lord god founders of this nation dustin for greatness called upon your divine providence to guide their efforts to establish freedom under the governance of law in our own day we call upon your holy name for the divine light of truth and wisdom heal our wounds protect us from evil forgive our sins and rebuild the walls of justice and integrity that identify your goodness in the nation made this and time of this session of congress as well as the approaching celebration of holidays and holy days bring joy and peace to this nation and allow the world to witness a new the advent prophesied by isaiah open the gates to a right just nation and a nation that keeps say for this we long and pray both now and forever and amen the chair examined the journal of the last day's proceedings and announces to the house his approval there are pursuant to clause one of rule one the journals stand for the pledge of allegiance will be led by the gentleman from america some  pledge allegiance to the flag and i states of america to the republic for which is stand one direction under god indivisible with liberty and justice for all arcane request for one minute speeches mr speaker the freedom of religion is under attack in great britain last week british news reported that the daughter of a british oman week we'll call her hannah is living under police protection after receiving death threats from her father and brother because she converted to christianity and it was born in britain to immigrant pakistani parents she renounced the muslim faith when she was a teenager and has been in hiding for over ten years after multiple death threats an attempt on her life by forty may and led by her father brandishing axes hammers and knives hannah has sought protection from the british government according to her her father believes that the qur'an teaches that anyone who walks away from islam should be killed well murder is bad enough but murder in the name of religion is worse and it's illegal at least in a free state were all religions are to be tolerated even christianity democracy values the freedom of other people's faith it does not restrict it that is the difference in a democracy and a government that is controlled or the azan they are ordered or on which the vote is objected to under clause six of rule twenty recorded votes on only questions will be taken after six thirty p m today  h r thirty seventy nine a bill to amend a joint resolution approving the covenant to establish the commonwealth of the northern mariana islands and for other purposes resort to the rule of the gentle lady from virgin islands mrs christiansen the bill under consideration and without objection thank you h r mr speaker and colleagues h r thirty seventy nine is legislation which i introduced along with natural resources chairman equate harlan july eighteenth of this year then to the two hearings on the matters addressed in this bill the first in april was an oversight hearing on the current economic social and security conditions in the northern marianas the second in august was a legislative field hearing held in the c n n i was the first time  congressional committee convened official business in the u s territory h r thirty seventy nine response a number of outstanding issues that have been a concern of this congress the people of the c n n miles well and successive administrations beginning with president reagan is no secret that begin beginning in the one nine hundred ninety s the c n n my came under great criticism for its immigration policies which left the territory with a nationwide if not also an international reputation undercover investigations by national media reports by human rights organizations complaints received from foreign governments and a report issued by the former chairman and ranking member george miller detailed a miscarriage of c n n my immigration policy foreign guest which left foreign guest workers open to abuse by their employers through can pressure will efforts to reform local immigration control control throughout the one nine hundred ninety s they were unsuccessful congress was able to establish a federal a but an office in the islands to educate foreign guest workers of their rights under both federal and local laws and to leaders land between such populations and the c n n my government to get today national security is prominent to the argument to extend federal immigration laws to the c n n i located just forty miles to the south of santa my guam her sister territory as we know since the end of world war two pacific islands a played a significant role in our strategy to secure our nation most notable however among all such islands is guam as it is the home to many military bases currently an agreement between the us and japan would add fifteen billion to guam existing multi million military infrastructure and would relocate to the island the third marine expeditionary force comprises comprising eight thousand active duty soldiers as well as the stationing of a global hawk surveillance unit the establishment of a u s army air spear then the c n n meyers part of the same blade if one would be interested in preserving national security then you would want to support this legislation lastly this legislation would provide a non voting delegate for the only u s jurisdiction in our country without any form of representation in congress some similar legislation has been favorably reported by the natural resources committee in three previous congresses and received no further consideration by the house this time that we provide the same level of representation afforded to other u s territories and closing h r thirty seventy nine as legislation necessary and several foreign the bill would provide a stable immigration policy to rebuild the c economy of men current efforts to diversify and strengthen the future economy increase the opportunities and skills of local residents to fill private sector employment needs safeguard the existing foreign guest worker population from employer abuse and secure the region in the interests of national security and give the c n n my representation and in congress with the speaker at this time i reserve the balance of my time generated reserves of time gentleman from utah thank you mr speaker h r thirty seventy nine is amended has received much support from the bush administration as well as the northern marianas elected a resident representative a republican pedro torino m awestruck nomic development on the island by providing local businesses and the military with ready access to labor to support the tourist industry and military base construction i appreciate the assistance of our colleagues images that judiciary committee believe that their efforts have helped to improve the bill and i thank you mr speaker i asked anonymous consent that chairman conyers letter behalf of the judiciary committee and chairman ray hall's letter on behalf of the natural resources committee regarding this legislation be entered into the congressional record logged action thank you and at this time i'd like t and for yielding me the time i rise in full support of h r thirty seventy nine the bill represents a very important opportunity for this congress to advance the political relationship between the united states and the commonwealth of the northern marianas island and its u s citizens to strengthen homeland security in the western pacific region and to bring about needed economic and labor reforms for the benefit of both the people of and the c n n my mr speaker i especially thank the chair one of the subcommittee on insular affairs mrs christiansen and the ranking member mr fortuyn you as well as chairman nick ray hall and ranking member don young of the full committee for working with me throughout this process to address concerns important to my constituents and my district i also thank the chairman of the committee hundred issue larry mr conyers and the immigration subcommittee chairwoman assistance that they have provided in addressing the bills immigration provisions i also want to thank my dear friend any followup vega of american samoa for his assistance wam is geographically a part of the islands chain and we share mr speaker a common chamorro heritage and culture the northern marianas is comprised of the fourteen islands north of guam and guam is the southernmost of the  i have traveled to the northern marianas many times over the years and have witnessed our communities on guam and the sea in a my advance both politically and economically i listened intently to the concerns and the views of the community during the subcommittees hearing held on site pan in august revisions were made to this bill based upon the input the subcommittee received at the hearings on guam and stipend this summer and from stakeholders in the weeks since those hearings i want to highlight a few provisions important to guam first is the establishment of a unified regional visa waiver program for both  be modeled off the highly successful guam only visa waiver program which congress authorized in one thousand nine hundred six our islands are marketed together in asia as a regional destination and unified program makes sense from a homeland security and marketing viewpoint additionally the bill allows for sufficient flexibility to expand participation under the program in future years secondly mr speaker the bill provides for important relief in terms of ability to authorize entry of temporary skilled and unskilled workers to guam and the c n n my to meet the demands associated with the military build up and economic growth in the civilian sector in the years ahead and finally mr speaker i want to underscore my in phatic and strong support for title two of this bill which would provide for representation for the people of the see in a my in this house of congress a delegate from the c an m i would help congress respond to the needs in the concerns of the people of the see an m i a delegate or representative from the c in a my is in keeping with the traditions of this house of congress and our american democratic form of government a delegate from the c an m i would aid us in our work to legislate on matters of fact in the sienna my and the insular areas up to this point mr speaker i have been representing the c n n my this is long overdue and it's unfair we have u s citizens living in  u s commonwealth without a voice in congress so i urge my colleagues to right this wrong and i urge my colleagues to support this legislation and her on this on this legislation this is an important piece of legislation and i'm delighted that we were able to work it out in the committee on a bipartisan basis and i want to thank all of the members on both sides of the aisle since the early one nine hundred ninety s i have tried to bring legislation to the floor of this congress to reform the abuse of labor practices in the broken immigration policies of the commonwealth of the northern mariana islands and american territory in the pacific i sought these changes so that we could put a stop to the well documented widespread abuse of poor men and women in the garment and tourism industry in the c n n my and to better secure america's borders but for more than a decade lobbyist by the name of jack avery moffitt joined then majority leader tom de lay and others here in congress to block my reform efforts even though they passed on a bipartisan basis in the senate and in the senate committee twice ten years ago this month in fact tom de lay visited the maryon islands and declared that our federal reforms quote had no future unquote as long as he was in control of the house of representatives but there's a new congress in town and we have new republican leadership and we have new democratic leadership and we're moving quickly under the leadership of the gentleman from the virgin islands to right the wrongs of the past earlier this year we raised the minimum wage across the country and for the first time in almost a decade we gave the workers of the northern marianas a raise as well thanks to that minimum wage increase workers in the mariano's make three fifty five an hour up from barely three dollars that workers were paid aid for these past years and what's more the minimum wage will continue to rise in the c n n my until there's wages equal to other american territories today my friends and committee colleagues in the virgin islands has brought this legislation to the floor to fix the other longstanding problem in the c n n my the broken local within the federal immigration system so that we can put an end to that exploitation and abuse the bill was drafted by the bush administration improve by the natural resources committee i want to congratulate congressman chairman  subcommittee of the of the resources committee today jack avram office in prison and tom de lay has resigned in does disgrace and today we passed a bill that we stores the human rights to those individuals working in the c n n my and today we strengthen the borders of america with these two pieces of legislation because soon to become law the minimum with the minimum wage which is already the law and this legislation to repair the immigration i think now we can comfortably consider and  concerned about for a very very long time that brought about unfortunately brought about a lot of a lot of bad practices in the sea and i my but i'm convinced with this legislation that we're doing the right thing and we can open a concerns with respect to i want to also thank the gentleman former chairman of the natural resources committee and now chairman of our education and labor committee the gentleman from california my good friend mr miller not only for your leadership but throughout the years  has been very diligent in bringing to the attention of a colleague i know to our our colleagues in our nation about the serious problems involving the situation there in the northern mariana islands i recall distinctly that because of the violations of federal labor laws and the garment factories that were is tutored by this one gentleman that was fined by some one million dollars so just to show without even questioning or even taking the matter to court some of the problems that we had face will shed more light on the current situation in sienna my it is my sincere hope to the g a o study will give us more information on c n n miles overall economic and political development and the bill we're about to pass will compliment the finding shell has addressed several concerns that have plagued previous administrations for example with the closures of the most of the government factories is he and my the number of aging guest workers of the climb from its peak of about thirty thousand now to about twenty thousand thirty four hundred penny labor cases carried over from the previous administration's argument of government for chelles administration c n n my government has implemented a new computerized system for attracting arrivals and departures of asian guest workers relationship between the united states and china my especially in the interest of our national security the significance of this political relationship is elevated says the closures of clark air force base and our naval base at subic bay in the philippines i cannot help but mention the name of the late congressman phil burton mr speaker who played a most critical role in the development of this unique political relationship between cinema in the united states furthermore the penny transfer of some one thousand u s marines and their families from okinawa to guam and likely also has seen a my has made this relationship even more critical and important to our strategic and military interest in this region of the world overall we have a very important military interest in these thank you this is speaker h r thirty seven united supported by the administration and also with the bipartisan support doing consideration by the natural resources committee and additions in supporting the measure committee's work very closely with the house judiciary committee and as you've heard address other concerns i want to take this opportunity to thank chairman ray hall for making this issue a priority at the start of this congress as well as thank our ranking member mr young and we appreciate the collaboration of our colleagues on  bipartisan nature in which this bill is proceeding at this time i think we need to thank the judiciary committee and i believe the chairman is wishes to say something about this particular bill for the way in which they provide they worked in a bipartisan way i'm also very grateful to be a part of the  natural resources committee which i think has worked in a bipartisan way to present this bill i have to admit that the only thing that would really make me happier is if we were discussing this bill in october rather than this close to christmas but other than that  i am i am very much appreciate of those people who work for this bill especially the administration who is supportive of it and the resident the resident representative from this particular area  i'm going to have to i'd like to tell you the story of my life now when i was born and unless this is christiansen has said i'm still ready to reserve i realize we're still waiting on one potential rules are suspended the bill is passed and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table without objection the title is amend particular my friend chairman nick ray hall the natural resources committee because we've all worked together in making important refinements to the bill there was a great deal of cooperation and as it is now clear what we're dealing with now is the fact that the minimum wage questions the immigration standards and the time access to the islands our great consequence i commend all of my colleagues here this afternoon for the tremendous work that has  occurred labor unions and human rights groups of long called attention to these abuses and both the clinton and bush administration justice departments have brought prosecutions under the thirteenth amendment  i do also want to comment this is ministration for the excellent work that they have done in this regard there is a lot more that i can say but i will ask  statement be included in the comments led by the gentleman who has managed this measure and i hope that they will be included in one twenty three a bill to authorize appropriations for the san gabriel basin restoration fun pursuant to the rule of a gentle lady from california mrs napolitano and the gentleman from utah mr bishop each funds for the same government base in restoration fund this bill which is a very important bill for my whole area has worked to clean up a contamination a superfund site that has cleaned up much of the contamination in an area that comprises probably around thirty cities and asked amend it will raise the appropriation ceiling by an additional sixty one point two million dollars we need this in to further continue to provide the clean up on this water to millions of people and dozens of cities this bill has been worked on in a bipartisan basis both my colleague mr dreier myself our staffs and we're diligently for a long time to carry this film to where it is when h r one twenty three was introduced earlier this year it only included funds for cleanup in the single basin since then my staff committee staff and congressman dreier staff have worked together doom in the building clued additional funds for cleanup in the central basin as well while this legislation provides a central basin with access to much needed additional funds all funds left under the original authorization should remain dedicated to the water quality authority the entity who is responsible for coordinating cleanup efforts and then think of the basin mr speaker we have no objection to this non controversial bipartisan bill and i california the distinguished ranking member of the rules committee there the dryer and it extends a highly successful lot of cleanup effort in southern california this legislation as amended authorizes additional federal dollars for groundwater remediation architraves a provide drinking water for the los angeles area residents as explained by the democrat bill manager this mammoth this amended bill will allow the central basin water authority to pursue their own appropriations while not harming or remains of the original st gabriel restoration fun this aspect of the bill is very important and when it comes to protecting the thing gabriel water supply this bill is enjoyed bipartisan support and dialogue throughout the legislative process and i urge my colleagues to support this this result oriented bill me begin by rising to a compliment my distinguished california colleague the chair of the subcommittee for her amazing festive outfit which includes shoes and airings which i hope very much the our colleagues will seize the opportunity to see during this holiday season and that the importance of stating that is matched by my praise for her work and the work of her staff on this important legislation it's been nearly a decade actually back in one thousand nine hundred ninety we were able to first pass legislation designed to deal with a horrendous tragedy that came in the aftermath of the cold war it was during the cold war that we had a wide range of defense contractors some of which are in business today and some of which no longer are in business but during that period of time they legally disposed of spent rocket fuel they did it legally no one knew what the ramifications of that would be at the time and so mr speaker what happened well in the mid one nine hundred ninety s there was this discovery of perchlorate which was a byproduct of the disposal of that spent rocket fuel and unfortunately  it created a potential to contaminate the water for as many as seven million californians and that's why i want to join in praising ms will pull a tunnel for her work in expanding this cleanup effort and i want to thank all the members of her staff and i also want to express appreciation to our colleague cathy mcmorris rodgers who also has worked very hard on this and i know that the discovery of perchlorate is something that has hit other parts of the country well we in the san gabriel valley have put together what clearly is the best model for not only our area mr speaker but for other parts of the country dallas texas other parts of california where this has been found what is that partnership consist of it is the federal government and there was a lot of litigation that was initiated the one nine hundred ninety s over this problem and i decided back then in the one nine hundred ninety s why should we wait for litigation to go through the courts when perchlorate was seeping into the groundwater when it was very clear that the federal government had contracted with these people and we won the cold war and so it was obvious that this was real responsibility for us to step up to the plate but there obviously were a lot of others who did want to take on some of the responsibility and so  companies like aerojet and other companies did agree to participate in the cleanup effort and the state of california and local governments as well have been part of this process and again our bipartisan staffs have worked so closely together on this issue that to me mr speaker is a great demonstration of the willingness of chairwoman to pull a tano to reach out and work on an issue where we can find areas of agreement and again i can't thank her enough for that and i will say that as we look at this challenge down the road we hope very much that it's taken care of but i'm well aware of the fact that we will see further environmental difficulties in the future and i believe that this legislation h r one two three will be a model that can be utilized for many of the many of the other environmental challenges that we face beyond the issue of water in the future and so again i thank all of my colleagues who've been involved mr speaker and i thank those in our local area who have the water quality authority and other entities that have stepped up and are working with this quiz they really were key in putting together this model and urge my colleagues to support the gentlewoman's resolution here and decade ago brought all the parties together had this many hurdles that were accomplished only when people were brought to the table and were able to seek the solution to the more expediently cleaning up that area and i can tell you that this has been as he thought line of very hard work joint effort not only at the local level with the state the locals is a federal e p a all the water districts but also our staff who have run into difficulties and been able to work to iron them out so i could do was also mr speaker to the chairman dreier staff in being willing to work with our staff and bringing this to the solution know where we're at now i have no say no further no speakers mr chair mr speaker i have no others i do i would like to reserve the balance of my time generated reserves or time gentleman from utah we have no other speakers mr speaker i did not have the opportunity given my life history on the last bill and i really am disappointed mr dreier did his didn't give his life history in his bill but the space side that disappointment i also am rules are suspended the bill is passed without objection the motion is the motion to reconsider is laid on the table purpose does the gentleman from california right mr speaker i move to suspend the rules and pass the bill man's the two thousand and four arizona water so my next to modify one technical enforceability condition necessary to implement the water settlement for that the whole no odom nation mr speaker we support this bill it was passed through our committee on a bipartisan basis and we look forward to working with other tribes who have similar concerns in the future and i urge my colleagues to support the bill or reserve balance of my time here ladies reserve their time gentleman from utah bill is passed and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table control twenty minutes the chair recognizes gentleman from new york thank you mr speaker i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend the remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration without objection mr speaker i arrive in strong support of this bill and i you myself as much time as i may consume the germans recognize let me first thank my good friend and colleague mr rothman from new jersey for introducing this timely let resolution more than two years ago hurricane katrina struck our gulf coast with the fury releasing katrina cost of a loss of life and property to the citizens of louisiana mississippi and alabama and our nation continues to deal with the enormous human and financial consequences of this devastate storm unfortunately halfway across the world our friends in bangladesh are undergoing their own nightmare scenario in the aftermath  psychosis struck on november fifteenth with one hundred fifty five mile an hour winds and fifteen foot tidal waves the destruction that this cycle left in its wake is the worst bangladesh has seen in sixteen years and that's and that is that a trivial statement considering that bangladesh is the nation that suffered through horrific droughts floods and other natural disasters on almost an annual basis the numbers from cycle own center are astounding three thousand three hundred dead over eight hundred missing and one point five million houses damaged or destroyed all told at least eight point seven million people have been affected and the economic and social impacts will undoubtedly loom large for years to come just as the world of helped us doing her hurricane katrina bangladesh needs immediate support from the international community and that  am proud of the way that the united states government has responded to this disaster the u s agency for international development has already dispatched millions in emergency assistance and our united states navy is busy air lifting necessary food and supplies to those that have been affected by this resolution supports our efforts and reaffirm our commitment to our friends and bang with this i strongly support this resolution and encourage my colleagues to do the same amended expressing sympathy and support for the victims of psycho sadar in southern bangladesh at the outset i would like to commend the gentleman from new jersey mr othman for introducing this timely measure and also extend my as well as ranking member ileana raul slayton for helping to expedite its consideration before the house today as my colleagues may know on the fifteenth of november a pack of powerful category five equivalent tropical  lying areas of bangladesh from the bay have been gathered mr speaker in the west we call these tropical storms hurricanes and in the far east they call them cycle owns a be that as it may they both have destructive power and being from southeast texas on the gulf coast we call that hurricane alley and we are not unfamiliar with hurricanes even this year hurricane humberto and hurricane rita two years ago hit my area of the state of texas so the effects of hurricanes and cycle owns are devastating and the effects of hurricane or cycle and said are has been extremely devastating to the people six point eight million people have been affected by this disaster three thousand people have died a thousand people are unaccounted for and approximately fifteen thousand people have been injured in the aftermath of this storm president and mrs bush offered condolences to the victims especially those who lost loved ones people who lost homes in the livelihoods in this tragedy united states immediately conveyed to the authorities and to cause its willingness to assist in responding to this natural disaster the united states agency for international development provided more than one hundred million dollars in emergency funds to support relief and early recovery activities including shelter and water sanitation hygiene programs and emergency food assistance united states department of defense has also provided that able assistance with two thousand four hundred united states marines and sailors helping the bangladesh government provide clean water medical aid food and other relief supplies to the victims of the sa clone indeed more than one hundred sixty two thousand pounds of relief supplies have been delivered to bangladesh by the u s s kearsarge and the twenty second marine expeditionary unit as early as this month mr speaker bangladesh and united states have been close friends since one thousand nine hundred seventy one our hearts go out to those who have suffered so grievously during this disaster and on behalf of the american people  fitting that we reiterate our commitment to assist the people of bangladesh as they recover from this devastating storm our support of this resolution and i reserve the balance of my time on my return reserves this time gentleman from new york and the chairs prior announcement for the proceedings on this motion will be postponed gentleman from new york with the speaker move to suspend the rules and agree to resolution  talent his achievement and raising the profile of opera with audiences around the world and his commitment to charitable causes pursuant to the world the gentleman from new york mr meeks and the gentleman from texas mr po each will control twenty minutes the chair recognizes the gentleman from new york thank you mr speaker i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the resolution under consideration  combination of an and in a measurable talent the terminations and untiring an affable manner just as important he paul laid this fame into the international presence which he used to push for a host of important causes this resolution on of his life his talent his commitment to those causes like many in a tie in boy papa roddy dreamed of becoming a soccer star and was better at it than most of his late of france would ever know became known for the sheer beauty of his voice but the world was world who in one thousand nine hundred two when poverty struck nine unwaivering high seas and new york's metropolitan opera eyes opera house earning him a title the king of high seas roughly twenty years later he recorded the biggest selling classical musical album of all time when he teamed up with a placebo domingo and jose carreras as the three tenors it must have caused the man who once dreamed of soccer stardom great joy to have debated his project for the one thousand nine hundred soccer world cup in italy he shared the stage with rock stars including you to lead singer bono eric clapton and even pop stars like celine dion and the spice girls power rally also want humanitarian award to win the bosnia war as well as worked alongside diana of the princess of wales to raise money to ban line landmines he was named a u n messenger of peace in one thousand nine hundred eighty and received the nissen medal from the un high commissioner for refugees in two thousand and one he never tired of bringing his voice to rally around causes that make us all proud when he died this year his wife sister four daughters nephews and close relatives and friends were all at his side mr speaker luc pavarotti was a man blessed with unusual talent a talent he used to promote not only opera but i'm rid of the causes that help men and women all throughout the world this resolution s in raising the profile of opera with audiences around the world and his commitment to charitable causes of september the sixth of this year a legend of the opera would take his final curtain call and when the great  away in september the world will lost one of its most beautiful voices those with a love of all kinds of music everyone from opera singer to the fans of instrumentalists and pop singers or agree that the loss of such a great talent one of those musicians the pavarotti was an inspiration not just for the unmatched quality of his god given voice and talent but for his generosity indeed to use his immense talent to raise funds for many worthy causes including his concerts on behalf of refugees throughout the world in one thousand nine hundred eight he was named united nations messenger of peace two thousand and one the same year that he received the kennedy center honors he received a medal from the united nations high commissioner for refugees raising effort on behalf of refugees throughout the world in memory of this giant man of music beloved by all those who enjoy the great opera i asked my colleagues to join in supporting house resolution seven o eight introduced by our eighty's recognized for three minutes thank you mr speaker and thank you for your being the kind to my good friend from new york i'm pleased that today the house of representatives is considering house resolution seven zero eight honoring the life and the accomplishments of luciana pub about the as a sponsor of this legislation i would like to thank the committee on for next affairs especially the chairman mr lantos for his assistance in bringing this before the end of the year the year two thousand and seven the year in and during his life mystifies out at the sheraton is incredible talent and passion for opera with the entire world during his life he during his life he actually began as a second grade teacher before he decided to turn to his pursuit of music full time after devoting himself to serious voice training for over seven years mr pavarotti made his operatic debut in the role of r chinese level him from that initial performance bharati continued to follow his dream of performing opera around the world and after many years of hard work of course he became really one of opera's premier performers but in addition to his incredible voice and his alan onstage mr pavarotti made frequent television performance and as a result he really opened up the world of opera to a whole new audience to raise money for the world worthy united nations causes this about at this appeal to opportunities he oh he got an opportunity to see things that are rarely enjoyed by most of also received numerous honors for his charitable work including being named the united nations messenger of peace and receiving the nansen medal from the united nations high commission for refugees in honor of his efforts to raise money on behalf of refugees around the world mr buffett at his career is an inspiration to aspiring young artists around the world and encourage them to continue to go after their dream and in addition mr  commitment to charitable causes provides an important example of how artists can raise awareness and funding for people in need thank you since it is recognized traditional thirty second thank you mr speaker since his death the world has miss his talent and his passion and although we will always have recordings of his bees a beautiful music we will continue to miss is president and his love for life and i know that in the last ten years of his life he f he filled his life and was very fulfilled but we should remember that mr pavarotti once said a life in music is a life beautifully spent and this is what i have devoted my life about these life was indeed a life beautifully spence and i urge my colleagues to join me in supporting house resolution seven zero eight two on his life and his achievements and i thank you for the rules are suspended the resolution is agreed to and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table gentlemen from new york with the speaker moved to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution a dread eight forty seven as amended house resolution eight forty seven resolution recognizing the importance of christmas and the christian faith percent to the rule gentleman from new york mr meeks and the gentleman from texas mr paul each will control twenty minutes the chair recognizes the gentleman from new york thank you mr speaker and i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and exclude include extraneous material on the resolution under consideration that objection our christian friends and neighbors around the world mark this time of year as a special festive season as quads approaches and hanukkah dawns to a close draws to a close it is notably the christmas season we are in the midst of advent and this discussion today is bracketed by two holidays observed by many catholics who make up the majority of christian down the feast of the immaculate conception and our lady of guadalupe there are approximately two billion christians making christianity the largest religion in the world and the fate of about one third of the global population on december twenty fifth christians will celebrate the birth of jesus the christ whom they have been braced as their savior for believe rs this holiday is a recognition of god's redemption mercy and grace for christians and non christians alike christmas is also a time to serve others the celebration of christmas requires devotion to fa community and family truly universal values we all can see it is both fitting and important for the united states house of representatives to mark this event this legislation expresses the deep respect we feel for christians in the united states and throughout the world the house must reject bigotry and persecution directed against christians both in the united states and worldwide we must affirm the values of religious freedom in this country and secretary thank you mr speaker i am pleased to the original co sponsor to arise in support of this timely resolution recognizing the significance of christmas and the contribution of the christian faith to the united states and to other nations throughout the world while christmas does not have the same religious meaning for all citizens it nevertheless invokes the values of friendship goodwill that are common to all nations december the twenty fifth or christmas as we say commemorates a birth that influenced the world in an unmatched way christ lives his teachings his example his sacrifice and his death brought to life one of the great religions of the world one which underpins the foundations of democracy in our own united states of america and even other countries throughout the world even in complex times such as those in which we live at this time the simple central message of christianity endures love thy neighbor as thyself for many christmas invokes the images of santa claus and exchanging gifts this comes from the patron saint nicholas who helped poor children hundreds of years ago by giving them their neat but christianity is more it is the birth of the christian religion and commemorates the birth of its founder jesus on christmas day at its core the fundamental important ideals of peace on earth goodwill toward men the poor the suffering those left alone are far from their families and those departed who were dear to us whom we remember from time to time are all recognized in this great religion of christianity and through it all have been offered hope that this time of year in this season of christmas i asked my colleagues to join in supporting house resolution eight forty seven introduced by our colleague mr king of iowa recognizing the importance of christmas and the christian faith and i reserve the balance of my time john reserves of time joan from new today in support of house resolution eight forty seven it which recognizes the importance of christmas and the christian faith while there may be some who brussel of adieux the house of representatives considering this resolution or any similar resolution i would note that though the first amendment states that congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion the first amendment also states that the congress shall make no law prohibiting the free exercise thereof mr speaker our founders had the foresight to realize that a state run church of america would do more harm to the perseverance of faith in the hearts of our citizenry and it would certainly lead to an irreconcilable division however at the same time the founders and right of the constitution also recognize that the success of this great american experiment this is story social contract was contingent on upon a moral and a religious people and the recognition that we had in a liberal rights because those rights are given to us by our creator or if these rights are given to us created then no human being can take them away and this is the foundation of our system of justice the foundation of our american society and so today we take just a few minutes to consider this resolution which respects the faith and the beliefs of the vast majority of this country and a plurality of the world stating that and i quote where as christians a dinner fathom sells as those who believe in the salvation from sin offered to them through the sack five of their savior jesus christ the son of god and who out of gratitude for the gift of salvation and commit themselves to living their last in accordance with the teachings of the holy bible so i hope that no member of this congress no individual anywhere takes offense to this debate to this resolution because none is intended this resolution simply offers recognition to a faith and the values of that faith which has sustained hundreds of millions of people throughout the world not just the united states and after more than two millennium we once again approach the commemoration of a birth that m recognize as holy but all recognize as historic misspeak or i want to point out that just this past weekend i took my granddaughters nine year old almost and they would want me to say identical twin granddaughters with my wife and we were in representative meeks great city of new york and we had an opportunity to take our grandchildren to the radio city music hall to see that annual christmas performance at that hour and a half performance missed speaker was absolutely wonderful and a great tribute to the city a great tribute to represent of meeks and all of our colleagues from new york faith and heritage so hey if it's good enough for new york city and radio city music hall it's good enough for this congress and bagali i want to encourage all my speakers to support the resolution of representative king from iowa he was detained because of inclement weather otherwise he'd be on this lord but i command and thank my colleague from new york representative meek and also my colleague from texas representative pope allow me time and i yield back german yells back gentleman from new york continue to reserve my time general george this time german from texas mr speaker the author of this resolution mr king from iowa is already having a white christmas he's stuck in aisle because of the snow he could not be here but  religions as islam and but ramadan it shows the diversity that shows the talents that we have all and as we enter this great holiday season this is the example i think that we show around the world that we celebrate each each is each other's question is will the house suspend the rules and agree to house resolution eight forty seven as amended those in favor say aye those opposed say no in the opinion of the chair two thirds being in the affirmative the gentleman from texas asian asia requested all those in favor of taking this vote by the eighth and they will rise and remain standing until counted very sufficient  h r thirty eight ninety eight built and then the burmese freedom and democracy act of two thousand and three to waive the requirement for annual renewal resolutions relating to import bank sions and those import sanctions on burmese gemstones expand the number of individuals against whom the visa than is a political will expand the blocking of assets and other prohibited activities and for other purposes pursuant to the rule the gentleman from new york mr me and the gentleman from texas mr poe each will control twenty minutes the chair recognizes the gentleman from new york thank you mr speaker i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend the remarks and include extraneous unfolded before the eyes of the world buddhist monks draped in christian roads peacefully marching through the streets of rome tens of thousands of burmese citizens joining the monks echoing their calls for change chorus of world voices asking the burma's ruling junta to respond peacefully and responsibly to the cry for freedom and democracy the reaction of the ruler regime to these peaceful demonstrations was equally as unforgettable unarmed monks shot in the streets in full view of the international community thousands of peaceful marks hauled off to the tension centers to be tortured political dissidents tossed in jail facing years behind bars simply for criticizing the government and recent days loudspeakers across the country warn we have video we will find you and an orwellian effort to intimidate burma's people and deter them from the affirmation for democracy and a better life this crackdown on nonviolent protestors and buddhist monks but burma's military thugs sets a new low a good talent the even for this regime of military dictators these  actions demonstrate the moral bankruptcy of the regime unfortunately the regime is not economically bankrupt it continues to take burma's vast resources as its own while the vast majority of burma's people suffer and die of poverty the legislation before the house today hits the regime where it hurts in the wallet by blocking the import of armies jammed into the united states and expanding financial sanctions the legislation would take hundreds of millions out of the pockets of the regime each  ear this legislation is supported by the u s united states and history the eleven thousand store jewelers of america supports a ban on burmese jim imports of the united states major retailers like tiffany's and bulgari have also voluntarily implemented such a ban the bill before the house also cuts of tax deductions for chevrons major gas investment in burma by closing this loophole we can dramatically increase pressure on other civilized nations to similarly demand that their firms divest themselves of burma's holdings this bipartisan bill strengthens our goal of a coordinated multilateral approach the sanctions against burma the european union recently announced a similar ban on the import of burmese gems as have the canadians i hope our legislation will push other countries to reexamine their financial dealings with the regime and the investment their own oil companies make in burma mr speaker i am pleased to offer this legislation to strengthen the say actions imposed by the two thousand and three burmese freedom and democracy act and doing so i am joined again by my friend the ranking republican member of the foreign affairs  subcommittee mr levin as well as their republican counterparts mr mccreery and miss the wily herger but the enormous help in moving this bill forward finally i would like to highlight the indispensable leadership of speaker nancy pelosi on this legislation since the first shots were fired in rago the speaker has firmly indicated that the intention of the house democrats to see significant lee tighten sanctions on the ruling burmese regime and today we use our liberty and the united states congress to dramatically increase the economic pressure on the burmese regime to to move towards freedom democracy and respect for human rights we use our liberty to stop the flow of red blood red rubies from burma to the american jewelry stores the burmese regime might be washed might have washed the blood from the streets of regrown but they have not erased the images of peaceful protest being shot down from our minds today we act and we act the size of lee is the speaker i reserve the balance of my time german river reserves this time gentleman from texas with your speaker your myself down on the streets and arrested appeals for human decency and restraint have fallen on deaf ears with regard to burma's generals it is thus time to send them a message that they understand the message that is loud and clear the international community community must no longer subsidize the leaders of this immoral regime by trading in the commodities they peddle on international markets this rainbow coalition of contraband products for sale by the military  a has included red rubies white opium green jade and brown timber the legislation put forward today since a simple but clear and strong message it will not be business as usual for the people in rangoon until they stop their suppression of their own people and the nation of burma there can be no doubt that any member here today who has seen what has taken place regarding the importance now sanctions against the current rangoon regime and we need to make them permanent and we need to make them hard hitting this legislation has the full support of leaders of the american gym industry they have seen the necessity of putting principle ahead of money and profit when it comes to the actions of the berm e's rogue regime and this legislation also seeks to put the pain squarely on the backs of those who have earned it the ruling generals and their families and not on the backs of the burma's people who have already suffered too much it calls for frozen bank accounts for the generals and ending to money laundering by the ruling junta and no visas to the united states for those involved in the continuing acts of repression and no visas for their immediate families the urgency with which we are here today in view of this issue of the restoration of the democratic rights of the people of burma is demonstrated by the fact that already over two hundred and forty members of this house of representatives have agreed to co sponsor legislation give an official congressional recognition to the nobel peace prize laureate and burma democratic leader  h r four two eight six introduced december fifth by mr manzullo mr crowley would award a congressional gold medal to a young son's sujit and recognition of her courageous and unwavering commitment to peace nonviolence human and democracy in burma there is no clear indication than this legislation of the solidarity that exists between the people of the united states and the good people of burma on the issue of human rights and democracy this legislation is also fully supported in keeping with the administration policy and the statement made on october the nineteenth following the latest series of tragic and bloody events president bush announced an executive order imposing additional sanctions on the burm leaders and its entities the president also instructed the commerce department tighten export control and regulation over burma on that occasion the president noted that quote burmese leaders continue to defy the world just demand to stop there this is this just prosecution or persecution they continue to dismiss calls to began peaceful dialogue aimed at national reconciliation most of all they continue to reject the clear will of the burmans people who wish to live in freedom under live leaders of their own choosing the president concluded with these observations quote the people of burma are showing great courage in the face of the mansour repression he stated they are appealing for our help we must not turn a deaf ear to their cry i believe no nation can forever suppress its own people and we are confident that the day is coming when freedom's todd will reach the shores of burma this legislation provides an opportunity to send a strong bipartisan and loud message that where few months freedom is concerned politics does in fact stop at the water's age and therefore rise today to urge my colleagues to join in voice in their enthusiastic year back the balance of my time the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass h r thirty eight ninety as amended those in favor say aye those opposed say no in opinion of the chair two thirds being in the affirmative the rules are suspended the bill is passed and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table that objection t for what reasons generally to the speaker i move that the house extend the rules and agree to the resolution h made seven sixty eight honoring the life of thomas tommy make  resolution seven sixty eight resolution honoring the life of tommy thomas tommy may come pursuant to the rule the general lady from new hampshire mrs shape order and the gentleman from louisiana m grace the stage not only have his works inspired generations of artists but his determination and his success broke down barriers had long been raised to irish americans tommy macomb in the clancy brothers with whom he played for many lawyers  instrumental in breaking down these cultural divides tommy lived a truly remarkable life here right in america in one thousand nine hundred fifty five to pursue a career in acting having just won the all arlen championship in acting like so many immigrants before and after tommy arrived this very little carrying with him only a makeshift suitcase a pair of bagpipes and proof of his health however it did not take tommy long to find a life in america in one thousand nine hundred fifty six he joined to the clancy brothers clancy brothers performed at the white house at the request of president kennedy they continued to perform together for years and played their news from carnegie hall to the ed sullivan show until tommy embarked on a solo career in  speaker tommy it's not just a musician he was so much more time he was an author a philanthropist a businessman an inspiration and most importantly he was a loving father grandfather and has been tommy passed away earlier this year  august first in dover new hampshire where he had lived for many years he left behind a daughter katie macon boucher two grandchildren molly pick a man and robert boucher and three sons shane connor and rory whom with his nephew tom sweeney continue the family folk music tradition they will remember tommy for the loving man that he was in for the impact he had on their life upon his passing condolences steamed in from all over the country as well as the world the make and family has said that while many talked about his music most noted what a generous and kind man he was mr speaker i urge my colleagues to support this resolution and honor the life of a truly remarkable man an immigrant who touched the lives of so many i reserve the balance of my time job done later we serve their time gentleman is recognized like mr speaker i yield such time as i might consume generous recognize the speaker i rise today in support of house resolution seven sixty eight honoring the life of thomas tommy make him make it was an internationally celebrated irish spoke musician artist poet and storyteller best known as a member of the clancy brothers and tommy macomb he played the long necked five string ban o guitar tin whistle board of pipes and sang in a very distinctive baritone he was sometimes known as the godfather of irish music the son of successful are a singer folk singer sarah macomb tommy make a mess  morris audiences for more than four decades he expanded in reshape the boundaries of irish culture and infuse the pride in a quest for knowledge of irish culture in countless others in one hundred fifty five ma bishan to become an actor took him to new york where after a brief but rewarding career in live television and off broadway plays he teamed up with the clancy brothers they appeared on the ed sullivan show the tonight show in every major television network show in the united states the clancy brothers and tommy macomb played to audiences from new york's corner carnegie hall in london's royal albert hall to every major concert venue in the english speaking world in one thousand nine hundred eighty nine tommy left the clancy brothers to pursue a solo career and immediately sold out madison square garden in new york his popularity soared and he went on to three sold out concert concert tours in australia including sydney's opera house by music will live on forever the rambles of spring farewell to carlingford gentle auntie the winds are singing freedom and of course for green fields are all standards in the repertoire of folk singers around the world in the late and early twenty first centuries i am very happy to join my good friend and colleague representative shape order in honoring the life of thomas tommy macomb and i ask my colleagues to support this resolution and i reserve independent of the chair two thirds being in the affirm already the rules are suspended the resolution is agreed to and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table sixty four concurrent resolution honoring the university of hawaii for its one hundred years of commitment to public higher education pursuant to the rule the general lady from hawaii mr ono and the gentleman two six four honoring the university of hawaii for is one hundred years of dedication to public higher education the ten campuses of the university of hawaii offer more than six hundred twenty nationally and internationally recognized academic programs everything from color narry arts to tropical agriculture it is the only place in the nation when your students can earn a master's degree in indigenous language studies and has top twenty five programs for environmental law eastern philosophy international business and a second language studies the fifty thousand students who attend the university include many of hawaii's best brightest the sizable native hawaiian called cajun japanese chinese filipino and pacific islander populations on our campuses reflect the great diversity of our state their years at the university of hawaii will prepare them to be the business community and political leaders of tomorrow i am proud to be among the two hundred fifty thousand university of hawaii alumni who not reside in every state in the union and at least eighty countries around the world this extended community brings the aloha spirit to the world at large just last week i was here on the floor of the house with my two green and white footballs in honor of the university warriors perfect two thousand and seven football season the warriors are the only college team in the country to go undefeated but they are just one of the you eight sports teams we cheer on across the islands from to basketball our athletes draw nearly seven hundred thousand fans to games every year this is a special year for higher education in hawaii not only is that the university of hawaii centennial but it is also the thirty fifth anniversary of the passage of title nine now known as the pass c t make equal opportunity and education act patsy was a friend and continues to be an inspiration to me this year the university of hawaii joining to me and congress and honoring patsy and her trailblazing work to open the doors of higher education to women across the country i want to take a moment to thank the people who make the university of hawaii what it is today david mcclain the current president of the university and the seventeen presidents who have come before him have all been leaders dedicated to excellence and public higher education the phenomenal team of faculty and staff has truly made a positive difference in the lives of hundreds of thousands of students past and present those students in turn are making enormous contributions to our towns our state and our country my years at the university of hawaii and the late sixt were a time of awakening and questioning for me at tending the university made a profound difference in my life in fact all four members of hawaii's current congressional delegation have degrees from the university of hawaii am proud to work closely with the university of hawaii as a member of the house committee on education and labor as we come to the end of the one hundredth year in the university's history congratulations to all involved heres to resolution two sixty four honoring the university of hawaii for its one hundred years of commitment to public higher education in one thousand no seven the whole why the territorial legislature established the college of agriculture and mechanic arts in honolulu under terms of the us land grant legislation ten students began classes with thirteen faculty members in september the following year and the first graduates received degrees in one nine hundred twelve the university has been growing ever since hundred twelve the founding campus was renamed the college of hawaii and it moved to its present location in the minoa valley pig farms and kiwi groves were cleared for construction of the first permanent building to white hall six years later william kwai farm yap petitioned the legislature for university status and the campus became the university of hawaii in one nine hundred twenty after the the december one thousand nine hundred one attack on pearl harbor classes were suspended for two months and you know versity of why students of japanese ancestry formed the varsity victory volunteers to assist with civil defense many of whom later became a part of the famous one hundred one hundredth infantry battalion in  sixty four the university of hawaii community college a system was established with four additional campuses two years later the founded campus now called you age minoa established a school of travel industry management and the four runner programs of the in two thousand why voters overwhelmingly supported constitutional autonomy for the university of hawaii ensuring the institution more control in the manage it management of its resources honolulu how to lulu community college was selected to be one of only six cisco training academies in the country to offer certified network professional training and maui community college continued a tradition of statewide outreach by opening the molik i education cent additional highlights include winning the contract to manage the maui super can computing center for the air force research laboratory and in two thousand and three walls were raised for a new medical school and biomedical research facility today the university of hawaii system includes ten campuses and dozens of educational training and research centers across the hawaiian islands as a public system of higher education in hawaii u h offers opportunities as unique and diverse as the islands themselves u h is the state's leading engine for economic growth and diversification stimulating the local economy with jobs research and skilled workers and i'm happy to join my good friend and colleague representative hero no in honoring th and i would like to ask unanimous consent to extend to revise my remarks that objection misspeak or again i thank the general data from her image serrano and also the gentleman from of mr abercrombie for their sponsorship of this honors the one hundredth anniversary of one of our nation's great public institutions of learning the university of hawaii along with her one hundred one ten campuses established all over the state and some six hundred twenty certificate degree and post graduate programs for some fifty thousand students also currently attending the university mr speaker i echo the sentiments expressed are to about my colleague from hawaii this also exemplifies the the caliber and the leadership coming from this great state of hawaii i can think only of also of mrs patsy takemoto minke for the thirty fifth year and i was celebrating the piece of legislation that she championed while a member of this great institution and th of course is title line which is given authorization to promote and to enhance our women and athletic programs which currently now is taking place all over the country i also want to  y special commendation to the head coach of the university of illinois years june jones for doing something that is very special to our island community they are going to the sugar bowl and having a perfect record i am disappointed that colt brennan did not become the heisman trophy this year but be that as it may i do want to thank coach june jones for personally coming to my little territory american some more to recruit some of our football players who now make up in  large part members of the university of hawaii warrior team i'm also reminded that some of the great leaders of our country are alumnus of the university of hawaii as a former member of the hundred battalion four forty second infantry reserve battalion i can only think of senators you know and the late senator spock matson are both graduates of the university of hawaii i need not share with my colleagues the prominence and the tremendous leadership these gentlemen have also exemplified while serving the great state of hawaii but she speak or over the years the universe has been the center of higher education for many of our pacific island leaders from oceania name the from they stress center since its inception in one thousand nine hundred sixty three is a unique institution which over the years has brought scholars and leaders from all over the world to meet and discuss issues that are especially important to our nation's economic political and social and especially strategic and military interests with countries of the asian pacific region and the university of hawaii there to this day still is part of the east west center's current activities and programs mr speaker i'm especially proud that just a few days ago and alumnus of the university of hawaii who happens to be a relative also mr can you must tell all whose parents mr simi and lon numa tell of from the little village of but to enroll as a student and to obtain a good education mr speaker again my congratulations not only to my distinguished friend and your colleague mr hirono for introducing this legislation but to honor this great institution the university of hawaii and i you back to bounce on my time gentleman yield back as kind gentle from louisiana mississippi cry coming from the state of the great state of louisiana i wish to issue a warm welcome to the university of hawaii as they come to new orleans for the sugar bowl i also want to congratulate them on a perfect regular season for their football team mr big i have no further members on the side wishing to speak i'm prepared to yield back if the g cheer on our undefeated team there at the warriors i would like to add also mr speaker that to my colleague neil abercrombie who is even as we speak on a plane coming to coming back to washington d c is of course a very much in support of this resolution as i mentioned all four members of our cause bushnell delegation has one degree or another from the university of hawaii in neil's case it is a ph d and he also had taught at the university of hawaii i'm looking forward to also working with mr miller on reauthorization of the higher education act which has helped the university of hawaii so much over the years and it's an honor for me to be on the higher education committee because the university of hawaii unlike many other states is the institution of higher learning in h public institution of higher learning in hawaii which is why literally hundreds of thousands of us have matriculated at the university and we have a lot of a lot to be thankful for the kind of quality education that the university of hawaii has offered to us and continues to to do so for the fifty thousand or so students who are on campuses all across the state and as we are moving forward to celebrate our hundredth anniversary we are even now prepared to move forward to create further campuses on oahu and the neighbor islands to afford more educational opportunities particularly in the rule areas of our state for for students in those areas so with that mr speaker thank you very much and my colleague from louisiana once again mohali loa each and every one of you to say in support of this resolution return and i yield back the remainder of my time questionnaires with the house suspend the rules and agree to house concurrent resolution two sixty four those in favor say aye those polled say no in the opinion of the chair two thirds being in the affirmative the rules are suspended become current resolution is agreed to and without objection the motion reconsider is laid on the table mystery for what purpose john from missouri rise mr speaker i move that the house of spin the rules and agree to house resolution seven eight by the purple report the title resolution kathryn's relations seven eighty five resolution recognizing the one hundredth anniversary of rob town texas pursuant to the rules the gentleman from missouri mr clay and the gentleman from california extend their remarks that objection thank you mr speaker as a member of the house committee on oversight and government reform i am pleased john my colleagues in this in the consideration of house resolution seven eighty five which recognizes the one hundred anniversary of rob's town texas eight red seven eighty five which was introduced by representative solomon p r g s on october thirtieth two thousand and seven was reported from the oversight committee on november eighth two thousand and seven by a voice vote this measure has been co sponsored by fifty three members known as the biggest little town in texas a rob stay on is known for its international trade oil and involvement in the agriculture and cotton industries i misspeak i commend my colleague for the recognition of the one hundredth anniversary of assist oric town and i urge t passage of this bill and mrs misspeak i reserve the valance of my task gentlemen reserves this time to turn from california i think the speaker and i think the gentleman from missouri and i join with him in urging the passage of this  important commemorative piece of legislation recognizing as the gentleman said the biggest little town in texas and its one hundredth anniversary certainly robinson texas  robson texas located in north central new ss county which was established in one thousand nine hundred six by a real estate developer from iowa says a great deal about the development of texas and of the texas mexican railroad connection from port of laredo to the port of core court corpus christi christie we need a texan up here mr speaker the and along state highway forty four the sustainability of a small town both before during and after the industrial revolution throughout a period of development in texas that took it from a state from a state that was rural in every sense to a celebration irresolution are especially important to me because rob's down a city of about fourteen thousand people is my hometown i was born and rear and raised there attended public schools there and hel my first first job as a printer's devil with the local newspaper the rough stone record pradhan vegetable farming played an important role in the history and economy of rock star name after prominent local leader rober town where citizens are deeply committed to public service we have seen sons and daughters to chase the history of local state and federal offices they have all serve in our military they have distinguished themselves in military services we've had county commissioners sheriffs district attorneys district judges federal judges state representatives and this proud member of the congress who came out from this little town of fourteen thousand people ruffed and also hundred sixty olympic team who later arne and engineering degree at night school also called rob's down my home town kathy grant steph from rough town she married being cross be who we all know our students celebration on june the first one of the greatest traditions is the annual cotton fast held in october this year was was the biggest ever event that we've had we have live music arts and crafts a sports competition cuckolds contest carnivals and he started at c b s provide something for everyone in the community we also have so much to look forward to as our town continues to grow rough down into the twenty first century a entertainment venue my hometown is the future home of an inland port which would be the first such port in the in the united states and the future home of an army storage facility and no trip to rob stein would be complete without a without a good feeling yourself up with stuff that says best barbecue at joe cottons cotton is an iconic restaurant for many of you have joined me for lunch in south texas style it is where presidential candidates athletes business people cowboys writers astronauts generals admirals and other celebrities and thousands of others they even fly on their own helicopters to eat a joke on rough town is the best of our community in south texas it's from friendly family oriented and proud of their history it was in rough stuff for my mother taught me my most important lesson to always serve the community that gave you so many opportunities growing up to when much is given much is expected please join me on ring  rules are suspended the resolution is agreed to and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table mr speaker gentleman from missouri mrs speaker i move that the house suspend the rules and agree to h r four zero zero nine the clerk will report the title of the bill heechul are four zero zero nine a bill to designate the facility of the united states postal service located at five six seven west reform i am pleased to join my colleague from california in the consideration of h r four zero zero nine which names a postal facility in lapeer michigan after the family h of four zero zero nine which was introduced by representative candice miller on october third of two thousand and seven was reported from the oversight committee on november eleventh two thousand and seven by a voice vote this measure which has been co sponsored by fourteen members has the support of the entire michigan congressional delegation to real family dates back to the earliest settlers in the l area they are a strong representation of what the lab here is filed founded upon and archer remembered as honest hard working farmers and leaders within the the community dr minor that we've had in a long time and with that i'd like to yield ten minutes to the gentle lady from michigan the author of this bill turner ladies recognized thank you very much i appreciate the gentleman yielding mr speaker as a representative in this house for the great community of the poor michigan are rising very very strong support of this resolution to honor one of the founding families of this great community lapeer michigan is truly an all american city its population is just under ten thousand people and it serves as a county seat for the county of appear the community as well kate at the base of michigan's thumb and its heritage has its deeply based in the agricultural tradition of michigan in fact it is home to mainly family farm families have tile till the fertile soil of this area since  communities founding and today these farms continue to serve as an important part of our bread basket in michigan the community has always been home to the pioneering spirit they can do attitude that exemplifies america and no family represents the spirit of this great community more than a turtle family and one hundred thirty to five years before michigan joined the union as a state doctor mine alter all settled in the poor with his elder parents and the turl became the third known family actually to settle in that area dr terrill and his family quickly became respected leaders in the community and upon the opening of the lapeer united states post office in eight hundred thirty three dr turl became the area's first postmaster for that alone it is fitting that the lapeer post office be named in their honor but the turl gave back so much more to this fine community during the civil war many members of the charles family serve the cause of freedom on behalf of the union this included captain j h toral who made the ultimate sacrifice on behalf of the union when he was killed in action at anti antonym in eight hundred sixty two in fact the lapeer post office and the group of the grand army of the republic was named in his honor and served as a gathering point for all of the veterans of that conflict from the area in eight hundred sixty nine lapeer was incorporated as a city in michigan and the voters elected james earl to serve as the first mayor of this community the turtles continued throughout the years to provide leadership to this great community and honored the dedication to community and the contributions made by the turok family earlier this year mr speaker i contacted the lapeer county historical society and i spoke to them about my desire to name the post office in the pier after a distinguished citizen from the community worthy of the honor and i asked for their guidance and assistance on who was deserving of such an honor and this was their response the lapeer a county historical society recommends that the lapeer post office being named the turtle post office the turtle family dates back to the earliest settlement in the pier in the lapeer area they have always been remembered as honest hardworking farmers and leaders of the lapeer community a committee was appointed and met on the sixth of july to review a two page list of names and was the unanimous choice mr speaker it is entirely appropriate that this house take this action today to honor one of the pioneering families in a great michigan community a family that worked hard to give back to the community a family that took a leadership role in shaping the community earns its respect and it has a highly valued place in the history of lapeer michigan and i want to thank the members of all of here historical society for their assistance and their guidance in this effort and i thank the leadership today for bringing this legislation to the floor and i will thank the members of this house for their expected support and honoring this great family and i certainly thank the members of the terrell family who did so much to make lapeer the wonderful community that has become i yelled back the balance of my time gentleman from missouri there are young men reserves jim and from california i rules and pass h r four thousand nine those in favor signify by saying i was opposed no in the opinion of the chair two thirds being in the affirmative the rules are suspended and the bill is passed and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table days in which to revise and extend their remarks without objection the speaker i would feel myself as much time as i am i can soon yeomans recognized as a member of the house oversight and government reform committee i'm flees to join my colleagues in support of this resolution to support the goals of national firefighter appreciation day age raise six ninety five as amended was introduced on up to over the first two thousand and seven by representative john campbell on november eighth two thousand and seven the committee reported the bill amended by voice vote ages six ninety five ensures that a day of recognition granted to the courageous firefighters of the united states who put their lives at risk in order to guarantee the safety of our citizens over the last few months as emergences across this country have been declared and millions have been evacuated from their homes our nation's firefighters have rushed to serve and protect those whose lives than livelihoods were in jeopardy it is important to commemorate their great efforts and service with the day of honor and so i commend my colleague for sponsoring this measure and i urge a swift passage and i would reserve the balance of my time gentleman reserves jemma california mr speaker i join with my colleagues in supporting national firefighters appreciation day this year particularly as a californian it's appropriate that this was authored by a californian and that i have the opportunity to personally thank the men and women who saved lives and property in california just a month and a half ago but of course firefighters do that every day throughout the country not just in wildfires that consume hundreds of thousands of acres interestingly enough firefighters also carry automatic external defibrillators and save lives every day firefighters are not just people who put out fires there are people who train in the prevention and fire there are people who train in emergency procedures a save lives there are people who answer to so many calls in our community the fact is a nine eleven we understood that firefighters go in the direction where anyone anyone should be running from and they do so with no regard for their own safety if they do so because that's what firefighters job is firefighters do not shy away from riots they do not shy away from the worst inferno and they do not shy away from earthquakes in my home state and other disasters in fact the term american hero is best attributed to the men and women who every day train to go into fires to find and richer reap retrieve people and in fact not to leave the site until all life has been preserved and all property to the best of their ability has also been maintain mr speaker i join with my colleagues in recognizing their heroism not just in california two months ago but in fact throughout the country of our firefighters injured support and passage of national firefighters appreciation day but that i reserve the gentle lady is recognized for ten minutes i thank the gentleman for yielding that's a speaker i certainly rising very strong support of this resolution to honor and to celebrate america's firefighters wherever and whatever the danger every american knows that america's firefighters  just moments away from coming to their rescue putting their lives on the line to save and protect others in their communities and no one will ever forget the very vivid example of the bravery of our firefighters that was exhibited on some september eleventh two thousand and one on that horrific day as thousands were fleeing for their lives and running from buildings we witnessed firefighters actually running toward the danger as others were running away from the danger which is the natural human instinct of firefighters and first responders were running toward the danger running into these buildings and they did this knowing that many would most likely not come out but these brave men and women are professionals who understood that it was their duty to protect their fellow citizens and they did so their brave actions on that day no doubt saved countless lives and through those actions they are in the gratitude of those who were saved in the respect of the entire world throughout this country firefighters perform similar acts of heroism every day and that we can never properly repay them for their dedicated service to our communities we should take action to honor them for their hard work their bravery and their dedication firefighters should never doubt that they have the eternal gratitude and respect of the american people that they serve so faithfully the establishment of a national firefighter appreciation day well help remind everyone of the tremendous work that our firefighters do each and every day and we should take the time to recognize those efforts mr speaker they prevent tragedies from happening they respond respond instantly when tragedies occur and they help pick up the pieces in tragedies aftermath they are there to help in some of the worst times in people's lives guiding them through with their brave helping hands i certainly appreciate the work of the sponsors of this bill and bring it to the floor and i urge all of my colleagues to support the adoption of this important resolution so that we the assembled representatives of the american citizens can show america's firefighters the support of  those opposed no new painting of the chair two thirds being in the affirmative the rules are suspended the resolution is agreed to and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table with without objection the title is gentleman from illinois the speaker i move that the house in the route agrees to s five ninety seven as amended the clerk will report the title of the bill senate five ninety seven and act to extend the special postage stamp or breast cancer research for four years pursuant to the rule the gentleman from illinois mr davis the gentleman from california mr eisen will each control twenty minutes the chair recognizes the gentleman from illinois  all members may have five legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks without objection thank you mr speaker and now it's my pleasure to yield such time as he might consume t illinois mr davis for yielding the time and for his leadership on this supplementing with this piece of legislation asked five nine seven as amended in shew as greater accountability by reauthorization of the breast cancer research stamp until two thousand and eleven i am grateful to senator senator feinstein for agreeing to this change now the senate version of the breast cancer similar postal will be identical to the measure i sponsored h r twelve thirty six which was unanimously passed by the heils on october thirtieth two thousand and seven unlike many programs that are not reauthorized timely but continue to operate the breast cancer research day i must be reauthorized or the u s postal service will discontinue selling the staff being haltered halted i contacted the postmaster general of the u s postal service to ensure that sales would continue and i was issue it at a snap would not be removed from shelves however the senate must this bill by december thirty first mr speaker let me again thank all of the breast cancer arnaz agent the postal service and my colleagues in the house and senate for their support i urge my happily with the gentleman from missouri and my own home state senator senator feinstein in urging immediate passage of this renewal this extension is not only critical but it comes at a time when those of us  this house floor are still remembering the recent loss of congresswoman joanne davis yes in fact today could be considered to be congresswoman jo ann davis is breast cancer awareness day because it's not just th statistic of one hundred eighty thousand people mostly women getting breast cancer or forty thousand dying it's a friend and a colleague who fought valiantly through not only this congress but the previous congress and almost but did not win against the stretta disease breast cancer awareness stamp are not about the fifty four million dollars raised although that goes a long way toward adding to the research pool it's about the countless millions of people who receive a stamp that sends a message that reminds them to get that available mammogram to in fact do a self test to be aware of lumps to be aware of the possibility of this terrible invasive disease taking the life of their wife their daughter their mother so i joined again in in urging the passage of this and i might take a personal liberty that you don't often see on the house floor my opponent in my last race and god willing my opponent in this race genie chris sends out is presently fighting cancer i saw her yesterday in california dealing with the effects of chemo her detection was relatively early she has a good chance but they things like this that the house does that sometimes get criticized as not substantial legislation that hopefully will save women like my opponent and friend jeannie chris hands out from the kind of terrible tragedy that befell joanne davis and so many other women last year and with that i y of representative joe and davis is served with us on the oversight and government reform committee and the speaker s five ninety seven as amended now mirrors the house version of the breast cancer reauthorizes the sale of the breast cancer stamp for an additional four years from two thousand and seven to two thousand and eleven the bill also follows up on the government accountability office as recommendations that the relevant agencies report the use of monies received from the sale of the stamp included in a description of any significant advances accomplishments that were funded by the sales as a member of the oversight committee subcommittee on federal workforce postal service in the district of columbia representative clay is to be commended for his diligence and patience but working with all parties and securing an acceptable compromise on the sale of the breast cancer stamp i know proudly that the united states postal service has sold over seven hundred eighty five point six million breast cancer research stamps from what fifty four thousand six hundred twenty six million dollars have been transferred to the national institutes of health and the department of of of health the breast cancer research and awareness a speaker i think the public to buy in the breast cancer so my post the stamp and the numerous organizations for lending their strong support for its continuation with your help i'm confident that we will find a q i would swift passage of this bill and again commend my representative i have from missouri our colleague representative clay for his introduction and i would will the house suspend the rules and pass senate nine five nine seven as amended those in favor say aye those opposed no in the opinion of the chair two thirds being in the affirmative the rules are suspended and the bill is passed and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table without objection the title is amended eight of title five hundred nine it states code relating to selective service registration percent of the role of the gentleman from illinois mr davis the gentleman from california mr isay each control twenty minutes the chair recognizes the gentleman from illinois chairman of the committee and mr isay for all of the work on this legislation it was it was drafted this legislation was drafted with the help and the cooperation of veterans administration the office of personnel management the selective service current laws governing federal employment do not draw a very clear distinction between those who do not register for the selective service through an oversight and those who knowingly and willfully avoid registration we're essentially taking under current law we're lumping sort of the innocent along with the with the guilty and we want to we will this legislation is an effort by these agencies to correct what's what's wrong with this with this legislation and to make sure that we can  can protect those who do this in an unknowing fashion the bill sets out to correct this by exempting individuals from employment in eligibility who failed to register for the selective service but were honorably discharged from active duty in the armed services and second it would allow current federal employees who at least at age thirty one to remain eligible for federal employment despite their failure to register effectively and this would effectively change the lifetime ban from employment to a five year ban which would coincide with a statue of limitations it so there would be to the full ability to prosecute those individuals that we felt who wrongfully failed to to register for the for the draft this would have a big impact on that on the caseload and i would also make sure that we do not deny many of our our agents these the talents and the abilities of individuals who have been caught in this in this conundrum that is that has taken place and this has been after many months of negotiation mystery he says been a vital part of these negotiations with the with selective service with with the veterans administration and with the with the office of personnel management and i would encourage all of my colleagues to support this legislation i think it restores to law the intent for which it was it was passed and keeps us from punishing those individuals who are now or not guilty of knowingly fail to refusing to  forces us to look and look more carefully at flaws in our legislation this one is a good example chris fracking is a citizen of the united states who has been employed at the department of veterans affairs medical center in san there lies the rub he was sworn in as american citizen he came here after from the philippines after he turned eighteen unaware that he should register with the selective service after there was in fact no draft or likelihood of anyone being called if they did he failed to do so in one thousand nine he did try though when he discovered that this was a lifetime requirement in one thousand nine hundred four but in fact this was not allowed this is a gentleman who has been a good citizen who in fact fell through the cracks this legislation today after careful scrutiny in harmony with many organizations but most importantly at the leadership of the the director of the selective service in fact makes it possible for us to continue to urge men with men to register for the selective service and treat them fairly if through no fault of their own they failed to do so with that i urge the swift passage of this bill it's good legislation to correct a minor flaw and i join with my colleague from from for mentioning mr fracking because this is a case that really was just so absurd and how it was being played out because of the circumstances that he found himself caught in but more importantly it would also had the potential to deny the veterans service of the v a hospital in san francisco the very skilled talents of this individual they went to bat they recognize that they too had made a mistake inadvertently they made a mistake but they did not want to lose his skill and his talents to our to our veterans coming through that to that hospital and it was really at their their insistence their their concern that that brought this case to the to the forefront and allowed us to be able to work it out  with with the office of personal service and selective service and i know as we explained it we talked about it back and forth in history so first i don't think he thought this could possibly be going on but we convinced him that it that it was and this is this is exactly the kind of case that this legislation is designed to it to address you know we don't we don't harmony's individuals in the manner in which was possible for mr fracking thank you and i will back the balance of my time i thank you gentleman introduced on november the seventh two thousand and seven by representative george miller and there are i say the legislation would provide for exemptions from determinations of an eligibility for federal employment individuals who have not registered with the selective service those who have received an honorable discharge from the armed services who have performed at least ten years of federal service would no longer be deemed under current law all males born after december thirty first one thousand nine hundred eighty nine must register with the selective service by their twenty sixth birthday in order to be eligible for employment in the federal government an individual who has not registered with the selective service is not eligible for federal employment unless he can prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the failure to register was neither nolan narwhal this means that the individual must prove to a high legal standard that he did not know he was required to register thought he had registered a jar forty one  exempt from this requirement individuals who were on a really really discharge from the services we have ten years of service in the federal government a job what i want to lead was introduced on november the seven the opinion of the chair two thirds being in the affirmative the rules are suspended in the bill is passed and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table for what purpose does the gentle lady from kansas rise it's a speaker i move to suspend the rules and pass house concurrent resolution two sixty one as introduced the clerk or report the title of the concurrent resolution house concurrent resolution t twenty second one thousand nine hundred ninety percent of the rule the gentleman from kansas ms boyda and the gentleman from virginia ms great each will control twenty minutes the chair recognizes gentleman from kansas thi is speaker i yield myself such time as i might consume and ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks on the resolution under consideration without objection the gentle lady has recognized it for speaker i rise today in support of house concurrent resolution two sixty one commemorating the centennial anniversary of the sailing of the navy's great white fleet launched by president theodore roosevelt on december sixteenth nineteen ost seven from roads virginia and returning there on feb twenty second nineteen zero nine i would like to thank my colleague from virginia ms thelma drake and my friend and colleague on the house armed services committee for bringing this measure before the house it was the atlantic fleet later to be known as the great white fleet for its pristine decor that launched the united states into the realm of the maritime overnight over fourteen thousand sailors made an extraordinary voyage across the world from virginia in the atlantic ocean around south america's cape horn to san francisco from there the crew sailed the pacific ocean the indian ocean to the mediterranean sea and back to the united states stopping in such great nations as australia and italy to forge and secure diplomatic friendships that continue to this day in fourteen months the great  demonstrated to the entire world that the united states is committed to both military maritime presence as well as international humanitarian aid this coming sunday december sixteenth marks the one hundredth year since the beginning of that voyage in the past one hundred years we have maintained these commitments and continue deployments of naval ships including hospital ships the mercy and comfort to provide aid and assistance to those in time of need this centennial is an appropriate time to celebrate and renew our continued commitment to responsible international stewardship mr speaker i urge my colleagues to support resolution two sixty one and i reserve the balance of my time gentle lady reserves the balance of her time joe women from virginia mr speaker i yield my all such time as i might consume gentle avi's recognized mr speaker i rise  strong support of house concurrent resolution two sixty one a resolution i introduce to commemorate the centennial anniversary of the launching of the great white fleet andy samberg sixteenth one thousand nine hundred seven sixteen battleship including of course the u s s virginia launched from norfolk for a fourteen month long cruise around the world envisioned by president theodore roosevelt himself a former assistant secretary of the navy as an opportunity to showcase the military and humanitarian might of the united states the flea sailed over forty two thousand miles around the globe travelling around the tip of south america across the pacific and indian oceans through the suez and the mediterranean and back across the atlantic to norfolk upon arriving in egypt the fleets commanding officer rear admiral charles berry dispatched two of its battleship to assist in providing humanitarian assistance to victims of an earthquake that had ravaged sicily the cruise which has earned its place in american naval history as one of the single greatest achievements of the twentieth century foreshadowed events in two thousand and four when the u s navy provided assistance and comfort to the victims of the tsunami in indonesia and neighboring countries and again in two thousand and five when assistance was provided to the victims of hurricane katrina the event also foreshadowed the debate in washington regarding the size of the u s fleet and the needed industrial capacity painted white and visible for miles the fleet cars president roosevelt to ask rhetorically oughtn't we all feel proud i can surely sympathize as the representative of virginia's second congressional district i fully understand the proud sensation of driving across the hampton roads bridge tunnel and seeing the wrought naval power that is home ported in norfolk that moment of pride transcends into a moment of pause when witnessed by our enemies and a moment of comfort wind witnessed by our friends president roosevelt understood the concept of force projection before the churn was fashionable our great tradition of naval power was not founded by president roosevelt but he understood it and harnessed it foreshadowing the great challenges of the twentieth century and today i would know mr speaker that the idea of sending our fleet halfway around the world was not an idea widely accepted in congress and yet president roosevelt through his leadership and determination and in his role as commander in chief set out to do what he thought was right sending a message long before it could be done over a computer that the united states was now an a list celebrity on the world stage and it worked upon its return the headline of the washington post dated february twenty one one thousand nine hundred nine red eyes of world opened by fleet mr speaker ask most students of history about the achievements of president theodore roosevelt and i imagine that they will start with the panama canal i introduced this resolution in part because i feel that president roosevelt's historic vision of a strong blue water navy as the cornerstone of american foreign policy should never be forgotten thank you mr speaker and i reserve the balance of my time jen lady reserves gelati from kansas i would just like to close in saying that as the proud daughter of a naval veteran from world war two i again thank my colleagues from virginia for bringing forth this resolution and i urge my colleagues to support concurrent resolution two sixty one and i'm prepared to close if my colleague is that i yield back the balance of my time gelati from ginia yields back jelly in kansas i yield back my time yields back all time is expired the question is will the house suspend the rules and agree to house concurrent resolution two six one those in favor signify by saying i those opposed no in the opinion of the chair two thirds being in the affirmative the rules are suspended the concurrent resolution is agreed to and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table the chair lays before the house the following communication the honorable the speaker house of representatives madam pursuant to the permission granted in clause two eight of rule two of the rules of the u s house of for what purposes gentleman from minnesota arise a speaker i move to suspend the rules and pass the bill h r four three four three the fair treatment for experienced pilots act the clerk will report the title of the bill h r forty three forty three a  to amend title forty nine united states code to modify age stand for pilots engaged in commercial aviation operations pursuant to the rule the gentleman from minnesota mr oberstar and the gentleman from wisconsin mr p try well each control twenty minutes the chair recognizes the gentleman from minnesota to speak ratnam as consent all members may have five lives that have days was revised in their remarks and on the present pending bill without objection gentleman from minnesota i yield myself the times i may consume gentleman is recognized by the speaker this legislation will raise the retirement age for commercial airline pilots from eight sixty to age sixty five for more than three generations pilots have been  required to retire from commercial aviation when they reach age sixty there's been a number of changes in both the medical condition and medical examination of pilots recurring and more intensive medical reviews that argue for a longer period of time for  or the age of commercial pilots have been changes in the economics of aviation that have rearranged the retirement plans for pilots in midstream some cases wiping out retirement plans altogether in other cases totally restructuring them which two factors argue for a change in the retirement age we responded to that changed circumstance or changed circumstances in the f a a reauthorization act of two thousand and seven which moved from our committee through the house on september twentieth it was our hope that the other body would move ahead with an f a a reauthorization bill that hasn't happened as time went on and the other body continued to be locked in whatever  difficulties they encounter there were increasing appeals from pilots from airlines from traveling public frankly to separate out this provision from our very reluctant to do that in hopes that we would use this provision among others as as leverage and as part of our integral package on  other body is not going to even move a bill through committee in the waning days of the session it then became clear to me there was no reason for there to to delay action on this  matter of justice for commercial airline pilots furthermore the f a a forecasts of increasing airline travel to more than a billion passengers in the next seventy years and retirements among airline pilots are up a hundred seventy three percent we're seeing almost every day five or more of the most senior experienced our drawn out and and included in h r forty three forty three one that pilots will reach the age sixty to serve beyond that time frame must have a first class medical certificate renewed every six months second they must continue to participate in f a a pilot training in qualification programs to ensure acceptable levels of skill and judgment and three they they must submit to a line check every six months that assures that pilots who are continuing to serve beyond age sixty will  all the threshold requirements of skill the capability alertness responsiveness to their ever increasing ever increasingly difficult challenges in addition our bill requires international flights leaving the us to have at least one pilot under the age of sixty and that applies international standards in the flight deck at this requirement would terminate if the international standard were changed the increased pilot age limit is not retro active however and does not allow pilots to reach age sixty prior to an accident to serve as  commercial pilot unless they are employed by an air carrier as required flight deck crew member or are newly hired on after the date of an accident without credit for prior service i believe that moving this legislation now we can also get it through the other body and quick order will have a profound and personal effect on the lives of thousands of pilots who otherwise would be forced to retire we've had consensus within the committee on this  issue question is whether we should take it out at this time or leave it in the house passed bill for for consideration later in conference with the other body clearly as i said earlier we're not going to get to that point and mr costello has advocated strongly that we consider at an appropriate time moving the legislation separately he's  similarly advocated so i think we move ahead with a broad consensus measure that should pass the house readily and hopefully the other body as well or preserve the balance of my time gentleman reserves gentleman from wisconsin  thank you very much mr chairman i would first like to welcome the chairman of our committee back it's good to see you standing strong and firm after elective surgery a couple of weeks hospitalisation and bringing a christmas present with you to the pilots of our country especially those who otherwise might be forced to retire if this is unnecessarily delayed as you pointed out we'd hoped to  move it in a timely fashion year ago the international community lowered the standard to sixty and now we're in a transition period and we hope this passes today and the s fashion because each day we delay a few more people are our careers are disrupted unnecessarily so i thank you for for scheduling this and i yield such time as you may consume to  back mr oberstar mr oberstar my colleagues you know he and i have had the great experience of working since fifteen years ago when i came to congress he was chairman of aviation i became the ranking member on the republican side when he became chair of the committee we'd have a great year we probably passed more legislation than any other committee we passed a historic water resources bill  we actually did i think as one hundred seventh override of a presidential veto we agreed in a bipartisan fashion to invest in our nation's infrastructure our sorry mr oberstar wasn't here to see that that glorious day it's very lonely not having a there him fighting with you or not having him here to fight with but to replace these back and hopefully had a experience republican physician doing all those  titanium additions to his spine but he looks great and we are pleased to have him here and i'm also pleased that through his leadership in a joint bipartisan effort and i wrote him on december fifth i'm going to ask that this letter be part of the record saying that while i oppose taking other measures out of the pending f a a reauthorization i want to keep the pressure on we need to pass that bill that there is there is a particular provision that  whose interest is paramount to that legislation and that's doing away with an obsolete and unfair f a mandatory retirement rule that every day is penalize our pilots in fact more than fifty per fifty of our nation's most experienced pilots of commercial airline airliners are forced to retire now this bill is entirely fair treatment for experience and i'd like to also say give a personal example of why i think this is important titles important i might even want to mend the title in honor of one of the guys i went to college with a buddy of mine his name is bob folks most people in congress don't know about folks but bob and i were a fraternity brothers went to the university of florida let me tell you there's nobody more devoted as far as a pilot i think the only thing other than his wife laurie and his family that bo devoted to and that's flying and bob has not failed on any occasion to mention to me that he is going to be affected by this particular outdated rule that was passed nearly a half a century ago when  males and females are to live as long as they do in our society so we are addressing something that personally affects folks like bob folks and thousands of other pilots who are dedicated to one of the the great professions that's given the world in america in particular a magic carpet too to get around to places that people wouldn't even imagine to they could be fifty years ago so as of november sixth two thousand and six we also know that for an airline pilots are allowed to fly up to age sixty five so our collar parts across the atlantic are doing this to us sets up a double standard unfortunately and i think that it is a disadvantage to the flying public to again not have our most experienced individuals in the cockpit and being able to fly as the chairman oberstar pointed out there are additional protections here for the flying public that they are these individuals will be subject even more medical exams and making certain that they are fit and capable  even in these additional years that we grant the freedom to fly act h r eleven twenty five was introduced earlier by into the transportation and infrastructure committee by  one of our outstanding leaders an aviation also a pilot robin hayes the gentleman from north carolina and he has three hundred thirteen bipartisan sponsors on his legislation robin hayes cannot be here so i wanted to also give credit to not only do at the right time and i'd like to thank you again all those who've been involved some of the staff members on both side of the aisle who helped bring this measure forward i encourage members to vote yes on this sense and desperately mica for their good wishes and welcome back it is a good feeling to recovered from rather extensive surgery and i have fond of saying now i have more metal in my neck than in some of my bicycles because their carbon fiber and these are titanium rods and screws and i'm learning to live in a different way with this new architecture in my in my cervical spine but it's a good feeling to recover use of hands and you may consent mr speaker thank you and i too would like to join our colleagues on the other side of the aisle in welcoming our chairman back let me say that on this legislation i think chairman oberst as he always does has summarized the legislation very well we have a similar provision in h r twenty eight eighty one that we passed out of the house on september twentieth and unfortunately as chairman oberstar indicated  it is pending in the other body it makes sense to pass this legislation at this time we are hopeful that by doing so today that the other body will act quickly and we in fact can get this over to the versus today goes from sixty something years old in the early sixty's to seventy seven years today so we have other provisions in the legislation as chairman oversteer indicated on international flights that  make certain that there is at least one person in the flight crew sixty years old are under sixty five secondly we have provisions to make certain that sickles and other health care issues are addressed by the pilots that will qualify let me say that i strongly support this legislation as chairman oberstar indicated both the mr featuring mr mike and myself mr hayes and other members of the committee broach this subject in attempted to bring it to the floor before today and i am very pleased that we are moving on this legislation i urged a yes vote in you know back the balance of my time forty three forty three those in favor signify by saying i was opposed no in the opinion of the chair two thirds being in the affirmative the rules are suspended the bill is passed and without objection the motion to reconsider laid a poster speaker on and that i demand the as in these they asian naser requested all those in favor of taking this vote by the asian age will rise remain standing a sufficient number having arisen the asian naser ordered pursuant to clause eight of rule twenty and the chairs prior announcement for the proceedings on this motion will be postpone r thirty nine eighty six a bill to amanda john f kennedy center act to authorize appropriations for the john f kennedy center for performing arts and for other purposes pursuant to the rule the gentleman from minnesota mr ober star and the gentleman from wisconsin mr p try will each control twenty minutes the chair recognizes the gentleman from minnesota  e the john f kennedy center for the performing arts is a national monument a national memorial correction  to fallen president one of the most loved and respected and admired presidents in our history that john f kennedy center for the performing arts was actually initially  become an extraordinary cultural center for the nation our committee has had the good fortune to hold george diction or over the physical facility of the kennedy center and of its operations and we have context i thank the gentleman for the district of columbia and ms norton who is the chair subcommittee on economic development public buildings and emergency management for her leadership on this bill as well as  bipartisan legislation dealing with the operations of the kennedy center since opening its doors september eighth one thousand nine hundred eighty one kennedy center is discontinued each year to nation so that high schools colleges universities can participate by satellite in live performances or in recorded performances of the kennedy center the center is and has crossed the threshold in the last couple of years by performing over three thousand performance outreach of the kennedy center under president might michael kaiser in the aftermath of the iraq war michael kaiser personally traveled to iraq to meet with the musicians of iraq the iraqi symphony the who were in many cases without instruments or had somehow sheltered them from the post invasion trauma and secured instruments for them and secured funding for travel of the iraqi symphony to the kennedy center trip to perform jointly with the national symphony orchestra an extraordinary gesture of international brotherhood and sisterhood of the arts mr president kaiser has traveled to africa to the far east japan and china to mobilize interest in the arts joint initiatives with the kennedy center and has actually stablished fallen well below the threshold of national concerns where people are more concerned about starvation and disease than they are about the arts president michael kaiser has raised the threshold raise the vision of arts managers in other countries and created a great future for the arts where ever he has traveled there as a over the past a decade a great deal of work at the kennedy center has focused on life safety and accessibility projects many of those are completed kennedy center's capitol is updated earlier this year emphasizes facility infrastructure over the next several years the kennedy center will focus on replacing mechanical and electrical systems that consist of original equipment that is well beyond its useful life or should be replaced by more efficient equipment and we provide authority for that work to continue to thousand and ten for maintenance repair and security the bill authorizes sixty four point five million over the three years for capital projects the bill authorizes fifty six point two million through two thousand  those are numbers derived from the kennedy center's two thousand and six two thousand and seven comprehensive building plan has worked its way through the administrative review process within the administration and the office of management and budget bill also also authorizes the center to study plan design and build a photovoltaic system on the four acre main roof of the kennedy center that's one hundred forty thousand square feet of brooks space  the energy consumption of our portfolio of federal civilian office space which this committee has responsibility of some three hundred sixty seven million square feet the federal civilian office space that we can we can cut down on the electricity bill of five billion eight hundred million dollars a year at those facilities we could save the taxpayers a lot of money and we could save the environment an awful lot of damage well good place to start is with the arts and with the kennedy center and with the department of energy building in the recently house passed version of the energy conservation bill so this  this initiative that we require would in itself be a tribute to president kennedy's longstanding views of the well known views of the environmental protection reserve the balance my time general serves the balance of his time someone and indicate that i support this measure i urge my colleagues to do the same i have no requests for time and i yield back to my time that objection a statement will be entered the record the gentleman yields back gentleman from minnesota myself sometimes i may consume mr speaker it is my earnest hope that the other body will act promptly on this legislation we certainly like to get the bill and acted before the close of this session congress we intend to pass this bill send it over to the other body in the hopes that they will simply accept or or make such technical or minimal changes as we can accept without having without the need for a conference with the other body and send this bill on to the president get the authorization in place in time for the for the upcoming budget cycle and with that  those opposed no in the opinion of the chair two thirds being in the affirmative the rules are suspended in the bill is passed and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table for what purpose the gentleman bill union calendar number two seventy nine eight hundred thirty nine eighty five a bill to amend kind of forty nine united states code to direct the secretary of transportation to register a person providing transportation by an over the road  a motor carrier passengers only if the person is willing and able to comply with certain a sensibility requirement in addition to other existing requirements and for other purposes pursuant to the rule the gentleman from minnesota m on the bill h r thirty nine eighty five without objection of the speaker i yield myself the times i may consume gentleman is recognized this legislation will ensure that the motorcoach accessibility regulations promulgated by department of transportation under the americans with disability act are vigorously monitored and actively enforced the leader in this initiative was our fellow citizens who saddled with disabilities under the americans with disabilities act the d o t was required to adopt a final rule which they did in one thousand nine hundred eighty requiring the vehicle modifications for inner city buses charter buses tour buses to accommodate individuals with disabilities but regulations have to be enforced to be effective and the federal motor car safety administration has interpreted the motor carrier statute in a way that limits the agency's ability to assess compliance with over the road bus accessibility regulations  that's not except that we've had quite some discussion about that issue and in fact a new version of the americans with disabilities act was introduced earlier this year by our majority leader mr hoyer and the the needs of the handicapped community relying so leon department of justice justice in forstmann authority the f m c essay felt that while it couldn't take action on violations of its own regulations by over the road bus companies in the u s court of appeals case peter pan bus lines and bonanza acquisition they the court rejected the claim that the agency does not have discretion to interpret the law to allow consideration of compliance with a da in the case was sent back to f m c s a for further review in february of this year but again the agency solution if the agency did not provide its own plans to comply with the idea requirements in the decision f m c s a defends its position that the agency does not have the authority to enforce the americans with disabilities act and said quote if congress intended to expand the fitness criteria to include compliance with additional d o t regulation such as forty nine c f r part of the seven it presumably would have said so while we're saying so today that's what they think they need then we're going to make sure they have the authority to do it there's no excuse for any further delay specifically the pending bill and then section one three nine zero two of title forty nine of u s code to prohibit the motor carrier safety administration from granting registration authority to a motor carrier providing overall bus transportation where that carrier is not willing or able to comply with the accessibility requirements h part thirty seven title forty nine c f r this bill will allow d o t to put compliance with a t on a par with compliance with safety requirements further clarify in this legislation that the secretary may suspend the men or revoke a motor carrier's registration in the event of willful failure to comply with a da we further required the o t and the justice department to enter into a memorandum of understanding  transportation overlaps so with what we're doing here in this legislation has precedence of over twenty years ago in a similar issue of transportation eighty eight was an act seventeen years ago we need to keep our vigilance over its enforcement make sure that the that the agency is doing its responsibility of oversight and that the carriers are complying with their responsibility to all members of the traveling public i reserve the balance of my time gentleman reserves gentleman from wisconsin that thank you very much  speaker i'll insert the full statement in the record in support of this legislation and only note that h r thirty nine eighty five will level the playing field for all bus and motor carrier companies operating in interstate yells back gentleman from minnesota miss speaker i have no for the request for time in your back bow legged gentleman yield back the balance of his time all time has expired the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass h r thirty nine eighty five those in favor signified by saying i was opposed no in the opinion of the chair two thirds being in the affirmative the rules are suspended and the bill is passed and without arisen the asian nasar ordered pursuant to clause eight of rule twenty and the chairs prior announcement for the proceedings on this motion are postpone friends for what purpose does the gentleman from minnesota right mr speaker i move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution h rest six six one as amended honoring the accomplishments of barrington antonio irving the youngest pilot in first person of african descent to fly solo around the world the clerk report barrington antonio irving the youngest person first person of african descent to undertake a twenty four thousand six hundred mile solo flight around the world his extraordinary accomplishment was speaker i rise today with great pleasure to commemorate the achievements of captain antonio barrington irving the youngest pollock and first person of african descent to fly solo around the consideration of this resolution since we introduced all a terrific sixty one my good friend congressman kendrick meek and i have been joined by a pot bipartisan coalition of forty three cols bonds of who also share our desire to encourage you to pursue careers in every aviation it is well holt that recognizing after moved to miami florida when he was fifteen years old he met captain gary robinson a jamaican airline pilot who became a lifelong mentor of his inspiring him to fly one day himself enduring the challenges of growing up in inner city miami erving never let is dreams of becoming a pilot be stifled irving worked miscellaneous  jobs to save for lessons and eventually earned a joint air force florida memorial university flight awareness scholarship to study aviation and take professional flying lessons b n took tremendous steps to pursue his dreams in the aviation while still a student at florida memorial university with the chairman of i'm sure that a colleague of yours and a mentor of mine when i first came to college to congress will be very proud of this young man william lehman of who at one time was of in the same position as yourself as chair of transportation or develop the program at florida memorial university of which allowed for a significant number of youngsters to achieve on status as are captains in aviation many of whom have gone on to become commercial airline pilots military pilots of variety and i'm sure the alabama bill some of us know and would be proud today the reason i mention it is of this made to sound irresponsible all because they are identified as earmarks then we need to be very cautious in this institution in that regard because we ignore a lot of times opportunities like in this particular case this young man contacted many companies and convinced the aircraft manufacturer of columbia to provide him with a plane to fly around the world if he could secure donations and the components after successfully securing donations barrington embarked on a twenty four thousand six hundred mile flight around the world from opa locka florida on march twenty third two thousand and seven only twenty three years of age he was still a senior majoring in a real space that program that i talked about that build him and helped to develop florida memorial university he was a senior at the time he began his flight he traveled the world as an ambassador of the v a issue teaching young people in twenty seven cities around the world about opportunities in aviation and the importance of academics he returned from his journey on june twenty seven two thousand and seven concluding his flight at the same small airport from where he began in miami dade county florida mr speaker mr chairman this young man embodies the pressure perseverance and dedication necessary to truly pursue one's dreams barrington irving deserves praise not only for his achievement but for the continued community contributions of experience aviation  nonprofit organization he found it to address the shortage of you pursuing careers in aviation i urge my colleagues to support this resolution i thank you mr chairman mr peters and the staff as we work on many initiatives to com that will reap prioritize opportunities in aviation for our youth and promote achievement in all fields of human and up thank you very much and i yield back the time to the chair the gentleman  american descent to fly solo around the world captain barrington irving was born in jamaica this was played out in one thousand nine hundred eighty three and raised in miami florida his lifelong dream was to become a pilot and this exceptional young man overcame great obstacles to make his dream a reality on march twenty third two thousand and seven after nearly four years of acquiring sufficient funds for his journey irving embark from miami florida on a twenty four thousand six hundred mile flight around the world in airplane rightly named inspiration the age of twenty three irving became the youngest person as well as the first african american pilot to fly around the world when he returned to miami on june twenty seventh two thousand and seven during his three month journey irving visited with young people in twenty seven cities around the world the greatest obstacles and can achieve their goals and proud to support this legislation i urge my colleagues to join me in honoring this exceptional young man and commemorating as it is this is a story been the wonderful to work with on this on this issue and to acknowledge that extraordinary achievement that the gentleman from florida mr hastings has set spelled out in such  graphic detail and well well said barrington irving did something truly extraordinary and flying around the world but more important than the flight was the  inspiration he has served has become for young people young people younger than him or his age who are fascinated with aviation and with aerospace people encouraging minorities in particular to pursue careers in aviation has a round the world trip and widespread community support and sponsorship more importantly as an inspiration for young people to aspire to something greater to themselves than themselves for the future gentleman from florida cited the initial investment  in the in the college program that stimulated young barrington's interest and at the city did his skill in aviation and appropriately mention our former colleague serve this chair of the transportation appropriations subcommittee and that had brought a very touching memory back to me as i worked with the then chairman lehmann in my capacity as chair of the aviation subcommittee to resolve a quickly to enact this legislation to acknowledge barrington antonio irving's contribution to aviation and inspiration to young people i yield back the balance of my time gentleman yield back all of the chair two thirds being in the affirmative the rules are suspended and the resolution is agreed to and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table francisco bay the clerk reports the titans resolution house resolution eight fifty three resolution honoring those who have volunteered to assist in the cleanup of the november seventh two thousand and seven or it will spill in san speaker i rise in strong support of house resolution eight five three introduced by my good friend and the distinguished speaker of the house nancy pelosi this resolution honors thousands of volunteers who helped clean the bay area's beaches and wildlife after the harmful oil spill of november seventh of this year the public's response to fifty eight thousand gallons of fuel polluting the bay typify how the san francisco bay community comes together during a bay area constituents were eager to volunteer their time and help minimize the negative effect to the bay area's fragile ecosystem for days and days after the spill they cleaned birds and comb the shoreline for oil residue and in some cases put their own health at risk in order to protect our bay in order to coordinate the volunteer efforts numerous organizations mobilize their members in support of the cleanup including save the bay the fishermen's association and the crab boat owner i am so proud of our bay area constituents how much energy they showed how much passion they showed and such dedication that they showed to the bay during this environmental disaster these volunteers deserve recognition from the house of representatives i strongly support house resolution eight five three and i reserve the balance of my time jen lady reserves gentleman from ohio thank you mr speaker i yield myself such time as i might  recognized the speaker house resolution eight fifty three honors the efforts of all of those volunteered to assist the response to the recent oil spill in san francisco bay last month a cargo vessel collided with a span of the san francisco bay bridge resulting in a gash to the vessels haul on the release of approximately fifty eight thousand gallons of fuel oil into the bay following reports of the oil spill the coast guard with its federal state and local government partners and this shit is a response to the spill which has resulted in the  four hundred forty personnel and the recovery of more than four thousand cubic yards of oily solids and addition to the critical work performed by the coast guard and other government officials literally thousands of volunteers and assisted in cleanup operations at beaches throughout the san francisco bay area volunteers have assisted professional cleanup crews in removing oil from beaches and have reported sightings of oil affected areas and impaired wildlife to oil spill person response personnel additionally volunteers were required to undergo at least four hours of hazardous waste in emergency response training before persists abating in the cleanup efforts i want to commend the speaker of the house ms pelosi and join with her today in thanking these volunteers and honoring their efforts to respond to this unfortunate event i also want to take time to thank all of the federal state and local officials for their efforts to contain and minimize the environmental and economic impact of the spill i urge all members to support this resolution and reserve the balance of our time som from where the spill was but i have to tell you that of the eight or nine million people that live in the bay area not one single one was completely unaffected by what happened on this terrible day of november seventh many of us are deeply concerned that this was an accident that should have happened that this was something that may have been prevented and i have to commend the speaker and the delegation from the bay area for moving very quickly on a bipartisan basis to begin hearings to be sure that we actually know what exactly happened so that it can be brant prevented in the future but today we're really here to celebrate the thousands of bay area members that came forward so quickly to volunteer to assist in the cleanup of the  bay at a time when it was in great jeopardy at a time when they put their own health at risk when for many of them it was a simple as just going down the road to the beach near their house and attempting to do whatever kind of cleanup expect could have the environmental impact of the spill is still being felt and certainly for the wildlife of the bay area it is still a question of how many will survive in the long term when you have this kind of bunker oil which is pretty toxic stuff come into the bay and flow on to these wild fowl and other animals it puts them in great jeopardy we believe that in san francisco that the bay is a national treasure we believe it is not only a source of environmental pride but it is also a place where many thousands of san franciscans and bay area people work we have obviously a very big crab industry big fishing industry and tourism of course is a big part of what we do in the bay area so we are deeply concerned about what happened on november seventh but i think that this is a good time to celebrate the activism and the volunteer ism of people of the bay area in the san francisco area i'm just waiting for one speaker to arrive not surprisingly it will be the speaker and i and i would like to at this time ask unanimous consent to add the speaker's remarks to the record let me just briefly if i might you know myself from time to speak for her and ladies as the speaker became as concerned as we all were immediately upon hearing about this and i brought the california bay area delegation together to understand what we can do  in our federal capacity to move this issue and it was the speaker's intention today to speak about the volunteerism of the bay area people hurt her speaks will be in the record and at this time i ask all of my colleagues to support introducing this resolution and again to commend the selfless acts thousands of selfless acts all the volunteers in the san francisco bay area also my good friend of the transportation committee mrs tauscher for her stewardship of this village passage and you'll back the balance of our time gentleman back all time is expired the question is will the house suspend the rules and agree to house resolution eight five three those in favor signify by saying i was opposed no in the opinion of the chair two thirds being in the affirmative the rules are suspended the resolution agreed to and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table what purposes gentleman from california arise mr speaker i move to suspend the rules and agree to a house resolution eight by five o'clock report the title of the resolution house resolution eight fifty five resolution providing for the concurrence by the house in the senate amendment to h r seven ninety seven with amendment percent to the room the gentleman from california mr filner in the gentleman from colorado mr lambourn leach control twenty minutes the chair recognizes the gentleman from california thank you mr speaker i rise in support of the dr james allen veteran vision equity act of two thousand and seven i was glad to be able to work with my colleagues on the veterans affairs on both sides of the aisle and in both houses to get here i wan mr rangle and his staff for their guidance on the provision that fell under the jurisdiction of the ways and means committee i especially want to thank our colleague from madison wisconsin congressm tammy baldwin who led the effort for this who got it to the floor today and who will explain it in whatever detail she thinks is important i would yield whatever time that she may consume thank you mr speaker chairman filner i rise in strong support of house resolution eight fifty five the dr james allen veteran vision equity act that i introduced earlier this year this bill be in the current paired oregon statute that has resulted in the denial of appropriate disability compensation to blinded veterans congress has rightly recognized that some human organs or limbs are designed to work in pairs legs hands kidneys lungs ears and of course eyes in the instance of eyes blindness in one eye profoundly affects depth perception even if sight is fully retained in the other eye the paired organ statute was written to assist those veterans who experience a service connected loss of apparent organ or limb this statute recognizes the interdependency of parent organs and endeavors to treat the combined disability created by a non service related injury or degeneration of the remaining paired organ or limb as though it were a result of the service connected disability in general the paired organ statute accomplishes this task with the exception of its treatment of eyes and loss of sight i want to share with you the story of dr james allen after whom this legislation is named dr allen is a professor of ophthalmology at the university of wisconsin school of medicine in my district he worked at the veterans affairs hospital for thirty three years and treated numerous i patients including veterans who are blind one example is dr don as mr donald may donna's world war two veteran who lost his right eye in a hand grenade explosion a few years ago mr maybe came legally blind in the non service connected last died he applied to the department of veterans affairs for help and was denied for their benefits he was told that the current law in regard to parrot organs did not apply to him even though he was legally blind in his service connected right after dr allen brought the plight of his patients to my attention i began to research why these veterans were being denied the benefits that i felt they deserved benefits that i believe congress intended to grant them through my work with the blinded veterans association we discovered that while the current pared oregon statute covers blindness in practice few if any veterans have ever been able to qualify for such compensation in theory the statute provides of a veteran who has service connected for blindness in one eye could qualify for additional disability compensation if they became blind in the remaining eye for non service connected reasons however the statute does not define the term blindness nor is any provision made for impairment of vision in the non survivors connected eye short of blindness rather than using visual acuity of twenty over two hundred a loss of field of vision to twenty degrees as the definition of legal blindness that has been adopted by all fifty states and the social security administration the department of veterans affairs uses a much more restrictive definition five over two hundred as a rating for legal blindness which in rough layman's terms is the equivalent of having an eye with light perception only as a result few if any blinded veterans are able to qualify for additional compensation under the paired oregon  statute house resolution eight fifty five the dr james allen veteran vision equity act fixes this problem it defines blindness as impairment of vision where the impairment is to a visual acuity of twenty over two hundred or less or a peripheral field loss a vision of twenty degrees or less this change in the law would affect only a small percentage estimated to be roughly five percent of the thirteen thousand plus about arens who are service connected for a loss of vision in one eye yet such a change would send a powerful message that our nation's blinded veterans and the hardships that they have faced are not forgotten indeed our nation's blinded veterans face significant challenges in the labor market the national institute on disability and rehabilitation research found that for individuals with visual impairments to the extent that they are unable to read letters the employment rate is only thirty point eight percent compared to eighty two percent for those without disabilities want to mention that this resolution complies with the pay go rules the costs associated with house resolution eight fifty five are fully offset this bill directs the secretary of veterans affairs and the secretary of health and human services to match and compare v a needs based pension benefits  data patient dependency and indemnity compensation data and employment company employment compensation data with the national directory of new hires maintained by d h h s for the purpose of determining eligibility for such benefits and services and according to the g a o such data matching will help reduce fraud and abuse within the v a system as it determines eligibility and benefits to those veterans thought to be unemployable but are indeed working i would like to just thank chairman filner subcommittee chairman john hall as well as congressman john bozeman and dick snyder for their unwavering support of this bill i also want to thank the staff of the veterans affairs committee for their help in a chancing this legislation house resolution eight fifty five is a modest but important step in return a start restoring fair treatment to those veterans blinded due to their service to our country and to further our commitment to them their sacrifices and their service to this nation should be matched by our desire to improve the quality of life for them and their families earlier this year the blinded veterans association had found over two hundred soldiers returning from operation enduring freedom in a in afghanistan and operation iraqi freedom who are blinded and when i do to their service related injuries they could be benefited in the future by this legislation i strongly encourage all my colleagues to support house resonate fifty five which would amend h r seven ninety seven the dr james allen veterans vision equity act as amended by the other body i would like to thank my colleagues chairman filner ranking member bowyer mr bozeman of arkansas and of wisconsin for their efforts on this bill our march twenty first of this year this body passed h r seven ninety seven with a unanimous vote of four hundred twenty four to zero and i am pleased to support it the first title of this resolution would allow veterans who receive veterans disability compensation for impairment of vision in one eye to be eligible to receive additional disability compensation for impairment of vision in the eye that is not service connected this eligibility includes situations where the impairment in each eye is to a visual acuity of twenty two hundred or less or of a peripheral field loss of twenty degrees or less this is the same definition of legal blindness adopted by all fifty states and the social security administration title two of h r as eight fifty five incorporates several sections of h r twenty six ninety six the veterans dignified burial assistance act of two thousand and seven which i entered deuced in june to improve v a burial benefits and state veterans cemeteries from time to time mr speaker a state locates the remains of veterans who were not interred at the time of their death for various reasons when states entered these veterans they cannot be reimbursed by v a because of the time limit on reimbursement costs this legislation would repeal this limitation and helps ensure that all veterans will receive a proper interment with the honor and respect that they have earned title to it also authorized the secretary of the v a to make additional grants to states for improving and expanding states veterans cemeteries states would be required to submit an application to the secretary for this funding of which the aggregate amount authorized for all state grants is five million dollars the final provision of title two would provide families with the option of placing a medallion on a deceased veterans routine maintenance therefore a medallion would identify a veterans great in a manner that would be universally acceptable and would meet the family's desire to honor the deceased veteran and will be one more reminder to everybody of the sacrifices made by veterans this provision is very similar to an amendment that i offered at the full committee market of h r seven ninety seven and i'm very pleased to support it again now while not the specific intent of the provision veterans families may benefit financially from this measure currently v a offers second markers for veterans graves that already have a privately procured marker while there is no cost for the markers mounting of the second markers is that the families expense usually several times the cost of the stone itself since the new medallion could be applied directly to the current marker with an industrial grade adhesive families will be able to apply the medallion on their own allowing them to avoid significant mounting costs mr speaker title three of the resolution extends the use of the new hires act and would save the government money by allowing the secretary of veterans affairs to consult with the secretary of health and human services regarding unemployment compensation data in order to determine eligibility for v a needs based pension benefits the congressional budget office informally estimates that this section of the resolution would save the taxpayers thirty million dollars over ten years i would note that this savings funds the vision burial and work study provisions in this bill also included in title three is a provision that extends work study jobs at v a through june two thousand  nine current law allows work study recipients to perform a variety of duties throughout the v a as well as veteran related paperwork at their schools congress extended the provision for six months in p l one o nine dash four sixty one to prevent cancelling benefits in the middle of the school year i am pleased that we were able to extend this provision even further in this bill mr speaker i urge my colleagues to support h resig fifty five which would amend h r seven ninety seven as amended and mr speaker i reserve the balance of my time gentleman reserves his time gentleman from california reserved events of my time to speak someone from colorado mr speaker i would yield such time as he may hard i think we could actually use the adjective tirelessly on this one in order to bring it forward it really has two provisions that i'm especially pleased to support first time place is this bill will help veterans with visual disabilities to put this in perspective compensates about thirteen thousand veterans for blindness in one eye when i d l d statistics show that about one thousand one hundred sixty nine service members has experienced eye injuries in iraq and v a states about one hundred eleven those are now receiving compensation and let us not forget that with the number of traumatic brain injury bring injury casualties and those that have gone  diagnosed many of them will experience visual impairment as a result of those injuries thanks to this baldwins who are bringing this forward the change in this law will make sure that all of these individuals will be treated fairly i'm also greatly pleased that we have been able to fund reinstatement of the g i bill work study provisions that expired last june these additional work study job so benefit both the veteran student and veterans large by increasing the resources available to assist v a employees in accomplishing their mission mr speaker this is a very good bill and i urge my colleagues to support it i also want to thank mr filner and his staff for again bringing this florida along with mr bill you're the ranking member and and the staff over here again this is a very big very good bill and our support of its passage with my colleagues  back gentlemen yields back his time gentleman from california is the gentleman finished with the speakers yes mr speaker and first i want to thank the gentleman from published but in the family news on protective i give be included in the record at this point without objection and i also ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks to include experience material and house resolution eight five five those in favor say aye those opposed no the pinion in the chair two thirds being in the affirmative the rules are suspended the resolution is agreed to and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table chair recognizes the gentleman from north carolina mr speaker approves of the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h r two six zero one as amended clerk will report the title of the bill union counter number three hundred eight twenty six  one a bill to extend the authority of the federal trade commission to collect fees to minister enforce the provisions relating to the do not call registry for the telemark marketing sales room pursuant to the rule of the gentleman from north carolina mr butterfield and the gentleman from florida mr stearns will each control twenty minutes the chair recognizes the gentleman from north carolina i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and exclude include extraneous material on the bill under consideration without objection so ordered mr speaker this time i am myself such time as i may consume mr speaker this legislation which we refer to as h r two six zero one was introduced by the distinguished ranking member of the subcommittee on commerce trade and consumer protection my good friend mr sterns from the state of florida this bill is to extend the authority of the federal trade commission to collect the fees that it minister and enforce the provisions relating to the national do not call registry in two thousand and three mr speaker congress passed the do not call implementation act which authorize the c to establish these sufficient to implement the national do not call registry as originally authorized by the telemarketing and consumer fraud and abuse prevention act of one nine hundred ninety four i don't think it's mr speaker to say that this may quite possible be possibly be one of the most popular laws and government initiatives in our nation's history consumers have registered more than one hundred forty six million telephone numbers since the registry became operational in two thousand and three the f t c has authority to annually establish the appropriate level of fees to charge telemarketers access to the registry expires yes it expires in two thousand and seven and mr stearns is bill as amended in the energy and commerce committee renders that authority permanent if members of congress wish to avoid the the wrath of millions of angry constituents who are being called by telemarketers during dinner time it is in our best interest to facilitate the continuing operation of the do not call registry and vote for this bill as and as the case with the vast majority of the legislation passed out of the subcommittee of which i am a member this is a bipartisan bill i'm proud to say that  have worked on this measure together this is a bipartisan bill that was crafted in consultation with the appropriate agency of expertise in this case the federal trade commission the bill passed my subcommittee by a  vote of on october twenty third and a week later in october thirtieth it was unanimously a pool approved by the full energy and commerce committee it is fully deserving of quick passage on the floor of the house today as usual mr speaker the staff on both sides of the our work together on this bill and ranking member stearns as well as ranking member barton of the full committee they should all be commended for their ongoing cooperation with our chairman the distinguished gentleman from michigan mr dingell and the distinguished gentleman from illinois mr rush who chairs the subcommittee and so mr speaker with that said i'm going to urge a yes vote and i will reserve the balance of my time the gentleman reserves of balance of this time the gentleman from florida thanking the speaker and i thank the gentleman from north carolina for his support on this important bill the support of h r twenty six zero one the do not call registry fee extension act of two thousand and seven as a sponsor of the legislation and as a ranking member on the committee with your stiction of the federal trade commission and over consumer protection i can assure the members of the body that to seize a necessary piece of legislation you know have and media and meaningful impact on our constituents i can remember when we marked this up and when i was chairman of the subcommittee on commerce consumer protection trade and we started this whole process rolling the national do not call registry was enacted by congress to provide citizens the ability to place or home phone numbers on a list that prohibits unsolicited phone solicitations to my colleagues unfortunately the authority of the federal trade commission to collect fees to maintain the registry has expired this legislation simply restores the commission's authority to collect unnecessary fees to maintain and update the registry and provides businesses with certainty on the fees that they pay to access the registry the bill also includes input from both the fatal trade commission commission and industry we asked for their support substantively the amended the legislation provides permanency for the program through a consistent fee structure this will help both business with predictability of fees and help the federal trade commission excel by providing certainty of funding for this popular program and this obviously makes budgeting far easier from year to year the legislation also provides for certain by annual reports by the federal trade commission on the effectiveness of this registry that will provide congress with the necessary information to provide adequate oversight and that's important to mr speaker as a gentleman as mentioned from north carolina the popularity of this program has been very high and success of the do not call registry was confirmed by almost every member of our committee in the district many of our constituents still express their gratitude for an enacting a simple law like this original law in providing a means to stop unwanted commercial solicitation the home phone for those who avail themselves of this option remember now if people out there that want to use it they have to call the toll free number to get it that the people who owe a veil themselves of this have expressed  satisfaction they have experience noticeable decrease in phone calls interrupting their dinner and their family life so i'm a proud to be a sponsor of the reauthorization legislation it's important that the act and the list continue in effect this is one example where actions receive near unanimous bi partisan support here in congress here we are waiting on that his budget bill and all the controversy but here is a good example of bipartisan support the lisc and it brings in both the public industry the federal trade commission so i'm confident that the reauthorization of the do not call act is supported by millions of americans who have placed their number on the left so i urge all members to support and vote for this bil from florida and i speak i yield back the balance of my time challenge north carolina as i said mr speaker i don't have any additional speakers i'm ready to close this out but i'm sure the american people will be very preceded that we are willing to extend this to become a permanent program the do not call registry thank you very much i will is yield back the balance of my time gentleman yield back his time the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass h r twenty six zero one as amended those in favor say aye those opposed no in the pinion of the chair two thirds being in the affirmative the rules are suspended the bill is passed and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table stearns will each control twenty minutes the chair recognizes the gentleman from north carolina i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration three five four one the do not call improvement act of two thousand and seven ensures that americans who signed up to be on the do not call list remain on the do not call list as the law currently stands consumers are automatically purged from the registry after a five year period and they are forced to reregister their phone numbers with the f t c consequently if we do nothing of the one hundred thirty two million telephone numbers that are currently listed on the do not call registry almost fifty two million of those numbers will expire and once again be fair game for telemarketers i guarantee you mr speaker that the vast majority of these consumers are unaware that they must really list their phone numbers as was the case with the previous bill i don't think members of congress want to incur the wrath of millions of angry constituents and family members who thought they were safe from the nuisance of telemarketers but are once again getting their priests pestering phone calls every evening i might also add that kember twenty eight the date in which fifty two million numbers will expire is right before election day need i say more the authors of the bill my good friend mr doyle who will speak in just a few moments the gentleman from pennsylvania and my friend mr pickering from mississippi a both valued members of the energy and commerce committee and they are to be commended for they have bipartisan cooperation on october thirtieth the bill was amended at full committee markup to require the f t c to periodical a scrub the do not call registry to remove phone numbers that have been disconnected or reassigned and further requires the commission to report to congress on the accuracy of the registry as such a chair of thirty five forty one ensures that the do not call this is fair and accurate and that only those american consumers who do not wish to be called by telemarketers are on let me rephrase that mr speaker that only those american consumers who do not wish to be called but telemarketers are on the registry this is a thoughtful bipartisan piece of legislation and i urge its adoption i retain the balance of my time gentleman reserves this time the gentleman from florida thank you mr speaker i rise in support of this bill h r thirty five forty one the do not call improvement act and i thank my colleague from pennsylvania mississippi for their initiative here making a good bill even better this legislation simply removes the requirement for the federal trade commission to automatically remove consumers phone numbers from the registry mycology original act would have required consumers to re register their phone number every five years and was intended in part to keep the list accurate enough today this will result in tens of millions of americans being dropped off the list each  contrary to their intention millions of americans would have to re up so to speak to stay on the list most of them obviously their day to day life would be unaware that their number is about to expire so th does a great service that they will correct this and will make numbers on the registry permanent but at the same time require the federal trade commission to keep the list accurate by simply removing invalid and disconnected phone numbers so as further assurance of this a federal trade commission must study and report to congress on the accuracies of these numbers and i think that's important we've mentioned that earlier in the bill that we're going to have the federal trade commission come back with a report to us and this is a good area for the federal trade commission to come back and talk about the accuracy of these millions and millions of numbers so i applaud my two colleagues for doing that with that i reserve the balance of my time gentleman reserves his time the gentleman from north carolina m speaker at this time i would like to you know four minutes to my good friend from pennsylvania a gentleman who works so hard for his constituents mr doro gentleman or man on pennsylvania is recognized for four minutes thank you i thank my friend from north carolina mr speaker i rise to urge my colleagues to approve h r thirty five forty one the do not call improvement act of two thousand and seven the national do not call registry was established in two thousand and three and is managed by the federal trade commission and enforced by c the federal communication commission and state law enforcement officials most telemarketers are not allowed to call your number once it's been on the registry for thirty one days if they do you can file a complaint against them with the c and they can be forced to pay a fine the federal do not call registry as one of the most successful government programs ever created over one hundred thirty two million telephone numbers have been added to the registry si creation on unfortunately current regulations require that the registry remove individuals numbers after five years consequently starting in june of two thousand and eight millions of people will begin receiving telemarketing calls again many of them don't realize that their listing has expired and that they need to add their number to the do not call list again if they want to block telemarketers phone calls it makes no sense to force people to sign up every couple of years unfortunately that's just what will happen if action isn't taken and that's why i introduced this legislation along with my good friend from mississippi chip pickering to make registration with the federal do not call list permanent my legislation the do not call improvement act of two thousand and seven would make the numbers on the federal do not call registry permanent under this legislation someone would only have to sign up for the do not call registry once without passage of this an act over fifty million phone numbers will be purged from the registry within the next year the hassle for consumers will be tremendous with no real payoff when a consumer signs up for the do not call list they expect the roach motel where their numbers go in and the telemarketers can't check them out but for those few individuals who are worried that they might change their mind at some future date i want to make clear that this bill will still allow individuals to take their names off if they choose to and it gives the f t c explicit authority to scrub numbers that are invalid or don't belong on the list there's no need to risk americans being removed from the do not call list unless they want to be removed and the best way to deal with this nightmare is to end it before it starts as i said when i introduced this legislation i suspect there are very few people saying gee i really miss those telemarketing calls at dinner time i wish the government would just take me off that do not call list well if this bill isn't acted individuals won't have to worry about signing up for the do not call list every five years mr speaker i want to thank the a a r p the consumers union the center for democracy and technology the consumerist dot com and the american teleservices association for endorsing this bill it's a great day when consumer groups senior groups privacy groups and yes even telemarketers can agree making the do not call list better i urge my colleagues to join me in passing this legislation by signing up with the national do not call registry over one hundred  thirty million americans have told telemarketers don't call us we'll call you let's save them the hassle of having to sign up time and time again in closing i want to thank my good friend chip pickering i want to thank energy and commerce committee chairman dingell ranking member barton commerce trade and consumer protection subcommittee chairman bobby rush in my good friend clip starnes and i also want to thank several staffers who have worked so hard on this bill gregg rothschild consuello washington shannon wein brian mccullough will carty and finally i want to thank you carol of mr pickering staff and kenneth the graph of my staff for all of their hard work i encourage my colleagues to join me in passing this bill and making one of the most popular federal services even the citizens of our country as we do something that is common sense and pretty straightforward and simple and that is to extend that the do not call we do not want the cold calls to fill the stockings we simply want the good cheer that will come from the town around the dinner table in the christmas tree and the holiday season that that all of us who want to be protected in that sanctuary of home will be and this bill will do that there's a great benefit if you  watching our budget around christmas time and as a as a country and in the congress this has no cost and so far friends on the senate who are known to be frugal we can tell you this has no cost it can be passed quickly it should be passed quickly as a present a christmas present for the citizens of the country this is good government is tan and we can do this together house and senate on a bipartisan basis it is one of the most wildly popular programs that we've had in this country over one hundred fifty million people have signed up i'm proud to be part of this effort and i'm proud that i've worked with friends on both sides of the al to achieve this this is good good news good legislation and a good effort i do wish to commend the committee for the work mr speaker asked to be able to revise and extend my remarks and i thank mr doyle again for his good leadership gentleman yield back his time the gentleman from north carolina mr speaker this is going to good debate on this issue and i want to thank both gentlemen who have orkut this bill for their passion and for their leadership and what they do for the congress and i don't have any further speakers i don't believe  any further speakers at this time i will give back the balance of my time gentleman yield back it's time the gentleman from florida i misspeak i have no for the speakers i just want to add to mr pickering's comment about the frugality of the senate i think certainly  suspend the rules and pass h r thirty five forty one as amended those in favor say aye those opposed no in the pinion of the chair two thirds being in the affirmative the rules are suspended the bill is passed and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table without objection the title is amended for what purpose does the gentleman from michigan rise mr speaker i move to suspend the rules and pass the bill h r four three four one the extension of the trade adjustment assistance programs the clerk will report the title of the bill h r forty three forty one may be able to extend the trade adjustment assistance program under the trade act of one nine hundred seventy four for three months per so into the rule of the gentleman from michigan mr levin and the gentleman from california mr herder each control twenty minutes the chair now recognizes the gentleman from michigan as thank you mr speaker key a will run out very soon and it's a cinch show that that not happen this is a vital program for workers in this country for the firms for which they work for farmers and for their entire communities we've been trying to not only extend key a but we've been trying to reform it and to improve it we have passed legislation in this house legislation that indeed reformed and enhanced and expanded t a and it passed this house with some considerable bipartisan support it just issues like this expanding to a disservice were hers improving the funding because a number of states have essentially run out of funds it streamlined the process for application for t i a because an unfriendly regimen of rules has too often made it difficult for people to access it it also modernized the unemployment system which badly needs it and also provided assistance to manufacturing communities hard hit by trade unfortunately though this bill passed comfortably in this house and was an important landmark supported by our speaker by the majority leader by chairman rangle by others and many of us on the ways and means committee and as i said with some considerable bipartisan support but unfortunately the bill has essentially not moved in the other body and it has been blocked i think by a position in the other body that it should be linked to something out also the administration essentially has opposed this legislation and it was really rather startling that that occurred after all earlier this fall the president said this about t i a and i quote i understand that if you're forced to change it you have halfway through a career it can be painful for your family i know that and that is why i'm a big believer in trade adjustment assistance that helps americans make the transition from one job to the next unfortunately it was only a few weeks after that that we received on the eve of the markup of the bill in the ways and means committee a letter from the secretary of labor opposing the bill that was before the committee and in the letter the secretary said and i quote negative impacts of trade that are born by the few and of quotes of that language that this does not warrant the changes we make in the legislation unfortunate language indeed because there has been an impact of trade very substantially across the board not only in the manufacturing industries but in the service industries and beyond and the debt impact has been borne by many many more administration and also because of inaction in the senate so here's what this legislation does it extends t a a for three months why i three months three months moving quickly to take up this vital reform of t a a within the first few months to make it a high priority in this house and we hope in the entire congress and we hope in the white house so i come today on behalf of many of us viewing the importance of this legislation and asking that this house vote for a three month extension until march thirty one two thousand and eight i was here the balance of my time gentleman reserves this time gentleman from california thank you m speaker i yield myself so much time as i may require gentlemen as recognize