculture committee to bring forward a new reform minded bill one that will be great for the health of the american people and wisconsin's agricultural economy and pleased to be able to say the farm bill has the overwhelming support of members of congress the farming communities everywhere and business leaders alike the new farm bill we intend to pass today will be good for our health and our economy and as a physician i'm pleased to say they will begin to move our children's diets away from carbohydrates and more towards their healthier choices including fruits and vegetables it will also reward work instead of wealth by dramatically reduced income caps for those qualifying for direct payments and more importantly this bill will determine what farmers plant what they grow and ultimately what we eat and what we look like the new farm bill also rewards the use of cellulosic biofuels which will help ease the strain on rising food prices i urge objection film is recognized mr speaker by refusing to renew the county payments program congress this congress has broken its pledge to rural areas all across this country such as harney county oregon county payments account for seventy percent of the road budget in harney county in part because seventy eight percent of hardy county is federal land that's an area nearly the size of new jersey now imagine if the tax revenue from seventy eight percent of the land in new jersey such dried up it'll be paralyzing just as paralyz g as the loss of county payments is proving in the rural west arnie county judge de gras he said it's now so bad we've got fewer road crew employees than snow moving equipment road department is now fifty percent of its historic staffing levels r thirty fifty eight would give some relief to this problem and would help keep the roads open in harney county and schools open across the west yet the democratic leadership in the house has held this bill hostage on the union calendar since january fifteenth today's time for what purpose the gentleman from virginia arise but abjection the gentleman's recognized thank mr speaker i rise to speak in honor of asian pacific american heritage month as a member of the congressional asian asian american civic american caucus and the only member of congress with any filipino filipino ancestry please to speak on the floor today in honor of this great month since early eighteen eighties the a community has played a vital role in the development and growth of this country i'd like to take just a moment to highlight one of the many contributions of a community that's played in american history and that is the accomplishments of the fellow filipino american veterans  during world war two a members of the philippine members of the commonwealth of the philippines military for tirelessly dohrn the united states for tirelessly for the united states during world war two the invaluable service of the members of the military help provided us the necessary support to defeat the japanese empire in the pacific last year congressman filner introduced and i co sponsored the filipino american that filipino ron's equity act which will illinois writes thank you to address the house for one minute and the device and them about objections always recognize the speaker second life it's not just a new job or a new start it's a virtual world online with over six million people run by the san francisco company linden lab second life allows anyone in their world to do anything and the labs make a million dollars each night and what is offered in second life my staff found rooms leading t people to commit suicide satanic worship buying assault weapons leading human sacrifice and rape rooms game players choose to rape or be raped this content is totally inappropriate and leads to the objectification lessons that especially are inappropriate for young boys linden labs claims that it provides eighteen area but the fine print of their user agreement clearly states that adults prowl in the children's area and children are in the adult area second life k street lobbyists say trust us but i think we should trust informed and aware parents joined me in a letter to the federal trade the gallery today because today is this week is the twenty fifth anniversary of the national tourism week as co chair of the congressional tourism caucus along with my co chair john porter of nevada a nearly one hundred members of congress we recognize the portents of the tourism industry is our national economy and economy to our local communities it's the fastest growing industry in the world from mom and pop restaurants to local unique shops and local state and international parks and to this capital which is a tourist attraction there's so much experience to experience in this great country the tourism industry all shows and also shows america's best face travelers experience warm friend ringing compassionate people to make up our country this person to person contact between different cultures can help dissolve stereotypes and misconceptions as mark twain once said travel is fatal to prejudice bigotry and narrow mindedness so remember that was our economy grows and tourism plays a multibillion dollar aspect of that employ more than seven and a half million people i join you hope you enjoy me and so in welcoming the representatives of the tourism industry that are here this weekend celebrating national tourism week the world is a book and those who do not travel world war two veterans from georgia six districts these proud patriots are here for one remarkable day as part of the honor flight program thanks to the generosity of the rozel rotary club these men and women will have the opportunity to visit the stirring world war two memorial built in their honor and to pay their respects to fallen comrades at arlington national cemetery as young americans these proud patriots showed courage and compassion answering the call to serve in a time of great need through amazing sacrifice they are responsible for the preservation of our treasured american way of life our community is extremely proud to be home to so many of the brave veterans who fought for freedom at a critical moment in our history mr speaker on behalf of georgia six district for our deepest appreciation and i know that my colleagues will join me in welcoming our veterans to our nation's capital and thanking them the soldiers of the greatest generation for their invaluable service  purpose a gentle lady from virgin islands ri without objection generally these records thank you mr speaker the fact that more than half a million women die in what is the most natural of processes and what should be one of the happiest pregnancy and birth is totally unacceptable  call everyone in this world to action but for a simple and inexpensive medication and adequate train providers and because of poverty import sanitation but mostly from the lack of an addict with global response to this tragedy a mother somewhere dies every sixty seconds these same factors in addition to lack of access and other social determinants of health also cause maternal mortality rate among black women in the united states to be three to four times higher than that of white women because of this the united states ranks forty first in the world with many poor countries having lower mortality rates reducing maternal mortality is the fifth millennium goal and we are so far from reaching it last year johnson and johnson and the government of norway stepped up in a big way to help just having celebrated mother's day this is a good time for other companies and other countries especially ours to make sure we meet this goal and keep our and all mothers alive  nation and the more than eight hundred thousand who have lost their lives over the years i want to express my deep appreciation to the law enforcement officials who keep the residents of the first district of ohio safe and secure each day police officers put their lives on the line to ensure that our laws are enforced and our communities are safe too often their critical work goes overlooked and under appreciated i'd like to thank those who dedicate themselves each day as well as honor those who have fallen in the line of duty for their sacrifices and dedication to our families our community center our nation i urge my colleagues to recognize the efforts of law enforcement officials and their communities nationwide by supporting national police mr speaker i rise today to add my voice in support for keeping women around the world alive by ensuring they have access to basic maternal health care services we are blessed to live in a country where women can access prenatal and obstetric care but that's not the case everywhere in fact more than a half a million women die every year a pregnancy related causes along with nearly ten million newborns an infant's most of these deaths are preventable and needless all women deserve the right to go through pregnancy and childbirth without fear of losing their lives basic access to maternal health care is a human right that must no longer be ignored i want to thank congresswoman caps for sponsoring house resolution ten twenty two which recognizes the need for quality health care for moms in the u s as well as around the world mr speaker i urge my colleagues to honor mothers by investing the necessary health care to keep them healthy and alive was powered by coal and with the current state of our energy markets kosher receive the attention it deserves an important energy source for our country because united states most abundant efficient fuel source and we hold over one quarter of the world's coral reserves the energy content of the nation's coal reserves exceeds that of all the world's known oil reserves in my home state of ohio we have reserves that will last a two hundred fifty years cover vides more than one half electricity consumed by americans the work is currently being done in my district  develop kogan stick a sion which is a process increases efficiency of coal within a closed system the current democratic leadership in congress refuses invest money into the coal gasification process or china at the same time as investing twenty four billion dollars into the same technology we must embrace all forms of energy to keep our and our economy in parks competitive and with the rest of the world i yield back this time for what purpose the gentle lady from california  without objection she is recognized mr speaker this past weekend we celebrated mother's day i was fortunate enough to celebrate with my children and grandchildren sadly many women never get the chance to celebrate this day with their family throughout the world a woman dies every single minute in childbirth i think most of our congressional colleagues would be shocked to learn that this problem isn't faced by women in developing nations alone the united states ranks forty first in the world lower than all other industrialized nations when it comes to maternal mortality let us use this opportunity while mother's day is fresh in our minds to renew our commitment to improving maternal health both at home and abroad i thank the one hundred seventeen of our colleagues in the house of representatives for co sponsoring house resolution twenty two a resolution underscoring our challenges and urging us all to support the goal of a safe and healthy childbirth for every thousand and six while campaigning to become speaker of the house the democrat leader said quote democrats have a commonsense plan to help bring down skyrocketing gas prices and quote on the day the democrats took control of congress in january of two thousand and seven gas in my home state of pennsylvania was averaging two thirty seven a gallon today it's averaging over three dollars and seventy five cents a gallon many people have taken to calling this one dollar thirty eight cent increase the pelosi premium this congress has yet to do anything substantive to help american families are paying nearly four dollars a gallon at the pump the democrats in congress have been voting against increasing domestic oil and natural gas production as well as domestic refining capacity for years this is a matter of supply and demand we have billions of barrels of oil in alaska in the deep waters off the outer continental shelf right here in the united states yet d without objections generally mr speaker i rise today to commemorate may as asian pacific american heritage met there are over fifty million americans asian americans living in the united states from the early chinese japanese korean and filipino immigrants to decent vietnamese laotian and long community the united states has benefit in many ways from the contributions of these diverse cultures through the telling of the asian pacific american experience we eliminate the equality of opportunity that makes our country that wonderful place it is from community involvement to business entrepreneurship many americans of asian descent come came to this country with very little and have been able to achieve the american dream and the asian americans have also played a critical role in protecting our freedoms during world war two the federal government chose to in turn a hundred twenty thousand americans of age of japanese descent including my mother and father and their entire families the country without objection general eighty second or mr speaker today we're going to be talking about the farm bill there will be many criticisms of the farm bill but i proudly stand in support of this farm bill rural america is looking  to us to make sure that there is a safety net for agriculture in this country reforms were asked for by our speaker by people on both sides of the aisle this farm bill increases funding to food banks when they are suffering  dire need right now it increases funding by one point two billion dollars the farm bill increases finding to conservation programs these programs are very important to people around the nation and we know that farmers are the very best stewar of the land it provides incentives for them when they implement innovative soil and why our conservation programs the farm bill increases investment in alternative good alternative energy research we know that one of the number one concerns of america right now is that we lessen our dependence on foreign oil but i believe the most important thing about this farm bill it is it does provide americans with a safe and reliable food supply thank you mr speaker an associate member of the congressional asian pacific american caucus chaired by a great leader congressman mike honda of california and i rise today to join my colleagues in celebrating asian pacific american heritage month countless asian pacific americans have contributed to our history culture and economy we cannot be the nation that we are today without the contributions of the asia pacific american community my home state of california has the largest and fastest growing asian american population with four point six million people i represent a wonderful and i burst mix of asian pacific americans who are proud of their cultural heritage and whose share a strong link to people in their home countries we have many festivals that share music food dance culture art and customs with the entire bay area on behalf of my constituents i also want to take this moment to express my great sadness for the recent tragedies adjust of curd in burma and china my heart and prayers go out to the millions of people who have been affected by the natural disasters i resident of the twenty ninth congressional district of new york who recently died major general barrett began his military career early in life and rolling in r o two c program while a student at cornell university he entered active duty in  six and served as a shop officer and company commander for seventeen months in the area with the eighth army in korea during his four plus decades of service to this country accumulated many honors including the distinguished service medal the meritorious service medal and the army commendation medal these medals exemplify the service of sacrifice in the courage of his hero and represent major general barrett as a man who put himself before this country a man who answered the call when the nation needed him most in a man who represented the best that america had to offer major general barrett serve his country with pride with honor and with bravery and there is nothing more noble than a person who is willing to commit themselves to a cause as important  defending our country today i honor major general charles barrett and all the brave men and women who volunteered to fight for what is good about and right about our country thank you mr speaker and i yield back the balance of my time gentleman yield back for what purpose john from tennessee opportunity for me to vote for funds to support our troops in afghanistan who are going having an effort in defeating the taliban and seeking out osama bin laden the perpetrators of nine one one one but however the bills are drawn together i will vote no and i feel that this time we know the war in iraq is going the wrong direction but i also know that there are catastrophic illnesses of disease on mankind and womankind in our world and a great country should use its resources for the best purposes not weapons of war but use our science and our intelligence to find ways to conquer disease i had polio when i was a child and would have put more money into helping the salk jonas salk maybe i would not have polio as months after socks vaccine was introduced i lost a friend t cancer last week thomas bogs will be a time when people lose friends to cancer and it could have been cured if we had put more money into research earlier b d s parkinson's heart disease in memphis we have st jude children's hospital looking for cures for illnesses and diseases a great country should do speaker it was sixty years ago today nothing short of a miracle occurred our nation arose in a day seemingly and fulfillment of the words of the prophet isaiah that nation is the state of israel in seventy eight the jews occurred history teaches that when a people are five generations removed from their homeland the nation ceases yet after two thousand years israel was reborn and today has reclaimed its language people and is once again  with milk and honey may god bless israel and many many more happy sixth the sixtieth birthday to the state of israel i mr speaker as chair of the congressional asian pacific american caucus i rise today to recognize the asian pacific american heritage month the month of may as we celebrate the contributions and achievements of our community i also want to pay special attention to the two hundred fifty thousand filipino world war two veterans president roosevelt call into military service on july twenty six nine forty one of the twenty two surviving filipino veterans i want to highlight foster you know pipping buckling pipping was one of the seventy five thousand filipino and u s soldiers subjected to the ninety mile on death march he survived the japanese atrocities and fought side by side with the americans only to have his service as a u s national and a veteran denied by the one nine hundred forty six rescission act passed by congress we now have a unique opportunity to an undo the injustice of that act and give them recognition of a grateful nation that their service to our country is just as equal as the soldiers with whom they stood generated recognize our rise today to offer my heartfelt congratulations to the state of israel on the occasion of its sixtieth anniversary since its dark gratian of independence israel has stood as a strong ally and friend of the united states this friendship stems from the commonalities that led to our respective foundings and our shared hopes for the future witcher of the global community and forging a new nation israel established a home for people that were targeted for extermination and ostracism and other lands from an arduous beginning israel's rise has come to mirror our own hailing from more than one hundred countries on five continents israel's population exudes a diversity of culture and ideas israel has flourished through the development of a diverse and technologically advanced economy and has come to exemplify the best of what a democracy can be our countries have stood by one another in peace and in war and we will continue to stand together in fighting grouse for one minute joe was wrecking our i think the speaker i didn't plan to take any time today but in that we'll be debating the farm bill later today and the rule that has come to the floor does not allow anyone to claim opposition to the bill i'm sorry to claim time in opposition to the bill so those of us who are opposed to this three this three hundred billion dollar piece of well i'm sorry thirty billion dollars piece of legislation cannot even stand up and oppose the bill unless we get time from those there are generous enough to give it to us from those who support the bill now if i were hiding that want to hide what's in this bill that's what i would do to this legislation allows multimillionaires to still collect farm subsidies under this legislation you can still make two point five million dollars as a couple in farm and non farm income and still collapse collect subsidies i would have a close house for one minute and we went on without objecting so much recognized but speaker in honor of the age of seven carriage months in which our nation pays a special tribute to the contributions of some fifteen million of our fellow americans who are nation in the field of battle to world war two it was a time in our nation's history where there was so much hatred bigotry and racism placed against japanese americans and yet despite all this leaving their parents their brothers and sisters their wives behind barbed wire fences in these concentration camps that were established the white house accepted the request of over ten thousand japanese americans volunteered to join the army as a result to combat units were organized one hundred battalions and a four president truman was so moved by their bravery in the field of battle as well as the contributions of the courage of the african american soldiers who fought in world war two the president truman he issued an executive order to finally desegregate all branches of the armed appropriate it is to stand here a week after mother's day and support of this commonsense initiative one in eight women in afghanistan die due to complications resulting f pregnancy and childbirth one in eight and it's the same story in many countries around the world but unfortunately this is not just a third world problem although the united states is the leader in medical technology and innovation it has one of the worst rankings where maternal mortality in all the industrialized nations we come in at a did low forty first place which means that a mother and her baby have a greater chance of survival in kuwait or croatia than they do in the united states in a relatively wealthy country pregnancy should not be a death sentence they're inexpensive an the house one minute that objections almost recognize good morning mr speaker and i feel very fortunate today to be able to celebrate both mother's day as well as the american pacific american heritage month my mother in law was born molokai has filipino how i am and chinese ancestry and has fourteen brothers and sister her spread from the hawaii to the philippines and she instilled in my daughters our three daughters the heritage and the values of family hard work and indomitable spirit and i feel blessed to have that those particular values from the asian american community instilled in my children this is a great country to have that kind of heritage and that kind of ancestry in my family now is what makes this country so great so i get to celebrate mother's day and i get to celebrate american pacific or asian pacific american heritage month and with that mr speaker i will yield back joe and your backers time for what purpose the gentleman from oregon wri reckoner thank you mr speaker i rise in support of asian pacific american heritage month and some of the things i want to talk about a personal and some are of public policy nature never ceases why i never cease to admire the courage of my parents in bringing our family to this country to a new country a new language new culture and interestingly enough i've never been really able to say that to them in person across the kitchen table  or for me to say it right here on the house floor they're out there lessons that i have that are important and one of them has been referred to eat earlier the internment of the japanese americans during world war two it is not an old cold dead issue we passed a military commissions act just before the two thousand and six elections it substantially restricted hevia scorpius for all americans and just as we apologize to japanese americans for the internment during world war two some day will be apologizing for actions taken under the military commissions act so some of the lessons learned from the asian pacific american experience are positive ones and others are cautionary ones that we should continue to remember i yield back the balance of my time mr speaker by direction of the committee on rules i call up house resolution eleven eighty nine and ask for to meet consideration the clerk will report the resolution house calendar number two sixteen house resolution eleven eighty nine result that upon you dobbs of this resolution it shall be in order to consider the conference report to accompany the bill h r twenty four nineteen to provide for the continuation of agricultural programs to fiscal year two thousand and twelve and for other purposes all points of order against a conference report and to get this consideration or waived the conference report should be considered as read the previous questions will be considered as ordered on a conference report without intervening motion except one one hour of debate equally divided and controlled by the chairman and ranking minority member of the committee on agriculture and to one motion to recommit see what purpose is shown from arizona writes mr speaker i raise a point of order against r one one eight nine because the resolution violates section forty two psi four twenty six a of the congressional budget act the resolution contains a waiver on all points of order against consideration of the conference report which includes a waiver on section four twenty five of the congressional budget act which causes a violation of section four twenty six a the gentleman from arizona makes a point of order that the resolution violates section four twenty six a of the congressional budget act of one hundred seventy  a gentleman has met the threshold burden to identify the specific language in the resolution under which the point of order is predicated such a point of order shall be disposed of by the question of consideration for gentlemen from arizona and a member opposed the gentleman from california each will control ten minutes of debate on the question of consideration after that debate the chair will put the question of consideration to when will the house now consider the resolution the chair recognizes the gentleman from arizona i think the speaker i raise this point of order and realizing that it's a bit of a stretch the real the reason that we  had this point of order in law that we have in the law is to guard against unfunded mandates being levied on the states in this case there are a lot of fun funded mandates being heaped upon taxpayers i realize like i said this is a stretch but i have to do this today because the rule that is before us does not allow anybody opposed to the bill to claim time in opposition to the bill how is it that a bill of this import a bill that will spend over the next ten years about three hundred billion dollars which will not is not important enough to allow those who are opposed to the bill to claim time in opposition to it instead the structured rule before us today allows time to be split between the majority and the minority now those who will be controlling that time are people who are in support of the bill how is it that we can to discuss a bill this large this important that spends this much money that heaps this kind of burden on the taxpayer yet again without having a real discussion when we have a bill before the house we have time called general debate in this case general debate is between those in the majority who support the bill and those in the minority who support the bill now how is that  why is it that the rules committee can't see fit to actually allow people who are opposed to the bill to claim time in opposition to it with that i would love to hear an explanation from the rules committee why we have a structure grewal that does this and ultimately the underlying conference report in my opinion it is simply an effort to try and kill this bill without any debate without an up or down vote on the conference report itself it's nothing more than procedural roadblocks  something the other side has been using a fair amount recently i don't believe it will work the gentleman has talked about the fact that he's not able to speak in opposition the gentleman had an hour's worth of debate the other day on a motion to recommit it's also my understanding that the chairman is working with the opposition to allow them time to discuss the bill within the rules that were set up this conference report is far too important mr speaker to be blocked by a parliamentary tactic we have worked on this bill for nearly two years and a compilation of what many of us thought was impossible feat by bringing it to the floor make no mistake a mistake about it the republican obstruction will ensure that a farm bill will not pass during this congress so despite whatever brought roadblock the other side tries to use to stop this bill we will stand up for america's hard working farmers for the hungry for the millions of other americans who will benefit from this farm bill we must consider this rule and we must empower pass this important conference report without further delay mr speaker it's my understanding that the right to close but in the end i will urge my colleagues to earmarks had to be airdropped into the bill in the last minute we've been discussing this bill for two years then couldn't we actually discuss these earmarks that were to be added to the bill instead of airdropping them into the conference report when nobody in the house or nobody in the senate had even seen them so it's hardly a defense to say that we've been discussing this for two years nor is it a reason to deny those who are opposed to the bill an opportunity to actually claim time in opposition let me read from the house rules if the floor manager for the majority and the floor manager for the minority bowl support the conference report or motion one third of the time for debate there on shall be allotted to a member delegate or resident commission opposes the conference report or motion on demand of that member delegate or resident commissioner we waive that and we're not doing it and let me tell you why i think that is the case now if i were supporting this bill and i had been touting this bill as some big reform to our farm programs i would flat be plumb embarrassed to bring this bill to the floor in its current form i would be embarrassed that what has got most of the attention the effort in here is what the president wanted what others wanted what many of us here in the house argued for was to put a cap on how much income you could have and still receive subsidies the president suggested two hundred thousand adjusted gross income remember expenses or charitable contributions it brings that down by at least a third maybe even a half under this legislation a farm couple can have farm income and non farm income totalling two point five million dollars and still receive direct payments under this legislation now if i was bringing a bill to the floor and and had tout of this bill as reforming man i would want to hide that as well i would not want somebody to be able to stand up and say how is it that a multimillionaire farm couple can still collect subsidies from the taxpayers so i commend the rules committee and those who are in support of the bill for actually putting a  rule together that minimizes opposition that can be raised and the only way people can stand up in a post and get the guaranteed time in opposition is to use a maneuver like raising a point of order against the bill i should mention there are other problems with this and other reasons why this rule should not go forward we are waiving paygo rules now one thing the majority said when they came into power is we will not waive paygo we're going to live by pay go when we give money out we have to make sure that that money is in the treasury or we won't do it this way of spago because there is simply no way you could be in compliance with pay go and pass a three hundred billion dollar farm bill and in this case the riders that legislation did something very creative they actually went to baseline shopping when we what paygo says is that you have to take the current baseline the most current baseline of spending and total up your spending in the bill based on that current baseline instead what the authors of the distillation did was said oh let's go to last year's baseline because we spent less money there and it will mean we can spend more money in this legislation baseline shopping it's as if i were to say you know i don't want to pay so much in taxes this year so i'm going to use last year's last year's wages that i was paid and i'm going to report that instead now if i did that i'd be thrown in jail but we're allowed to do this here we're allowed to say we'll take whatever baseline we want as long as it allows us to spend more money in the legislation and then when the bill comes to the floor we'll just wave the rule that required us to be honest in terms of bringing legislation that complies with paygo i would love an explanation from the rules committee as to why pay go was waived in this regard and i would reserve the balance of my time gentleman reserves as time gentleman from california thank you mr speaker i am happy to refer respond to my friend from arizona with regard to the paygo issue even though that that is going to be addressed in the rule and not in this motion that has brought forward now i didn't raise a point of order in your motion so you could have plenty of time to speak let me tell you also that the chairman and the ranking member have in my understanding provided ten minutes to both republican and democratic opposition to this bill out of their time today so we will be complying with the rules of the house is my understanding there will be twenty minutes in opposition with regard to paygo the senate and the house have adopted different have tried to reconcile we started this bill and actually passed the conference report we passed it out in chief from the ag committee to this floor and to a conference committee in two thousand and seven that work was not completed in two thousand and seven and thus we have this bill on the floor today there are many reasons why this bill didn't get finished in two thousand and seven but because we have different rules in the house and senate we have decided that in order to make this bill work and achieve a conference report we can bring to this floor that we will be discussing this further in as we discuss the rule but we have dealt with that in the rule so i reserve the balance of my time german reserves this time  committee for a question did we waive the pay go rules in this rule we have accommodated the senate paygo rules as we've moved forward and it is my opinion that this is a technical situation because we started this bill and passed this bill off the floor in two thousand and seven after the grading from the house rules after the beginning of a new calendar year or a raise a point of order i believe we're supposed to be talking about the unfunded mandates in this bill you know jim and would like to talk about the pay go rules we should talk about this when we bring up the rule which is which side is remain to gentleman sure can find his remarks to the point of order the phone from arizona i i can well understand why the other side does not want to talk about paygo and why i should confine this debate to unfunded mandates because paygo was in fact waived here pay go was waived and we were not waived it would be subject to a point of order the same point of order that the gentleman is lodging to get this debate right now so i  can understand that and i guess we'll have to go with the flow there's another point of order that will be raised shortly with regard to the waiver of the earmark rules that we have in place as well so let me get back this is the ones that funded mandate on the taxpayer of course according to the environmental working group the federal government handed out thirteen point four billion in farm subsidies to one point four million recipients eleven point two billion of which related to various commodity support programs programs  that the underlying bill simply does not change the tax payers have a huge unfunded mandate here that we are going to be paying off for a very very long time and what concerns me greatly as well with that i speaker there is one i think serious concern that many of us who have been advocating reform of the commodity title the so called commodity subsidy programs and that's what was done with the two subsidy programs now we're funding currently isn't going on and the reason it's not going out on the loan deficiency program in the countercyclical programs because market prices are high and that's a good thing because farming come this is good that asset ratios never been better in farm country but what this bill proposes to do instead of holding goals programs constant they're actually increasing the loan rate under the loan deficiency program and the target price on of the countercyclical program which means that if things do turn south in farm country of prices do drop and we know how cyclical agriculture can be and these are safety net programs those programs will trigger much sooner and at a much greater expense than what i fear is being accounted for right now in this bill and that i think speaks to the unfunded mandate concern that the gentleman from arizona and myself and others included have in regards to the so called reforms that we're just not seeing under the commodity title not when they go the opposite direction with the l d p in the countercyclical by dialing up the loan rate and the target prices of those two programs and triggering them at a much earlier time and at a much greater expense for the taxpayers of this country there's a whole lot of all the reform that we felt was justifiable and reasonable under the commodity title and quite frankly we don't get there in fact if you look at the payment limitation caps that exist under the direct payments it would only affect two tenths of one percent of farmers in this country hardly the type of reform we'd like to see i don't look back and think the gentleman much from california thank you mr speaker i i would like to say that we will deal in the debate on the bill in chief with regard to what level of reforms are but i would just like to tell my colleagues and my friends from both arizona and wisconsin that there are in fact significant reforms in fact if you take the ratio when this bill was first brought up in two thousand and two you have a situation where the nutrition part of this bill versus commodities was by a ratio of two to one two dollars for nutrition for every dollar commodity payments in this particular act that we're going to be bringing to the floor later today it is my understanding and my my work with regard to on the reforms that have been so many reforms put into this bill that the nutrition title versus the commodity payments are actually a five to one ratio at this point i would say that indicates as we're just one of many indicators that you will see as we can duck this debate of significant reform that is happened in this bill i believe this is good work i'm very proud to be a part of bringing this bill to the floor leiva complies with the house rules and i again want to urge my colleagues to vote yes on this motion consideration is decided in the affirmative for what purpose of joan from arizona writes the speaker i raise a point of order again states reza levon eighty nine and a clause nine of rule twenty one because a resolution contains a waiver of all points of order against a conference report as consideration gentleman from arizona makes a point of order that the resolution violates clause nine b of rule twenty one under clause nine the group twenty one the gentleman from arizona and the gentleman from california each will control ten minutes of the be on the question of consideration following the debate the chair will put the question of consideration as follows will the house now consider the resolution the chair recognizes the gentleman from arizona mr speaker this is the second point of order and i will be one million for the national sheep and goat industry improvements that are that that that was something that had to come up at midnight and be dropped in when nobody had seen it in either the house of the senate this bill has been under consideration for a long long time and yet still we have earmarks that have been air dropped into the legislation a number of them now the gentleman may say in defense we have listed the earmarks that have been air dropped in it is true that some have been listed if all of them were listed why would we waive all points of order against the bill if the majority was confident enough that all earmarks had been listed then we wouldn't have waved the points of order against it and i'll speak specifically about a few of these earmarks but let me let me just mention some of them that are in the bill there is authorization language for a national products research laboratory again this was air dropped in at the last minute when the house had it hadn't been in the house version the bill had been in the senate it was airdropped into the conference report authorization language for a policy research center authorization language for a housing assistance council now what that has to do with the i'm not sure and the problem is we'll never know until the bill is passed because they're dropped in at the last minute that's the problem that the majority party correctly identified when they took control of this body that we have a problem with earmarks and they're really being dropped in at the last minute without notice that's why decent rules were actually put in place to try to curb this abuse the problem is in this rule we're waiving those rules were waving those rules so the old practice can continue on just like it always has but that i reserve the balance of my time gentleman from arizona reserves this time so much in california thank you mr speaker i yield myself such time as i may consume the gentleman's recognized as my colleague knows this point of order is about whether or not to consider the this rule and the underlying conference report for the farm bill this point of order today is just another effort in my opinion by the others of the other side of the to block this critical legislation that we have worked on for nearly two years they don't want to debate and they don't want to vote on this conference report they simply want to obstruct through a parliamentary tactic i will make it very clear that the farm bill fully complies with the  r disclosure rules contained in clause nine of rule twenty one i would suggest to those raising the point of order that they look in the statement of managers and they will see a list of the earmarks if they can't find out list we'll be happy to provide it for  them mr speaker i have a right to close but in the end i will urge my colleagues to vote yes and to consider this important was the rule i reserve myself the balance of the time zone reserves as time jonah from arizona i thank the  man i find it ironic that that we're being accused on this side of trying to stifle debate on the bill that that we don't want debate on the bill when i'm here to argue against a rule that waive these points of order and a rule that also does not allow opposition to claim time now majority will say well we we will yield you time now now that we've been caught on this will yield you some time that's not the same as controlling time when i control the time i can yield time to my colleagues if i meet all the time i can't do that i don't control time in opposition the our house rules say that if both the majority in the minority are in favor of the bill for the leadership that somebody opposed the bill has a right to claim time in opposition that was not done here with a bill this important you you wonder why that has happened back to the earmarks the gentleman mentioned that there is a list of earmarks that was listed it's right here a number of them now why in the world we had to have more than a dozen earmarks air dropped into a bill that's been in your consideration for the past two years i simply don't know but when you read some of them you kind of wonder why like i said housing assistant council insular pacific sun grant sub center desert terminal lakes nevada this is all we know about them and if you dig into them you might find something untoward you might not but the fact is we don't have time to do that and that's why we have earmarked rules that give us time to actually invest in those rules are being waived here and we shouldn't be doing that  mention also gentlemen said that they're all listed they art there is a quite a controversial earmark in this legislation that does not show up on the list it's a two hundred and fifty million dollar tax refund to the  plum tree timber company now this is an earmark that allows the nature conservancy to get that refund i'm sorry to purchase that from the plum tree timber company now the the plum tree timber company as i understand is not mentioned in the legislation it's simply described it would simply it would be like saying i'm going to give a subsidy to the gentleman who stands six foot tall weighs one hundred seventy five pounds has blue eyes and his middle name is john that we won't say the rest of it that's exactly what we're doing here and you know in an effort to get around the scrutiny that might come if somebody actually said the was a subsidy going to the plum tree timber company it is no wonder that the wool rules have been waived here if i had something like this in this bill i'd waive the rules too because i wouldn't want anybody to talk about it i would also not want anybody who was opposed to the bill to claim time in opposition to it if i were sponsoring this legislation that i said reform the farm subsidy program to make sure that multimillionaire farmers don't continue to get subsidies on behalf of the taxpayer i would hide it as well i would do exactly what the rules committee has done here in the supporters of the legislation have done because under this legislation a farm couple earning as much as two point five million dollars in adjusted gross income adjusted gross income that your income after expenses are taken out can still receive direct payments under this legislation also of the other subsidy programs  rather than reform or to get rid of the loopholes that were allowing people to get extra subsidies we simply waive the limits there and this is called reform i mean is it any wonder that the rules have been waived and debate has been stifled here on this critical legislation without i reserve the bounds of my time domain reserves this time zone from california thank you mr speaker i would like to yield such time as you may consume to the chairman of the committee i believe that have been mentioned are not earmarks and i don't know why the gentleman continues to characterize them as such the plum creek first of all it is this is not an earmark it does not define plung creek what it says is that these bonds can be used for any habitat conservation plans to protect native fish or any forest land covered by these and habitat conservation plans we know of at least seven habitat conservation plans that would qualify under this provision so therefore it's not an earmark the cedar river watershed habitat conservation plan in king county washington the plum creek timber plan is which is also in washington washington department of natural resources forest practices habitat conservation plan in washington the west fork timber plan and washington the plum creek native fish habitat conservation plan in montana and idaho all green diamond and pacific lumber both in california so these are this is not an earmark because it would be any of these would qualify and there's probably more that we don't know about now this was in the senate bill so i don't know what you're talking about air drop number the couple of the others that i heard you mention were also in the senate bill and the one that you know there's another one that you've characterized as an earmark which is not an earmark and that's the salmon recovery disaster plan which was a plan that was actually first passed in the two thousand and six congress by the republican majority was implemented in two thousand and six fifty million dollars at that time was put out to the people that were in the commercial fishing industry primarily off the coast of california at that time there was a partial shutdown of the salmon season and now this year we have a complete shutdown of the salmon system season all along the coast from california to oregon to washington state so it's much broader and it not only shut down the commercial fishing it shut down the recreational fishing in those areas and so what we're doing is replenishing this disaster fund with money that is exactly similar to what was done watch was in the  statute and was actually disbursed in two thousand and six because the disaster is much bigger this year than it was in two thousand and six because we had a partial shutdown now we have an entire shutdown of three states so this is clearly not an earmark this is in the disaster title of the farm bill that goes along with the other disaster provisions that are in the farm bill so you know i don't know i guess because apparently some people think that being against and you know we had to deal with the other body and we took some provisions from the other body because that's how a conference works you know there's a lot of work stuff that was in that bill that we took out so i just want to clear the record that a number of the things being talked about here are not earmarks and and i would encourage of my colleagues not to support this point of order and reserve the balance of the time gentleman from arizona thank wires the time remaining four minutes thank the gentleman just mentioned the national marine fisheries service earmark it was added at the last minute it may have been a two thousand six bill but it wasn't in this bill and till it was air dropped in the conference report one hundred seventy million dollars now that may well be a disaster there but why in the world if it is a disaster isn't it covered in in the i will the house bill didn't have a disaster paid for disaster provision in the senate bill dead and so when we molded these together we put these disaster provisions in and we paid for them first time that we actually paid for disasters with pay pay as you go money and we included the california disaster in the process and paid for this is not a new program as i said it's not an earmark and it was brought  because we were dealing with disaster this is clearly disaster you know any place that you have a complete shutdown of a commercial fishery they're going to be in asking for help from the federal government that's appropriate eight billion dollars disaster permanent disaster title added to the bill and still in addition to that we're funding these kind of programs directly and specifically and jim and can you can argue that it's not an earmark i think that a casual or tortured reading of this would all say that that's an earmark when you're naming a specific entity to receive a specific amount of money and when it was in the house bill that's an earmark and so i there is a good reason for this point of order let me mentioned the gentleman said and let me go back to the pay go issue the gentleman mentioned that this rule he thinks is in compliance with pay go let me read what this conference report l and which clearly didn't have anything to do with the unfunded mandates language that that i had raised or that i talked about or that he had raised the point of order for and so i clearly i understand that that they don't want to talk about this i understand that that's why the rules are waived but to stand now and to raise a point of order against my point of order because i'm not addressing specifically the question that they want to address or that they'd rather dispose of i think is a little marzano have one minute mr speaker i was when the gentleman says we talked about other issues in the last point of order i was trying to be gracious with regard to the time that we were and the discussion allow the gentleman to raise an issue on the point of order because we are going on an pay go because we're going to ask us that in the rules discussion in this discussion of the rule i would just remind the gentleman that in the time that he's taken these two points of order is probably he will probably have discussed this bill more than any other member of the floor even after we have agreed to give him twenty minutes to debate on this on this topic so  think the other side if you've noticed the word use that we have graciously agreed to give them under the rules the house rules those who are opposed to the bill are required to be given the chance to claim time in opposition not to be at the whims and graciousness of those who support the legislation that's why we have rules and that's why in this case the rules have been waived i understand completely if i had waived the paygo rules when so many on that side of the aisle bless their heart i have been diligent sometimes on raising the issue of pay go and saying that we shouldn't violate it if i had violated paygo and waived it like this i would want to waive every rule as well and stifle all the debate i could because it's embarrassing frank gentlemen the end up i have little time left so i can't yell the gentleman yield i can't thank you but i would just say in my remaining fifteen seconds here we have a bill here that deserves a lot more debate than it's getting this important legislation where waiving paygo rules let me just say what this rule says therefore while there is a technical violation of clause ten earmarks were there that aren't there i take very much issue with your saying that we're waving paygo we are not waiving paygo we are not waiving paygo in this bill we are meeting paygo requirements based on the old seven baseline which is what we started the bill under and this is what the rules are in the senate well let me explain my point first and then i'll be happy to yield show the senate has a rule that says that in you under whatever baseline you start off with with the bill that you continue under that baseline until a new budget resolution is passed by both the house and the senate for whatever reason the house has a different rule when we adopted that and it says that once you file the budget committee report in the house not when it's passed that then if the new baseline comes along as well as to use it well clearly we cannot write a bill of this magnitude in this scope having two different baselines we can't have one baseline in the senate another baseline in the house that's number one number two the common practice around this place has always been to follow this rule that we always use the baseline that we started off with that's what we've done here for years so work work all we're doing is complying with what the senate rule is because we have to do that and it makes sense we're not trying to waive anything we're not trying to get around anything this bill come it be it meets paygo requirements and it meets that under the old seven baseline which is what we started the bill and we are not waiving pay go with jim and you i'd be happy and i appreciate the gentleman from from yielding but i just want to make this point this rule provides for waivers of other rules last night when we were it when we were up in rule we can i control the time i believe on on the remainder of my motion about a whole different topic here and i would like to make sure that we consider the point of order that has been raised directly by the gentleman from arizona and not make this a wide ranging debate with regard to the rule this is  record their votes by in the try to divide this is a fifteen minute vot one of the main pieces of business today on the house floor will be the consideration of the farm bill they need to debate the rule on that first but representative jeff jeff flake of arizona raised a couple of points of order against the rule  e saying that there is an unfunded mandate a bill or require action required by congress that a state or local government has to provide the funds for the other that regarding earmarks so we saw some debate i had here of the of the rule debate on the farm bill conference report this is a fifteen minute vote whether they are going to consider the farm the rule for the farm bill today so the farm legislation a conference report and both the house and senate agreed to  conferees on the house and senate side we get an update on the bill from a capitol hill reporter on the phone with this is katherine richard of congressional quarterly president bush has threatened to veto this farm bill what doesn't he like well i think he's moved concerns that the farm bill that the farm bill writers haven't really imposed enough reform on from subsidies and he's still concerned about the fact that the bill to him is overpriced so he's looking for a cheaper bill and one that also trim subsidies further and he thinks that congress hasn't either of those things your article on the farm bill says that some of the bill it all about subsidies or there are other issues this time you know there are certainly other issues i think subsidies is part of it but in turn i believe that the people who don't support the bill would like to see a stronger investment in land conservation environmental components of the bell certainly nutrition stamps not sort of thing this is a conference report so it's a version of the bill that both the house and senate have agreed to right yes that's just how big is the the bill well i think the latest numbers out of c e o are about two hundred eighty eight billion over five years what does food trade internationally there are some provisions in there having to do with alternative energy and certainly in conservation as well you mentioned these payments to farmers why do supporters say they're needed well i believe it's a little bit of not not wanting to change the system farmers i've relied on the supports for decades and decades and decades but there's also you know sort of a business model that has been created around these parts that's easy to take them away and farmers have to figure out how to  did the rise in crop prices over the last few months have any influence on the debate in conference certainly i think you hear that a lot these days and the president is using that argument as well crop prices are really good right now why why do we need to be subsidizing this market farming income you cannot collect a certain type of subsidy the second cap is five hundred five hundred thousand so if you collect more than five hundred thousand dollars and non form income you can c don't come back to the house and we will be watching to see if they have the two thirds majority to override that veto catherine richard of congressional quarterly thank you for joining us thank you