old made the decisions made here today not only honor the districts they represent but first honor you father it's because of your great blessing and provision that this nation has prospered in the past i pray that this body recognize its need and continue dependence upon you to maintain that blessing maybe as members seek to be servants today instead of being served and find favor with you because of their desire to know honor and serve only god the father with humility character and courage may god once again bless america i ask this in the strong name of my lord and savior jesus christ amen thank you the chairs examine the journal of the blessed day's proceedings that announces to the house  i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the public which is stand one nation under god indivisible with liberty and justice for all without objection the gentleman from north carolina mr congressman shuler is recognized for one minute the speaker i want to thank my friend and my brother in christ chad eaton for opening the house of represent the prayer today chet eaton is the pastor of sports outreach a bit more baptist church in asheville north carolina chad is married to  eaton and they have one son cole chad has been a great friend to my family and to me and to the members of our church opera's shaped the dedication he has shown to reaching the youth in our community for christ i asked my madam speaker this week we learned that the army refused to release a report its commission from the rand corporation on the mistakes made in the planning and the implementation of the iraqi war we all know that mistakes were made however it's important that the bush administration hear from independent voices exactly why the war in iraq did not go as the administration planned the rand report uncovered by the new york times earlier this week chided both president bush and the national security advisor condoleezza rice for not resolving differences between the state department and the program it also highlighted the administration's failure to develop a single national plan and that integrated humanitarian assistance we construction governance in for instruction development and post war security madam speaker the bush administration has a lot of lessons to learn but we fuses to listen to in the independent critiques i would hope the administration would take this report seriously and would also conclude that the status quo in iraq cannot continue it's time that we bring our troops home what purpose does the gentleman from south carolina right this minute was next the gentleman is recognized without objection mr speaker we need a permanent fix to the foreign intelligence surveillance act and we need it now our enemies will not take a vacation if the protect america act is left to expire therefore it is dangerous for american families to let our intelligence gathering capabilities be limited because of a failure by congress we face an enemy well equipped to exploit the technologies of the twenty first century for their evil purposes our intelligence community knows what it needs to combat that enemy and have told us on countless occasions yet the efforts by some to water down a fix punish american businesses for cooperating with the government has brought us to another deadline we face the choice of acting to defend this country or further delaying a fair solution i hope we take the bipartisan senate bill and pass this let's get this done to protect american families in conclusion god bless our troops and we will never forget september the eleventh for what purpose of the gentleman from massachusetts rise as the gentleman is recognized  speaker last year the house that is job and passed a fully funded farm bill with import improvements and the food stamp n t fair programs the senate unfortunately was not so responsible now that the farm bill negotiations are underway we hear that reducing funding for food stamps and food banks is on the table mr speaker this far bill should not be negotiated on the backs of the hungry feeding hungry people is never wrong but taking food out of their miles's and that's what a reduction in the house passed a mystic nutrition title would do mr speaker we must draw a line in the sand and say enough is enough house farm bill negotiators negotiators must stand up to the senate and say not this time the recently passed stimulus package does not include food stamp provisions even though economists across the political spectrum agree that food stamps are one of the best ways to stimulate the economy and now food stamps may be cut below the house passed levels weeks we can and must do better i ask unanimous consent to insert a letter signed by one hundred fifty three democrats to the chairman of the agriculture committee urging him to hold the line and insist on the house pass nutrition title in his negotiations and i yield back the balance of my time without objection what purpose does the gentleman from missouri arise the gentleman is recognized for one minute mr speaker on monday defense secretary gates confirmed what many of us in congress have long suspected the bush administration plans to leave nearly one hundred thirty thousand troops in iraq until the day he leaves office next january the war in iraq has been misguided from the start and mismanaged in his prosecution is led to significant military readiness crisis that syrian kishan conditions in afghanistan and a readiness crisis for national guard forces here at home and record low standing for us abroad this month the chief of the national guard bureau said that eighty eight percent of our stateside guard units were quote very poorly equipped with less than half of what they needed to respond to a domestic crisis five years of war in iraq is indeed straining our troop force and their equipment and yet the bush administration wants more of the same mr speaker this democratic led congress will continue to fight to change the direction in iraq and responsibly read pulling our troops home i feel that for what purpose does the gentleman from new jersey rise without objection mr speaker oh economists said if watch it to wanted to jump start our nation's economy needed to act fast that's exactly what we did congress acted in a strong bipartisan fashion to pass an economic stimulus plan that will be signed into law by president bush today that new law will put hundreds of dollars into hants into the hands of more than one hundred thirty million americans family including seniors this able veteran and disabled veterans who will  spend it to reinvigorate our economy that also expands financing opportunities for americans who are in danger of losing their homes because of them will get a crisis and promote small business investments in plants and equipment which the sp democrats are proud that we have been able to work so quickly to produce an economic stimulus plan that is timely thought that it and temporary well also proud of the fact that this package for a vice immediate relief to low and middle income families and small businesses need the help the most we will continue to rebuild and strengthen our economy create good jobs to get relief to the families that are struggling to make sense and for what purposes the gentleman from arizona writes without objection the gentleman is recognized for one minute thank you mr speaker i rise today to commemorate the day of remembrance this marks the sixty sixth anniversary of the executive order which authorized the incarceration of over one hundred twenty thousand americans primarily of japanese descent but also italian and german americans i stand today to remember those that were taken from their home and their communities citizens and residents of our country that were victims of a non warner and not just political these times where scapegoating and fear mongering against a certain people is becoming more and more prevalent this day reminds us not to allow this to happen again and to above all protect everybody's rights protect everybody's it herit rights in this country and not to allow this to happen again thank you for purposes the generally from hawaii rise without objection the gentle lady is recognized for one minute thank you th speaker i rise to commemorate february nineteenth a national day of remembrance for japanese american internment during world war two fear and mistrust clouded judgment and allowed brazen racism to take hold sixty six years ago next week president roosevelt signed executive order nine hundred sixty six percent one hundred twenty thousand american citizens and legal residents of japanese descent into internment camps forcing them to lose their homes jobs and possessions some of these families were held in internment even while their sons show great patriotism by serving in the army in my home state of hawaii ten thousand individuals were investigated and an estimated one thousand two hundred fifty japanese americans were detained in our islands during trying times such as our nation once again faces we must not allow prejudice against people based on race creed national origin to shape public policy fear test our moral fortitude and this national day of remembrance reminds us to reflect on our past actions in order to make just decisions which uphold our constitution i yield back for what purposes the gentleman from illinois r without objection the gentleman is recognized mr speaker i come to the of the house today to address the issue of gun related violence and deaths in america last thursday the first day i began a series on statements on the plague of gun violence this week in our country two more gun related incidents captured the nation's attention in portsmouth ohio and a strange husband shot and then stepped his wife to death on the schoolhouse steps she was  fifth grade teacher and she died in front of her students the second incident that grabbed headlines that day occurred during a city council meeting in kirkwood missouri and that suburban town the assailant took the lives of five innocent people a six without objection the gentleman is recognized for one minute mr speaker today president bush will sign our bipartisan economic stimulus legislation enter law getting this bill done quickly is a victory for the american people that will inject confidence and consumer demand promote economic growth and create jobs one hundred thirty million low and middle income americans will receive tax rebates in the coming months these rebates are welcome relief to many families who are struggling in this economy family incomes and home prices are down as health care and energy food and education costs and mortgage foreclosures have climbed economic economists estimate that every dollar included in these rebate checks will lead to one dollar twenty six cents an economic growth the new law we should also help agree eight hundred thousand new jobs by year's end mr speaker this economic stimulus package is a good first start but this congress will take additional action to help american workers and help our economy recover we will also develop a plan for additional assistance which could include extension of unemployment benefits food stamps state and local assistance and medicaid thank you i yield back for purposes the  gentleman from california ross without objection the gentle lady is recognized for one minute thank you mr speaker exxon mobil recently announced that now that they have earned over forty billion dollars in two thousand and seven the highest profits ever for a u s company of course we want our u s companies to succeed in the global marketplace but hugely profitable companies certainly don't need taxpayer subsidies especially as the price of oil continues to hover at one hundred dollars a barrel want to remind my colleagues it was none other than president bush who said that when oil was at fifty dollars a barrel he saw no need for the kind of subsidies put in the two thousand and five energy bill by the republican congress my constituents are fed up that oil companies are reaping billions in profits while hardworking americans are suffering from a slowing economy now's the time to level the playing field by removing big oil tax breaks advancing clean technologies that will create green collar jobs to help grow our economy drive down energy prices reduce our dependence on dirty and dangerous fossil fuels and curb global warming pollution for going to give the american consumers more efficient and cheaper energy options we need to inspan the incentive to invest in renewable and alternative energy sources the house will soon take legislation soon take up legislation to repeal these giveaways and to put our tax dollars to work to reach to create a new policy for the twenty first century this legislation will significantly move us toward the goal of energy independence i urge my colleagues to support this bill for what purposes the gentleman from new york r thank you mr speaker the economic stimulus package that president bush will sign into law today is a bipartisan victory for the american people this broad based emulous package will provide tax relief of up to six hundred dollars per individual and twelve hundred dollars per married couple plus an additional three hundred dollars per child recovery rebate checks could be sent out to one hundred thirty million americans as early as may the stimulus package includes unprecedented tax relief for working families the measure provides thirty two billion dollars in tax relief for thirty five million families who work but make too little to pay income taxes families who otherwise would not have been included in the recovery package this is a critically important provision in the stimulus package because  economists say that the tax rebates that include low and moderate income families are twenty four percent more effective as stimulus than rebates that leave these families out mr speaker it is our hope that this stimulus package will help jumpstart our economy so more thank you mr speaker this nation lost a great american this week united states congressman tom lantos passed at the age of eighty last night on this floor there was a power of bipartisan agreement of what this man meant to this country and how much we've lost they'll be a memorial service tomorrow on the capitol rotunda tom lantos was a survivor a holocaust survivor who escaped from the nazis twice and survived he helped jewish people survive the holocaust through the good deeds of raul wallenberg and he remembered that he was a leader in this congress and in this nation on human rights and civil rights animal welfare rights all living creatures mr speaker as a freshman member of congress i was before ended by tom lantos who told me to call him tom which was difficult to do he was such a giant of a man there are great opportunities to speak out on policy in this body and to serve in the greatest deliberative body in the world but there are human stories too in my opinion there are two saints that are members or have been members during work he will be sorely missed i was fortunate to serve with him and to be able to call him a friend mr speaker thank you for what purposes the gentleman from california was without objection t gentleman is recognized for one minute thank you mr mr speaker we are back on the floor today deliberating another short term extension on electronic surveillance legislation and i would understand my friends a stopgap measure if we were at an impasse but yesterday the other body passed a bipartisan permanent rewrite of this essential national security legislation they did it with sixty eight votes they did it overwhelmingly and what some here have called a contentious issue well twenty one members of the majority here have written the democratic leadership supporting the senate's version the president has said he'll sign it madam speaker let's bring that bill to the floor and pass it today if current authority is allowed to lapse three days from now most experts agree that the administration would have to go back to the original phase of statute for new warrants in cases where foreign to foreign communications around it through the u s telecom infrastructure causing us to miss important information on terrorists that are trying to attack europe trying to attack us here trying to attack in the middle east that's a situation we cannot go back to speaker for what purpose of the gentleman from minnesota arise without objection the gentleman is recognized thank you mr speaker and you've heard previous speakers this morning talk about the incredible profits of oil companies the number and i have to repeat th forty billion dollars last year that is the largest corporate profit in the history of this nation and meanwhile as these profits are flowing in high energy prices continue to squeeze working class americans since president bush took office gas prices are up one hundred nine percent home heating prices two hundred twenty two percent and over that same period of time profits at the oil companies up three hundred and thirteen percent now to add insult to injury in addition to these profits the oil companies are currently receiving tap subsidies from the taxpayers of america house democrats do not believe that's right in the coming weeks we're going to consent to consider legislation that will end those subsidies and transfer it to renewable energy sources renewable energy jobs  investment across america depend on washington to act on this mr speaker by passing this energy bill congressional democrats will lower energy cross improve national security by making us more energy independent and taxpayer financed subsidies to the oil companies without objection the gentle it is recognized thank you mr speaker one week ago a deadly series of storms rolled across the south bringing destruction and heartache to many of my constituents in tennessee and i rise today to recognize the people affected by the storms in tennessee arkansas mississippi alabama and kentucky and to commend them for the character and the term nation to say displayed and to encourage my colleagues to support h r nine seventy one to recognize that courage and character and visiting the communities that were hurt by the storms i drew true inspiration from the people that i met in the midst of destruction on an unimaginable scale shaken and grieving individuals were pulling together with a spirit of determination and cooperation neighbors are helping one another churches and schools are functioning as headquarters for emergency aid serving hot meals and giving out supplies emergency responders have proven their mettle and local and state officials are focused on how they best move forward mr speaker i ask all of my colleagues to join me and recognizing the spirit of the people in the community support h r nine seventy one and i wish each family well as they rebuild i yell back what purpose is the gentleman from new jersey rise without objection the gentleman is recognized for one minute thank you mr speaker president bush and congressional republicans are playing politics with our national security after slowing down the process of withholding key documents in the senate president bush and congressional republicans are demanding the house take immediate action on the senate fires a bill that just passed the senate yesterday the protect america act is a law that was pushed by the president and yet today he says that he will oppose any attempts by congress to extend that law for three additional weeks the house has passed its own bill the restore act that will modernize pfizer by giving the intelligence community the tools it needs to  track terrorists while protecting the constitutional rights of innocent americans if congress does not extend the protect america act the intelligence community will still have all the tools it needs to continue current surveillance and begin new surveillance on any terrorist threat is just speak or if the president was serious about our national security he would stop playing politics over a very serious issue purpose is the gentleman from indiana writes the speak without objection the gentleman from indiana is recognized for one minute or i don't need to tell you the h i v aids pandemic has infected more than sixty million people worldwide killed more than twenty five million people orphaned fourteen million in its wake and today nearly seventy percent of the people in the world who are afflicted with hiv aids reside in africa in two thousand three president bush called on congress to create a program to address the worldwide hiv aids pandemic the president's emergency plan for aids relief known as pepfar was an extraordinary bipartisan achievement of compassion and unfortunately the majority in congress has put forth a reauthorization draft of this bill that will be considered tomorrow that puts at risk america's commitment to the aids efforts the democrat proposal will take a successful bipartisan achievement do away with funding requirements for abstinence and also mandate the integration of family planning services into pepfar which would transform the program potentially into a mega funding pool for organizations with an abortion promotion agenda pepfar must not be hijacked in partisanship or domestic public policy issues we owe the world a bipartisan remedy to meet the global aids pandemic that meets the crisis with american resources and values and i urge my colleagues to work on this legislation in a bipartisan and compassionate manner the gentleman from texas rise with action the gentleman is recognized for one minute thank you mr speaker and we will be engaging today in a important debate perhaps the most important debate certainly since i've been in the united states congress and that is how to protect the american people how can we capture intelligence overseas to better protect the united states i bring to this debate a unique experience i worked in the justice department under the foreign intelligence surveillance act on feiss national security wiretaps this statute was never designed to prohibit us from capturing overseas intelligence from foreign targets if osama bin laden is calling into the united states we as americans have a right to know what he is saying this is again one most important debates and the senate has passed yesterday a version of this which i urge the house to pass today and also one that protects companies patriotic companies who help out the united states government when the united states government asks and gives the call of duty to help the united states in capturing this overseas intelligence the time to act is now an extension in terms of intelligence is unacceptable we cannot allow our intelligence to go dark in many parts of the world we must pass the senate version of the the question is on the motion to adjourn those in favor please say aye those opposed please say no the nos have a speaker i ask for a record at that the generally the requests house now in a procedural vote on a motion to adjourn the house is working their way through a number of suspension bills today also coming up later the house is expected to consider a twenty one day extension of the pfizer bill the foreign intelligence surveillance act the senate passed a version yesterday that's different than i previously house to pass passed version of also later today expected a bill on public housing that's a look at what's coming up today here in the house as our live coverage continues on c span over in the senate senators should be voting shortly on a motion to invoke cloture limiting debate on the conference report that accompanies the fiscal two thousand and eight intelligence authorization bill other votes are possible today in the senate again that cloture vote should be coming up shortly you can watch live senate coverage on our companion network c span two and a big hearing on capitol hill today that is live now on c span three a hearing on steroids in baseball pitcher roger clemens and trainer brian mcnamee are testifying today a story from the associated press reporting that prepared statements from roger clemens and his former trainer offer conflicting testimony about clemens alleged use of performance enhancing drugs ahead of that joint appearance on capitol hill clemens and brian mcnamee appearing before house committee today that is investigating baseball's mitchell report in which a magnum equal seems to have injected clemens with steroids and human growth hormone more than a dozen times from one thousand nine hundred eight to two thousand and one the former trainer now says that number was greater in his prepared statement he says he helps taint our national pastime in his prepared statement clemens again denies using the drugs and says he cannot admit to doing something that he didn't do mcnamee is also attacking clemens credibility he says he liked and admired roger clemens but doesn't think he ever really trusted him again that's an associated press report about that testimony today and you can watch that hearing it's going on right now live on c span three were in  a procedural motion to adjourn the house and our live coverage continues here on c span again the house in a procedural motion to adjourn here a fifteen minute vote underway the house has been working on a number of bills under suspension of the rules today and still to come consideration a vote on a bill on the ocean exploration programs also the house expected to consider a twenty one day extension of the pfizer bill the foreign intelligence surveillance bill the senate passed a version yesterday that is different than previously passed house version of pfizer and democratic leaders wanting an extension bill to be considered that's on the agenda as is a public housing bill and then also suspend rather a postponed vote on suspension bill excuse me that congratulates the new york giants for winning the super bowl also the senate is in today live coverage of the senate on c span two senators expected to vote on a motion to invoke cloture and limit debate on the conference report for the fiscal two thousand and eight intelligence authorization bill and live coverage on c span three right now roger clemens and brian mcnamee testifying on steroids in baseball brian offering his testimony his opening statement right now before the house oversight and government reform committee our live coverage of that expected to be about four five hour hearing today on c span three you can also listen to it on c span radio or catch it on our web site cspan dot org the associated press with a story this morning that the fence secretary robert gates has broken his right shoulder in a fall on an icy step at his home in washington pentagon press secretary geoff mor says gates was taken to walter reed army medical center wednesday morning after realizing that the injury he suffered tuesday night required medical attention or else said he does not it does not look like gates will require surgery however  gates canceled a scheduled appearance today on capitol hill as a result of the fall he was supposed to testify on the pentagon's budget for the new fiscal year beginning october first again defense secretary gates broke his shoulder taking  spill on an icy step at his home last night again were in a procedural vote a motion to adjourn nother minute and a half on the vote but quite a few members having not voted yet so this could go on for a while longer our live coverage of the house continues on c span the house continues in a procedural vote on a motion to adjourn the house working today on a number of suspension bills and later possibly on a twenty one day extension of the fire is that legislation live now over on c span three steroids use in baseball roger clemens major league baseball pitcher and trainer brian mcnamee are testifying before the house oversight and government reform committee on steroids in baseball you can watch that live on c span three you can listen to it on c span radio also catch it on our web site c span dot org a congressional quarterly report from late last night says that nothing is going to keep proud speaker nancy pelosi from her daughter's february sixteenth wedding in san francisco not even wrangling between the house and senate over an extension of the foreign intelligence surveillance act in fact the wedding of christine pelosi a democratic national committee member to peter kaufman son of movie director philip kauffman might speed accord on a final bill senate majority leader harry reid said tuesday that it's my understanding that the speaker has one of her children being married this weekend so i don't think she'll be spending a lot of time around here perhaps signaling the some sort of agreement on pfizer may be near the story goes on the house plans to be in session february fifteenth with final votes tended to play set for the afternoon minority whip roy blunt suggested that if a final deal cannot be reached before the current phase extension expires that day the house should stay in session into the weekend but nobody believes that will be necessary with the speaker's attendance at a wedding on the line again that's a story from congressional quarterly late last night again the house with the results of this vote coming up three sixty six the motion is not adopted intervening motion except one one hour of debate was forty minutes equally divided and controlled by the chairman and ranking minority member of the committee on the just series and twenty minutes equally divided in control by the chairman and ranking minority member of the permanent select committee on intelligence and one motion to recommit section two during consideration of h r fifty three forty nine pursuant to this resolution notwithstanding the operation of the previous question postpone further consideration of the bill to such time as the may be designated by the speaker pursuant to the rules a gentleman from new york is recognized for one hour but i would ask the gentleman from new york to suspend ask members to buy from both sides of the aisle to please take their seats and to move their conversations from the floor with members to my left please take their seat members of the staff members to my right please take your seats remove your conversations from the floor the gentleman from new york is recognized for want to thank you mr speaker for purposes of debate only the customary thirty minutes to the gentleman from washington mr hastings all time yielded during consideration of the rules for debate only i ask consent that all members have five legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous materials into the record without objection i yield myself such time as i may consume the gentleman is recognized mr speaker house resolution one seven six provides for further consideration of h r five three four nine which extends the protect america act of two thousand and seven for twenty one days under a closed rule the rule provides one hour of debate with forty minutes equally divided and controlled by the chairman and ranking minority member of the on the judiciary and twenty minutes equally divided and controlled by the chairman and ranking member of the permanent select committee on intelligence once again i would ask members to remove their conversations from the floor the gentleman from new york deserves to be heard the gentleman from new york thank you a speaker i reserve the balance of my time the gentleman from washington is recognized this are requested those in support of the as an aide please remain standing and stand a sufficient number having arisen to use the names are ordered members will record their votes by electronic device this will be a fifteen minute so the house now voting on another motion to adjourn house members had very briefly started into consideration of the rule for debate on a twenty one day extension of the five surveillance law but now another procedure a procedural move by republican doc hastings to adjourn the house members voting again on that meanwhile the hill reports today in a move that puts great pressure on the house president bush said wednesday that he would not sign anymore temporary extensions to legislation updating the foreign intelligence surveillance act called pfizer bush praised the senate for passing a long term phase of fix tuesday by a wide bipartisan majority he added that there is no reason why the house could not immediately pass the same bill congress last last summer pacifies update but in the hopes of revisiting the issue included a sunset provision that would have let it expire earlier this year when work on a long term bill was not completed by the deadline congressional leaders and the white house agreed to a two week extension however bush's statement indicates that he has had enough he blasted the house for having failed to pass a good bill since last summer a main sticking point is a provision included in the senate legislation that would provide retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies that cooperated with the government bush said the companies won't help protect america without such liability protection again that from a story from the hill today again the house voting on a motion to adjourn you're watching the live house coverage on c span house members should be wrapping up this vote shortly on a motion to adjourn and we expect them to return to consideration of a rule on the twenty one day extension of the files a bill the senate passed a version yesterday that is different from a previously house passed version of the phys ed legislation and members in the house now expected to take up a twenty one day extension of that bill also later today a public housing measure over in the senate which is live on c span two members voting right now on invoking cloture to limit debates on a conference report that accompanies the fiscal two thousand and eight intelligence programs bill again that vote to happening right now on the floor of the senate you can watch that live on c span too and on our companion network c span three steroids use in baseball pitcher roger clemens and trainer brian mcnamee both testifying today before the house oversight and government reform committee  that hearing going on right now again that's live on c span three the chair would ask members to please take their seats to remove their conversations from the floor gentlemen from new york the gentleman from washington is recognized the gentleman suspend the chair would encourage members on both sides of the aisle to take their seat including staff they can remove their conversations from the floor we have a considerable amount of business to take care of today members could move their conversations from the floor the gentleman from washington is recognized thank you mr speaker and mrs speaker i want to thank the gentleman from new york mr keary for really me the customary thirty minutes now you myself as much time as it may consume and ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks that no responsibility the federal government is more important than providing for the defense and security of the american people congress should be doing all it can to ensure that feisal continues to reflect the intent of the original law in the nearly thirty years since feisal became law we have seen tremendous advances in communications technology such as the internet cell phones and e mail however under the original faisel law our intelligence officials are not free to monitor foreign terrorists mr speaker in foreign countries without a court order because of advances i mentioned in communications technology mr speaker the house is not in order once again i would request that members to my left and members to my right to please take their seats including staff and remove their conversations from the floor the gentleman from washington deserves to be h the remaining conversation to my left that has yet to leave the floor the gentleman will continue to suspend the gentleman from washington is recognized thank you mr speaker let me as a speaker let me repeat again because of advances in technology our intelligence officials are not free to monitor foreign terrorists in foreign countries it is clear that the law is outdated and must be modernized to reflect changes in communications technology over the past three decades in august congress in a bipartisan manner took an important step to close our nation's intelligence gap the protect america act passed only after repeated attempts by republicans to give our nation's intelligence professionals the tools and authority they need to protect our homeland this action was significant step forward in improving our national security but unfortunate democrats foresees needed security tools tools to expire in six months in november the house democrat leaders brought legislation to the floor that does not go far enough to reform outdated faisel laws it weakens americans privacy protection in fails to permanent close our nation's intelligence gap a bipartisan permanent solution is needed that shows all americans and our enemies that the united states is truly committed to closing our nation's intelligence gap yesterday the senate acted in  twenty nine to permanently close a terrorist loophole and ensure intelligence officials to ensure intelligence officials are able to monitor communications of suspected terrorists overseas such as osama bin laden and other qaeda leaders this commonsense solution would help keep our country safe from attack and should be acted on immediately and since the president to be so signed into law this is speaker house democrat leaders need to stop dragging their feet they need to end their dealing tactics and need to let the house vote on the senate approved measure and today i'm going to give members of the house an opportunity to support the bipartisan measure that the senate passed just yesterday if the previous question is defeated i will amend the rule to allow the house an opportunity to concur with the senate amendments by approving sentiments a bill can become law before the current extension expires in just a few days we don't need to close the terrorists loophole just temporary temporarily mr speaker we need to close it permanently and update our nation's survey's laws in order to protect our nation from another terrorist attack so mr speaker i urge my colleagues to vote against the previous question so that we can permanently close the loophole and with that i reserve the balance of my time the gentleman from washington reserves the balance of the time the gentleman from new york thanking the speaker and i think my colleague from washington for his insightful history on the pfizer bill and i would submit that i agree with him that the pfizer bill is necessary for the security of america no one questions that no one on our side of the aisle questions that the question that we do have is does the senate bill actually take away some of the liberty that is so necessary to the american people and all we're asking for is an extension of twenty one days when you think about it in the grand scheme of things twenty one days to make a determination whether or not this bill continues to give the american people the liberty that they have had for over two hundred years that's not a lot to ask for i would much rather have twenty one days into keep the bill in effect but extended for twenty one days knowing full well that the end product is something that not only assures our security but guarantees our liberty thank you i reserve the balance of my time the gentleman from new york preserves the balance of his time the gentleman from washington this is to the ranking member of the intelligence house intelligence committee mr hoekstra four minutes i hope not for four minutes thank you i thank my colleagues were yielding i think you're absolutely right we need to take a look at this in the bigger context we have to set this the stage for how we got to this point you know it's september two thousand and one september twelfth two thousand and one the president's meeting with his advisors they're trying to identify exactly what this threat is from al qaeda how serious is this threat what other activities or attacks may planning against the united states and the president says i need my intelligence and military folks to get the answers to these kinds of questions calamy what the threat is in tell me what the tools are that i need to implement to keep america safe they come back with a series of recommendations sewing here's where here's what we now here's what we don't know about the threat they come back and say here are the different options that are available to us to get the information that might be able to answer some of these questions president his leadership team consider the various options and they say you now we need to bring congress into this to take a look at exactly what rules we're going to implement and make sure that we do this in a bipartisan basis and we do it in a basis that is consistent with american values in american law to over twenty five for the president the vice president they convene a meeting the president's national security team comes up and they say you know here's a tool that perhaps can be used the chairman of the house intelligence committee is there the chair of the senate intelligence committee is there the ranking minority member of hips he is at the she's accompanied by the vice chairman of the senate intelligence committee that's right back in october of two thousand and one speaker of the house was briefed on the various tools that could be used to keep america sa november fourteenth two and a half weeks later chairman of tipsy the ranking member yeah that's right the current speaker of the house was briefed on the tools that were available and could be used chairman of the senate intelligence committee the vice chairman march of two thousand and two chairman of hip c the ranking minority member of hip city that's right current speaker of the house was in the meeting june two thousand and two the chairman of hip city the ranking minority member of hip city that's right again the current speaker of the house is brought in is briefed on this program and said this is the tool that we want to use this is a tool that we need to use to keep america say in four times in about nine months the current speaker of the house i was briefed on this program about what the tool was the kind of information that we were expecting to get and after a period of time the information that we were collecting that would keep america safe i would guess  was not in those meetings i was not one of the select group of people that was informed you would think that they would say you know what are the civil liberty implications of this you know how are we using these tools where does it fit within the legal framework of america to keep us safe and who's going to be working on this program what do we need a partner with like my coll and there might have been certain companies or individuals that were identified as saying the spokes are going to partner with us and have partnered with us because they can help provide us with the information that will keep us safe and do it in a legal way sense that time and since this program became public there's been all kinds of accusations out there but the bottom line is there may have been people there may have been companies and corporations that when the president and congress went to them and said we need your help to keep america say they step they may have stepped up to the plate and provided us with the assistance that we knew that on a bipartisan basis the executive branch and congress said we need to do this and we need to do it in a way that protects civil liberties and we need to do it in a way that is legal and consistent with in the law and the bottom line is we can this is dealt with in the senate well they recognize that help they don't throw these people under the bus after we asked them to help gentlemen are your back to balance my son the gentleman from new york thank you mrs baker and i appreciate my colleagues passion on this issue certainly it's types of issues  elicits real passion from people but i think we as a as a as a body need to be sure that the steps that we take are deliberative in thoughtful certainly reacting to an issue such as this in a passionate way us of taking the necessary steps that we need to ensure that the liberty of our citizens is kept intact and again i would i would just point out that this bill is asking for an additional twenty one days within which congress can continue to review the documents that we have asked for that we have only recently received to make a determination again a deliberative determination based upon facts and reasons and not on passion thank you and i reserve the balance of my time gentleman from new york reserves the balance of his time the gentleman from washington thank you mr speaker mr speaker and please eel three minutes to the gentle lady from the mexico a member also a member of the intelligence committee miss wilson the generally from new mexico is recognized for three you mr speaker one of the most important laws that is preventing another terrorist attack on this country will expire on friday it expires on friday my colleague from new york says well you know we just need to take enough time and be the liberty of and so on my colleague from the more new york didn't vote for the permanent the temporary fix that we passed in august in fact in an exchange with him that i remember so well he questioned whether we should extend the pecans to show protections of the fourth amendment to people who are foreigners in a foreign country talking to each other for the temporary fix that we made in august need to be made permanent and we need to move forward with a permanent law that allows our intelligence agencies to listen to foreigners in foreign countries without a warrant while protecting the civil liberties of americans that's what we pass the rockefeller bond bill does from the senate and they passed it last night we passed a six month bill in august get six months to review this and then when that deadline passed on the first of february they said well just give us another fifteen days while we're going  the other fifteen days and say well you know we really haven't had the time to look at this paper you've had almost seven months the time is now to get serious about our national security and giving our intelligence agencies the tools they need to prevent the next terrorist attack the senate passed the rockefeller bond bill last night by a vote of sixty eight to twenty nine it makes permanent the authority as we passed in august of last year to listen to foreigners in foreign countries without a warrant we spy on our enemies we try to find out what their plans are so that we can stop them from killing americans that rockefeller banville also provides protection from lawsuits  american companies that stepped up to the plate when this country was in crisis in good faith those american companies partnered with the u s government under instructions from that government from our own government to to move forward and help us to prevent another terrorist terrorist attack and ironically they cannot defend themselves against lawsuits because the government says to do so would violate state secrets that would give away secrets to our enemies so they're stuck in court not even being able to defend themselves the cooperation that is being protected here in the rockefeller bond bill is long established in criminal law and should certainly extend to the national security r today i circulated a letter up from twenty one a bipartisan attorney generals supporting these last two protection provisions our intelligence agencies and their partners in private industry need certainty that telecommunications companies who we depend upon to cooperate need certainty and our intelligence agents need certainty that we're not going to keep operating our intelligence community on a month to month basis we have closed a generally one additional minute but generally from new mexico is recognized one additional minute in august we closed and intelligence gap a vital gap that's been now closed and the changes that we made have already provided intelligence that there director of national intelligence admiral mike mcconnell has said have helped us to disrupt terrorist attack intelligence is the first line of defense in protecting this country against terrorism i would urge my colleagues to allow a vote today on the rockefeller bond legislation do not allow this bill to expire and stand up and protect this country and i yield the balance of my time generally the time has expired the gentleman from new york thank you mr speaker and my colleague seems to be asking us to rely upon assurances given to us by this administration this same administration that has told us about weapons of mass destruction the same administration the told us that no i will not yield at this point the same administration that told us that iran was building a nuclear bomb and then she asks why we are skeptical about taking the word of the administration as my colleague knows the house passed the restore america act last november it was not until last night that the senate passed a bill reauthorizing and reforming the foreign intelligence surveillance a the bill is significantly different than the one we passed in november as is the case when the house in the senate have differing bills it is appropriate for the two to meet and reconcile the differences that is exactly what we intend to do in a  bipartisan buy camera way however as my colleagues also know the president preferred surveillance law is set to expire on saturday the underlying bill will extend that law for three weeks and give the house and senate  ary and intelligence committees time to work toward a conference agreement additionally it will also give our members republican and democrat time to review reams of highly classified materials which were only provided to us by the white house recent days despite requests dating back all the way to made eight months ago these materials are absolutely critical as the house considers the requests which has been made by the white house to grant what amounts to a blanket transactional immunity to telecommunications companies who participated in the bush administration's warrantless surveillance plan without any explanation of what that immunity is for while the president has been quick to call on congress to act it is he who has continued to ignore countless congressional requests for information about the actions of his administration as a former state attorney i know firsthand that not even a first year prosecutor would even entertain the idea of granting immunity without knowing what that immunity is for and who that immunity is being granted to from a seat the chairman of the judiciary committee committee noted last night in rules that he cannot recall a time in his forty five years in the house one in administration has asked congress to provide immunity to anyone or anything without telling us why the house is not opposed to granting such immunity but if we are going to act then we need know why mister speaker we are on the verge of passing the long term fizer reform but it will take time because there are very real differences between the positions of the majority members of this body and the senate and the white house those who come to the floor today to delay this extension engage in the manufactured obstructionism which has become so symbolic of the congressional republicans are doing a great disservice to this nation we will overcome the substructure nism and we will use the next three weeks to reconcile our differences and come to the american people with a bill that protects our homeland without sacrificing our civil liberties that we thank you and i reserve the balance might put the gentleman young gentleman from new mr speaker i rise to oppose this rule let's think about what we're talking about the majority is asking us to extend for twenty one days a bill that they don't support a bill that they overwhelmingly voted against a bill that they said harm the american people a bill that they said somehow doesn't protect civil liberties now why did they want to extend it for twenty one days if it's so terrible perhaps there's some mischief in the air perhaps what they really want to do is to continue to kick this can down the road so that finally in a war of attrition we'll give up and say you know those people who helped us those are the companies that were referred to by mr hoekstra that responded to a request by the united states government to help us in our time of need that is immediately after nine eleven that we're not going to help them remember what the greatest criticism of the nine eleven commission was of government in all of its aspects it was that we failed to connect the dots what does that mean we failed to put together other intelligence information or to gather that intelligence information and put it together in a way that made sense that would give us a forewarning of what was about to take place and they said it is not good enough to rely on the criminal justice system to gather evidence after the fact to prosecute somebody know in a war on terror what you want to do is to prevent the terrorist act in the first place and so what we have here is the difference between that side of the aisle and this side in which we believe a good samaritan law makes sense a good samaritan law much like what we do to allow people to respond to an accident without having to fear that they are going to be sued for medical malpractise and in some circumstances does that mean that maybe one out of a thousand times there might be medical malpractise for which you can't be sued yes but we do it because the overall good of the country is enhanced by giving incentives to people to help their neighbors and that's what happened here we have either an incentive or a disincentive for companies or individuals to respond to their country and act in good faith that's what's at stake here whether or not we're going to be safer or whether or not we're going to play these political games to support a bill that you all voted against the gentleman from new york is recognized and continue to reserve the balance of my time the gentleman from new york continues to reserve the balance of his time the gentleman from washington to  texas mr mccaul the gentleman from texas is recognized for two minutes i thank the gentleman mr speaker today the congress is and is engaged in an important debate perhaps the most important debate certainly in recent years our most solemn of obligation to this country is to protect the american citizenry in my view the our colleagues on the other side of the aisle are playing a dangerous political game and the american people are the pawns in this game i bring to the congress a unique experience i worked in the justice department under the feis of statue i worked on national security wiretaps and i can tell you that the statute was never intended to cover foreign targets in a foreign country and if osama bin laden is on the phone calling into the united states i think the american people want to pay attention to that and to listen to that conversation intelligence good intelligence has stopped every threat to this country since nine eleven intelligence is a first line defense in the war on terror without that we cannot prevail in this war on terror and we need to protect the american companies who we asked to protect the united states and the american people they stood up to the plate and it is our time to stand up to the plate and now protect them they were doing their patriotic duty in a time of war when america asked them if we do not protect them then what company american or otherwise will dare help the united states of america in its great time of need in a time of peril in a time of war and yesterday the senate passed the feis a bill which included this immunity and also protects americans i say we make that bill put that bill on the floor let's pass that bill and let's make the protect america act permanent now's the time not twenty one days from now not several months for the american people let's put the let's pass in protect that and protect the american people now thank you if the bell this time the gentleman from new york i would submit to my colleague that the only dangerous political game that is being played here is the attempt to cast this as a political game there is no such being made by anyone in the democratic party the only attempt that we are making is to give us time to go through the material that has only recently been given to us with the simple objective of ensuring that we get a bill which keeps our country safe and guarantees the liberty of our people thank you and i reserve the balance of my time for the balance of this time the gentleman from washington  opposition to this rule and to the underlying bill before us last august congress passed and the president signed into law a bill that provides our law enforcement and intelligence communities with the tools needed to protect this country to protect the united states the events of september eleventh two thousand and one exposed gaps in our intelligence gathering activities particularly those occurring outside the united states since that tragic day the administration has worked with congress to ensure that every tool in our arsenal is available to those who are charged with keeping our country safe including working with telecommunications companies and allowing officials to gather intelligence from potential foreign terrorists outside this country these two aspects of the p a a have been critical in protecting the united states from actual or potential terrorist attacks or sabotage oversight by the pfizer court and minimisation procedures approved by the courts ensures that such activities do not go beyond their scope last night the senate passed a bipartisan legislation that would maintain these critical features and they bring the intelligence and law enforcement community to continue with its critical work i urge my colleagues to defeat this rule and immediately take up and pass the senate bill so that law enforcement and the intelligence communities continue to have the necessary tools to keep the american people safe you know back about my time the gentleman from washington reserves the balance of the time the gentleman from new york was speaker may inquire as to the amount of time remaining the gentleman from new york has twenty four minutes remaining the gentleman from washington has eleven and a half i would continue to reserve the balance of my time the gentleman from new york reserve the balance of the time the gentleman from washington is recognized as a speaker i'm pleased to yield two minutes to another member of the intelligence committee the gentleman from california mr eissa the gentleman from california agent and every day in this country there is an f b i agent who goes up to somebody an average citizen it may be a coworker it might be a neighbor maybe somebody owns a small business might be somebody who owns a big business and says we need your cooperation to catch child pornographers and here's the evidence we have will you cooperate with your nation and we do it every single day and great americans stand up every single day and say yes i will i'll go after child pornographers with you i'll go after crack dealer selling drugs to our kids with you i will go after murderers who murder our children in the streets of america and i will stand with you and cooperate so that we can eliminate the dangers from our communities and you know what the government did it went and said hey to whatever business it was small big large we had people kill three thousand people will murder one day and you know what they're coming back will you cooperate with your government to stop the next round of murders but we play a very dangerous game it's about civil liberties and why did we pass the bill before and before that because there is civil liberty protection in this bill it's a farce what's at risk here is the future certainty by our intelligence agencies and every single american who wonders if i cooperate against a criminal of any sort a terrorist and they come to get me next we need to refocus on who the bad guys are and it's not the companies who cooperated with their government if you're a small business selling insurance or you're washing windows it's the terrorists who threaten the lives of americans we ought to be proud of every american who has the courage in a dangerous world to stand up and say i will stand with you united states of america to get the true enemy the bad guys al qaeda terrorists crack dealers child pornographers and everybody in between i would urge the strong rejection of this rule let's get back to business let's give them the tools to keep us safe idle back the gentleman from washington reserve the balance of the time the gentleman from new york is recognized thank you mr speaker and and i think  colleagues you know obviously raises a good point as a former f b i agent he is very concerned he was very concerned he continues to be very concerned with doing the right thing getting the people who are breaking laws who are hurting our children who are putting our citizens in jeopardy but no one in this chamber has the market cornered on that that's something that i think universally throughout this chamber there is a strong desire to fulfill that's why we are here we are here to protect and defend our citizens and to protect and defend our constitution and that's all that we're asking for today twenty one days to ensure that we are able to look over the recommendations to look over the material that has recently been forwarded to us by this administration to ensure that we are not only protecting and securing this country but rather that we're also doing in a way that protects our liberty mr speaker i yield three minutes to the gentleman from new jersey mr holt a member of the intelligence committe don't from new jersey is recognized for three minutes but mr speaker i thank the gentleman mr long grin and others who have spoken are right in one respect yes most of the house of representatives voted not for the protect america act but rather for a substitute that we passed a very good piece of legislation that would indeed protect americans known as the restore act that passed the house it should be the law we do not need the protect america act to protect americans the so called protect america act we do not need it to keep from going dark but what we do need is the time and the attention to get this right this is a serious serious matter about protecting the safety of americans but also about the definition of the relationship between the people of this country and their government there has been a fundamental shift under the protect america act in the relationship between the people of this country and their government it is whether or not the government regards the ordinary americans with suspicion first think about it the reason this country and our liberty has survived so well is because the government understands they are subservient to the people the government has understood that they treat the people with respect their boss and do not regard them with suspicion first to be able to seize search intercept without having to demonstrate to an independent judge that you know what you're doing is a sign of disrespect it is a sign of suspicion it is in fact a redefinition of the makeup of this country so if we need time to get this right let's take the time we don't need the protect america act to keep us from going dark and i would argue we certainly don't need it to as they argue protect americans from those who would do us harm we have offered that protection in the restore act let's get this right and i yield back t the comments from the last speaker are very enlightening on this debate because we have heard for month after month the same arguments made time and time again and the bottom line is there are a number of members who are not for these authorities that allow our national security professionals to listen to terrorist communications and there are a number of people who would just assume let the protect america act expire and let it go out of effect as as the gentleman who just spoke said we don't need it to protect the country but there are others of us who believe that we do need such authorities to protect the country and a very large number of members of the other body have just voted on a proposal that would do that and so my position mr speaker is that give us a chance to vote on it we hear excuse after excuse we need more documents we need more information we need more legal opinions we need fourteen days we need twenty one days but we have been debating the same issues month after month nothing has changed no more information no document is going to change the basic position the country stands in today and that is a law expires on friday and if the people with whom we have given the responsibility to protect the country are to do their job that law is is going to have to be made permanent so they can count on it not dribbling it out a few weeks at a time not treating them the way we treat soldiers in iraq and afghanistan by giving them funding just a few months at a time but giving them the authority they need to do their job i suggest the best way to do that is to bring the bill that's already passed the senate by an overwhelming bipartisan majority and give us a chance to vote on it there will be some members who vote no they think we don't need that authority they think the protect america act is not needed but i suggest a majority will vote yes and it will pass in the country would be safer don't time's expired  speak i think the general feeling i rise in opposition to the rule kicking the can may be a fun game when there's nothing to do and there are no consequences stake when it comes to national security and protecting the american people providing the right tools to those on the front lines in the war against terrorism kicking the can could be a fatal bargain congress continues to kick the can down the road on a key tool that has kept this country safe since september eleventh the other body close a loophole and pfizer that will ensure our intelligence services have all the tos necessary to track terrorists overseas terrorists who want to do us harm our nation has not been attacked since september eleventh in large part because of our ability to detect and disrupt terrorist plots before they've had a chance to carry out their evil acts fire is essential to those efforts what if some ignore history what are some ignore the mindset of the likes of al qaeda and others why do some want to weaken our ability to disrupt the terrorist attack before it occurs why does some put our soldiers sailors airmen and marines in harm's way are at risk last year we modernize the first foreign intelligence service act only after the national terror telling its director told congress that we were quote missing a significant amount of foreign intelligence that we should be protecting our country now what about those consequences preventing the destruction of the brooklyn bridge is but one example of what tragically is the case of specialist alex  conducting surveillance one terrorist in a foreign nation without first obtaining a warrant as the kidnappers acted lawyer sat around a conference table here in washington for ten hours debating grafting legal briefs to establish probable cause to conduct the surveillance while the lawyers debated losing precious time specialist jimnez most likely was killed they've yet to find the body and that of his colleague let's stop kicking the can down the road this is not a game can afford to lose jump in new york speaker and i thank my friend and colleague from new york for his statements mr speaker i would like to point out that you know the the the speaker's on the other side continuing to try to couch this argument  in a way and frame it in such a way that makes it appear that people on our side the democrats don't care about the security of this country in the way that they do and it's obvious that nothing could be further from the truth simply by extending the pfizer bill for twenty one days to ensure that we have all the information that is out there and all the information that is available and then we have an opportunity to go through it in a thoughtful way doesn't mean that we have less if he has any more speakers i have no for the speakers and so the gentleman's time to close after i close yes or the speaker you'll myself see balance the time germans recognize mr speaker the tragic events of september eleventh two thousand and one taught us many lessons and one of the lessons we learned that day was that our nation must remain aggressive in our fight against international terrorism we must all always stay one step ahead of those who wish to harm our fellow americans now is not the time to tie the hands of our intelligence community the modernization of the foreign intelligence surveillance into the twenty first century is a critical national security plus priority and this is speaker i am very pleased that several of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle agree with that assessment on january twenty eighth two thousand eight less than three weeks ago twenty one members of the blue dog coalition sent a letter to speaker pelosi in support of the rockefeller bond faisel legislation the letter states and i quote mr speaker the rockefeller bond faisel legislation contains satisfactory language addressing all of these issues and we would fully support that major should it reach the house floor without substantial change we believe these components will ensure a strong national security apparatus that can for terrorism across the globe and save american lives here in our country and quote mr speaker that was a letter sent to unfortunate that house democrat leaders chose to bring a twenty one day extension bill to the floor instead of the bipartisan measure that passed the senate by a vote of sixty eight to twenty nine and i might add mr speaker those senators had the information that has been alluded to several times on the floor today to make our country safer congress needs to act the house should vote on the senate major but the democrat leaders have chosen instead to use delay tactics the only reason i can see mr speaker we are not voting on the senate measure is the fear of the leaders on the other side of the aisle that this bipartisan bill will pass but today i will attempt to give all members of the house an opportunity to vote on this bipartisan long term our ization of vice and i call on all of my close colleagues including members of the aforementioned blue dog coalition that signed the letter to speaker pelosi and when you are twenty eight and making our mundane our nation in greater risk so mr speaker i ask unanimous consent to have the text of the amendment and extraneous material inserted into the record prior to the vote on the previous question i urge my colleagues to gentleman from new york thank you mr speaker and i think my colleague from washington for his comments mr speaker if we have learned anything since the terrorist attacks of september eleventh it is that the balance between security and civil liberties is not only difficult it's absolutely critical providing this three week extension will do nothing to block or hinder the efforts of our intelligence community quite the contrary it enhances their ability to do their jobs effectively and ensures the integrity of their efforts because it gives us time to get these reforms right i want to remind my colleagues that voting to defeat the previous question is a vote to deny the administration the ability to utilize its existing authority under law to assess threats gather intelligence and protect the freedom and security of every american twenty one days in a long time and based on the sensitivity and public interest in this issue we owe that to the american people and the frame the constitution to strike a fair balance that allows us to protect the civil liberties of americans and to provide the administration the tools and resources to protect our nation from another terrorist attack twenty one days it's a fair request your original yes vote on the previous question and on the rule no i'd i'm i'd like to finish i yield back the balance of my time and i move the previous question on the resolution the question is on chair will reduce to five minutes the minimum time for any electronic vote on the question of adopting the resolution members in the house have been debating the rule that will govern debate on a twenty one day five days extension now voting on a procedural motion ordering the previous question the rule itself would provide for an hour of debate no amendments and one republican motion to change the bill the underlying bill again as a twenty one day extension of the foreign intelligence surveillance act it's an extension of the house version of the current fo expires on saturday the senate voted earlier to invoke cloture limiting debate on the intelligence programs conference report for fiscal year two thousand and eight so senators have now moved back on to debate on that conference report you can follow that live over on c span too and the house hearing on steroids in baseball continues with testimony by pitcher roger clemens and trainer brian mcnamee that's live on c span three c span john mccain won the so called potomac primaries yesterday and another story from the a p a long time g o p congressman who initially voted for the iraq war but later accuse the bush administration of bungling it was defeated by a state senator joining a democratic house member and becoming the first incumbents to fall this price merry season representative wayne gilchrest republican seeking his tenth term representing maryland's first congressional district which includes the state's eastern shore and parts of baltimore suburbs he lost tuesday to state senator andy harris in a five way race and democrat donna edwards upset eight term incumbent representative albert in maryland's fourth congressional district which includes many of washington's eastern and northern suburbs in a field of six candidates that race was a rematch of the two thousand and six primary election the last time that two inc congressman lost in a maryland primary was in one team seventy again that report from the a p today members of the house voting on a procedural motion ordering the previous question and this is a fifteen minute vote our live coverage of the house continues here on c span continuing in a procedural vote on ordering the previous question members have been debating the rule that will govern debate on a twenty one day five days a extension the rule itself provides for an hour of debate no and one republican motion to change the bill the underlying bill a twenty one day extension of the foreign intelligence surveillance act the current extension expiring this friday night at midnight we do understand that there may be one  other procedural vote before we actually get to a vote on the rule itself and then possibly more procedural votes in fact there have been at least two procedural motions to adjourn the house so far today and a staff person from house republican leader john boehner is office is confirming that more motions to adjourn are expected today as g o p members protest generation of the pfizer extension they are in favor of taking up the bill as it came out of the senate that spokesperson saying that members in the house should heed the bipartisan vote in the senate and simply take up that senate bill and pass it in the house over in the senate senators  voted to invoke cloture a while ago limiting debate on the intelligence programs conference report so senators have now been moved back into debate on that report you can follow that live on our companion network c span two and a hearing on steroids in baseball continuing the house oversight and government reform committee continuing to hear testimony today by major league baseball pitcher roger clemens and trainer brian mcnamee live coverage of that event now on c span three c span radio and at c span dot org ten the neither one ninety five the previous question is ordered so members of the house yet on to another procedural vote here the members have been debating a rule that will govern debate on the twenty one day five extension that rule would provide for an hour of debate no amendments and a republican motion to change the bill the bill itself a twenty one day extension of the foreign intelligence surveillance act that current extension expires friday night at midnight again members on to a procedural vote now and there may be more of the same coming up from the new york times this afternoon president bush strongly urged the house of representatives on wednesday to quickly approve a surveillance bill passed by the senate tuesday evening saying he would not agree to a further extension of the current eavesdropping law the president effectively gave the house a deadline to act since the current authority to intercept telephone conversations or electronic communications expires at midnight this friday night the president's remarks came this morning after the senate handed the white house a major victory by voting to broaden the government's spy powers and to give legal protection to phone companies that cooperated in president bush's program of eavesdropping without warrants again that's from a new york times story that was released this afternoon on the other side of the capitol the senate is working on a conference report for the intelligence programs bill they invoke cloture limiting debate on that conference report so they're back to work on that you can follow it live of course on c span two and the steroids in baseball hearing continuing on c span three the house oversight and government reform committee hearing today from pitcher roger clemens and trainer brian mcnamee it's on c span three also available on c span radio which is on that except satellite radio channel one thirty two and you can follow it on our web site as well c span  the eyes have it speaker the speaker i ask for a record of all recorded vote is requested those favoring recorded vote will rise sufficient number having arisen recorded vote is ordered house has been debating a rule that will govern debate on a fison extension that rule if it passes will provide for an hour of debate and no amendments and one republican motion to change the bill the underlying bill a twenty one day extension of the foreign intelligence surveillance act the current extension expiring this friday night at midnight the associated press reports this afternoon in that if government rebate checks ranging from three hundred to twelve hundred dollars for just about every household don't spur consumer spending spree strong enough to cure what ails the economy congress is ready to throw more money at the problem skeptical economists and a worried public question whether rebates for more than one hundred thirty million americans and tax breaks for businesses will be quick enough or effective enough to avert a recession though analysts generally believe the one hundred sixty eight billion dollars economic rescue package president bush plan to sign today could help prevent  current downturn from ballooning into a crisis democrats and republicans who put aside deep differences to craft the plan and rush it to enactment where did join the president at the white house for an afternoon signing ceremony that ceremony scheduled for one fifty five m eastern time again that story from the associated press this afternoon the senate is working on the intelligence programs conference reports you can watch that live on c span two and on c span three roger clemens and brian testifying before the house oversight and government reform committee another hearing on steroids in baseball again that's live on our companion network c span three the house has been debating the rule for debate on the twenty one day five extension the rule did pass but republicans move to reconsider and then democrats move to table that motion to reconsider that's where we are now another procedural vote so we're not to debate yet on the underlying a measure which is a twenty one day extension of the foreign intelligence surveillance act the current extension expiring this friday night at midnight the senate is working on the intelligence programs conference report you can watch that on c span two and the steroids in baseball hearing is in a break right now about a fifteen minute break members of the house oversight and government reform committee  getting testimony today from pitcher roger clemens and trainer brian mcnamee live coverage on c span three from c q today the senate voted earlier to limit debate on an intelligence authorization bill that would bar a number of harsh interrogation techniques but a later vote is likely to strip the band from the legislation the ninety two to four vote on a motion to invoke cloture on the conference report on the fiscal two thousand aid bill came one week after the administration acknowledge publicly for the first time the use of simulated drowning also known as waterboarding on suspected leaders of al qaeda a provision in the legislation would extend to the central intelligence agency and other agencies restrictions that already have been imposed on the military republican senator kit bond has said he's prepared to raise a point of order against the provision inserted during conference negotiations via an amendment sponsored by senator dianne feinstein it would take sixty votes to waive that point of order even if the provision is retained president bush has threatened to veto the bill over it again that's from tim stark's congressional quarterly and the senate as we mentioned is that debating the conference report on the intelligence programs bill here in the house where i continuing with another procedural vote we do expect to move on to debate on the pfizer extension law at some point after we get through maybe another procedural vote live coverage here be a fifteen minute vote the house is working on an extension of the phase of bill the foreign intelligence surveillance act a twenty one day extension of pfizer the current extension expires friday night at midnight members have passed a rule that will govern debate there should be an hour of debate no amendments may be offered and one republican motion to change the bill will be in order but first another procedural vote this is a motion to adjourn the house this is a fifteen minute vote this is i believe the this twenty one day five days a extension so we are into yet another motion to adjourn the house a report in the hill this afternoon says that in a move that puts great pressure on the house president bush said today that he would not sign any more temporary extensions to legislation updating the foreign intelligence surveillance act bush praised the senate for passing a long term fix tuesday by a wide bipartisan majority he added that there is no reason why the house could not immediately pass the same bill congress last summer pacifies update but in the hopes of revisiting the issue included a sunset provision that would have let it expire earlier this year when work on a long term bill was not completed by the deadline congressional leaders and the white house agreed to a two week extension however bush's statement indicates that he has had enough he blasted the house for having failed to pass a good bill since last summer a main sticking point is a provision included in the senate legislation that would provide retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies that cooperated with the government bush said the companies won't help protect america without such liability protection again that's a report today from the hill again members in a procedural vote on a motion to adjourn we do expected the house to move on to debates on the twenty one day extension of this afternoon our live house coverage is here on c span the house continues on a vote on a motion to adjourn a procedural motion and then afterwards we expect the members to move on to debate of a twenty one day extension of the foreign intelligence surveillance act the current extension expiring this friday night at midnight the steroids and baseball hearing is continuing at this hour actually for a few more minutes in a short break but we'll continue this afternoon the house oversight and government reform committee hearing from roger clemens and brian mcnamee this afternoon more testimony on the performance enhancing drugs in major league baseball that's live on c span three c span radio and you can catch it on our web site as well c span dot org the senate today is working on the intelligence programs conference reports and earlier today voting to limit debate on that conference report senators continuing to work on that you can follow it live on c span two speaking of the steroids hearing that we're covering today on c span three the associated press reports that this way that roger clemens and his former trainer brian mcnamee are seated at opposite ends of the same table and offering conflicting testimony at a highly anticipated capitol hill hearing this morning mcnamee says he injected the pitcher with performance enhancing drugs more often than he had previously claimed clemens says he never used the drugs and quote cannot in good conscience admit to doing something unquote that he didn't do both are being questioned by lawmakers trying to find out which of them is telling the truth mcnamee said in a prepared statement that he has helped taint our national pastime he's also attacking roger clemens credibility he says he liked and admired clemens but doesn't think he ever really trusted them again that's from associated press report out of the house hearing today on steroids in baseball again that hearing in a short break but should be resuming shortly and our live coverage will continue on our companion network c span three for what purposes gentleman from michigan arise mr speaker pursuant to house resolution nine seven six i call up the bill h r fifty three forty nine and ask for its immediate consideration to corporate  fifty three forty nine a bill to extend the protect america act of two thousand and seven for twenty one day pursue the house resolution nine seventy six the bait shall not exceed one hour with forty minutes equally divided and controlled by the chairman ranking minority member of the committee of the judiciary and twenty minutes equally divided and controlled by the chairman and ranking minority member of the permanent select committee on intelligence gentleman from michigan mr conyers and a general and then from texas mr smith each will control house the temporary five the law we enacted in haste as a stop last august's expires saturday we want to replace that law with a well considered one which appropriately addresses both our security needs and our constitutional values the house passed a version of that well considered law in my view  the restore act we've been waiting for the senate to pass its version so that we could compare it with ours and decide together on the best course of action we've also been waiting on act sir classified documents regarding what telecom companies may have done in recent years to assist our government with surveillance on united states citizens outside the bounds of law at that time the fifteen day extension we passed two weeks ago was intended to give us time to consider the senate bill thought to be on the verge of passing and to review the classified documents unfortunately it has turned out not to be enough time the judiciary committee members thirty eight and numbers  have not all seen the documents we've only had clearance for nineteen of those members to gain that access to the classified  documents that we have been asking for for over one year and the review process is unavoidably somewhat cumbersome and efficient even today as i stated in my letter to the white house we still do not have access to numerous critical legal documents in addition those documents that we have reviewed have left many of our questions unanswered and as a matter of fact raise a number of new ins moreover the senate has just passed its version of a long term surveillance law it differs from the house version in ways that may have major ramifications on the freedoms that we cherish so we need a bit more time the measure before us will give us three weeks twenty one days not much time in the view of some but no i believe the to permit us to reach an appropriate resolution on this matter of most importance and therefore your committee on judiciary comes before you mr speaker i strongly oppose h r fifty three forty nine which extends the protect america act for twenty one days another extension is unacceptable and unnecessary last august congress enacted the protect america act to close a dangerous loophole in our ability to collect foreign intelligence the democratic majority insisted on an arbitrary six month sunset but instead of using that time wisely they ignored the needs of our intelligence community and passed a partisan unworkable bill the restore act then two weeks ago the house democratic majority insisted on another extension again they squandered the last two weeks now house democrats want more time but their time is up we know from admiral mcconnell director of national intelligence that before congress enacted the protect america act the intelligence community was messin two thirds of all overseas terrorist communications endangering american lives some in congress are willing to let the protect america act expired because ongoing survey allowance under the act can continue for up to a year this might be acceptable at the terrorist threat also expired this weekend but it doesn't if the act expires we will return to the status quo unable to begin any new foreign intelligence surveillance without a court order again threatening america's counterterrorism efforts another extension represents a failure by the house democratic majority to protect the american people the senate understands this the intelligence community needs a long term bill to fix gaps in our intelligence laws not a twenty one day extension the senate bill addresses the concerns of our intelligence community and has strong bipartisan support but house democrats are at war with themselves and at odds with the american people house democrats disagree with the senate democrats and house democrats disagree among themselves one group wants to approve the bipartisan senate bill and another opposes it americans are tired of this kind of partisanship in washington now we have partisanship within partisanship within the democratic party house democrats disagree among themselves disagree with democrats in the senate and oppose a bipartisan bill that passed yesterday with overwhelming support by a vote of sixty eight to twenty nine the house democratic leadership is like a clock that runs backwards they keep going in counterclockwise circles to the left unfortunately we can't turn the clock back on terrorist we must act to gather intelligence on terrorist and prevent another attack why do we keep delaying our ability to protect american lives another extension represents a failure to act a failure to lead and a failure to protect our country it doesn't take long to do what's right let's stop the stalling and pass the bipartisan the senate bill i urge my colleagues to reject this extension and urge the democratic leadership to allow the house to consider the bipartisan senate bill mr speaker i'll reserve the balance of my time to preserve the balance of time gentleman from michigan thank you mr speaker i recognize the gentle lady from california jane harman a long time member of the intelligence committee who now on homeland security chairs the subcommittee that handles that same subject that you heard three minutes gentleman from california is recognized for three minutes i think the gentleman for yielding mr speaker as we discussed a short extension of the protect america act in order to hammer out a bi cameral agreement with the senate which just passed its bill last night thousands of intelligence agents are working hard around world in undisclosed locations unaccompanied by their families to prevent and disrupt dangerous threats against our country once again let me say thank you to them and let me say that every member of this chamber thanks them for their service and praise for their safe return this debate is not as some on the other side want to characterize it about democrats wanting to coddle terrorists we emphatically do not we want to capture or kill them it is beyond cynical to suggest otherwise this debate is not about whether we want court orders for foreign to foreign communications between terrorists we do not or whether we are opposed to responsible changes to fica we all support responsible changes to fight this debate is about whether the careful framework in five which has lasted three decades while letting us pursue terrorists and protecting constitutional freedoms will survive the bill the senate passed late yesterday in my view is unacceptable i am mindful that there was a substantial bite partisan majority for it but some in my party and and some in the other party who voted for it tried mightily to improve it and lost if we have twenty one more days we can consider some of their amendments here and i would hope pass them if we cannot fix the senate bill i will oppose it if it comes up for a vote in the house yes i was one of a small group of members briefed on the terrorist surveillance program between two thousand and three and two thousand and six but those briefings until the program was publicly disclosed in late two thousand and five were about operational details only i never learned that the administration was not following fice and i think that was wrong and that is why for three years i have worked my heart out to fashion responsible bipartisan agreement on the need for the terrorist surveillance program to comply fully with feisal this fall i urged repeatedly for bipartisan negotiations which sadly never happened it may now be too late but i am go for one more try i say to the intelligence officers mention at the outset of my remarks to my colleagues and to the american people we need to conduct surveillance of foreign terrorists but we must do it within the rule of law with a clear legal framework they are empowered to do their job better and from that we will all benefit in august the house was jammed by the senate into passing ill advised legislation gentleman in august the house was jammed by the senate into passing ill advised legislation i opposed it and said we did not want to watch the same movie again in six months minutes thank the gentleman from michigan i miss chairman i'm opposed to this bill and i'm extremely concerned about our national security and deeply troubled that our intelligence community has been prevented from doing the job they need to do to protect americans we do not need another delay of the much needed files improvements scuse me the senate passed a bipartisan comprehensive files a bill sixty eight to twenty nine that is the bill that we should be voting on today and not this temporary extension it's not the bill that i would have written but it does give our teles intelligence community many important tools they need to protect our nation instead of taking up a perfectly good well thought out bill we have another tactic by the house democratic leadership that insists on catering to special interest groups like the trial lawyers and the hard left of the democrat party mr chairman we have had leaks in the way we collect information on individuals  electronics conversation we've had leaks about how we collect e mails on terrorist websites we've had leaks that have caused our allies in europe to no longer cooperate when it comes to tracking terrorist financing instead of prioritizing arguably the most important security issue the majority party has delayed and failed to focus on how we can help the community in the twenty first century against enemies who utilize the latest technology against our country as a member of the house permanent select committee on intelligence been very disturbed this past year to see the anger against our president cloud the judgment of its members in an effort to embarrass the president they weakened our intelligence gathering capabilities and caused long term damage to the security of this nation we do not monitor phone conversations like we should we don't monitor e mails like we should or finances like we should and the enemy knows it is time for us to strengthen and not weaken the terrorist surveillance program was enough we all know that we simply pass an extension for twenty one days doesn't solve the problem it's time for us to stand up and force the democrat leadership of this house to do their job and bring the five is a bill  modernization bill before this body the one that was passed by the senate by a wide margin so that the intelligence community can have every tool at its disposal to protect the united states director of national intelligence mike mcconnell the man in charge overseeing the intelligence community has repeatedly told us of the urgency to modernize the fison law he said we must urgently urgently close the gap in our current ability to effectively collect foreign intelligence the current fison law does not allow us to be effective modernizing this law is essential for the intelligence community to be able to provide warning and threats to this country mr chairman what the senate passed does exactly what mr mcconnell has talked about we should bring that bill to the floor and one day extension of the existing fires act to provide congress a time to work out the differences between the two houses on this very important matter it is a question of our nation's security and is a question of our nation's values we should not be stampeded into action when there is no need this is ministration has the ability to money to terrorists and extending current law for twenty one days will not remove that ability with this debate is really about is whether national security wiretapping should be subject to judicial and congressional oversight as the bill that we passed last december the restore act and provides and this traditional american values insists on or whether the administration any administration can be trusted to police itself whether american citizens liberty should be subject to the unrefutable discretion of the executive as the protect america act and the senate best bill provide also at stake is the question of so called telecom immunity and we know what they are asking they're asking that the lawsuits against the telecommunications companies for proof for participating in the warrantless surveillance program allegedly in violation of the pfizer law be foreclosed now there are only two possibilities there are two narratives either the telecom companies nobley and patriotically assisted the administration in protecting americans against terrorism that's one narrative or the telecom companies knowingly and criminally participated in a criminal conspiracy in violation of the law aiding and abetting a lawless administration to violate americans liberties and privacy rights against the constitution and against the five act i believe it is the second but it's not up to me or at the but the house here to decide that that's why we have courts courts determine questions of law and fact people are out there who believe their rights are violated they've brought a lawsuit let the lawsuits continue that the courts decide whether the telecom companies acted properly or acted in violation of the law it is not the job of congress to act to foreclose that judgment we have been told if we pass telecom immunity and if we fail to control abuse of the state secrets privilege that has been abused by the administration to prevent the courts or the congress from reviewing what they have done there will be no mechanism in the courts or in the congress to know let alone to control what the executive is doing the separation of powers established by the constitution to protect our liberties will have been destroyed that way lies the slow death of liberty it must not be permitted we have been told by this administration trust us i'm not in a very trusting mood these days nor should we ever trust any administration without your dishes and congressional oversight so it is up to us to pass a twenty one day extension you know thirty seconds minute thank you i remind everyone here that there is a bill that passed this house the restore act last november the senate finally got around to passing a bill yesterday that we're being told we should have no time to work out the differences as we normally try to do we must take the senate bill site unseen frankly that's an insult to every member of this house and to the prerogatives of the house we passed the bill they passed the bill we have twenty one days to work out the differences the gentleman from texas mr speaker i rise in opposition to this legislation yesterday the other body passed the pfizer bill by vote of sixty eight twenty nine i don't understand why house democrats refused to bring this bill to the floor sponsored by senator rockefeller it makes no sense to block its consideration for another twenty one days why do we keep extending the terrorist loophole it's imperative that the house passed the senate bill today the rules committee last night rejected a republican amendment to vote on the senate passed bill and then the committee refused to allow the senate passed bill is a motion to recommit the same afternoon the majority knows that the american people support long term legislation to keep our country safe and i guarantee that the senate bill would pass the house by a wide margin if the democratic majority would let the house vote out it instead of passing the senate bill we continue to waste time on legislation of little consequence the pfizer bill expires on friday there is no more time to wait we passed a temporary fix last summer and another extension earlier this year there has been plenty of time to review this and to come up with a permanent fix this we keep on passing these extensions we're never going to get a permanent bill and americans are in jeopardy this majority charade of passing short term extensions gone on long enough president bush will veto another extension and the democrats will have no one to blame but themselves it's time for the majority to stop playing political games we've had plenty of time to debate this issue the senate finally got it right and it's time that the house does the same our intelligence community needs the certainty of a long term bill to protect the nation the senate bill will continue to give our intelligence agencies the tools they need to keep us safe i urge my colleagues to reject a twenty one day extension up judiciary committee and they show the committee your person homeland security three minutes gentlewoman from texas recognized for three minutes i thank the distinguished chairman of the judiciary committee and i want to personally thank him for the extensive work we have done to secure america and as well to protect the civil liberties of all americans i hold in my hand the constitution of the united states embedded in this  book when you think of the term imbedded you think of other concerns regarding the iraq war you think of the concerns of terrorism you might even think of the concerns of in bed press who have been able to travel without soldiers but in this instance i'm saying that deeply embedded in the hearts of americans is the concept of the constitution that protects their civil liberties and i think it's important to note that in fact a bill has been passed some many months ago and i will not argue about the integrity of this place for many of raise that question that we should have the privilege of reviewing the legislation of the senate and that privilege is necessary but i think there is a larger argument more expanded argument and it must be clarified that we have not the only valid we've not delayed we've in fact been very meticulous in making sure that we've balanced our new files the law updating it and also providing that protection that firewall for americans how many of you would have known that initially that ministration came to us and suggested that while they are surveilling someone on foreign soil if it kicks back to an american your grandmother you ought your uncle yourself because it kicks back in a sense that we are talking of someone on foreign soil but you happen to be on the other side of the phone that that was ok but i offered him a minute and that amendment is in the bill that the house passed that we cannot tolerate reverse targeting that you must get a warrant that there must be an intervention and i'm glad to say that it is in the senate bill but yet there is a major question that the senate bill has not addressed and it is the fact that many many people's rights were violated in the course of the when the government went straight to the private sector and told them you have to do this and so many persons who were innocent were violated by surveillance now these companies of which i have great respect i believe they're part of the economic engine of this nation want us to interfere in the legal system for many of these companies are now being sued retroactively if you will are being addressed of the grievance they did against an american citizen who are we to stop the haul legal process if one of these corporations has a defensible defense that judges will rule for them if they were following the laws laid in additional minutes gentlewoman's recognize one additional minute i think to distinguish them and if they were following the law they have a defense so they rely upon representations made by officials of the federal government i can assure you that a court of law is going to give them their relief why are we interfering where citizens of the american society believe that this constitution and their rights have been violated and so to my friends who want to provide a scare tactic let me say to you that all of this legislation does today is to ensure that you will be safe by extending the existing law hopefully we put notice on cooperation that they should not be balling the civil liberties of americans and clearly i will tell you as a member the homeland security committee none of us stand in this well to jeopardize the safety and security of the american people let us dispense with that myth altogether what is important is that when we finally design a bill that is going to be entrenched in alig from new jersey mr saxton jones new jersey's recognize for two minutes i rise in opposition to this legislation mr speaker some years ago as i was working to have a subcommittee on the armed services committee established on terrorism i was making the rounds and among my party's leadership and i made the case about why i thought we needed to course this was before nine eleven a subcommittee on terrorism and i'll never forget one of my good friends told me that he thought that he said jim i think you and your friends see a terrorist behind every bush speaker unfortunately it seems  like the democrat majority leadership has adopted that same frame of reference there's not a there's not a terrorist behind every bush but they present a clear and present danger we were told so as late as today by representatives of the intelligence committee passing a twenty one day extension simply continues the uncertainty in the intelligence community the uncertainty  the telecommunications community and uncertainty among uncertainty among the american public itself just yesterday as it has been said here several times the senate approved a comprehensive long term bipartisan bill by a vote of sixty eight to twenty nine to close the terrorist loophole in our intelligence laws their bill represents a compromise between congress and the administration it rightly restores the original intent of the by ensuring that intelligence officials can conduct surveillance on foreign targets without a court order while still protecting the civil liberties of the american people it also grants liability protection to telecommunications companies that helped the government help the government after september eleventh allowing these companies to be subject to freedom of frivolous lawsuits threatens their future cooperation which could cripple america's counterterrorism efforts and they get t thirty seconds the gentleman another minute they're going to want to show them and the senate bill is a responsible plan for protecting our nation against terrorist threats many times the senate sends bills over here and very and they are very shortly passed by the house the house must act quickly on this one as well the senate's bill and send it to the president so he can sign it failing to do so effectively filling failing to protect our country and the american citizens therefore i urge my colleagues to vote against h r fifty three forty nine and instead of immediately pass the senate's version of the bill so we can send this important bill to the president there may not be mr speaker a terrorist behind every bush but they today present a clear and present danger in the back about this time gentleman from michigan mr speaker myself as much time as i may consume generally direct and i thank you i rise disappointed that the president of the united states is attempting to short circuit the legislative process and force congress into an impulsive decision by vowing to veto this short term extension before us now that would permit us to legislate responsibly it's beyond me how the executive chief executive of this country who truly wants an effective face of reform who truly cares about enacting some legislation to protect americans lives and liberty who truly respects the prerogatives of congress in shaping that legislation could seriously threaten us with the prospect of vetoing this legislation it's especially disturbing to think that he might refuse to accept a brief extension of his own surveillance program in order to ramrod a decision his way on telecom immunity before we can know what it is we're giving immunity to i'm also disappointed that some of my friends members of the minority who i've always considered to be responsible that just later years have spoken today in support of the president's attempt to once again bludgeon us into rushing to enact sweeping new wiretapping powers for the executive branch without giving the legislative branch the time to enjoy sure that the way it's it is done holds true to our most cherished american values i hope that these few observe a sions do not reflect widely shared sentiments in the minority and i would hope that we would not lend credence to the president's veto threat i don't think we should have to legislate under that kind of intimidation it amounts to demand that we abandon and abdicate our sworn constitutional duty i hope that we would all agree that we need to consider pfizer reform responsibly with the care at the servers with the importance that every american attaches to it and to preserve the prerogatives of the house to have our voice heard  this demand that we act irresponsibly is reflects no credit upon the process we should instead remind him that we are the legislative branch and remind them that he must show some patience and allow the congress to responsibly work its will the president were to veto this brief extension of his own surveillance program and if that in any way comprise compromises our national security no amount of political blustering which change the fact that it would be him who has put our nation at risk and why because by refusing to participate responsibly  the legislative process now i can to the imagine that happening i hope that with a strong bipartisan vote for this commonsense temporary measure we can convince our president to help us take this responsible step to ensure that americans are appropriately protected against threats to their liberty as well as threats to their security i hope that our result the result of this discussion will turn into a some bipartisan vote in support of this measure mr yielding mr speaker i thank the gentleman the gentleman from michigan the chairman of our committee for clarifying what this is all about in his statement he just said that the president is trying to force us to accept this bill from the senate so that there can be immunity granted to those communications companies that responded in the affirmative when asked to help this country so that's what it is that's what this vote all about you can talk about a twenty one day extension you can talk about wanting to work a little harder you can talk about this and that but essentially that's what this vote is it's the question of whether or not we believe that we ought to grant to those who responded in the affirmative when requested by their country to assist in the aftermath of nine eleven to allow us to collect that and of intelligence which would prohibit or prevent another nine eleven whether or not we're going to slap them in the face and said because you answered yes you have to in the words of the chairman of the constitutional law subcommittee when this was brought up in the committee let them do it themselves they have millions of dollars of high priced attorneys now that's the that's the response we're to tell the american people if asked in the future will you help in gathering information so that we can prevent another attack oh and by the way make sure you have millions of dollars worth of high priced attorneys to respond to whatever lawsuit might be out there now the question here is whether or not the majority is going to allow the majority do its will why do i say that twenty one members of the democratic side have sent a letter on january twenty eighth to the speaker saying they support the rockefeller bond bill twenty one members and i was never great in math but i do know that twenty one members on that side of the aisle added to our members on this side of the aisle are majority in the house of representatives so the question is will you allow will you allow the house to work its will will you allow the bill from the senate which twenty one members on your side of the aisle have signed a letter in support of come to the floor so we can find out whether or not the majority of this house will support it we were denied that in the rules committee we were denied that on two specific votes in the rules committee and now the only way we can allow that vote to come up is if we defeat this bill and force those on the majority side in leadership to allow the majority to work its will interestingly enough the gentle lady from texas who just spoke talked about how we ought to support this well i remember in august when she stood on in that very well and tore up a piece of paper and said this is what we're doing we're shredding the constitution by voting for the bill that was that on the floor and now we're supposed to understand that the other side wants us to have three weeks more of a bill which shredded the constitution let's understand what we're really doing here let's vote this down so we can vote on the bill that the majority of people in this house and majority of americans support the gentleman from michigan is recognized mr speaker i would grant myself as much time as i may consume the gentleman is recognized by as much time as he might cons appreciate the discussion that we're engaging in but at this point i rise to make the case that this is not a debate exclusively about immunity there are other key differences that we should and i think want to consider and for example the senate bill which we just examine does not contain sufficient provisions to guard against reverse targeting of united states citizens i think that's  without judicial approval of the essential procedures that will be used to ensure that there's no surveillance of the united states persons with the appropriate individual warrants i think that pretty important the senate bill further does not require the inspector general or the justice department to investigate the president's  surveillance program the house bill requires this investigation and so i don't think we need to be stampeded into a vote by threats from the executive or from the mathematic perfection of the other side and suggesting where the majority is alive and this body the twenty one sign is the bill entitled to get some answers to these questions just as everyone else that didn't sign the bill are and patriotic phone companies are these the same companies that cut off the pfizer wiretaps because the f b i hadn't ones in the twenty one day period after oh we already have a fison bill that will continue during the twenty one days some one may have accidentally mischaracterized the fact that we will be without fison protection if we don't act immediately i don't think that's the case and i think  many of our colleagues on the floor at this time know that as well as i do speaker i reserve the balance of my time the gentleman from michigan reserves the balance at this time the gentleman from michigan for hoekstra thank mr speaker and i'd like to yield three minutes to my colleague from the state of michigan mr rogers a member of the intelligence committee gentleman from michigan is recognized for three minutes thank you mr speaker and i have such great respect for my fellow colleague and michigan by mr conyers for his work and his passion of belief in where he stands i do worry about where we're at and i hear the gentleman talk about the fact that we just don't have time and we need more time you know today we're going to spend hours and hours grilling a professional baseball player about he said she said activities in professional baseball we spent an entire day on this floor this year trying to figure out how we're going to designate scenic trails in new england one hundred and sixty two bells camaro commemorating someone or something a hundred and sixty two on the floor this year sixty two bills naming post offices i think if we put this in perspective this isn't about needing more time this isn't about that we've obviously wasted a lot of time our constitution as so many people point to says some pretty clear things to me it makes sure that you stand tall and you take an oath to defend against all enemies foreign and domestic it's one of the most important things that we do in this body and if we can find time to put roger clemens in a chair and grill him for hours and make a media circus about professional baseball you'd think we could spend a few minutes protecting the united states of america and instead what we do is we kind of fool around and wring our hands and sam for national security but kind of not really but hey did you see the the professional baseball could be in trouble maybe works for my kids when they were three in trouble but it doesn't work for the american people and it certainly doesn't work to keep us safe this isn't about the constitution many members came down here and said we think it unconstitutional to give us three more weeks of unconstitutionality in the united states if i believe that as a former f b i agent i wouldn't vote for it it's wrong this is about good white hats and black hats it's about good guys and bad guys it's about good samaritans you know the ads on t v today where they go into high crime neighborhoods and say it's ok for you to tell on criminal behavior please call the police please call the f b i please make a difference in your community think of the confusing message we are sending today because we're hooked up on the size of the company so if i go in as an f b i agent to find the address that a pizza delivery company issue is for a fugitive should we go after them too should we go after that pizza delivery guy for out of the goodness of his heart telling us where there is a fugitive who may have committed murder or committed child pornography or been selling drugs and is in violation of the safety and security of his neighborhood his community  course not and we shouldn't punish people who say listen i want to help the united states catch terrorists and murderers and if you ask me and i'm unlawful possession of it i'll share it with you we do it in banks we do it in small businesses we go knock on neighbors doors every day in this country and say help us help protect your neighborhood your kids and your family will you tell us what you saw when you tell us what you know will you tell us where this information leads us to it happens every day this is about good hats black hat and one white hats good guys and bad guys let's make sure we stand up today for every courageous american who stands up for the for the sa united states i don't care how big or how small they are we ought to stand with them and not make them the enemy your back the gentleman from michigan now the gentleman from issues the speaker i reserve my time at this point the gentleman from michigan continues to reserve his but we were told also well gee the reason we need more time is the white house is delaying given its documents but if you really want to get to the bottom of this you go back to august fourth when we took a vote on feisal being extended for a number of months there were forty there was no immunity in there there was no issue about is the president going to turn over the forty one democrats voted for it nine didn't vote and all the rest voted against it that were against the protections for this country in fy so now we need to try out a political eliminate rest of the country not political risk to a party and i understand sometimes when you have members that see the dangers to america gee that that exposes the country to  great risk and if we don't do something and something terrible happens then we've exposed our party to terrible political risk that shouldn't be about political risk we need to do what's right for the country the chairman had said there are other key differences and there are but those are important to note as well our friends across the aisle somehow they get stretch the constitution if we tap a terrorist in a foreign country and it calls an american i' before i'll say it again the solution to that is not that we not tap in to that known terrorist in a foreign country it's that the friends of those concerned about this in america tell your friends that have their terrorist buddies not call them at home that's really sick then they don't have to worry about this bill but if terrorists that are known terrorists in foreign countries call them in this country then they ought to be at risk for having them tapped once we know that there's somebody here then they go get the warrant that addresses it but you cannot restrict it otherwise without doing great harm to our police our protection in america thank you the gentleman from michigan gentleman from indiana mr pence is recognized for three minutes without objection thank you ranking member for yielding and i arise in opposition to h r fifty three forty nine a bill to extend the protect america act of two thousand and seven for twenty one days it's hard for me to come to this floor and oppose an extension of a bill that i supported and supported in a bipartisan manner mr speaker it was this summer i believe last august that republicans and democrats came together on the judiciary committee and worked out a solution for an extension that came to be known as the protect america act and we and we've heard in the course of this debate eloquently stated on both sides what the issues are here we have antiquated foreign intelligence surveillance laws but the technology that has exploded across the globe in the last twenty five years has occurred without a significant updating of those laws that govern the means in the manner in the technology whereby we can collect intelligence and so we find ourselves in as as a centrally we are the hub of communications in the world in the united states of america you've heard the percentages the enormous amount of communications that pass through the united states of america and yet we have this massive loophole in our intelligence surveillance laws that does not permit us to listen to a terrorist in one foreign country talking to a terrorist in another foreign country when we worked out the compromise this summer it was built mr speaker i believe on an understanding between republicans and democrats that that ought not to be we ought to solve that problem in an equitable and bipartisan way and i was pleased to support that extension and legislation for a period of six months but what i struggle with today is now in the aftermath of that the contrast between the work in the house and the senate is rather startling yesterday the senate approved a bipartisan bill supported by nearly seventy percent of the senate to close the terrorist loophole in our intelligence laws represented a strong bipartisan compromise between congress and the administration and yet here in the house of representatives we passed a six month extension a few weeks ago we passed a fifteen day extension now i believe we're passing a twenty one day extension and yet the american people i believe know in their heart of hearts our enemy does not think in the short term and therefore our solutions must occur in the long term and when it comes to the ability of our intelligence community during this administration or whomever will be the next administration charged with protecting this country i believe it is imperative that we call the question i believe it is imperative that we that we rise today respectfully to my colleagues on the other side most especially the chairman of this committee who i esteem and say enough is enough we need to to modernize our foreign intelligence surveillance laws today another gem and another minute the gentleman has recognized for an additional one minute i think the gentleman for his courtesy we need to find a bipartisan compromise as we did last summer we need to find a bipartisan compromise as the united states senate did yesterday and i say again with a heavy heart our enemy does not conspire to harm us in the short term our enemy conspires to harm us in the long term to harm our people to harm our families to harm our children and our interests around the globe we must in this congress find a way beyond politics as we did last summer as the senate did yesterday to repair those holes in our foreign intelligence surveillance laws and give our intelligence community the legal authority and tools that they will need to protect us in the long term i urge my colleagues to reject the building extend the protect america act for twenty one days and call the question on this floor we need a long term solution to what ails our intelligence laws that the gentleman from texas continues to ensure is a balance of his time yes how much time remains on each side the gentleman from texas has four and one half minute can mr speaker i can pursuant to section two of house resolution nine seventy six further proceedings on the bill are pro phone for what purpose of the gentle lady from texas ross mr speaker am moved to suspend the rules and pass house resolution five sixty six honoring economic and inventors past and present for their leadership courage and significant contributions to our nation competitiveness for the african american black history month leadership courage and significant contributions to our national compared to pursuant to the rule the gentlewoman from texas mrs johnson and the gentleman from missouri mr aiken each will control twenty minutes the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from texas mrs johnson you mr speaker and inanimate consent that all members may have fab legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous materials on h r men six six without inventors the first garrett augustus morgan live from ny eight hundred seventy seven to nine hundred sixty three and was the son of former slaves he grew up in kentucky on the family form but as an adolescent he worked as a handyman for a wealth of cincinnati a land owner and surely their early experience as well as his education influence then shaped his interest as an inventor among his inventions garrett morgan designed a traffic signal that greatly improved public safety in the early one nine hundred bass sickles animal powered carts and motor vehicles shared the roads with accidents frequently occurred between the vehicles after witnessing a collision between an automobile and a horse driven carriage martin was convinced that something should be done to improve traffic safety he was the first to be granted  a traffic signal chaining the caution position prior to market invention most of the traffic signals and use beat it only two positions step and go before the manually operate system because of the manually operated traffic signals of the day allowed no interval between the stop and go command collisions and busy intersections were common during the transition from one street to another mark in traffic signal as well as other such as a safety who couldn't smoke protective contributed greatly to the public safety such a simple innovation yet a major impact the second innovat mentioned in this resolution is ernest everett just who lives on my eight hundred eighty three to nine hundred forty one he grew up in charleston south carolina and was a son of a builder he dedicated his life to sail biology research and earned a ph d at the university candle he said it is when a male role of sales surfaced in the development of argan isms he performed his research into disco columbia chicago and massachusetts as well as in italy germany and france and it just was truly a trailblazer do on a time when african american researchers were rare and under appreciated the third individual who lives from eight hundred eighty eight to nine hundred fifty eight born in iowa the son of a janitor and xandra was the first african american to graduate from university bowers he studied bridge design in london england and founded his own business in the one nine hundred twenty s he and his partners designed and constructed many roads and bridges including the whitehurst freeway the tidal basin bridge and extension to the baltimore washington parkway he airfield and the iowa state university heating and cooling system he was truly a renaissance man he sailed in football is an have way infrastructure and service governor of the u s virgin islands graduating from produce university in one nine hundred thirteen where he studied mechanical engineering he took a job with a c dunham company during his four years with the company he became an expert on heat transfer and central air conditioning he aka the manual on heating and cooling with water he also wrote and standards as well as codes that deal with heating ventilation refrigeration and heating systems in larger building he also hail numerous patents and designed the heating system for radio city music hall at the rockefeller center these two individuals and so many others overcame the tremendous resolution to let that night stand as an example to the thousands of young african american students across the nation the message of their lives that black history month and that of the resolution let's challenge mr speaker i rise today in strong support of house resolution nine sixty six it's fitting that this congress is also considering the gentle lady from texas mr johnson's resolution on the same day that we're celebrating national engineers week h sixty six authors african american investors in betters pass present and for their leadership courage and significant contributions to our national competitiveness three of the men we honor today were engineers the fourth a renowned biologist their contributions to our nation are many their drive to achieve success often in the face of adversity admiral and their recognition today highly deserved we owe a debt of gratitude to garrett augustus morgan for the contributions he made to public safety with safety helmet gas mask and traffic signal inventions ernest average us cellular work to help find a cure for sickle cell anemia anemia and cancer helped him become one of the most well respected scientists of his field many of the roads we travel in the d c area including the tidal basin bridge the whitehurst freeway and much of baltimore washington parkway were designed by archibald l phrase zero alexander considered an expert in heat transfer ventilation and air condition air conditioning david nelson crossways jr invented numerous practical heating devices these include an improved boiler  differential vacuum pump for large buildings such as radio city music hall and rockefeller center these men are role models for our next generation of scientists and engineers this congress through america competes has made great strides to ensure that our nation continues to attract the best and the brightest to these admirable and important careers i support house resolution nine sixty six and courage by colleagues to do the same with that i reserve the balance of my time mr speaker the gentleman from missouri reserves the balance the fifth time the lady from texas mr baker i have no requests for  yielded back the question is will the house to spin the rules and agree to pass house resolution nine sixty six those in favor say aye those opposed no in the opinion of the chair two thirds being in the affirmative the rules are suspended the resolution is agreed to and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table mr speaker mary please request the gays and nays to use the nays are requested all those in favor of taking this vote by the us the names will rise and remain standing until counted is official number having arisen the eighth and these are ordered pursuant to calls eight of rule twenty and the chairs prior announcement further proceedings on this motion will be postpone seventeen resolution supporting the goals and ideals of national intern years week and for other purposes pursuant to the rule the gentleman from illinois mr lipinski and the gentleman from montana mr acton each will control twenty minutes the followed by the national society professional engineers including more than one hundred society government in business sponsors and affiliates including boeing in american society of mechanical engineers national engineers week draws upon local and regional experts to recognize the contributions of engineers and remote careers in engineering from national and regional engineering competitions such as a future city competition to events such as introduce a girl to engineering day this week is intended to inspire the next generation of american engineers and scientists national engineers week takes place next week just as it does every year to commemorate the birthday of george washington one of our nation's greatest engineers engineers has helped make our country great from the american revolution to development of key modern industries such as the aerospace industry as well as various alternative energy industries engineers are at the forefront of human events is because engineers combine creativity with math and science training to solve problems engineers are not just builders as they are sometimes in vision they are problems solver's this one of the first things i was taught when i was a graduate student at stanford university in the department engineering economic systems engineering is problem solving i have a unique perspective in congress is one of less than ten engineers currently serving besides my master's degree from stanford i earned a bachelor's degree from northwestern university in mechanical engineering is of great concern that america is falling behind under other countries in producing engineers when i've toured engineering schools where there is a been at northwestern university stanford university northern illinois university where the only institute of technology i have heard again and again how few americans are getting into nearing degrees especially graduate degrees in engineering it is great that america has such top universities that we are attracting from the brightest minds from around the world to study here we are really we are losing more and more of those students when they graduate and go back home engineers in the past help us build both across the sea where road to take us where in the internet to communicate across the world today we need the innovative capabilities vengeance years more than ever to confront the new challenges before us a few years ago the national academy of sciences report entitled rising above the gathering storm raised serious questions about america's future technological competitiveness this report calls for the federal government to take a number of actions including addressing the potential for a shortage of good engineers i am proud to that chairman gordon in the science and technology committee which i serv chairman answered the reports call in took action to bolster america's compare this last summer congress passed the president signing to into law the america this groundbreaking law invest more in education especially in the stem fields of science technology engineering in math increases investment in critical research in the bellman america compete to create new award early career researchers in new graduate research assistant shifts in technological areas of national need these investment will greatly benefit our nation's engineers helping america stay at the forefront of innovation and increasing our national economic and environmental security indeed america's engine ears are a critical component in the veldt being in employing the innovative technologies necessary to carry out many of the provisions of the energy independence in security act the landmark energy law passed at the end of last year and speaker i'd like to thank the gentleman from south carolina mr inglis for his work at this resolution as well as the forty five other co sponsors and i would especially like to thank the engineers who have contributed so much to america especially to two million engineers in america today resolution nine seventeen house resolution nine seventeen supports the goals and ideals of national engineer week which will be celebrated this year in just a few days starting february seventeenth the national society  professional engineers established the first national engineer week in one thousand nine hundred fifty one throughout all of the next week a wide range of activities are planned around the theme of engineers make a world of difference in order to increase the understanding of and interest in engineering and technology careers and to promote k through twelve literacy in math and science these activities will also highlight the contributions that engineers have made to our society historically engineering week is celebrated during the week of george washington's actual birthday to honor his contributions to engineering as military engineer in the land surveyor as our nation's first president he put our new nation on the path toward technical advancements innovation and education we continue down this path today which is grown exponentially in a multiple and complex highways of innovation our engineers literally and figuratively who build those highways and help keep us a head of the innovation curve from landing a man on the moon to dispersing bags to carry our groceries engineers play a role in nearly every facet of our lives just a few weeks ago the national science foundation released the two thousand and eight science and engineering indicators loaded with statistics on our nation's engineering future it's essential that we capitalize on opportunities such as national engineers week to raise awareness of the valuable work and contribution of engineers to society to attract young people of all ages to this rewarding profession i support the goals  it's an incident that occurred about one thousand plus years ago seems like just the other day i had just been elected to be a state legislator in the state of missouri and i was very pleased and proud of that no one in my family had ever run for political office or slid that far down the totem pole of life but i was still looking forward to serve as a state representative in the first thing on my agenda was to go to an early morning breakfast of other legislators and so i got to the breakfast but it was so early i was there just a little bit late and just about the time i was sitting down at the table one of the prominent legislators at the table said you know we ought to have a law against engineers serving in the legislature because they're just way too rational for the legislative process and i was just taking my chair when somebody said you're not an engineer are you and i said yes i am so i'm thankful to be one of those seven or so engineers that serve here in the s house i do believe that there is always a use for the discipline of problem solving that engineer brings and so if there maybe someone that young and considering that career in engineering i would advise them very strongly in favor of it even though it involves a certain amount of suffering in undergraduate school with that i yield back denham in that time gentleman from illinois i recognize body i just want to say you know i mentioned earlier that i am have an engineering background and it really does give a unique perspective but i think what the most important thing with national engineers which is the inspiration that we're looking to provide i remember when i was a kid growing up in chicago i was always fascinated in the way things work especially mechanical things and i remember with my high school calculus in physics teachers  it was father school in father fergus they were the ones who really helped mold this child with fascination into an interest in engineering and i have seen a lot of the work that is done in national engineers week to try to revive this inspiration for students who are out there today i think this is very critical as we face so many problems going into the future with energy with trying to take care of global warming so many other issues that we face we need to have more engineers in this country to help us solve these problems national in juniors week is a great place to help provide inspiration that we have more engineer in this resolution provides some more inspiration out there hopefully for some students who are watching this listening to this reading this later on that we do need more engineers want to encourage that so i want to ask my for the proceedings on this motion will be postpone resources committee for his leadership on important ocean in great lakes issues this is a good bill that will expand our knowledge of the oceans in provide information about the vast resources of the sea the coastal areas of our nation support a wide variety of significant activities but in many respects the oceans remain a mystery with many areas unexplored marine scientists tell us that we have become close to tapping the resources available to us from the oceans i hope that my colleagues today from both side of the aisle will agree that we should steer research dollars to those fact finding projects that the humanity might one day reap the benefits of our ocean resources this bill provides the national oceanic and atmospheric administration noah with the authority in direction to support a vigorous ocean exploration program the bill authorized two programs to be carried out support of h r eight hundred thirty four the national ocean exploration program act and i yield myself such time as i may consume that objection the national oceanic and atmospher is the nation's lead agency charged with conserving and managing our coastal and oceanographic resources as such relevant and high quality research and development is vital to know as ability to better understand the marine ecosystems it manages noah's ocean exploration efforts have been organized in a systematic and strategic manner in order to investigate the farthest depths of the earth and our noah's undersea research programs allow for direct access to undersea environments through submersibles and indirect observations through the use of robots and se floor observatories these programs provide invaluable information that enables us to learn more about our environment that covers more than two thirds of our planet eight hundred thirty four authorizes two existing ocean programs the ocean exploration program and the national undersea research program under this authorization no is required to work with the national science foundation to map out a coordinated national exploration program that promotes collaboration with other federal ocean exploration programs to prevent duplicative efforts this bill also requires knowing to conduct an undersea research exploration education and technology development program that coordinates with similar efforts of the academic and marine and ocean science communities most of these research in exploration efforts are conducted by outside groups who receive grants and funding from no h r eight hundred thirty four requires that such funding shall now be distributed through a competitive bid process completion for funding will encourage i mean competition for funding will encourage existing research centers to select their most valuable research projects and partner with each other on other research programmes this competition is essential to ensure that the best research programmes and ideas are adequately funded something that unfortunately has not always been the case in the past mr speaker at a time when our nation is struggling to divide resources among a greater number of programs we cannot afford to allow spending on research programs did not provide pertinent information rayleigh related to know is important mission the authorizing of these two programs and the competitive grant problem process it's established in this bill will ensure that no is able to fund only the most useful projects and leverage taxpayer dollars in a way that provides the most useful information to understanding and gentleman from illinois madam speaker i would would like urge now to my colleague jim saxton from this state of new jersey he is a long and very well established reputation here and by the way and i thank the gentleman for yielding and i thank the gentleman for illinois for his kind remarks and great description i might add of the bill i obviously rise in strong support of h r thirty eight hundred thirty four and them very pleased that abecedarian administration according to the u s commission on ocean policy about ninety five percent of the ocean floor remains unexplored this vast area teams with undiscovered species and natural cultural resources on virtually every expedition oceanographers and next lor's our fellows are make make fascinating new discoveries hydrothermal vents in a specific in the pacific numerous new species and important archaeological sites are but a few of the important discoveries made in the past thirty years consequently the report of the u s commission on ocean policy recommended the national the national science foundation should lead and expand our national ocean exploration and undersea research program i am proud to be the sponsor of h r eight hundred thirty four i'm proud that it's a bipartisan piece of legislation and i'm proud that it promotes implementation of the commission's recommendations this bill authorizes two important programs the ocean exploration program as well as the national undersea research program also known as nerd the ocean exploration program was created to investigate the oceans for the purpose of discovery and the advancement of knowledge it is the no a program of stablish to first explore and map the oceans unknown and poorly known living and non living resources and second to gain new insights about its physical chemical biological and our collage archaeological characteristics title one of the bill the national oceanic and next exploration program act will create better coordinate coordination between know and the national science foundation the purposes of the act i do expand the ocean exploration to discover new marine substances that potentially have a therapeutic benefit to study the unique marine ecosystems organisms and the geological geology of the world's oceans and to maximi ocean research effectiveness by integrating multiple scientific disciplines in ocean science in the ocean science community a new element created by the legislation is an exploration ocean exploration advisory board the national undersea research program is part of the national research as the federal agency responsible for managing living marine and coastal organisms know requires a presence beneath the sea and the great lakes to better understand the systems under i management nerve and provides no with the unique capability to access the undersea environment and also provide scientists with the tools and expertise they need to investigate the undersea environment including remotely operated vehicles other under underwater vehicles mixed gas drug diving gear underwater laboratories and observatories title two of the bill the national undersea research program of two thousand and seven formally authorizes the national undersea research program for the first time and we're very proud of this the legislation creates competitive process where the extramural undersea research centers to encourage the very best undersea research program for the united states both of these programs authorized in this legislation are core to the mission of noah i urge my colleagues to import it to support this important bipartisan legislation now you'll back the balance of my time pass h r eight hundred thirty four as amended those in favor say aye those opposed no in the opinion of the chair two thirds being in the affirmative the rules are suspended the bill is passed and without objection until counted a sufficient number having arisen the a's and nays are ordered pursuant to clause eight of rule twenty the chairs prior announcement further proceedings on this motion will be postpone for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition madam speaker i move to suspend the rules and pass a bill twenty five seventy one the clerk will report the title of the bill to twenty five seventy one and the next night technical pursuant to the rule the gentleman from california mr cardoza and the gentleman from oklahoma mr lucas will each control twenty minutes the chair recognizes the gentleman from california thank you men speaker i yield myself such time as i may consume senate bill twenty five seventy one provides a technical correction to the reauthorization of the pesticide registration improvement act approved by the house and the senate and it was signed by the president on october ninth two thousand and seven as my colleagues know currently responsible for regulating the sale use and distribution of pesticides in order to facilitate and expedite the approval process pesticide manufacturers another registrants have supplemented annual budget for a number of years it's a win win process for both the manufacturer and the end user and a clear example of good government at its best unfortunately e p a has interpreted the approved by congress to collect fees for chemicals that are not part of the interregional project number four a popular research program that assesses tolerance levels for pest management chemicals applied on specialty crops these restore the status quo for these particular products and reince are really assert congressional intent because the program fees are based are being assessed on i r for chemicals as we speak it is vitally important to address this situation immediately while the farm bill would be the natural vehicle to make this technical correction e p a is currently unable to process any registration applications without these fees being paid therefore while this fix is not controversy will it is extremely time sensitive and the end to the certainty of the farm bill process dictate that congress must take action now restoring congressional intent by passing this technical correction to preah will prevent delays and backups of applications and stop the p a from collecting and they then reimbursing the fees for these chemicals it is important that we continue to encourage the type of public private partnerships and visions in the prayer i urge my colleagues to support this technical fix and the underlying goals of the pesticide registration improvement act madam speaker i reserve the bounce my gentleman reserves down for the oklahoma's recognize thank you madam speaker and i yield myself such time as i may consume i rise today in support of s twenty five seventy one madam speaker last fall we passed senate bill one thousand nine hundred three which reauthorize the highly successful pesticide registration improvement act that act had been worked on by a number of members in the house and senate including the chairman and ranking members of the house and senate agricultural committees as well as the chairman and ranking members of the subcommittee on horticulture in organic in developing this legislation we sought the advice and counsel of the administration the affected industry and the environmental community i was very happy to have the unanimous indorsement of all interested parties as we move forward with that bill as is not uncommon in working on complex legislation languages included that is subject to interpretation and in this particular case we included language intending to maintain an existing fee exemption for certain chemicals that have limited uses on specialty crops and unfortunately the p a has interpreted the final language to mean that they would not be able to continue to offer this exemption this bill that we are considering today would simply restore the status quo for these chemicals as was the in congressional intent i urge all of my colleagues to support this legislation and preserve the balance of my time gentleman reserves gentleman from california recognized and speaker i have no further requests for time missing california's recognize thank you madam speaker i just want to thank my colleague the very capable and wise gentleman from oklahoma who has been a great friend throughout the years that i've been here and thank him for his assistance with this nine seven six proceedings will now resume on h r fifty three forty nine which the clerk will report by title h r fifty three forty nine a bill to extend the protect america act of two thousand and seven for twenty one days when proceedings were postponed earlier today thirteen wanted a half minutes remained in debate the gentleman from michigan mr conyers has seven minutes remaining the gentleman from texas mr smith has four and a half minutes remaining and the gentleman from michigan m has two minutes remaining who yields time madam gentlemen or gentlemen from michigan is like you i never begin by using myself as much time as i may consume gentleman is recognized by members of the house after delaying consideration of the house because i restore four months just last night the other body has passed a very troubling fice a bill and their action comes only three days after the expiration of the temporary bill expires this  saturday and we have a number of problems with the legislation coming from the other side first it provides blanket retroactive amnesty for telecom companies that took part in warrantless surveillance programs no i have never heard in my legal experience  that retroactive immunity or immunity of any kind can be given when you don't know what it's being given for and that presents quite a large problem then there's no fice a court review of certain authorisations generally referred to as basket warrants the  until after the wiretapping starts it creates a problem that we would use the additional twenty one days that we're asking for i think that with come under very close examination and then there are much weaker provisions on stopping other warrantless wiretapping for example reverse targeting of u s citizens  and the question of sufficient congressional oversight so based on the documents that have been provided so far and they are far from incomplete i have letters of  requests in great detail the case for amnesty has really not been made they and ministrations bluster and fear mongering don't do any of us very well that doesn't serve the purpose of our legislative function and our relationship with the several branches of government and it should be understood as perhaps another attempt to use national security for  not administration's view is that the president as commander in chief can spy on americans in the united states without a warrant a proposition that is very seriously contested by many of our constitutional and civil liberties authorities congress is committed to providing the executive branch the tools it needs but we need to do so to make sure that the power to spy on americans is not subject to abuse or misuse all of us in this but i think that that is a paramount concern the administration has requested that the congress rubber stamp its proposed legislation but has refused to provide congress the information that would even p to support the legislation it is the administration that has unfortunately played politics with this issue  provided us with all of our requested documents just yesterday another letter was sent requesting the same information we've been asking for for so long the house can't simply be stonewalled or ignored and it cannot exercise its constitutional responsibility and then be bullied to rubber stamp complicated and important legislation that impacts on national security we hope that the measure before us today extension does nothing more than contribute uncertainty to our intelligence community and put our foreign surveillance activities at risk we have a bill we can pass right now yesterday the senate approve bipartisan if i said bill by an overwhelming majority of sixty eight to twenty nine the senate bill addresses the concerns of our intelligence community and has strong bipartisan support the intelligence community needs a long term to gaps in our intelligence laws now not twenty one days from now what message does it send that we lack confidence in our intelligence community why are we making ourselves vulnerable to those who want to hurt us spies and terrorists don't operate by deadlines and sunsets neither should our intelligence laws we cannot allow the protect america act to expire and return to the status quo unable to begin any new foreign surveillance the time to act is now another extension represents a failure by the house democratic majority to protect the american people we should general gentleman from michigan is recognized thank the speaker all you'll myself the balance of my time john is recognized thank you now what we do in the try to do in the tele just committee is to define the threat that is out there we know that radical jihadists al qaeda that it's a real threat we provided they attempt to provide our intelligence community with the tools that are necessary to give us policymakers and others the information necessary to keep america safe and w about some of us are in the business of prevention making sure that there is not another successful attack against the united states some are others are in the mode of well let another attack if it happens we want to be in a position to prosecute but when we get down to pfizer i went through this earlier october twenty five to two thousand and one november fourteenth two thousand and one march five two thousand and two june twelfth two thousand and two members of the houses of members of the house of representatives were briefed on this program our speaker of the house was be briefed on this program understanding what the program was or hopefully understanding it or at least asking the question get understanding about what the program was what is it what it what it intended to do and the kind of information it was going to get and the legal boundaries the legal ramifications and who is participating in these programs now what they want to do and some want to do is throw these companies that were the good samaritans that decided that they were going to help us throw them under the bus even though on a bipartisan basis legislative the legislative branch and the executive branch  asked these folks and decided that these were the things that needed to be done the impact of this is is that being a chilling effect on all of those individuals and corporations that time from time to time are being asked to help to keep us say it's like saying we saw what you did to these other folks we're not going to be next we're going to have a fiduciary responsibility to our shareholders and again it's the tradition and the experience in the background of what some want to do to the intelligence community under president clinton there were massive cuts in the intelligence community we devastated the community through the doj doctrine where we cut back on human assets and now we're doing it again we won't give the intelligence community the tools that they need we focus on global warming and we focus on partisan investigation on that why not buy america say gen recognized for one minute i thank the distinguished chairman for you knowing me the time i thank him as well for his leadership i thank mr ross for his leadership and yes i thank ms docstring for his leadership as well as well as mr smith this is a very serious issue we confront today this bill passed the senate less than twenty four hours ago yet this co equal branch of the government of the united states is asked to do what the minority when it was in the majority would never have done to take exactly what the senate tells us to take or frankly what the president tells us  now let me say that we passed a bill nov fifteenth three months ago which gave the feis a court and which gave the intelligence community every thing they needed given the technological changes and given the demands of keeping america safe everything the senate passed a bill out of their committee at about the same time but i want to tell my friends on the other side of the aisle in the senate you've been slow walking this bill you've been slow walking this will build to put us in the position we find ourselves in today and you did it because the issue here is not the intelligence community as m it's the telecommunications compan at what happened between the administration and the telecommunications companies and we passed a statute which is said to the telecommunications company look when we make phone calls then to be private and you can't disclose those people including the government without a court order we passed the files a court a bill specifically to provide for the ability of our intelligence community to intercept communication but to do so under the aegis of a court that is what we do in america makes us a little different some governments of course do willy nilly whatever they want to do this is not just about pfizer we incarcerate people without hearings without lawyers torture people contrary to the edicts of the international law rationalized by an attorney general the united states in a memo to the president night states but i tell my friends that nobody in this institution ought to have any self respect if what you're saying is we ought not to go to conference on this important issue which is what you say by voting against this extension this extension is caused almost solely by the members of the president's party in the united states senate who would not allow this legislation to move more quickly in the senate mr speaker i believe our friends on the other side of the aisle and the president states are taking an untenable position and what is that position on the one hand if the protect america act expires america will be at risk on the other hand if we extend and keep in force the protect america act the president says he'll veto it and i don't know what kind of lewis carroll logic that is but it's certainly a scapes me if in fact and i don't agree with the president but if in fact it's important to keep the protect america act in place then passing this extension is the best way to do so now that there are some things that we can discuss in conference i frankly have told the white house's or as late as just a few hours ago that i think we can discuss possible ways to move forward on this because there's not a person on this  that doesn't want to protect america that doesn't want to facilitate the interception of communications valuable to that objective of protecting america and americans i urge all my colleagues on both sides of the aisl to vote for this extension just as we did by unanimous consent essential early without a vote just a few weeks ago the contemplation then was that the senate would act but the senate did not act it did not act until less than twenty four hours ago last night late afternoon and now we are confronted with take it or leave it do we have no self respect in this institution do we know how to have no sense of responsibility to oversee that which has been passed to go to conference and discuss our differences there are differences as you know i would hope that every member would say to themselves yes we have that kind of self respect and we understand our responsibility as an independent house of the congress of the united states the logic of the opponents of this legislation as i said a scapes me protect america america act is imperative they say but they opposes to extension as i said mr speaker i support this twenty one day extension and i want everybody on this house floor to understand that if we have a twenty one day extension i'm hopeful that we will go to prince i'm hopeful the senate will agree to a conference and i'm hopeful that we can engage republicans and democrats on the intelligence committee on the judicia an honest conference trying to resolve our differences and pass legislation that helps protect america i want to remind my colleagues that this body has already passed the reauthorization so there's no need to do that we're ready for conference right now so mr speaker man i'm not i'm speaker excuse me in closing let me urge every member of this house whether you are for or against the protect america act whether you're for or against immunity whether you're for or against for or against title one of this bill vote for this extension just as you would vote for a c r and not shut down the government in order to give us time to pass appropriation bills fully that's what this is simply to give us three weeks at ten days of which we won't be here to address this thorny issue which there are legitimate differences of opinion the only other thing one can conclude is simply we're taking the position of take it or leave it house don't exercise your judgment house don't meet your responsibilities to the american people alice that is not what our constituents expect us to do vote for this extension because there's this time gentleman from texas is recognized madam speaker i yield the balance of my time three minutes a gentleman from california mr left monger and who has some instructive math to share with  from california recognized the thank you madam speaker i listened closely to the words of my friend from maryland just a moment ago and i want to assure him that i do have self respect and i have respect for this institution i would not have returned here after a sixteen year absence if i had the other feeling but i returned to this place because of the aftermath of nine eleven feeling that those of us who thought we might make a contribution to the defense of this nation in whatever way we could ought to do that and based on that i will have to tell you this issue is probably one of the two or three most important issues that i've dealt with since i return to this institution we cannot and we will not continue to protect the american people if we are absent that kind of quality intelligence that's necessary for us to be able to figure out what the threat is and to figure out what the threat is before that threat is acted upon by the enemy and that's why this is so important and interesting all to our being successful in doing that is being able to ask for assistance by those who have it in their power to give assistance and that's why it is so important the matter the gentleman from maryland referred to the question of whether or not we would grant immunity to those companies who said yes when the american government came to them in the aftermath of nine eleven and said we need your help without your help it is impossible for us to get that kind of information that we will be able to utilize to be able to prevent another nine eleven now that oh man from maryland said we have not enough time i would suggest as one of the one thousand members of judiciary committee i was given the opportunity as were members on your side of the aisle to review that material that you say we haven't had for a long enough period of time interestingly enough we've had one day short of three weeks to look at that material so what makes anybody think that if we're given three more weeks three more weeks that the majority side will say that's enough gentleman from maryland says he doesn't support the protect america act but we're being asked on the floor to extend it for three more weeks the gentleman from maryland says just three more weeks the vast majority of members on your side of the aisle voted against it so how do we get to a majority position in this house dealing with that  necessity of gaining this information while protecting the civil liberties of our fellow citizens maybe it is instructive to look at the letter dated january twenty eighth signed by twenty one members of your side of the aisle asking the speaker of the house to allow us to vote on what the very bill passed by the senate yesterday the very bill passed by the senate yesterday was the subject of the letter by twenty one members of your madam speaker and members of the house what we've discussed this afternoon is far too important to rush the legislative process i hope we will rise above partisanship today act responsibly to defend the constitution as we have all taken an oath to do and so i urge the bipartisan passage of the measure that has been debated and i yield back the balance of my time gentleman yield back is time all time for debate has expired pursuant to house resolution one seventy six the bill is considered read and the a point of order gentlemen will state is point of order the motion to recommit is not germane to the bill under consideration and therefore should not be considered r five three four nine six to twenty one day extension of the protect america act as previously amended thus amending the so that it would expire not one hundred ninety five days but two hundred sixteen days after an acme the motion to recommit goes beyond the scope of the bill and beyond the scope of the protect america the bill temporarily extends to make permanent changes to the pfizer law including retroactive legal amnesty for telecom companies who may have broken the law in cooperating with fact i wish to be heard on the point of water i may proceed madam speaker it is unfortunate that the democratic majority is insisting on a procedural objection to block consideration of this motion to recommit this motion substitutes the bipartisan bill passed yesterday by the senate sixty eight to twenty nine to him proof i said a bill that would dramatically improve our national security it is sad to see the democratic majority put procedure over substance when it comes to protecting americans from terrorists there is nothing more germane to the security of the american people in the take up the senate bill as quickly as possible therefore i would ask both parties in the senate the administration and many democrats in the house again i would like to reiterate my disappointment that the majority is raise a point of order against this motion to recommit we need to stop playing procedural games with our national security and take a vote now on the senate passed bill to improve faisel so any other member wish to be recognized out of dollars from michigan madam speaker  am i have never violated parliamentary procedure and i would i would insist upon the point of order the chair is prepared to rule the gentleman from michigan makes a point of order that the motion to recommit offered by the gentleman from texas proposes an amendment that is not germane to the bill clause seven of rule sixteen provides that no proposition on a subject different from that under consideration shall be admitted under color of amendment the bill h r fifty three forty nine extends the protect america act of two thousand and seven for a limited time the instructions contained in the motion to recommit proposed changes in permanent law a general principle of germane this rule is that where  composed only of a temporary extension of existing programs and amendment making permanent changes in the law relating to such programs is not germane the chair will note a relevant precedent on december second one thousand nine hundred two the chair rule that an amendment permanently changing the organic law governing agencies operation was not germane to a bill that merely provided a temporary authorization for the agency this precedent is recorded on page seven twenty two of the house rules and manual therefore in the opinion of  chair the instructions contained in the motion to recommit are not germane the point of order is sustained madam speaker from texas methinks i move to appeal the speaker's ruling the question the question is on the motion to lay the appeal on the table those in favor say aye those opposed say no in the opinion of the chair the eyes ha twenty this fifteen minute vote on the motion to table will be followed by five minute vote on passage of the bill if ordered and if rising a rising without further debate or proceeding to recommit all and motions to suspend the rules with regard to house resolution nine sixty and house resolution nine seventeen this is a fifteen minute bulk members and a fifteen minute vote about to begin in the u s house of representatives procedural vote relating to the foreign intelligence surveillance act in congressional quarterly today they reported it this way the house has turned to a twenty one day extension of a temporary law governing electronic surveillance republicans prepared a motion to force a vote on the long term version past tuesday by the