one gentleman is recognized for one minute with the greensburg pennsylvania a town in my congressional district is lucky to have had their fire chief for fifty five years john edward hutchison who prefers to be known just as hutch first took office and nine hundred fifty two and he has no intention of slowing down we're standing with me he would say that he simply wants to help and helping him best from developing training programs  specialized teams in his department to establishing burn classes in local schools such as put in countless hours of service for the community but it's not just southwestern pennsylvania that has benefited from hodges time as fire chief such as organize his teams to assist the victims of natural disasters throughout the country from hurricanes to floods much always shy from attention but he deserves our recognition for fifty five years of tireless service to the community and you'll  purposes and gentleman from texas tried that objection the gentleman is recognized for one minute thank you madam speaker isn't this the season of giving my colleagues the democratic majority has worked without stopping to provide funding for the health insurance of all children in america isn't it a shame that the minority and the administration want to be the spoon judge of this season and deny millions of children health care in the children's health insurance plan nine hundred and sixty six thousand children in the state of texas innocent children who cannot fend for themselves now suffering because we have a veto on the s chip this madam speaker isn't this a season of giving i'm grateful that the democrats avails on the a m t giving middle class taxpayers a bounty this holiday season but who will care for the children again if the president signed the s chip bill don't take away christmas from millions of children here in america i yield back telling you back in time members are reminded to direct their remarks to the chair for what purpose is the gentleman from idaho write that objection the gentleman is recognized for one minute matter speaker at the end of this month the vitally important research and development tax credit is due to expire again since one thousand nine hundred one congress has a radically extended this tax credit extensions of range from six years to five months sometimes extensions have applied retroactively the tax credit even lapsed for a year a permanent r and d tax credit is long past due and congress should act now to make a permanent r d tax credit a reality congress was right to go offer an already tax credit doing so boosted america's competitive edge in an increasingly cutthroat global marketplace of ideas products and services yet we ignore to our economic peril the fact that other countries including australia canada china france and india also offer tremendous  incentives to their industries now's the time to make r and d tax credits permanent doing so would remove an under surrey burden on our industries including roughly thirty five thousand i don't employ high tech jobs man or speaker there's no reason for keeping this kind of tax credit temporary let us unleash the power of american ingenuity and make the r and d tax credit permanent nine resolved that upon adoption of this resolution it shall be in order to consider the conference report to accompany the bill h r twenty eighty two to authorize appropriations for fiscal year two thousand and eight for intelligence and intelligence related activities of the united states government the community management account and the central intelligence agency retirement and disability system and for other purposes all points of order against the conference report and against it consideration are waived general florida is recognized for a one hour thank you madam speaker for purposes of debate only the customary thirty minutes of the gentleman from washington representative hastings and all time yielded during consideration of  the leadership on this bill under his leadership and that of many others our consideration of this intelligence bill has been one of the most open intelligence authorization bills that we've seen that maybe some who will disagree with some of the report's contents but there should be none who disagree with the openness of the process madam speaker over the past week as we debate the cia of destruction of videotapes of past interrogations the nation has realized the importance of congressional oversight of the intelligence community for far too long congress has been solid as a partner in the unchecked actions of this administration  black thing to do our jobs we were failing the people of america with this new majority congress we are again conducting the necessary oversight of the executive branch with this bill we'll fulfilling our responsibility to give the intelligence community the tools it needs to succeed one thing that i think members will be particularly interested in is that interrogation techniques  put forth in this measure limited to those of the army field manual making it clear that harsh or aggressive interrogation techniques are prohibited operatives are painted in the conference  myself madam speaker and i saw the development of this report that we have here i'd like to take a moment of personal privilege to say that i took the liberty of leaving the select committee on intelligence with the hope of returning in the successive year it is my great hold all that all of the members of that committee and the tremendous staff that work on necessary resources for our nation's intelligence community is one of the most important responsibilities of congress the attacks of september eleventh two thousand and one showed us that we must be vigilant against the threat of terrorism and our intelligence community is a critical part of protecting america from its enemies abroad i have strong concerns about the what appears to be unfortunate in utter lack of bipartisan work on the intelligence authorization act for fiscal year two thousand and eight in addition to failing to incorporate intelligence committee republicans in the development of this bill the bill also fails to consider the input the armed services committee republicans serious concerns exist about the bill was never designed to cover america's most dangerous enemies such as osama bin ladin the collegio mohammed at a minimum we deserve to know madam speaker how these new standards would impact intelligence operations and ultimately u s intelligence security and national security before rushing to attach them to this legislation proponents of this new requirement view this as a simple application of one organization set of rules on to every other entity engage in the activity madam speaker this isn't simple i believe it simplistic and it could have dire consequences on our national security to illustrate the logic at work here why not require the n b a and major league baseball to play by the f l rules bluebook and use of football in their games they all use a ball after all in a football is good enough for the end n f l it should work for n b a in for major league baseball we all know that that would be a disaster may have speaker and before we require all federal agencies to adhere to the army manual we should be certain it won't create a sastre for protecting our country and the war on terror this bill also includes provisions that are questionable as to whether or not they will help improve american security specifically the house democrats included language to fund and pursue research into intelligence assessments of global warming at a time when our nation is engage in a global war on terrorism our intelligence community should not be required to focus on reports about climate change i'm also concerned that despite bipartisan passage of a motion to instruct conferees that not earmarks should not be included this conference report contains more than seventy five million dollars worth of intelligence earmarks intelligence funding should be based on national security not potential special interests instead of funding global warming studies earmarks and mandating army field manual manual provisions house democrats should be taken steps needed to ensure that our intelligence officials are able to monitor foreign terrorists overseas house democrats has stalled the passage of a permanent update on the federal our foreign intelligence surveillance act or face of the bipartisan protect america act expires in less than two months and american people deserve a permanent bill as soon as possible so that i'm speaker i urge my colleagues to vote against this rule and i reserve the balance of my time washington research this time the gentleman from florida mountain speak i'd like to inquire of the gentleman if he has any despite bipartisan agreement that earmark should not be included this conference report contains more than seventy five million dollars worth of intelligence earmarks intelligence funding should be based on national security not on special interests i am concerned with the level of earmark funding in this authorization conference report and i'm concerned that the house rules are flawed when it comes to the enforceability of earmarks house republicans believe every earmark should be debatable on the house floor and for the last several months we have made repeated attempts to close loopholes in the house rules as they relate to earmarks so met a speaker today i will begin the ask my colleagues to vote no on the previous question so i can amend the rule to allow the house to immediately consider house resolution four seventy nine introduced by republican leader boehner that would improve the house rules and allow the house to debate openly and honestly the validity and accuracy  in all bills we must defeat the previous question so that american taxpayers are no longer left wondering what hidden earmarks are contained in the well the for the house and this congress so that a speaker i ask unanimous consent to have madam speaker if we've learned anything from the failures of the war in iraq it is that reliable intelligence is critical to ensuring america's national security the terrorist attacks of september eleventh combined with the continuing threats fueled by extreme ism radicalism hopelessness and poverty underscore the importance of this legislation the new democratic majority is working every day to ensure of that we congratulate our intelligence community for its successes but also hold it accountable for its failures this report is a strong step in the right direction and it enjoys bipartisan support i'm proud of our product and hope that my colleagues will agree i would say yes vote on the rule and the underlying conference report  for what purpose is the gentleman from new york rise madam speaker by direction its media rules i call it pass resolution eight sixty nine as for its immediate consideration the clerical work for the resolution house calendar number one seventy house resolution eight sixty nine resolved that upon of the adoption of this resolution it shall be in order to consider in the house the joint resolution h j rez sixty nine making further continuing appropriations for the fiscal year two thousand and eight and for other purposes all points of order against consideration of the joint resolution are waived except those arise the rising under clause nine or ten of rule twenty one the joint resolution shall be considered as read all points of order against provisions of of the joint resolution are waived the previous question shall be considered as ordered on the joint resolution to final passage without intervening motion except one one hour of debate equally divided and controlled by the chairman and ranking minority member of the committee on appropriations and two one motion to recommit section two during federation of house joint resolution sixty nine pursuant to this resolution not withstanding the operation of the previous question the chair may postpone further consideration of the joint resolution to such time as may be designated by the speaker section three the chairman of the committee on appropriation in the congressional record at any time during the remainder of the first session of the one hundred tenth congress such material as he may deem explanatory of appropriations measures for the fiscal year two thousand and eight section for house resolution eight thirty nine and house resolution eight fifty are laid upon the table the gentleman from new york is recognized for one hour thank you madam speaker for the purpose of debate only i have a customary thirty minutes  year f y two thousand and eight continuing resolution measure speaker every country congress has the constitutional responsibility to be good stewards of the money intrusted to it by the american people it is one of our most important responsibilities voters do not expect us to abdicate that responsibility or any other for that matter and i'm proud to say that we here in the house of representatives have fulfilled our fiscal responsibility to the american people by passing all of our progress and bills on time when the majority have been absolute in our promise to construct and pass spending bills with broad bipartisan support and i'm proud to say we delivered on those promises our twelve fiscal year two thousand and eight appropriations bills that passed the house this year we have garnered an average of fifty republican votes with one bill collecting as many as one hundred  eighty seven votes from the minority and in that spirit of working together we have successfully pushed ahead our bold and new agenda and passed legislation that for our child is veterans health care education and energy independence madam speaker we all agree that it is unfortunate that we are forced to pass a continuing resolution but it is something that must be done to that the remaining issues that we have it all understand it is our prime duty can make sure the government is running efficiently for my children who need quality education to our veterans who need the benefits promised to them when they signed up to serve their country and to our senior citizens  need access to health care and affordable prescription drugs many on the other side still fought tooth and nail with some members holding up the legislative process in fighting the bipartisan appropriation bill that we remain focused and strong and passed our bills on time it is important to note that continuing resolutions are extremely common with the c r being an inactive for every fiscal year since nine four additionally congress has averaged five continuing resolutions per year and i would like to say to my friends on the other side of the aisle that over the last ten years of republican control the house considered seventy five continuing resolution madam speaker this is an important resolution that will allow us to do the work necessary to fulfill our promises to the american people and i urge passage and i reserve the b a speaker who we are seventy four days into the new fiscal year and the new majority is requesting there are a third continuing resolution to fund the government because they failed to pass the necessary appropriations bills as of today only one appropriations bill funding the department of defen has been signed into law what is the status of the rest well another one has made it to a conference committee and the rest of the appropriations bills wait for the majority to decide what to do they control both houses of congress and yet they they still have to decide what to do they had a chance to bring their record to two appropriations bills signed into law but instead the majority decided to play politics with a bill that had extraordinary bipartisan support the veterans affairs appropriations act because of the majority thought they could use it as a campaign ploy the new majority promised that they would finish their appropriations work about a year ago my friend the distinguished chair lady mr slaughter came to the floor and said things would be different under the leadership of the majority she said and i quote the will no longer avoid asking tough questions or fail to live up to its most basic duties and well today that we see that that has not been been finished that bill will probably run into the thousands of pages and spend the nearly half a trillion dollars members may not have enough time to read or digest that legislation before they're asked to vote on it and unless the majority decides to move the omnibus appropriations bill through a conference committee that bill will fall squarely within one of the loopholes to the majority's earmark rules and the rules of the house then would not require any disclosure of earmarks that will be contained in that massive omnibus appropriations bill the majority should not be asking members to vote on a bill that may include numerous earmarks that no one's going to love that most won't even be able to see because of this loophole in the air marc rule i along with them mr dreier mr hastings and mr session sent a letter to the distinguished chairman of the appropriations committee mr robey asking him to quote add here not just to the letter of clause nine of rule twenty one but to its spirit as well and provide the rules committee the house that would to an extent provide members with a bit of comfort when the bill proceeds to the floor madam speaker ask unanimous consent to submit that letter in the congressional record after action and a speaker the new majority again has failed to live up to their promises to finish their work on time and many others the conference report on the bipartisan the military construction and veterans affairs appropriations act that i made reference to a few minutes ago the house passed the veterans and military funding bill on june fifteenth of this year by a vote of four hundred ninety two the senate followed suit and named conferees on september sixth of this year unfortunately the majority leadership in the house has refused to move the military construction veterans affairs appropriations act they have even refused to name conferees instead the majority plans to include the veterans funding in the massive the omnibus appropriations legislation but the status of the omnibus is still in doubt and they go she ations apparently are ongoing but we all know there is one bill that has extraordinarily why i had bipartisan support and that the president will quickly sign it into law the veterans affairs appropriations bill we already know that we're going to be here next week we should pass the veterans affairs appropriations bill and provide the veterans the funding they deserve  this fifteen minute vote on ordering the previous question will be followed by five minute votes on adoption of h read three six nine a four hundred ordering the previous question on a tray is a five nine and adoption of a dress eight five nine if