divine source of eternal light and everlasting life we offer you praise and thanks for the blessed scenes you give us as families and as a nation forgive us our narrow minded self centeredness with a vision of faith help us to see the goodness around us may we truly recognize the actual needs of our brothers and sisters  family and establish bonds of solidarity in the community of nations deep in our belief in the religious sincerity of others i believe in representative government and our belief in your divine providence show us how to strengthen our collaboration with others and manifest our true destiny as a nation in world history for you are our sovereign lower now and forever and when has examine the journey of the last days proceeding the mountains to the house his approval thereof for so the cause one overall on the journal stands approved the pledge of allegiance will be led by the gentleman from missouri mr carnahan he join me in the pledge of allegiance i pledge allegiance to the flag united states of america and to the republic for what just stands one nation under god indivisible with liberty and justice for all will entertain request up for up to five one minute speeches on each side for what purpose of gentleman from oregon arise without objection the economic disaster continues to rhymes of course there was reckless lending bad investment cheating and yes bad borrowing but the major failure was of this administration and congress over the last seven years i commend chairman frank for his understanding and resisting the rash to less regulation and oversight while there was far more risk taken on in our economic system there is a seriously flawed senate package moving its way forward we must remember the people who need help the most by reforming bankruptcy laws so that we do not favor the speculator over the homeowner above all we must not reward the people who got us into this mess and profited overwhelmingly along the way american people deserve better not just the almost eight thousand per day facing foreclosure but the tens of millions whose neighborhoods will be harm scored nineteen of his game high twenty four points in the second half of the championship to lead the royals to victory this year mark the twelfth time in twenty eight years that the mason county royals advance to the sweet sixteen tournament and the second time the king has won the kentucky state championship young men in this team are not only championship caliber players but by all accounts students and eaters who are credit to their community finally i want to congratulate the coaches and fans who support the team coach chris o'hearn guided the royals to victory and the team also received tremendous community support evidenced by seventeen thousand fans and traveled to lexington to attend the game mr speaker i ask you to join me in congratulating the achievement of nation county royals on their state championship it's an honor to represent this team in the united states congress you'll back generally about the balance of this time for  the gentleman from massachusetts rise without objection mr speaker get this the secretary of agriculture has publicly stated that he's not enthusiastic about increasing spending for nutrition programs above the one point five billion currently being discussed as part of the farm bill conference well i have news for the secretary family's going to food banks aren't enthusiastic about their struggles people applying for food stamps aren't enthusiastic about the tough choices they're forced to make because their food stamp benefit isn't keeping up with the price of milk seniors aren't enthusiastic about having to take their medicines on an empty stomach the secretary should get out more into the real world and meet with some of these families one point five billion is simply not enough not when families are choosing between food and he not when the minimum food stamp benefit is still ten dollars a month on changes nine hundred seventy seven not when the price of milk eats more of the food stamp dollar today than last year simply because food stamps are an index for inflation the farm mr speaker the constitution gives the president absolute authority to grant a pardon he has exercise that power one hundred fifty seven times and last week he pardoned fifteen more people convicted of everything from importation of drugs to bank fraud and other crimes but to people not on his pardon list in our border agents ramos and company on who are serving eleven and twelve years for enforcing the law in the texas mexico border these agents were convicted of civil rights violations when they shot a drug smuggler bringing in seven hundred  fifty thousand dollars worth of drugs to the united states united states government gave the drug dealer complete immunity for his crimes to testify against the agents then the justice department hid from the jury the fact that the drug dealer smuggled in another load of drugs shortly before the trial the u s attorney made a backroom deal with the smuggler for his testimony and got the tainted testimony they boarded for the last session this house passed legislation to prevent taxpayer money from  incarcerate ramos and campeon but they are still in prison because the u s attorney's actions of deception in this trial and the fact that the agents were just doing their job are grounds for the president to borden both of the border agents immediately and that's just the way it is expired for what purpose of the gentleman from missouri mr speaker i rise today to honor the life of private first class andrew have sigur who died serving our country in iraq on easter sunday march twenty third and he was one of four soldiers killed by roadside bomb in baghdad  scheduled to or return home to his family in two weeks and he was just twenty two years old in festus missouri friends and family remembered him as eleven child and standout high school football player and proudly served the u s army as an infantry man and was inspired to fight for his country after the terrible attacks of september eleventh on march twenty second two thousand and five and he wrote me requesting assistance in joining the marine corps because of experiencing migraines while growing up and he ultimately joined the army but looking back on his letter i'm reminded of his steve early determination to serve his country and that he did this the weekend and he died marked the fourth thousands american soldier killed in iraq my heart goes out and his parents michael and brenda have seger as well as his brother jacob was also in the army when this never forget our nation's fallen heroes p f c andrew  forgotten in a service will inspire generations yet to come can o'neill's backbones of the time for a purpose gentleman from virginia rise without objection a mr speaker last week the annual medicare trustees report concluded that consideration reforms to ensure the financial security medicare must secure in the near future the report states the sooner the solutions are not that the more flexible and gradual they can be as lawmakers we are  experts left or right urge actions on a tide on this every day that the congress doesn't act or the ministration does not we miss an opportunity for our children and our grandchildren to get this country moving congressman cooper and i have a bill called the save commission it's a bipartisan bill i'm also mr speaker disappointed to secretary paulson has failed to address this issue he said he feels like he's playing solitaire secretary paulson there are seventy four co sponsors in the house forty republicans thirty four democrats that are waiting for you to do something secretary paulson if you leave this administration with failing to do that you will regret it and i the chairman of the federal reserve ben bernanke was before us at the joint economic committee chairman bernanke he noted many negative factors for the current economy increased unemployment claims increase food and energy prices and it has reduced americans confidence in the economy and recently we have all seen news reports about the federal reserve's unprecedented actions aimed at increasing liquidity stabilizing credit markets and protecting a wall street investment bank from bankruptcy despite these dramatic measures liquidity remains limited and with only news reports to go on the american public seems unsure about whether government is acting in their best interest the federal reserve needs to start clearly informing the american public about the impact of its actions this openness would encourage sensible economic policy bring stability to the markets and help restore individual's confidence in the government and in our economy millions of homeowners are struggling to make mortgage payments or have already lost their homes and they do not feel like their government is in a recent speech in my home state of pennsylvania one of the candidates for president referred to the possibility of his daughter conceiving a child as a punishment in referring to his own two daughters he said quote i'm going to teach them first about values and morals but if they make a mistake i don't want them punished with a baby i don't want them punished with an s t d and quote i agree that teens should be taught about values and morals but i find it disturbing that any candidate for high office finds the notion of a grand child to be punishment a punishment on the same level as a sexually transmitted disease have we come this far has the opposing party embraced  life that a grandchild is seen as a punishment in the same speech he said this is an example where good people can disagree well i see nothing good about believing a grandchild is a punishment not his most school in memphis tennessee and we read our favorite book green eggs and ham i asked the young people if they ever watch c span and they looked at me quizzically then asked if they ever watch nickelodeon and they all raise their hand and cheered as said what show do you watch the most they watch the naked brothers band the naked brothers band is a show on nickelodeon that's been an award winner starring nat now ex wife produced by their mother polly draper and co produced by their father michael wolff it's the ozzie and harriet the nelson brothers of the twenty first century and it shows that there's good television that gives kids good values and teaches them about the environment and how to be good young people and grow up to be great americans so my congratulations to nickelodeon network and to the for its immediate consideration the kooker report the resolution house calendar number one ninety nine house resolution ten seventy one we saw that at any time after the adoption of this resolution the speaker may pursuant to clause to be of rule eighteen the house we saw to the committee of the whole house on the state of the union for consideration of the bill h r forty eight forty seven to reauthorize the united states fire ministration and for other purposes the first reading of the bill shall be dispensed with all points of order against consideration of the bill or waive except those arising under clause nine or ten of roll twenty one general debate will be confined to the bill and shall not exceed one hour equally divided and controlled by the chairman and ranking minority member of the committee on science and technology after general debate the bill shall be considered for a minute under the five minute rule and lieu of the a minute in the nature of a substitute recommended by the committee on science and technology now printed in the bill it shall be an order to consider as an original bill for the purpose of amendment under the five minute rule the amendment in the nature of a substitute printed in part a of the report of the committee on rules and company in this resolution that amendment in the nature of a substitute shall be considered as read in part b of the report of the committee on rules each image may be offered only in the order printed in the report may be offered only by member designated in the report shall be considered as read shall be debatable for the time specified in the record equally divided and controlled by the proponent and opponent shall not be subject to amendment and shall not be subject to i demand but division of the question in the house when the committee of the whole all points of order against such a meme is a way of just kept those arising  adopted in the committee of the whole to the bill or to the amendment in the nature of a substitute made in order as original ten the previous question shall be considered as ordered on the bill and amendments there to define a passage without intervening motion except one motion to recommit with or without instructions section two during consideration in the house of h r forty eight forty seven pursuant to this resolution not withstanding the operation of the previous question the chair may postpone further consideration of the bill to such time as may be designated by the speaker gentlewoman from ohio is recognized for one hour for the purpose of debate only i yield the customary thirty minutes to the gentleman from washington mr hastings alltime ilda during consideration of the roll is 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 that objection i yield myself such time as i may consume gentleman is reco as ten seventy one provides for consideration of h r forty eight forty seven the united states fire administration reauthorization act of two thousand and eight under a structured role the role provides one hour of debate controlled by the committee on science and technology and makes in order all three amendments that were submitted for consideration mr speaker i am proud to rise today in support of this role in the underlying bill twenty seven years ago in one thousand seventy one over twelve thousand citizens and more than two hundred fifty firefighters tragically lost their lives due to fires in response to that tragic occurrence has this body passed the federal fire prevention and control act into law establishing the united states united states fire administration also known as the us f a a and the national fire academy known as the n s a the us f a a was created to reduce the incidence of death injury and property loss from fire through public education data collection research and training and this are speaker we have made great progress since the creation of the us of a in one nine hundred seventy four the number of fire death has been reduced by more than a half besides providing training and educational programs for over thirty thousand fire departments across this great nation the us f a p promotes fire safety and prevention programs to the public mr speaker these educational and outreach programs undoubtedly have saved thousands of lives and thousands of dollars and will continue to do so reports published by the u s f a a provide essential information to help reduce the risk of fires for example the u s f a a releases a report in december to encourage fire safety during the holiday season according to last year's report quote fires occurring during the holiday season claimed the lives of over four hundred people injured more than sixteen one thousand six hundred fifty and caused nine hundred ninety million dollars in damage and quote the report outlines percussion narratives to help american families avoid devastating but often preventable accidents the u s f a a also collects reliable data on civilian and firefighter deaths and injuries in two thousand and six there were three thousand two hundred forty five civilian deaths from fires and eighty one percent of all civilian fire dust occurred in residences which represent twenty five percent of all fires direct property loss due to fires was approximately eleven point three billion dollars seven hundred fifty five million dollars of which was the result of thirty one thousand intentionally set structure fires mr speaker sadly one hundred and six firefighters were killed in the line of duty in two thousand and six for nearly thirty years the u s f a a has collected data on the number and causes of firefighter fatalities the analysis of this invaluable research allows the u s s day to find solutions to specific problems and reduce the number of fatalities with our firefighters while the number of firefighter does has been greatly reduced approximately one hundred brave firefighters make the ultimate sacrifice to protect our loved ones and our communities each year we must continue to strive to prevent fires to learn the lessons from unpreventable fires and to properly train and equip our firefighters it is vital that our federal government ensure that our brave firefighters have the training and the support they need to keep our families and communities safe mr speaker this reauthorization bill will promote national consensus standards for say firefighting at all levels of government h r forty eight forty seven will also help to provide training for firefighters who are increasingly called on to handle modern day challenges and catastrophes including firefighting in the wild land urban interface and responding to hazardous material incidents firefighters are the first on this thing and the last to leave captain robert livingston echoed these sentiments in his testimony before the house subcommittee on technology and innovation and he said the days of firefighters whose primary function was to quote put the wet stuff on the red stuff and quote are long gone the men and women of the twenty first century fire service have evolved into highly trained highly skilled all purpose emergency responders with broad responsibility but firefighters in my district know this all too well with the recent and reoccurring damaging floods in cities like barberton north royalton illyria and lorraine our firefighters have been called upon to provide emergency flood assistance and we must never forget mr speaker the heroics our nation witnessed on september eleventh as these brave men and women ran in to the twin towers to save as many people as possible three hundred forty one of new york city's fin firefighters three fire safety directors two paramedics and one volunteer firefighter died in the line of duty at the world trade center on that fatal day it is our responsibility to provide the resources necessary to train those who protect us and today with passage of this act we will be providing the support to meet the needs of our firefighters for the twenty first century by reauthorizing and improving this act we are ensuring that the us s a continues to provide training education and the tools to the firefighters we entrust to protect our communities and our families mr speaker i reserve the balance of my time gentleman from ohio reserves the balance of our time gentleman from washington thank you mr speaker and i want to thank the generally from ohio mrs sutton for you let me the customary thirty minutes say you'll myself as much time as i may consume and ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks  consent and it passed the house that same year as a suspension bill by a voice vote this year it was approved with bipartisan support and a voice vote out of the house science bill by this house and on tuesday meeting of the rules committee i suggested that if no amendments were filed with the committee that the house should actually consider it as a suspension bill because of his broad support that the democrats on the rules committee said no to consideration as a suspension as was done in two thousand and three which i might add was done with their consent in two thousand and three the democrat rules committee insisted on a structured amendment process requiring representatives to file their proposal mamet's to the rules committee for the committee's review ultimately three amendments were filed with the committee this rule would make those three amendments in order there bore thereby prohibiting the four hundred thirty two other members of the house from coming to the house floor and offering an amendment this is speaker the democrat majority has set a historic record for the most close rules in the history of the house in doing so they've shut down debate on the house floor and more than any other majority has as a speaker it is really a terrible record as a new democrat majority took control after the nineteen of the november two thousand and six elections they promised the exact opposite they up they pledged to run the most open house in to allow for bipartisanship mr speaker they've broken that promise other than appropriation bills which are historically considered under open rules this congress has had only one just one open rule and that was over a year ago in february of two thousand and seven as speaker this bill to remove the activities of the fire had been astray sion is noncontroversial if it isn't going to be considered under suspension of the rules then it should be done under an open rule if this non controversial bill is not a candidate for an open rule then what bill would this democrat majority be willing to bring to the floor and allow under an open rule the democrat majority blocks debates on controversy or bills and none controversy or bills no legislation appears safe from their drive to shut down shut out debate in this house they promised there in the house in an open manner and they're not they pass new rules to make conference committee committees more open then they just stop using conference committees and retreated further behind closed doors to write final bills this is speaker as just one example take the democrat refusal to conference with the senate on faisel legislation the american people were promised at this house would be run differently that would be run better but in fact it has not the democrat majority has succeeded in surpassed the heavy handed tactics that they condemned in the last congress now they've gone so far as to take a non controversial bill that was pious passed by voice vote and turned it into another opportunity to tighten the vice and block debate on the house f  i'd like to if i could just mention this bill the bill has such wide support not only within this congress but it has been endorsed by some extraordinarily important organizations out there it's been indorsed by the congressional fire services institute the international association of arson investigators the international association of fire chiefs the international association of firefighters the international fire service training association the national fire protection association the national volunteer fire council the north american fire training directors so this bill has wide support both on both sides of the aisle and with that mr speaker i will reserve the balance of my time jones while reserves about a very kind gentleman in washington this is speaker i would just make the observation this bill as i mentioned in my remarks as a gentle lady from ohio mentioned her remark it has obviously very very broad bipartisan support why not consider it then under an open process there are probably many members that have an idea that that they could perfect this legislation but we are being denied with the exception of three  try to perfect this bill i just think it's the wrong way to go in the house surprise itself or in a body that prides itself being open to debate and be in the very deliberative we're certainly not get that opportunity under this non controversial bill this floor today why we must pass this role and pass the united states fire administration reauthorization act as i have said we must continue to support firefighters in communities like sheffield lake brunswick and akron and all across this nation and ensure that they have the resources available to do their job to protect our loved ones and our communities this bill authorizes appropriations for the fiscal year two thousand and line to two thousand and twelve for the a in a responsible manner the american people expect of congress according to the congressional budget office and acting this legislation will not affect direct spending or revenues and will impose no costs on state local or tribal government h r forty eight forty seven expand the list of training activities the national fire academy is authorized to engage in which will help our firefighters manage the demands of the twenty first century these programs include response activities to all types of national catastrophes exposure of hazardous materials and increased emergency medical services this bill also also authorizes the u s s bay to assist the nation's fire services by improving to equipment and sharing best practices to address fire suppression and prevention this bill was passed by a voice vote by the science and technology committee with bipartisan support and has been endorsed by the international association of firefighters i urge a yes vote on the previous question on the role and i yield back the balance of my time and i move the previous question on the resolution without objection the previous question is ordered the question is on a bus in of the resolution all those in favor say aye all those opposed no if you need a chair the eyes have it the resolution is agreed to and without objection a motion to reconsider is laid on the table as amended with it without objection pursuant to house resolution ten seventy one in rule eighteen the chair declares the house in the committee of the whole house on the state of the union for the consideration of the bill h r forty eight forty seven the chair appoints a the house is in the committee of the whole house of the state of the union for the consideration of h r four eight four seven which the clerk will report by title and delicately authorize the united states  purposes pursuant to the rule the bill is considered the first time the gentleman from arizona mr mitchell and the gentleman from georgia mr gingrey each will control thirty minutes the chair recognizes the gentleman from arizona chairman i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks and heal myself such time as i may consume without objections mr chairman i rise today in support of h r forty eight forty seven the leave brothers putting out a house fire or wildfire or responding to a terrorist attack or car accident we depend on firefighters every day but firefighters also depend on us they depend on the public and elected officials to make sure that they have the resources the equipment and the training need to do their job without those tools we put them and all of us at risk  invaluable resource for our nation's firefighters and the communities they protect through training data collection fire education for the public and support for fire related research and development the u s f a a provides critical tools and leadership to the fire service fire is one of the nature's most destructive forces in one thousand nine hundred seventy three when u s f a a was created over six thousand americans died each year in fires and another one hundred thousand were injured to the leadership of us f a a and others the number of people killed by fires each year is now between three thousand and three thousand five hundred with approximately sixteen thousand people who were injured we can all be proud of the significant reduction however three thousand americans a year is still too many especially when so many of these deaths and injuries are from our most vulnerable populations children and the older me in addition the nation still suffers over eleven billion dollars per year in direct losses due to fire and the trend for this debris is going down not up with statistics like these it is clear that fire continues to be a major problem for the u s fall we heard the priorities of the nation's fire service communities for us f a a this bill directly reflects their priorities that authorizes us f a a to focus on the pressing challenges of fighting fires in the wild land urban interface and fires involving hazardous materials as well as advanced topics in emergency medical services back home in arizona one of the toughest challenges our firefighters face is wildfires and while i am urban interface this is an important year for wildflowers fires we've had a pretty wet winter which means that a great deal of xargs and bushes have grown at lower elevations when the summer months heat up and the vegetation dries out those shrubs and bushes will turning to tender that can start a fast moving wildfire in urban areas those fires threaten homes and lives fighting wildfires in urban areas require special training and i'm proud that this legislation enhanced farthest ration training for wild land urban interface fires firefighters today are called upon to respond to whatever broader range of emergencies the songs of authorization bill gives authority to make sure its training program keeps pace with the increasing challenges to the fire service the bill also addresses an important priority of the fire service and u s f a a and that is to update the national fire incident reporting system or n f i r ass infers this system provides important data on fire events to policymakers at all levels of government the current system is slow to report the data to the national fire data center and does not capture data on every fire thus limiting its value to users h r forty eight forty seven would direct us f a a to update infers to a real time reporting web based system the bill also directs the u s fired ministre her to continue u s f a's leadership in firefighter health and safety every year over one hundred firefighters die in the line of duty h r forty eight forty seven direct us f a a to educate local fire departments about nasa voluntary consensus standards for firefighter health and safety and to encourage local departments to adopt these standards this provision will help reduce the tragic loss of life the fire some service suffers each year in line of duty death by promoting good practices in a variety of fire emergencies i also understand that there have been many that have been some concerns that this provision would affect the jurisdiction of nyasha the national institute of occupational safety and health i would like to reassure my colleagues that this is not my intent for this bill to have any effect on nyasha or any other agency of the department of health and human services h r forty eight forty seven is a product of bipartisan collaboration and is supported by major fire service organizations including the international socialist the fire chiefs the international association of firefighters the national volunteer fire council the national fire protection association and the congressional fire services institute the resources and leadership of us f a a are an essential part of the ability of the fire service to protect our cities towns  communities i would urge my colleagues to support this bill mr chairman i reserve the balance of my time gentleman reserves the balance of his time the chair now recognizes the gentleman from reauthorizes us f a's activities and trying by our education and awareness that a collection research and standards development and promotion this legislation also authorizes two hundred and ninety one million dollars in federal funds of fiscal year two thousand and nine through two thousand and twelve for the u s f a a this authorization level mr speaker is consistent with previously authorize levels and it only includes a very modest growth in funding that is capped at three percent in any of the fiscal years for the bill so mr chairman as the lead republican sponsor of this legislation i am pleased to have worked with my colleague from arizona mr mitchell over these past a few months to bring this bill h r forty eight forty seven to the house floor today i am also pleased that this bill has gone through the regular order process that's a refreshing phrase missed chairman but i am certainly pleased that it went through regular order and in fact in october the science committee subcommittee on technology innovation of which i am a ranking member we held a hearing on reauthorizing us f a a and h r forty eight forty seven was unanimously reported out of our subcommittee earlier this year on february twenty eighth twenty seventh of this year the full committee the full science committee reported the bill at accepting both republican and democratic amendments that i think have improved the bill the mission of u s f a a is to limit economic and life loss due to fire and related emergencies through leadership advocacy coordination and support this organization provides vital assistance in the area of training fire education and awareness and it awards grants to a number of our local fire to pull apartments across this country we all have them in every district of all four hundred thirty five members these activities have made a substantial impact over these last thirty years mr chairman it's important note that because of the work of the u s f a a smoke alarms are now standard issue and residences across the country over a million firefighters have received advanced training and firefighter equipment and safety continually improve usa f a a should be proud of its record of achievement however it's also clear that there certainly are still improvements that can be made in the last ten years  related to fires have decreased by approximately twenty five percent from nearly five thousand early five thousand one hundred ninety six to thirty six hundred seventy five in two thousand and six although that the crea fire related death is commendable the united states still still has one of the highest death rates from fires in the industrialized world additionally mr chairman despite the creases in the number of right damage calls are increasing and they have suppose asked ten billion dollars a year the number of fires have gone down but the damage from them have gone up to ten billion dollars per improve our preparedness and to reduce our vulnerable to a two fires unfortunately last year we saw wildfires that literally ravaged southern california and the need to develop a more cohesive cohesive way of combating these fires i'm happy to see that this legislation specifically addresses the issue of fighting fires in what we refer to as an urban while land interface implementing methods to better respond and prepare for fires that move from while lands to suburban and indeed urban areas furthermore mr chairman i'm particularly pleased that this legislation now includes an amendment that i offered at full committee and it will allow the u s f a a administrator to perform studies related to the management of a merger or merge and see medical services at the scene of a fire are  brave firefighters men and women are called upon to extract victims from car crashes with olding fires or collapses or other emergencies so it's critical that patients then receive consistent ca on the medical direction while i do not expect us f a to pursue studies into the medical care in a mass patient should receive i believe that my amendment which was accepted by the full science committee will give the administrator the authority to conduct studies into training systems latin on scene patient management while making sure to work with appropriate federal agencies and existing medical services in these local communities mr chairman the current bill is an important and well crafted step toward a well crafted step forward for the u s f a a and it reads it represents months of diligent work by both the majority and the minority members and staff of the science committee and i want to make sure to come in the great staff of both of minority and majority this legislation has been a bipartisan committee that's pretty much standard practice in the science committee i'm proud to say mr chairman and it's it's being supported not only unanimously by the committee but by a number of fire related advocacy groups including the congressional fire services institute the international association of arson investigators the ana national association of fire chiefs and the international association of  firefighters the international fire service training association the national fire protection association the national volunteer fire council and the national north american well as prepare fatha firefighters for the challenges that they will undoubtedly face in the future and with that mr chairman i'll reserve the balance of my time you know the gentleman from georgia reserves the balance of his time gentleman from arizona is recognized mr chairman i would like he'll three minutes to mr gordon the chairman of the science and technology committee he's the tennessee non objection the gentleman from is recognized for three minutes thank you mr mitchell for yelling to me but more importantly i want to thank you for the introduction of this very important and outstanding piece of legislation as my friend dr gingrey said this was a bipartisan piece of hall for his help as the ranking member of the committee getting this bill out we've passed more than thirty bills resolutions out of the south the technology committee all of which have been bipartisan all of which all but one of in unanimous this is another one of those unanimous bills and i think that happens because we're working together to try to do it the right way we had a good subcommittee hearing we had a subcommittee markup a full committee markup  i and when you do it that way you get the type of third party endorsements that dr gingrey talked about we have the endorsement of the international association of fire chiefs the international association of firefighters the national volunteer fire coun they national fire protection so shays in the international association of arson investigators the national american or north american far directors trying to rector's the international fire service training association in the congressional fire service to quite a lad up to demonstrate his support for this good bill also want to thank the members of the committee for their work as this bill was crafted up this richardson was particularly helpful in bringing really with her experience both and  firefighting from a a coastal area made us realize that a curriculum and marine and port firefighting was very important and that was included in the bill so once again this is a good bill done the right way i think all parties the gentleman from georgia reserves the balance of his time the gentleman from arizona is recognized i reserve the balance of my time provides the leadership the coordination and support services for fire prevention and control which is critical i mean we still lose one hundred firefighters on average every year that certainly isn't acceptable to any of us on this floor and we need to work even harder to make sure that our firefighters have the resources and the wherewithal to do the job we asked them to do if you remember the fire act we passed before nine eleven this was a response to the very basic needs of fire the thirty two thousand fire departments throughout the united states and the one million firefighters that legislation broke ground because it was a response to needs that we've neglected we can expect that every local community in this country had the resources has the resources to supply and provide the training and the equipment and the state of the art to the fire departments throughout america and so that fire act is been so successful there is literally three and a half billion dollars in applications in the fire act and it's your menace amount of applications for  safer every year and we have devised those of us on both sides of the aisle probably the best format of how to judge the competitive applications we have asked the firefighters to step up to the plate judged by their peers but the fired ministration is partner with all of these peer fire fighters who review the applications this is a very unusual and fire act and say for bill this is very unusual all the money goes directly to the departments so that the states cannot skim and the local government cannot skim so this is a real competition and i believe that's how all federal funds should use should be used that's my own personal opinion i the fire administration has been a true partner for thirty four years the roles and responsibilities of the fire service have evolved for the one point one million men and woman in fire and emergency services three hundred and over three on it sixteen thousand career firefighters almost three hundred seventeen thousand and eight one minute one one minute thank you i cannot express how important this is all the competitors that existed before two thousand we've gotten out of it and thanks to the fired ministration and working together the career firefighters and the volunteer firefighters this is very important legislation that is going to save lives and isn't this what we're here for to do what we can on a federal level realizing it's always going to be do local efforts that are going to me most important but we have a responsibility and it seems to me today mr chairman that we're stepping up to the plate and i want to commend members of the good doctor and my good friend from the from the southwest part of the country this has brought us together this legislation and it is good legislation and i thank you and i yield gentleman from new jersey as time has expired the chair recognizes the gentleman from georgia mr chairman i will continue to raise our my time gentlemen continues to reserve chairman time mr chairman may i ask is remaining the gentleman from arizona time remaining as eighteen minutes and the gentleman from georgia his time remaining is twenty two minutes consume thank you mr chairman i rise in strong support today of h r forty eight forty seven which is the united states fire ministration reauthorization act this reauthorization vital legislation demonstrates congress commitment to enhance the protection of our citizens throughout this great nation to prevent any harm that might come to loss of life or property due to devastation caused by fires included in this legislation is an amendment that i offered at a full committee markup that i'd like to reiterate and clarify at this time inclusive in h r forty eight forty seven is an m it is in an amendment that does not create a new stand a long long course regarding port and marine firefighting in fact much effort was taken by my staff the republican side committee staff as well as the various agencies to ensure that we would take conscious action in not creating additional costs for the agencies and or programs that are right now really not funded to the levels we would like to see the intent of the amendment is to take the unique content of port and marine firefighting activity and to incorporate that information into existing classes why you might  this congress's goal of using in an efficient manner resources that we have we also want to integrate information to best prepare our firefighters to respond to disasters and you might ask the question why in the united states alone we have over one hundred twenty six shipping ports all of which are critical to the movement of goods and the general health of our economy the volatility of the products that are being shipped and the new increased size of these shipping vessels causes problems to our firefighters in terms of responding so when you consider a district such as mine that borders along the port of long beach and also the port of los angeles one of the things that we learned in the wake of katrina we learned in the standee agle fire and we also learned with september eleventh is that firefighters are brothers and sisters you might have role firefighters who respond to an urban disaster likewise urban firefighters might be called to respond to a rural disaster and so one of the things that we've learned in these incredible complex disasters that we've had over the last couple years is that in operability the ability for rural and urban firefighters to have the same information and to be prepared in the midst of a disaster because it's one thing to play monday night quarterback when you know everything can be planned in advance but when we have a disaster it is too late at that point for our firefighters to be trained on how do you respond to an extended vessel or how do you expect respond to an elegy disaster or how do you respond to anything else that might be occurring and so with that it is my pleasure to work with we had a great leadership by mr mitchell here in this after effort of the reauthorization bill because we never know what our firefighters might be facing i unfortunately lost a firefighter in california just last week so i remiss at this moment not to think my colleagues on the other side of the aisle representative bartlett representative roy block or for their support of this amendment i intend through conference with staff and the appropriate members of the department of homeland security u s f a's administration and the superintendent of the fire academy to ensure that we have the right curriculum that can be incorporated that can benefit all firefighters to ultimately protect our citizens in a better in a better way and in closing i want to commend again our colleague representative mitchell for his leadership on this issue and also our chairman gorton for his commitment on the science and technology committee to mov beyond all the limits and the challenges that we have and to make sure that americans are protected every day i encourage my colleagues to support this bill and with that mr chairman i yield back the balance of my time  california's time as expired the chair recognizes the gentleman from georgia mr chairman i don't have a speaker at this time i anticipate a speaker so that i will go ahead and continue to reserve the balance innovation subcommittee and i want to thank chairman move for moving his bill so quickly to the subcommittee i thank you general recognizes the gentleman from oregon and is given as much time as you may want to  thank the gentleman and mr speaker first of all i'd like to recognize the leadership of the gentleman from arizona mr mitchell for working diligently on this important piece of legislation for working reaching across the aisle and working with the gentleman from georgia and for his leadership in shaping this important piece of legislation in fact it was indeed through efforts like this that congress first formed the united states fire administration in one thousand nine hundred seventy four because of then reports that there were over twelve thousand deaths each year in this country and over three hundred thousand fire injuries and through the hard work of the u s f a a and others we have been fortunate to see that number drop dramatically we're now a much safer nation thanks improved awareness of fire safety practices increased use of smoke detectors and sprinklers and other fire safety measures still about three thousand people die each year fires and ten thousand people more are injured we also still see too many firefighters die in the line of duty and i want to recognize mr pascrell the gentleman from new jersey for his diligent work over many years to decrease that unconscionable number we have a lot more work to do the u s f a a supports local fire departments in a variety of ways it offers training and career development to thousands of mid level firefighters fire chiefs and other emergency management officials us f a a is a great way for the federal government to help coordinate efforts for local firefighters u s f a a also devolves fire education and awareness curricula to be used in training citizens across the country it aims these messages at groups which suffer the highest fire casualties such as the young and the elderly while congress is working to reauthorize and build on this important program the president unfortunately is cutting the budget for us f a a indeed the president's fiscal zero nine budget cuts u s f a a by more than five percent as firefighters learn to response of new issues such as fires in the wild land urban interface terrorist events and harmful materials and students we need to provide sufficient funds to train and prepare them for these situations firefighters risk their lives every day so that they can protect protect ours passing this legislation is one way that we can not only show but tangibly demonstrate our deep appreciation i urge my colleagues to vote yes on the underlying bill again recognize the leadership of the gentleman from arizona mr mitchell and yield back to him the balance of my time the gentleman from arizona yields back the balance of his time the chair not recognize gentleman from georgia  that water and fire wonderful friends and fearful enemies and i'm sure that's been said a lot of times today and we know the terrible devastation that can bring these both of these can bring thousands of people d the united states every year due to fire and many more injured the toll would be even higher if it weren't for the dedication and the service of our nation's firemen and women i don't i don't know how you can say enough about our nation firefighters i would say this it's kind of a shame the took a nine eleven for people to really fully appreciate firefighters and men and women that defend us and defend our property and our  lands think they're crazy for the country and it and it's good for this congress honor them every chance we get and that's why i'm very pleased that the comedian science and technology has taken the time to deliberate and produce a build as well as the rest of the colleagues own committee for their work and i of course urge passage of h r forty eight forty seven and yield back the balance of my time after once again saying  unusual it would take some kind of devastation like we had and our sister state over here to really bring the full appreciation of men and women who day and night faced the fires and face protection of our property and our goods and i'm honored to be a part of recognizing them and saying to them one more time from the bottom of our hearts we thank you we appreciate what you're doing and we look forward to the fact that you're going to be able to continue to do it and with that i thank you the gentleman from texas us back the balance of his time to churn recognizes gentlemen from our zone mr chairman i would like to use as much time as you may consume to mr matheson this gentleman from utah and should recognize gentleman from utah for such time as he may want to consume but once again the science committee brings to the house floor a bill that makes sense that was developed in a bipartisan way it's a great tradition of this committee and i think members on both sides on that committee know what a great committee this work on and to thank congress for mitchell in particular for taking the lead on this issue because his approach really fits into the science committee approach about how we look at issues and we try to work together in a bipartisan way to make progress and and that's why i'm happy to stand up and offer my support for this bill today in the grand scheme of things one of the reasons why i think this is incredibly important is that the united states has one of the highest fire related death rates among all industrialized nations think about that with all the technology we have in this country all the safety measures we still rank so poorly among industrialized nations in terms of fire related deaths in this legislation takes a step in terms of trying to address that problem now i come from my western state the state of utah and in the west we have particular danger in terms of forest fires this legislation fully fund the national fire incident reporting system which is going to help the u s fired ministration prevent future forest fires currently we're only able to capture data from fifty percent of wildfires which just is not enough by improving the incident reporting system the u s fired ministration will be able to speed up the reporting data journey more comprehensive database in practical terms that's go mean better analysis greater fire prevention and fewer lives lost and in particular this bill if an acted will expand the program to good training in wild land urban interface areas and this is an issue that's particularly important in western states where as population growth has taken place there has been greater development of housing that's moved more into where the forests exist and that's a critical problem during these wild fire incidents is how we deal with fire issues in that very sensitive area most of my congressional district faces this problem and my congressional district is not unusual compared to most of the west i believe better training in terms of this wild land urban interface will be a huge asset fire departments in similar areas so mr chairman i want to again thank you for your leadership on this issue i think chairman gordon a ranking member hala thank chairman who from the subcommittee thank congress for michel for his leadership i gingrich been a leader on this issue as well and again the science committee as usual comes up with a bill that makes sense i'm sure it will be adopted today and i urge all my colleagues to support the bill i yield back my time the gentleman from utah he was back the balance of his time the gentleman from georgia is reckoned mr chairman if i might ask my good friend from arizona how much time for us all does he have left and head does he have additional speakers  the gentleman from arizona the time remaining for him is eight minutes and the gentleman from georgia the balance of time remaining for him is he's twenty nine how much time on my side mr chairman twenty and a half minutes well i want to say the gentleman's from arizona if you need additional time we would be glad to yield ten minutes if you needed if you have additional speakers thank you we have some  come and said before this this body we made significant strides in reducing fire related deaths and injuries since congress first created this agency in the one nine hundred seventy but again as we've noted and everyone has all the speakers have dotted there are still more than three thousand americans that die every year from fires and many more injured and despite the the decreases in the number of fires the cost of  continually rising and in fact it's roughly the same cost the damage to fires roughly the same cost as caused by hurricanes we know that the fire service provides critical assistance to protect our communities fro emergency events from house fire to terrorist events the natural disasters firefighters as we've noted are not only the first on the scene but many times the last to leave as the wildfires in california last fall demonstrated the fire service plays a vital role all of protecting our communities and that's why we introduce h r forty eight forty seven to reauthorize the u s five ministration and provide additional resources to our nation firefighters the u s five ministration is an invaluable resource for over one point three million firefighters and emergency personnel around the country through training educational materials that a collection and other services gives me the u s f a price tools in leadership to firefighters and communities that they serve h r forty eight forty seven  a funding its critical work until the fiscal year two thousand and twelve this bill will ensure that our firefighters are trained to handle modern day challenges facing the ace first responders including as we have mentioned before fire fighting in the wild land urban interface responding to hazardous material incidents the bill is supported by and we've gotten a sort of whole list of these before all of these national associations that deal with fire fighting this bill is the product bipartisan collaboration and had considerable input from fire service community we encourage you to help support firefighters and your destry by ensuring that everyone have the resources they need by supporting this important legislation if you have it i would reserve the balance of my time the gentleman from arizona reserves the balance of his time to recognize gentleman from east who was burned severely his injuries i think were the result of a improvised explosive device and he was an occupant of one of the u there was a fire there was a significant fire and of course as he was pulled from the burning vehicle sustained severe severe injuries to his person from the fire and he described you know how he he knew what to do he rolled he tried everything in his power but of course thanks to what happened to him at the lamp do medical center in germany and then eventually at the walter reed and bethesda he's alive and well and has a family and children and in this this little news clip features him playing with this kids but you could certainly see that that fire had inflicted upon his body and and then the scarring of course one of water a brave i wish i could remember his name the speaker because it was talk about a profile in courage but it just made me think about as we've been discussing here today and you talk about what these firefighters do and how important they are and actually as we know forty percent  of the workload in operation iraqi and enduring freedom it has been carried by our guard and reserve many of whom are firefighters who you know there they have been trying to fight god for that and i of i want to look into this further and i'm sure that our military our regular army and marine corps they are all well trained in that but that just goes to show you how important it is not just to save a mentioned in regard to the fact that the latest year that we had numbers there was still something like thirty seven thirty eight hundred people that lose their labs every year in fires in this country will you know what that's that's about the number four thousand now that have lost their lives in in this four and a half five year war and of course there are practically three thousand labs lost many of them from fire a lot of them firefighters themselves all nine eleven and so it just it just brings home the message that that fire is a is an awful thing it is an awful thing it might not immediately like one of these higher powered projectiles but it can certainly destroy one's life and so what we're talking about here today is so important and that's why this bill is so important i just wanted to make those remark i again want to thank him for all the efforts he's put into this bill the gentleman from are gone is recognized for such time as you may consider thank you mr chairman and again i would like to recognize the leadership of the gentleman from arizona for working so hard on this important legislation this legislation which was developed in regular order in both subcommittee and full committee the gentleman from georgia my ranking member we held hearings last october at the subcommittee level and then we had a full committee markup and the bill was drafted infocom consultation with both the majority and minority members and materials and that is very very important i also want to draw attention to the sections of the bill that directs the u s f a a to educate local fire departments about voluntary consensus standards for fire fire fighters health and safety and many fire groups especially the international association of firefighters very strongly believe that here instead the standards can help reduce the number of firefighters who die each year in the line of duty this bill has been endorsed by the international association of fire chiefs the international association of firefighters the national volunteer fire council the national fire protection association the international association of arson investigators the nor american fire training directors the international fire service training association and the congressional fire services institute and i would like to specifically thank all the firefighters from home in oregon who helped me with this legislation in shaping it and bringing it to this point on the house floor and with that i would have again like to commend continue to reserve judgment continues to reserve the balance of his time the gentleman from arizona has recognized thank you mr chairman i would like to yield as much time as you may consume to mr miller the gentleman from north carolina gentleman from north carolina is remarkably destructive but we have made great strides under this program in one thousand seventy three there were more than six thousand americans to die each year and far as another hundred thousand were injured because of largely because of this program in the training and other support we are now about to the point were about sixteen thousand a year or injured and between three and thirty five hundred die each year that is obviously still too much but is remarkable progress and among the most dangerous work that anyone can do is fighting fires that the number of deaths each year among firefighters is  is a large number and even more injured every year a great many firefighters never complete their term of service before qualifying for retirement because they suffer from disabling injuries this bill does provide materials as well as giving advanced training in emergency medical services in it does as mr lou just pointed out a moment ago provide for moving towards a voluntary consensus for firefighters  health and safety this will help reduce that number of firefighters who die each year who suffer from from grievous centuries in doing very courageous work in protecting us and protecting our property and on it now you'll back  mississippi who's the chairman of the homeland security committee chair will remind the general from arizona who has one and a half minutes left that i think it's time and then there's a chair of the chair recognizes the gentleman from mississippi thank you very much mr speaker and must speak out rise today in strong support of the underlying bill which reauthorize is one of the most effective agencies in the department of homeland security r forty eight forty seven provides seventy million dollars annually to the fight ministration through twenty twain to ensure a long term funding stability for this critical agency ad like to thank the statistics a sobering every year over one hundred firefighters died in the line of duty in two thousand and five the national fire protection association reported three thousand six hundred seventy five civilian deaths nearly eighteen thousand civilian fire injuries and over ten billion dollars in direct losses due to fire the united states fact administration plays a critical leadership role in leading local fire departments to dramatically reduce these numbers so mr speaker i along with all the other speakers who have come before you and supported this legislation encourages gentleman from arizona mr speaker we have no further speakers the chair will remind the gentleman from arizona that all of his time has  mr chairman not to move from georgia i have i have no no other speakers on this side and i'll i will i am prepared to close for our side i don't know if it's possible for me to  for the purposes of this to all for the gentleman from arizona the close if that is possible i would be be very glad to yield some sound not that for his purpose of closing and one half minutes well i would be happy in this chairman if it if the chair was allowed to yield up to five minutes for the gentleman from arizona to close but i want to make my closing remarks of course before that as i did before it's been a great pleasure to work with mr mitchell on this bill it's been an even greater pleasure to meet with the many firefighters and fire chiefs who i have consulted with  over the past few months our own fire chiefs and my county and city cobb cobb candy georgia marietta city georgia chief jackie gibbs chief  bakley becky debt they'll inject their see them literally every week in the district in the great work that they do and it makes me awfully proud to to be up here representing not only them but the othe this is the least that we in this body can do to support our nation's fire services and i want to again say i hope that we'll have as many members that are present today close to four hundred thirty i hope voting yes four forty eight forty seven support this bill and at this time i'm prepared to yield the remaining are as much time as the gentleman from arizona need for the purpose of his closing most of the chair recognizes the gentleman from arizona thank you mr speaker and i first would like to to things to gingrey and all of his staff for the support they've given this important piece of legislation it's the least we can do here in congress is provide the resources necessary for our first responders to react the education that's involved the training operatively in areas that are very important like in arizona california where there is a wildfire urban interface as i said earlier the we've had a very wet winter in arizona which means it's good and bad it brings out the wildflowers and it brings out a lot of rain but at the same time in the lower elevations it brings out a lot of dry tender which will just really is very dangerous this time of year so i would like to thank everyone the staff some both sides of the committee chairman the subcommittee chairman everyone who dealt with this particular issue and i did want to thank all the firefighters the professional people who are involved who gave us what they felt is necessary to move this bill forward and to give them the tools that they need this piece of legislation will last until two thousand and twelve and at that time of course we will have more in put hopefully we won't have as many disasters as type of disasters but there will be new things that we need to learn and train for so i appreciate again everyone's their effort in this and i know that the people around this country who are protected by this for sure sponsors also appreciate what we're doing for them today thank you the chairman recognizes the yields the time all time has expired for both the general from arizona as well as a gentleman from georgia all time for general debate has expired in lieu of the amendment of the nature of a substitute printed in the bill as shall be in order to consider as an original bill for the purpose of amendment under the five minute rule an amendment in the nature of a substitute printed in part of a house report one one zero dash five six three that amendment in the nature of a substitute shall be considered re no amendment to that amendment shall be in order except those printed in part b of the report each amendment may be offered only in the order printed in the report may be offered only by a member designated in the report shall be considered read debatable for the time specified in the report it will be divided and controlled by the proponent and all ponette should not be subject to amendment and shall not be subject to a demand for a division of the question it is now in order to consider amendment number one printed in part b of house report one one zero down five six three for what purpose does the gentleman from new jersey rise speaker  reauthorization act of two thousand and eight which would provide this amendment provides that the national fire academy training program could train fire service personnel in response to actiq since strategies for dealing with national catastrophes including terrorist caused national catastrophes and incidents that involve weapons of mass destruction i want to thank the co sponsor of the underlying bill representative harry mitchell from arizona for presenting a very strong piece of legislation that will reauthorize the united states fire ministration for another five years also want to thank the chairman of the science committee congressman norton for his leadership in considering all the necessary elements of this legislation with the end result being a strong comprehensive bill the underlying bill clear that this is a small price to pay when considering the thousands of lives we lose each year to fire emergencies and the billions of dollars we spent to fight them throughout my years in congress have always been passionate for funding our nation's fire departments and firefighters the fire and safety grants safer grants that this congress has provided and the funds supplied through this reauthorization i feel especially strong reauthorization because it also includes provisions that help guide the fiery cademy on how to best train our nation's firefighters for the added in the increased challenges they face every day my amendment addresses this huge issue by simply updating the training program at the national fire academy to include national catastrophes related to terrorism we saw on nine eleven our nation's her c firefighters well among the first responders on the scene trying desperately to rescue as many people as possible and that horrific act of terror clearly we all understand that the responsibilities of our nation's firefighters became greater on that day as they now have to train for emergency response to catastrophic terrorist attacks including the forboding threat of incidents involving weapons of mass destruction many of these types of courses already exist at the fire academy but the future of these critical courses for firefighters should never be put in doubt and need to be codify my meme it simply puts these practices into law and the work and i reserve the balance of my time is the speaker the gentleman reserves a balance of his time harry is there any member who seeks recognition in opposition to the proposed amendment mr chairman objection the gentleman from georgia has recognized this chairman the men and women of our nation's fire services are among the the very first responders to an extraordinary wide range of accidents and disasters and the gentleman from new jersey he knows as well as any body and this body he was right they are his district right they are very close  to the scene of an eleven and a and i think that men meant was it was is very very appropriate because this was all i fire caused by a terrorist attack unlike the the murtha building attack at oklahoma city which was an incidence of domestic violence by our own if you will homegrown terrorist  this situation that occurred on nine eleven is the reason why i'm sure the gentleman from new jersey has brought forth this good amendment and he is so right to point out that firefighters will also be the first to the scene when many of these catastrophes hopefully it won't occur in this country again we've been blessed i think that meant a lot of hard work on th part part of this congress and this administration to protect our country on our soil from another terrorist attack thank god so far it hasn't happened but that doesn't mean you don't train for and prepare for first job of course always is to heroically save lives but fire services will also will act to minimize the damage and property loss that a terrorist strike or ensuing events may call as i mean  is as the amendment addresses that there may be biological weapons of mass destruction and there could have been all right and that the two planes maybe another plane with the terrorist coming into the city and parachutes with with nuclear biological weapons say aaron gas attack god knows what could have happened in the subways of yes the terrorist events natural disasters and of course the the daily accidents and fires that occur in community across country mr chairman i wholeheartedly support the gentleman's amendment i urge all my colleagues and i expect all my colleagues to support as and then and i reserve the balance of my agenda from georgia reserves the balance of this time the chair will remind the gentleman from new jersey that he has two minutes remaining mr chairman i want balance my time this gives me a tremendous sense of honor to introduce also the gentleman from mississippi my good friend who is also the chairman of the homeland security committee no one no one has work harder to bring all of the agencies together in a separate to protect our country and to protect our families and our neighborhoods gentleman mister please yield the rest of my time to chairman thompson the curator recognizes general from mississippi thank you very much mr speaker mr speaker today our rise and support of the amendment offered by my good friend a member of the committee o homeland security must pass quayle the gentleman from patterson new jersey is a leader on the committee and in congress on first responder issues as a formal volunteer firefighter and graduate of the mississippi f a partners with existing local and state training academies to reach more for its responders pascoe l amendment addresses want to key area of training terrorism response training specifically to mimic seeks to ensure that fire service personnel get training on response tactics and strategies for dealing with terrorist calls national catastrophes and incidents that involve weapons of mass destruction such incidents can be very complex and require a response from many public safety agencies across multiple jurisdictions today the fact cademy have a terrorism curriculum in place will ensure this continuation it has been nearly seven years since the attacks of nine eleven and thankfully we have not been attacked since i have a mr speaker the threat is still very real as members of congress it's our collective responsibility to end shua that responders and communities are fully trained equipped and staffed to answer the call once again and i encourage my colleagues to support the past grayle amendment as well as the underlying bill i yield back the balance of my time and the all time is expired the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from  it is now in order to consider remembered number two printed in part b of house report one one zero dosh five six three for what purpose does the gentleman from idaho right have an amendment at the desk at the desk the clerk will opposed each will control five minutes the chair recognizes gentleman from idaho thank you mr chairman mr chairman firefighting is a high risk high consequence activity  agencies that are involved in managing wild land urban interface has always had strong firefighter safety and training programs firefighter safety is their highest priority in fact the one nine five federal fire policy said order of priorities for a while and firefighters as number one publics and firefighter safety number two protection of resources number three protection of property the safety health and welfare of firefighters and the general public are becoming increasingly linked to the decline in health of forested ecosystems the most effective means of reducing burgeoning fire suppression cos protecting community values restoring forest and grassland health and improving firefighter safety is an aggressive field treatment program how land managers apply the fuels reduction program will have the greatest impact on the safety of wild land firefighters threats to human life are compounded by the fact that more and more people are living in homes near fire prone forests placing themselves in the firefighters who try to protect them at greater risk by mehmet allows administrator of the united states fired ministration to develop and distribute information on importance of clearing biomass from provides the best possible recommendations as we come upon what many are predicting to be another deadly and costly fire season this information will be as vital as ever we must provide our federal employees who are the best in the world all the tools they need to keep our communities and themselves safe from catastrophic wildfires that says federal hazardous feels reduction program can be a very good thing for while firefighters if it is done properly the program can reduce the most extreme of the hazardous feels and make the working environment for our land firefighters much safer the federal government has invested millions of dollars in a hazardous feels reduction program to mitigate the risks costs and consequences while fair across the millions of acres of publicly owned land the knowledge gained as a relative effectiveness of different types of treatments and the overall effectiveness of those are treatments will be of much greater value when much greater value for protecting and promoting firefighter safety when that information  shared united states fired ministration should be an important vehicle for disseminating this information and this memo it will help to make that a really a reality with that mr chairman i reserve the balance of my time understand the germans amendment is designed specifically to increase firefighters safety within the wild land urban interface that jim is correct i thank the gentleman to i further understand that the gentleman's amendment does not intend to expand the clearing of file masts beyond current force manage practices outside of the wild land urban interface mr chairman and gentlemen this is intended to promote sharing of information that doesn't have anything to actually to do with the actual clearing of the biomass it just deals with the information that's gained and it would be in the wild land urban interface  the results of that feels treatment so it would be focused if the gentleman would yield i would you it would be focused all that information or other things to be done would be focused on the while and urban and interface that's the purpose of this m m m i thank the gentleman and the chairman with further yield the language that it's been traditionally used it refers to fuel load and the gentleman's amendment i believe sometimes biomass and the gentleman is sometimes referred to fuel load that does this gentleman is the gentleman using biomass in this sense in the traditional sense that fuel load has been used in similar legislation i believe gentleman from georgia is recognized just as chairman i wanted to ask unanimous consent for a couple of minutes to speak on behalf of the amendment if we could yield a couple of minutes to the other side mr chairman this decade while land fires have consumed fifty million acres in this country while the term while land fires it brings to mind and uninhabited areas in our nation's parks bars and rural areas while land fires have done tremendous damage to urban and suburban development as well i think that was the reason for the colloquy between mr wu from oregon and mr sally from at a hoe last fall western states were hit particularly hard about wild land fires that encroached into developing areas and destroyed homes and business in the lab lee goods the amendment offered by the gentleman from  addresses that concern an amendment allows the administrative us to do develop and distribute information on the importance of clearing in these areas biomass materials from federal lands not out recommendations remove and has of this fuels biomass materials from federal farson land will help to permit and more importantly to limit these farse fires as they begin to encroach on urban areas so we if you leave these materials  susceptible to forest fires the consequences as mrs salley point out can be disastrous so mr chairman i support hold hardly his amendment or as my colleagues do the same a year back the gentleman it is now in order to consider him a number three printed in part b of house report one one zero dollars five six three for what purpose does the gentleman from rhode island seek recognition i rise to introduce an amendment that highlights the critical importance of applying fire sprinklers in all commercial buildings and my amendment encourages the installation of fire sprinklers in commercial buildings in support educational programs about installing them in terrible awakening for all of us about the importance of fire safety that fire which killed one hundred people and injured two hundred more could have been prevented by mr chairman if fire sprinklers had been installed throughout the building almost every there's no question that fire sprinklers save lives in fact the national fire protection association has no record of a fire killing more than two people in a public building equipped with a fully operational automatic fire sprinkler system so today i've introduced piece of legislation called the the fire sprinkler incentive act h r seventy fifty two which would abandon amend the internal revenue code a divide an incentive to that it is critical critical that we find out voice to this issue and hopefully save another community from ever experiencing the devastating losses that and so while we may not always be able to prevent fires from occurring we certainly we can show you minimize the damage they caused and the lives that they take in my amendment that i'm offering today the sense of congress takes is one step closer toward that goal so is contain smoke alarms and they have been credited with saving thousands of lads yet smoke alarms got only warn the house occupants of a fire they cannot contain or extinguish the fire fire sprinkler system for by the mains to limit  growth and therefore save lives and property and we already mention elected billion dollars a year i think all in property damage thirty six hundred lives lost every year studies about us that they have shown that the installation of residential fire sprinkler systems could cite thousands of labs and millions of dollars in property taxes bottom line so together with their federal partners us f a a has reported a potential eighty two percent reduction in fire de sprinklers along with smoke alarms were installed in all residential dwellings where the cost of home sprinkler system in new construction be an estimated as low as a dollar fifty a square foot or as low as one percent of the total cost of the house and of course many insurance companies offering discounts of up to fifteen percent on house that contain sprinkler systems it's clear that the benefits in labs and property say far outweigh those costs and then when the gentleman from rhode island missed lagman it supports efforts of the u s by administration to improve the way i understand the facts of this and vital ability of residential sprinkler systems so this chairman i wholeheartedly support the gentleman's amendment and i urge my colleagues to applaud this amendment for encouraging the installation of fire sprinklers and all commercial buildings and supporting educational programs about installing them in residential buildings very critical issue here we must take every opportunity to promote the use of fire sprinklers as the gentleman from georgia just pointed out which is why we introduced the campus fire safety legislation to require mandatory responses and you know every university now every college every community college whether it is a college building or a dormitory any building connected to the university or institution has an obligation to tell the parents and the students what is their record on fire safety no student should be sent to any university any university or any college unless their parents and they themselves know what the record is if there are sprinklers installed if there are smoke detectors installed we cannot look we lost we lost three killed and the scene of all fire in new jersey fifty eight were injured since two thousand one hundred eight people have died on and campus fires there are twenty campus related fire deaths in the last two years and mr speaker i want to bring the attention to everyone and this is part of the educational process i want to thank the gentleman from rhode island for and should do seeing this and ma'am it makes sense and i hope everybody will support it thank you i am back the gentleman from rhode island as time's expired the that's german mr speaker the committee of the whole house and state of the union has under consideration h r four eight four seven pursuant to house resolution one zero seven one i report to bill back to the house with an amendment adopted in the committee of the whole chairman of the committee of the whole house on the save the union reports its committee has had under consideration the bill h r forty eight forty seven and pursuant to house resolution ten seventy one reports a bill back to the house with an amendment adopted in the committee of the whole under the rule the previous question is vote demanded on any amendment on the amendment reported from the committee  ms to recommit the bill h r worry for seven to that committee on science and technology with instructions to report the same back to the house forthwith with the following amendment page five line sixteen after the em dash insert one page five line twenty three strike otherwise and insert otherwise so long as the state or local government in which such fire service training program operates provides that any fire fighter or rescue personnel entity or organization including a governmental or enter governmental entity providing inspection services or advice on a voluntary basis without expectation of compensation regarding proper installation use defects or recalls of infant and child safety c shall not be liable for any act or emission omission in connection with providing such services or advice that results in harm to an infant or child page seven after line six insert the following new paragraph to that portion of paragraph one added by amendment made by this subsection that appears after otherwise shall take effect after the end of the second year period beginning on the date of enactment of this act with the mortgages written much ivan thank you mr speaker the underlying bill importantly recognizes the r and sacrifices of firefighters and yes it's our firefighters who often volunteer to help protect our greatest asset our children yet they they face a growing threat of liability lawsuits related to the proper installation of car seats each year nearly twenty five hundred children under the age of fourteen die in car accidents and more than two hundred thousand are injured in motor vehicle accidents in two thousand and five half of those who died were not restrained according to the national institute of highway safety children that are restrained in child seats have an eighty percent lower risk of fatal injury the good news is that we're doing better as a country in using child seats and saving lives this may have something to do with the fact that all fifty states in the district of columbia now have child restraint laws on the books yet it's estimated that twenty five percent of kids are still not restrained we're making great progress in ensuring child safety seats are used to protect our nation's greatest asset however even though more children are using child safety seats improper installation or improper use of a child safety seat can have the same fatal consequence as a new mom this is a scary reality and i think like many new parents i fear that we haven't installed our child safety properly a recent study in six states on the misuse of child restraint systems concluded that nearly seventy five percent of child seats had at least one critical misuse in an effort to reduce the misuse of child safety seats many fire departments send personnel to a thirty two hour four day course on the proper insulation and use once these personnel have been trained they're able to provide inspection services or advice on a voluntary basis regarding the proper installation in use when my husband and i had coal last year we were advised to have a fire department ensure our seat was properly installed but i've also heard the stories of people being denied by their local fire department due to liability concerns one example was an eton rapids where new parents john and carol durrell like many parents were nervous about the new responsibility for the health and safety of their new baby and it began with that first ride home from the hospital they had a pretty good idea how to strap their rear facing him think car seat into the back seat of their car but they didn't like the idea of guessing they sought help from the people at the local medical center but those folks declined they were afraid that if they told us how to do it then there would be a problem we'd sue them so this the medical staffers suggested that they seek help from the fire department so on the way home from the hospital they stopped by the fire station and the woman wanted to help but couldn't it's a liability issue she said refuel referring the family to the local police they called the police department but the person they spoke to said again it's a liability thing this is an important service that can help save the life of a child however the fear is that some departments and communities may be unwilling to offer this lifesaving service because of fear liability the motion to recommit i offer today would help remedy the situation it would protect fire departments that wish to offer this service to the public the language requires states or local governments covered under the provisions of this bill to protect their properly trained firefighters from liability and lawsuits when they offer inspection and advice regarding car seat use this motion to recommit give states two years to provide protection for our firefighters this service the firefighters are offering is too valuable burned the only thing they say was their lives and the clothes on their back today seventy years later whenever my mother hears a fire engine or sees a fire truck she tells me that story about how her house burned almost in a trance it is a very traumatic experience when a family goes through something like this that's a reason that our committee worked in a bipartisan way to try to come forth with a very good deal that would help to save lives saved property and help our firefighters do a better job of hopefully shielding some other families from that trauma that my mother went through and it's really unfortunate after all of that work that the gentle lady would come forth with a mischievous amendment that has had no discussion we don't know anything about is there a law building problem or not we don't know whether or not this is going to affect state their own law building these whether it's going to preempt it the gentle lady had an opportunity if this was such an important issue to come before the committee and talk to us at the subcommittee level but there was no discussion she would come to the subcommittee markup but no discussion where it passed out unanimously got to come to to the full committee markup where again it passed out unanimously but there was no effort or yesterday could have gone to the rules committee and asked to have a rule and be allowed to submit their the amendments so we could have a discussion even here at this late date but there was no effort quite frankly i think this is a game of gotcha it's an insult to the democrats republicans on the senate committee who worked hard to put this good bill together it's an insult to the firefighters who are trying to do their job every day and they need these fun is they these training it's an insult to all those individuals and an organ stations that co sponsored or rather that endorse this bill like the international association of fire chiefs the international association of firefighters the national voluntary fire council the national fire protection association the international association of arson investigators the national american far trained directors international fire services training associations the congressional fire service institute they endorse this bill because it's a good deal a bill that will help firefighters do their job it is very unfortunate that we're trying to play these games at the last moment  this is speaker recommend that we vote down this amendment that we know nothing about and we move forward with this good bill and i yield back the balance my time gentleman yield back the balance of his time without the minimum time of any electronic vote on the passage of on the question of passage