let us pray eternal and all wise god creator of life and light we bless you on this day that you have let life and light dwell in each of us we thank you and god for another opportunity to get it pray now for your discernment for these representatives as they deliberate on the course of this great nation may their thoughts be on the common good and their actions help form a more perfect union we pray push strengthen the continued sacrifices that each son and daughter husband and wife makes as they say in the piece of themselves to serve all of us made their sacrifices be not in vain when now to each representative purpose clarity of mind determination and commitment not only for this day but also in the continuing days of this one hundred tenth congress hear out for all god and grants we each of us your peace  vote on agreeing to the speaker's approval of the journal the question is on agreeing to the speaker's approval of the journal those in favor say aye aye so those opposed no up the eyes have a journalist and the proof was part of the gentleman south carolina rice mr speaker proceedings on this question are postponed the pledge of allegiance to be led by the gentleman from texas mr smith when everyone please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance i in prayer today i'm hopeful that his presence and prayer here today will help us in the house to display the same leadership and sense of community that he exhibits every day in the hudson valley river life he came to the mount church in peekskill new york in two thousand and five to serve as is fourteenth pastor and has been a leader in the community ever since he was also president of the peekskill cortland area pastors association and has been a strong voice in the public sphere for the values that are guided by his faith in addition to serving as a religious and community leader reverend lacy is also a family man he is the husband of cheryl matthews lacy and the father of cameron alexandra and adopt us matthew i have had the honor of addressing his congregation and have been able to see his leadership where his counsel is often sought and i thank him again for leading us in prayer today the chair will entertain further requests for one minute speeches for what purpose does the gentleman from virginia rice without objection to speaker mr speaker this week the house democrats will build upon our economic stimulus package by passing an energy bill that is designed to lower prices at the gas pump which are currently over three dollars a gallon the price of oil is hovering around one hundred dollars a barrel and many predict that if we don't act now it's going much higher the renewable energy and energy conservation tax act extends an expanse tax incentives for renewable energies including renewable electricity and fuel for hybrid cars and energy efficient homes and appliances by investing in renewable energies we can take another critical step and reducing our nation's dependence on foreign oil and at a time when our economy is struggling to produce new high paying jobs this legislation will help create hundreds of thousands of new green jobs in renewable energies that will us help us provide a cleaner environment for the next generation mr speaker our legislation is also fully paid for by repealing eighteen billion dollars in tax subsidies that big oil companies continue to receive despite record earnings it's time congress modernizes our nation's energy policy mr speaker fidel castro stepped down as president and dictator of cuba and handed over his comments rule to his brother raul the news of castro's resignation was met with cautious optimism by many who see this as an opportunity for the cuban people to build a new and free society however it appears that for now the castro family elite will continue to reign in a communist state and stifle the voices of reform today political prisoners remain housed in inhumane conditions the current cuban legal system that authorizes the arrest of people for the crime of pre criminal activity must be drastically reformed the cuban people deserve to live in a democratic society based on the rule of law that recognizes the rights of its citizens to the freedoms of speech religion and association and i am inspired by the phenomenally successful and patriotic cuban american business leaders in the community i represent such as louis and they know gunda who have always kept alive the ideals of a free cuba to provide opportunity for the people of cuba and conclusion god bless our troops and we will never forget september the eleventh jumps time expired for what purpose of the gentleman from wisconsin rice without objection well thank you mr speaker as i speak more snow is blanketing the walk in southern wisconsin the latest in an unending series of snowfall that has overwhelmed  wisconsin this winter by the mid february malarky had received over seventy five inches of snow compared to thirty three inches at this time last year madison our state capital has already broken its record for the snow a few weeks ago one storm dumped at least a foot of snow in southern wisconsin excluding seventeen inches in downtown the walkie just outside of madison some two thousand cars were stranded on a highway for up to twelve hours last week wisconsin's governor jim doyle requested federal assistance to help wisconsin deal with snow removal and other an emergency costs yesterday the entire wisconsin delegation sent a letter urging the president to approve this request mr speaker wisconsinites are proud of our ability to handle snow but in this case federal help is sorely needed and should be swiftly approved it provided thank you m request of our intelligence community has endangered our national security why do house democrats refuse to give the intelligence community the tools they need to protect american lives a strong bipartisan bill passed the senate by vote of sixty eight to twenty nine the bill also is supported by the administration the intelligence community as well as the majority of members of the house yet the democrat refused to bring the bill up for a vote congress has no greater responsibility than to ensure that our intelligence gathering laws are strong and our nation is safe from future attacks let's hope for the sake of our country that democratic leaders will decide before it's too late to pass the bipartisan senate bill is that the balance of the time for what purpose of the gentleman from  mr speaker here on black history month i'm very pleased to salute at the may read from tampa florida a true community hero as you may read is has been an outspoken voice for the poor and struggling families in tampa for decades as a resident of the central park village housing project in one nine hundred sixty seven he created the first tenants association and ultimately advocated on behalf of thousands of families in tampa at the may read established the boys and girls club she and her children could go to the community college for investment programs she publicized unsanitary additions she ensure children will receive lunch in school she fought to to have hot water heaters installed in public housing she forced a change in public housing policy that barred single mothers from public housing f e m a reid was the first african american woman to run for the tampa city council and when they charged her and a substantial qualifying fee she challenged it and the federal district court threw it out in ruled it unconstitutional as you may read as a tampa an american treasure she stood up for so many that did not have a voice and improve lives mr speaker the people of houston texas are mourning today because they have lost another brave protector of our community while working undercover surveillance on feb twenty first harris county sheriff's deputies craig miller was killed when an eighteen wheeler darted onto interstate  and houston and recklessly drove across three lanes of the freeway crashing into miller's as you the miller's vehicle became airborne and he was fatally injured in the crash narcotics officer miller was a forty three years of age married to michelle and has two young children friends described him as a comedian that could have been regular on saturday night live deputy miller grew up in houston and attended stratford high school he enjoyed protecting and serving the people of the houston area so it's peace officers wear the black band  sacrifice across their bad years in honor of deputy craig miller we remember that law man are all that separate civilization from the uncivilized the driver of the eighteen waiter was charged with negligent homicide he is a foreign national and his legal status is  undetermined deputy miller is yet another recent recent death in the series up used a law man that had been killed by foreign nationals deafening miller is a casualty of a weak chaotic inconsistent and overbroad immigration policy this mr speaker the president and his followers are telling the american public that the fight about the foreign intelligence surveillance act known as tyson is in danger of being america yet the reality is if ice is still fully in effect  administration officials have acknowledged that what this fight is really about is that the president wants to give telecom companies retroactive immunity for turning over private information about americans to the executive branch without a court order now some companies refuse to go along so obviously they knew there could be a problem here we should not and cannot give immunity in till we know what we're giving immunity for this is like a defendant coming into court and saying to a judge i may or may not have done something wrong i don't want to tell you about it but i want you to say that i'm not libel and then the judge agrees we would not accept that for an individual and we must not accept it for corporations or for the government either as john adams said we are a government of laws not men and we must honor the constitution i yield back general mills back to vassar time what purpose of the gentleman from the brass to rise without objection thank you mr speaker this week the house will for the third time debate an energy bill which actually raises gas prices for the american people sends manufacturing jobs overseas and increases our reliance on foreign energy there's energy tax hike will raise taxes on domestic energy producers in essence making it more difficult and expensive to produce american energy for american consumers as you know oil has reached and broken the previously untouched benchmark of one hundred dollars a barrel and the average national price of gasoline has gone up sixteen sands in just thirteen days and my state of nebraska gas prices are hitting three dollars and fourteen cents in grand island and scottsbluff they've hit three dollars in eight cents the american public is deeply worried about the rising cost of energy yet we stand on the verge of making it worse by stubbornly going forward with this legislation it's simple really raising taxes on american energy leads to higher gas prices and a greater dependency on foreign sources of energy thank y mr speaker after a brief reprieve the politics of fear is back in full force the white house and my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are saying that the expiration of the protect america act has made this nation more vulnerable that is simply false the washington post did a nice job of  refuting this claim and saying mr bush's pass it now or the terrorists will win rhetoric is overheated fear mongering before the president's day recess i encourage my colleagues to stay in washington and forge a bipartisan long term solution i regret that we didn't do that but i'm not afraid of the expiration of the protect america act i voted for that piece of legislation as a twenty four year veteran the army national guard i know the importance of having the tools to fight the terrorists however i'm committed to working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to find a long term bipartisan solution that strengthens national security protect our civil liberties and does so without providing blanket immunity that companies that may have broken our laws i hope that we can end the fear mongering in the political rhetoric that is characterize this debate and get down to america's business and i think it needs to be pointed very clearly to this nation's enemies this nation is protected this nation stands united on the issue of protecting us and no amount of rhetoric will change that i yield back down the about the balance of the time for what purpose of gentleman from oklahoma rise that objection thank you mr speaker the energy problems facing our nation our audience our economy suffers from add a control gasoline isis why our national security remains at risk from an over reliance on foreign oil immediately increasing the amount of energy produced on u s soil is the first step to addressing both of these issues rather than pursue a common sense solutions the house democrats and once again proposing billions of dollars in punitive tax increases on american oil companies heavily taxing all and gas will discourage exploration and production and zach lee what we don't need to do it will drive up the cost it pumps for consumers and further reduce the incentives for domestic production of oil and gas this week marks the third time this year the house democrats have tried to enact an energy policy that would hurt american families and businesses my remarks without objection thank you mr speaker as the recipient of the nastiest attack ad of the last election cycle i was said to see this past weekend that it's already started yes the swift boat crews were out and added again this time trying to convince the american people that because some members of congress felt it was better for our security to extend the fires a bill for twenty one days rather than let it expire that somehow they don't care about america's security well that's not only untrue it's downright insulting and the rationale we should just trust the president's judgment on this matter and rubber stamp his decisions this is the same president who assured us that there were weapons of mass destruction in iraq well i want the cowards who crafted these intentionally deceiving messages to know that i was not sent to congress to be a rubber stamp for this president or anyone else i will continue to voice my opposition to the president whenever it is necessary to ensure the rights guaranteed under the constitution are protected thank got the balance of this time for what purpose of the gentleman from texas writes address the house one minute that objects to speaker my good friends on the other side of the aisle are hiding behind a cloak that i believe is unfair they're blaming the prez the united states for protecting this country they're blaming the president of the united states for something that he is doing to protect this country to make sure that we have the flexibility to make sure that we can listen to enemies who are trying to do us harm the president as well as intelligence officials have fought for the last three years to make sure that we could hear those things that were intercepts on the battlefield and turn them around to protect our troops make no mistake about it my good friends the democrats today are here on the floor of the house of representatives saying that they don't want to be a rubber stamp for protecting this country i want to be a person that says that every single person should understand that today the lawful use of the ability to be effective and efficient in protecting not only our troops but this country has been taken away yes we can still listen but it's got to go through another process back through pfizer that takes a month a month worth of work to a bunch of judges that help protect this country we need to get this done today quit and are trying to scare the american public into believing that our nation is that safe today than it was under the administration supposed to text america next the most a ministration was wrong when it said the intelligence immunity would go dark outrageous when the act expired earlier this month kenneth wayne stan the assistant attorney general for national security said that even after the president's law expired intelligence official could still be able to continue east drop in on are already approved targets for another year and kate martin the director of the center for national security studies said our government could immediately listen in on any new individual plotting a terrorist attack without a court order under existing five emergency authority clearly our intelligence community is not going speaker tomorrow the house vote on commonsense legislation to extend the production tax credit and investment tax credit and pay for it by reducing wasteful subsidies to big oil companies as an expert in renewable energy i'm confident that this legislation will ease the pain at the pump and allow our economy to create family wage jobs and make america less dependent on foreign oil the bill we will vote on comes just after the big zero oil companies report record profits our bill will channel unnecessary funding that goes to other companies that actually are durable industry where it's greatly needed i cannot overstate the urgency of extending the production tax credit and the investment tax credit as soon as possible as with any other form of electrical generation where new ability products must adhere to development time lines and if the schedule of a project is delayed d due to uncertainty about the tax credits a year long construction cycle will be lost setting our country further behind foreign competition mr speaker i urge all my colleagues to see the importance of this legislation and joining us tomorrow in passing thank jim the time has expired what purpose of the gentleman from kentucky writes without objection mr speaker the politics of fear are alive and well in the republican party despite the fact that the house and senate are actively working to curb craft a strong new files a bill republicans in the white house refused to attend the negotiations instead they are insisting that this house simply rubber stamp a bill that was current recently passed by the  decision to boycott these negotiations shows that republicans prefer a political issue rather than a strong new finds a bill democrats are hopeful that republicans will consider their decision to sit on the sidelines and will instead join us in crafting a bill that provides our country protects our country while respecting the fundamental rights of american citizens mr speaker house democrats passed a bill in november that meets both of these criteria then earlier this month the senate passed its own version as is common procedure here on capitol hill we are now in the process of negotiating the differences between the two bills in order to come up with the strongest bill possible i would hope republicans would join us and remain relevant and try to remain relevant and join us in passing the strongest while purposes gentleman from new jersey arise and speaker butt out objection thank you mr speaker president bush and congressional republicans are playing politics with our national security their falsely claiming that the expiration of a temporary provision of the foreign intelligence surveillance act is in danger in america and compromising our national security if that is indeed the case why did the president threaten to veto any extension of his own law and why did every house republican vote against it any one day extension of the law earlier this month if the expiration of this law would indeed endangered the american public as republicans suggest wouldn't house republicans do everything in their power to actually keep the law in place and despite all this fear mongering house republicans know that all of our electronic surveillance capabilities are still in place mr speaker while while the white house and congressional republicans play games with our national security congressional democrats will continue to work to pass a final five's a bill that will give our intelligence community the tool it needs to protect our nation while we also protect our citizens civil liberties generally of back the balance of this time for what purpose of the gentleman from florida rice this is speaker of the direction of the committee on rules a call of house resolution nine seventy four and for its immediate consideration worker report the resolution house calendar number one eighty six house resolution nine seventy four resolve senate anytime after the adoption of this resolution the speaker may pursuant to clause to be able eighteen declare the house was often to the committee of the whole house on the state of the union for consideration of the bill h r thirty five twenty one to improve the operating funds for public housing of the department of housing and urban development the first reading of the bill shall be dispensed with all points of order against consideration of the bill a way to set those ar ising in the clause nine or ten a rule twenty one general debate shall be confined to the bill and shall not exceed one hour equally divided and controlled by the chairman and ranking minority member of the committee on financial services after general debate the bill shall be considered for a member under the five minute rule it shall be an order to consider as an original bill for the purpose of amendment under the five minute rule the amendment in the nature of a substitute recommended by the committee on financial services now printed in the bill the committee to the committee amendment in the nature of the sensitive shall be an order except those printed in the report of the committee on rules accompanying this resolution each such amendment may be offered only in the water printed in the record may be offered only by a member designated in the recor shall be considered as read shall be debatable for the time that the fide and the record equally divided and controlled by the proponent in an opponent shall not be subject to amendment and shall not be subject to a demand for division of the question in the house or in the committee  whole all points of order against such a memento a way to set those arising under clause nine or ten of rule twenty one at the conclusion of consideration of the bill quorum in the committee shall rise and report the bill to the house was such a as may have been adopted any member may demand a separate vote in the house on any amendment adopted in the committee of the whole to the bill or to the committee amendment in the nature of a substitute the previous question shall be considered as ordered on the bill and a mimesis there previous question the chair may postpone further consideration of the bill to such time as may be designated by the speaker section three house resolution ninety five laid upon the table florida is consume gentleman is recognized as the speaker of house resolution nine seventy four provides a structured rule for consideration of h r thirty five twenty one the public outing asset management improvement act of two thousand and seven the rule provides of one hour of general debate control by the committee on financial services the room makes in order to amend met printed in the rules committee report accompanying this resolution the rule also provides one motion to recommit we're all without instructions to take over control of a housing authority it must any and all existing agreements between the local housing authority and turn of the souls the this amendment is needed in south florida and throughout the country and our urge my colleagues to support it but the speaker the skyrocketing number of foreclosures and the lack of affordable housing are some of the greatest financial problems our nation faces today in broward county the county in which i live in florida full foreclosure rates tripled in two thousand seven alone it is obvious this if you were show has grown beyond a crisis and extend into the entire economy one group of service providers that is suffering significantly from this a good nomic crisis in our public housing authority for this reason i support this rule and underlying legislation that will provide flexibility to public alving authorities during our nation's housing crisis so that they're able to sufficiently meet the needs of our constituents there are approximately three thousand three hundred individual public housing authority in the united states serving one point two million households low and middle income individuals and families making between fifty percent and eighty percent of the median income level in their community are eligible for federal assistance without this assistance literally millions of issued a ruling which will result in funding cuts for over eight hundred housing authorities throughout the country if the house does not act then twenty six percent of the housing authority in the united states will lose significant funding because of the decision to make up for the anticipated funding shortfalls the underlying legislation gives housing authorities the flexibility to transfer funds from their capital to operational accounts this move will ensure that housing authorities will not be forced to close down existing public housing units because of her shortsighted finally and importantly the legislation also reaffirms the role that tenants play in determining where they live and how those communities are governed mr speaker unfortunately the problems addressed in this legislation are not the only obstacle public housing authorities have been forced to deal with over the last seven years as my colleagues know the current administration has a long record of failing to meet america's low and middle income housing needs for example funding shortfalls have become regular staple in the president's public causing budget while the administration continues to neglect the more than eighteen billion dollars backlog in deferred maintenance for public housing units allowing the deterioration of public housing units to the point that many are completely uninhabitable this is simply unacceptable in my district some public housing units are literally falling apart rules the leaking and in some instances even caving in appliances are broken and decades not years old all units are deteriorating unattractive and lacking in sun some of the malls basic amenities even is that security in many of the public housing communities has been consistently disappearing residents in some public housing units in my congressional district alone are literally afraid to leave their homes yes we are working to address these and other public housing issues but we will not be able to fully address these issues if the underlying legislation does not pass mr speaker this solving bill was reported out favorably by the financial services committee of the whole committee by voice vote the minority members of the committee did not offer any amendments during markup and not one republican amendment was submitted to the rules committee it is my sincere hope that the house will pass this rule an underlying bill with that same overwhelming bipartisan support i urge my colleagues all to support this rule and public alving asset management improvement act of two thousand and seven as we work to improve public policy throughout america i reserve the balance of my time to speak reserve the balance of his time jump to look at the best practices across this country from people who are in the housing industry to determine best how to go about and manage assets of housing units this bill is all about taking away the best practices that exist for non government housing the rest of the industry because it will take money away from people who don't engage in best practices of course it will take money away from them but what this is all about is to try and take a negotiation that has happened for about seven years from what the previous congresses have passed to say we think that housing units and public housing needs to raise that stand birds tour we do have proper public housing public housing that works public housing that can pass the smell test of asset management now my good friends led by our speaker nancy pelosi want to say forget the standards forget the standards of the industry if they have to live up to those standards of proper management of best practices do you realize what that would mean to us we couldn't pass those audit's so we will lose our money so this rule and this new change that we're having here that's called the public housing asset management improvement act of two thousand and seven is all about trying to say forget it trying to do something that's bad or forget following standards that ha been established in the public sector we don't want those to apply so now we're going to pass a rule and a lot that says you don't have to do that because if you did we  i rise in opposition i rise in opposition not only to the rule which i believe is unnecessarily restrictive but also to the provisions in this bill and the underlying legislation unilaterally and at the last minute seeks to abuse congress of his power and the undisputed civic parts of a process that have previously been carefully negotiated over years with the private sector best practices and brokered over the last decade to make public housing more accountable for its spending and more accountable to the public housing units that we don't want to go when did disrepair in the united states of america and one nine hundred ninety eight congress passed the quality housing and work responsibility act which among other things were quired a deliberate and negotiated rule making process to bring asset management at our nation's public housing administrations up to a reasonable standard what we're here to do today is to say we don't want that standard and you're right the gentleman from florida is right public housing units that cannot meet the standards would lose money that's why we talk about waste fraud abuse people that do not use the money that has been given them by this congress by the taxpayer to work in the best interest we thought i think as we vote to spend money of people who are in public housing who through sometimes no fault of their own have to end up in public housing and find out they were in a rat infested bad housing project because asset management standards aren't followed amazing by adopting widespread pipettes private sector common practices such as project based budgeting and accounting to ensure that costs are known managed and maintained at a reasonable level which is what the current bill is about which is what we're going to un do congress wisely gave public housing administrations the tools they need dead along with and just like private sector tools to manage own finances better bringing them into line with every other operator of subsidized housing in this country and ensuring that spending money is to support their tenant and tenants remain the highest priority we're going to do away with that today that's what we're going to do away with and we call that new and improved i call that a sham and disrespectful of the residents who were trying to help today's legislation would overturn these longstanding negotiations and turn back the clock for public housing administration strike missions nationwide by limon aiding any restrictions on the amount of management fees they could charge promoting inefficiency reducing the level of funding available to tenants and decreasing oversight and accountability another words making sure that these public housing agencies stay on the watch list for waste fraud and abuse rather than using private sector standards of best practices to make them better mr speaker i cannot understand why this self proclaimed most honest ethical and open congress in history would use this time today to bring this legislation to the floor to make financial management of mid size public housing the ministrations less transparent less responsive and not even following the established by the private sector and by unilaterally overturning a lengthy and fairly negotiated rule making process but here we are in fact if speaker pelosi really wanted to demonstrate her commitment to hyannis open and ethical government she could be used in this time instead to take up a resolution that i in over one hundred fifty of my republicans co sponsors a colleagues have co sponsored authored by my good friend representative jack kingston from georgia which is a continuation of house republicans long term commitment to reform the ear mark process congressman kingston's bill would create a joint committee on earmark reform to conduct a full study of the air mark practices of the house the senate and the executive branch upon completion of the study the joint committee would file a report of its findings and its recommendations most importantly until this report is filed the house would put in place in the media a moratorium on the consideration of all earmarks by the way that's the people's money that's the people's money that people really back home are worried about instead mr speaker this house which recently tied the record as the most closed congress in history with forty nine close rules so far in one hundred tenth congress will consider this legislation that will impede the successful transition to an implement n of asset management by overturning a long negotiated process that is consistent with proper standards of the private sector i know that other bills like the bipartisan sen legislation to give our nation's intelligence service the tools that they need to protect americans or grants terrorist is also trying to be taken up by the house but instead this democrat leadership has chosen to miss yet another opportunity to provide americans with greater security by instead allowing the protect america act to expire if there's any question as to why the public holds congress in such low regard with only about one in five americans approving the job that this this house is doing one late need one need not look any further than the congressional calendar this week again this week and examine what both the democrat leadership in the house are doing and what we're neglecting to do it's just a crashing ends consent to a certain record statement of administrative policy explain their strong opposition to h r three five to once passage and i urge all my colleagues to vote against the previous question and this rule so that today the house can actually take up legislation that will move america in a positive direction mr speaker i think it's bad policy when you stand up and try and pass a law that takes away more accountability more opportunity for sunlight but most of all a standard that exists everywhere else people were really robbing and hurting and harming and continuing to harm or the people that live in public housing we believe transparency is important but we believe in responsibility we believe that people who are in public housing are entitled to know that where they live that someone is responsible looking at the dollars wisely and prepared with the investments that have been made on their behalf to be worried about leaving where they are i do understand as the gentleman from florida has said people are concerned cerned that they even leave where they are concerned that something will happen well that's right that's right and today what this house wants to do is to lower the standards would close well then at this time i would reserve my time until the gentleman has closed and you live back in time jump in texas thank the speaker and i thank the gentleman from florida mr speaker the track it tragic events of september eleventh taught us many lessons and one of the most basic lessons was that our nation must remain aggressive nimble proactive and adaptable in our fight against international terrorism to accomplish this common sense goal and a goal that i think that we as members of congress when we raise our hand to say we will support and defend our country congress must give our intelligence agencies the tools that they need to stay one step ahead of terrorists who wish to harm americans telecommunications technology has changed greatly since one nine hundred seventy eight when pfizer was first written and the modernization of foreign intelligence surveillance to adapt to the realities of the twenty first century should be a critical national security priority i am pleased that several of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle also agree on january the twenty eighth twenty one members of the blue dog coalition sent a letter to speaker pelosi in support of the rockefeller bond pfizer legislation in the united states senate the letter states and i quote the rockefeller bonfires the legislation creates satisfactory language addressing all of these this issues which we fully support that would measure and should reach the house floor without substantial change we believe these components will ensure a strong security apparatus that can for terrorism across the globe and save americans live american lives here in our country and the  insert into the to the record the letter by the blue dogs to speaker pelosi it's unfortunate that house democrat leaders chose to allow the protect america act to expire instead of bringing to the house floor the bipartisan measure that passed the united states senate by a vote of sixty eight to twenty nine to make our country safer congress needs to act immediately today i will once again give all the members of the house an opportunity to vote on a bipartisan long term modernization of pfizer i will call on all my colleagues including members of the blue dog coalition that signed the letter to speaker pelosi to join me in defending that in defeating the previous question so that we can immediately move to concur in the senate amendment and send the bill to the president to be signed into law quickly mr speaker rations consent to have the text of the amendment extraneous material and certain to record prior to the vote on the previous question that objection arjen my colleagues to vote no on the previous question and in favor of a bipartisan permanent solution that closes the terrorist loop hole and i yield back the balance of my time texas yield back the balance of the time  our during the previous recess that were very much in error concerning the house of representatives actions on the five legislation this is because i served for seven years on the house select committee on intelligence i find it hard to believe that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle or that anyone would believe that the distinguished chair of the intelligence committe their counterparts in the united states senate all come by would want to put this nation in jeopardy in anyway enough of the fear mongering anough of making people think that something is going to happen that is not going to happen the simple truth is that there will be legislation that will be legislation fashioned by the house and by the united states senate and not by the  state senate and not by this administration without those of us who have actual concerns about the united states constitution having our say in that regard civil liberties and civil rights are critical to america and the foundational aspects of our country a lot of full airing before conclusions are made by people that have operated the most secretive administrator and that i know of in the history of this country won't go much further on that score on the previous question mr speaker i return now to what we have heard about why we must pass this rule in the public housing asset management improvement which we are here about today it is nice to have the nuances it is nice to have the process it is nice to have the procedural opportunities that the monarchy takes and correctly they can bring up those  legislation and it will be appropriately undertaken to protect every american every american civil liberties and civil rights and more important to protect the constitution of the united states of america to the american people deserve an opportunity to improve their lives transitional public housing opportunities and serve this purpose for decades nurturing families in yielding such leaders a some of us who serve in this current public outing authorities must be empowered to effectively and flexibility manage their assets with appropriate tenant oversight m of their management if their management has been sold successful why is it then all that there is a housing crisis in this nation with reference to floor coaching this morning that's the speaker and i take the liberty of doing this because occasionally we come to the floor and talk about different matter but a distant cousin of mine in fort worth texas called me her name is sharon sams in sharon shar her story with me about her involvement with her mortgage company country while she's been in a home since one thousand nine hundred three she said and in addition there are two had never taken out any of her equity out of her home she has three children all of them that she has managed to educate and she was pursued by countrywide to enter into a mortgage set of circumstances that is now led from her mortgage arising from eleven hundred to twenty two hundred dollars and foreclosure proceedings going forward without any forbearance or opportunity for her to do anything other than lose all of our asset that she had developed during the years since one thousand nine hundred three i mention that because that's the private sector that if put an individual in a home in a position of being in need the bill is supported by the council of large public housing authorities the public causing authorities directors association the national association of housing and development official national housing law project and the national training and information center but guess who doesn't support some people on the other side and who had an opportunity in the financial services committee to offer amendments if they so choose and they chose not to is speak of fifteen years ago i ran for the united states congress and among the things that i said was i would try to improve public housing in my congressional district and throughout this nation and i don't feel that i've succeeded twelve of those years have been spent on the public administrations that were controlled by republicans twelve years in the house eight years just now in being soon happening in november so that the they team billion dollar backlogs and soledad housing won't collapse and fall down around people this is the same administration that didn't answer in new orleans but what have we done in the limited time that we are here and i continue to hear criticism about what we have not done what we have done in the house we passed the section eight voucher reform program that increases the number of families veterans and seniors that are able to afford safe homes by adding twenty thousand boucher's we did expand the home ownership of two thousand and seven that allows the population of our laws to have access to the federal housing administration in their house we have passed the national affordable housing cross fun act of two thousand and seven which creates a fund to you then build more for byles and for low income families and families who've lost their homes to foreclosure we've also passed in this out that they keep saying that the agenda isn't good we passed the housing finance reform act and expanded the size of loans that can be assured by freddie mac and fred and fannie mae we passed the mortgage reform in predatory lending several years in the making you bet it is on and what i don't understand is why is it pulled people always the ones that have to take it right on the chance every time this nature and gets itself in a crisis the national miami workers center all sorts of organizations i ask unanimous consent that all of these letters of all of these organizations that i am be included in the record miss out on the action this is because i'm prepared to yield back the balance of my pursuant to clause eight of rule twenty proceedings will resume on questions previously postponed both will be taking taken in the following order on approving the journal by two days an ace on ordering the previous question on house resolution one seven four and  top in the resolution ordered the first electronic vote will be conducted as a fifteen minute vote remaining votes will be conducted as five minute votes so we're into our first series of votes today on the floor of the house there's a procedural vote on approving the journal the house has been working on a public housing management bill today first up is the rule will have a vote on the previous question for that and then we anticipate a vote on the rule itself the the rule would allow for an hour of the on the public housing management bill a couple of amendments will be allowed as well as a republican motion to change the bill all that  ahead today on the floor the public housing management bill itself makes changes to the way two ways that is that public housing programs are managed it requires the federal government and local agencies to negotiate management fees well over on the other side of the capitol today the senate passed the american indian health care bill this morning on a vote of eighty three to ten so ca to press reporting it this way the senate has passed legislation designed to improve health care on indian reservations and increased tribal access to medicare and medicaid the legislation approved tuesday would boost screening and mental health programs at the indian health service prompt new construction and modern modernization of health clinics on reservations and attempt to recruit more indians into health professions it would cost about thirty five billion dollars over ten years senate indian affairs committee chairman byron dorgan of is a first step in addressing what he called the crisis in american indian health care rates of most leading causes of death for american indians are much higher than those for the rest of the country again that's right from the a p today the american indian health care bill passing in the senate on a vote of eighty three to ten the senate now in a recess for their weekly party lunches members return at two fifteen eastern time you can watch the senate on c span to  live coverage of the house continues here on c span this fifteen minute vote continues the house voting on approving the journal a procedural vote here another rep or seadrill votes on the previous question as expected and then we anticipate a vote on the rule for the public housing management bill that's what the house is working on today the bill that makes changes to the ways that public housing programs are managed some campaign news today senator christopher dodd has endorsed one time presidential rival in the race for the white house he said today it's time for democrats to join forces to defeat the republicans in the fall campaign the two men appeared together at a news conference dodd is the first of the democratic campaign members who have presidential candidates i should say who dropped out of the race to to endorse another candidate again senator chris dodd endorsing barack obama in the race for the white house today well again here in the house today the only bill on the agenda that we know of is the public housing management bill it requires the federal government and local agencies to negotiate management fees making changes to the ways that public housing programs are managed at the federal level over in the senate senators are now in a break for their weekly party lunches back at two fifteen eastern time and we expect a couple of measures to be considered sponsored by senator russ feingold both about iraq one intended to hasten the  drawdown of u s troops in iraq the other requiring the president to submit a report to congress outlining u s global strategy to combat al qaida again that's what's going on this afternoon in the senate when senators come back at two fifteen eastern also on c span three at two eastern drug sentencing hearing looking at discrepancies between cocaine and crack sentences house judiciary subcommittee hearing on c span three live coverage two p m eastern time today the house in two ways first series of votes of the day this a procedural measure on approving the journal the house voting on the official record of yesterday's floor proceedings house members working today on a public housing management bill it makes changes to the ways public housing programs are managed first up of course that will be the rule once we get to that if it is approved it will allow for one hour of debate on the underlying bill it will permit two amendments and a republican motion to change the bill as well first we need to get through this journal vote and possibly a previous question vote and then vote on the rule itself is anticipated as far as the rest of the week goes in the house on  wednesday members expected to consider extending tax incentives for investing in alternative energy also extending trade agreements with four south american countries those agreements extend duty free treatment for most goods from bolivia colombia ecuador and peru that's for wednesday and are looking ahead to thursday susan crabtree writes in the hill today that the house will likely vote on a bill imposing a new layer of ethical scrutiny on member activity this thursday according to the lawmaker leading the effort representative michael capriano of massachusetts who chairs a bipartisan ethics taskforce said today that all indicators point to a thursday vote on a bill creating an outside office of congressional ethics the end of the could launch preliminary ethics inquiries and issue recommendations to the house ethics panel known formally as the committee on standards of official conduct no members may no members baby current lawmakers the story goes on to say that the measure remains controversial in some circles freshman democrats and several prominent watchdog groups argue that it does not provide real investigative power while some critics on both sides of the aisle say it could lead to a return to the partisan ethics which hans the past even though it is expected to pass democratic leaders sent out a whip notice on friday to make sure there are no surprises again that from a story written by susan crabtree in the hill today again the house voting on on approving the journal we expect this to be the first of a couple of procedural votes a vote on the rule on the public housing management bill is expected as well and then debate on that bill that is the only measure on the agenda that we know of in the house today and the senate is in a recess now for their weekly party lunches senators return at two fifteen to continue their work for the day a couple of measures sponsored by russ feingold in the senate today one that would impact the drawdown of u s troops in iraq the other requiring the president to submit a report to congress outlining the u s is strategy to qaida those ahead today in the senate live coverage on c span to our live coverage of the house continues here on c span to the house now on to previous question vote a procedural vote that we anticipate to lead into a vote on the rule itself for the public housing management bill as the bill being considered on the floor today the bill would make changes to the ways public housing programs are managed would require the federal government and local agencies to negotiate management fees we expect if the rule itself is passed we would have an hour of debate a couple of amendments would be allowed as well as a republican motion to change that bill j half land in congress now writing today that claiming that self regulation of the mortgage industry failed to head off the current crisis in sub prime mortgages house financial services chairman barney frank said today that federal oversight is needed to keep that market sector in check is the call came during a hearing of his committee to address the state of the economy which frank also blasted former federal reserve chairman alan greenspan for not utilizing his oversight authority to stem the crisis frank said the single greatest cause of mortgage fallout spreading to the wider economy is regulatory failure again that's from a congress now story also from congress now today senate majority leader harry reid as introduced to new bills to extend the protect america act which provides the government with warrantless surveillance powers the first bill extends the provision of the recently expired act for an additional thirty days the second option extends the expired provisions through july first two thousand and nine both measures are applied retroactively to february fifteenth of this year again that story from congress now this afternoon speaking of the senate the senate in a recess until two fifteen this afternoon for other weekly party lunches senators return then to work on a couple of bill sponsored by senator russ feingold one that is in ten did the deal with the drawdown of u s troops in iraq the other requiring the president to submit a report to congress outlining u s global strategy to combat  that's ahead this afternoon in the senate live coverage on our companion network c span two also on c span three at two this afternoon a drug sentencing hearing looking at discrepancies between cocaine and in cleveland that will be a tape delayed broadcast on c span radio ten thirty tonight east coast time a five minute vote to the house now on to a vote on the rule that will govern debate on the public housing management bill if the rule passes it will allow for an hour of debate on the underlying bill also two amendments will be allowed as well as a republican motion to change the bill the public housing management bill makes a number of changes to the ways public housing programs are managed it requires the federal government and local agencies to negotiate management fees again that we're voting  on the rule now on the floor of the house and then we expect if it passes of course we'll move on to debate on the bill itself this is a five minute  senate will be back in at two fifteen this afternoon to begin iraq war debate we talked to a capitol hill reporter just a few minutes ago to get the details we're joined on the phone by john stanton of roll call why is the senate revisiting the iraq war today well initially senator reid had agreed to let senator russ feingold have two votes on iraq related measures as part of the way to clear the defense authorization bill that they did earlier this year  with the thinking being that if they did this with this week the republicans would not agree to cloture motions on either two bills there was sort of be a quick you know sort of procedural fiasco but fortunately what he's senator feingold's resolution to begin to troop drawdown in iraq talk about those political points for a moment what's in it for senate republicans well i think republicans see slow looking at what's been happening in iraq and the fact the surge has brought down of levels of violence fairly significantly the issue that it's sort of off the political radar for the public to large degree that are feeling like you know they can they can sort of take this bring this thing the floor force a debate force know democrats are that very concerned about this they sort of see the political winds and they realize domestic agenda is more important to folks and they wanted to try to stay on that until at least april when the supplemental spending bill is going to come forth how has the debate over whether to pull troops out of iraq or at least forces this ific withdrawal date change since last year when democrats in the house and senate and the issue at the top of their agenda well i think that you know again as the as the surge is sort of brought levels of violence down it is allowed to the public's mind to refocus on the domestic agenda and republicans found that while they did take some hits last year by staying together and staying with the administration they didn't see the kind of political  and democrats meanwhile have had very little success in picking up any extra votes they still kid overcall the sixty vote margin that they need to actually pass what was drawl bill of the senate what he's supposed to happen after these votes take place the debates all over what will you be watching for in sort of the next phase of the iraq war debate well i think that we should probably assuming that democrats or republicans given the cloture vote we will see sort of a thirty hour debate they'll be doing some amendments or senator webb has a few are ready to sign some other things the bills of expected to to not be passed though and then if senator reid has had his druthers you know sort of died back down again for at least i would say about a and the senate is back in at two twenty five this afternoon to begin that iraq war debate here in the house members will be debating a public housing management bill the honorable the speaker house of representatives madam thank you for your service and for your leadership i appreciate all your hard work and commitment to upholding the proud tradition something house of representatives did to my attending appointed to the committee on appropriations i here my resignation from the committee on act culture and the committee on science and technology effective monday to do i did twenty fifth two thousand and eight i appreciate your consideration and i look forward to working with you in the future please do not the following senate committee one committee on appropriations mr boehner of alabama committee on the budget mr jordan of ohio three committee on financial services mr heller of nevada for committee on natural resources just smith of nebraska and mr whitman after ten years and five committee on transportation and infrastructure mr latta without objection a resolution has agreed to an emotion reconsider is laid on the table what purpose is gen the honorable the speaker help the representatives madam this letter service my intent to resign from the committee on small business effective monday february twenty fifth two thousand a sense in my honor and pleasure to serve on the committee and i look forward to the work ahead this letter sir is my intent to resign from the house natural resources committee education and labor committee and small business committee effective monday february twenty fifth two thousand and eight if you have any questions regarding this matter please don't create a contact me thank one the chair appoints a gentleman from new york mr serrano to preside of the  the house is in the committee of the whole house on the state of the union for the consideration of h r thirty five twenty one which the clerk will report by title a deal to improve the operating time for public housing at the department of housing and urban development pursuant to the rules of builders consider red the first time gentleman from new jersey missed the thetis and the gentleman from illinois mr bascomb each will control thirty minutes chair recognize the gentleman from new jersey thank you mr speaker introduce this bill shortly after i was sworn in i received a letter from the jersey city housing authority in my district they told me they had laid off thirty four ploy yes because of asset management when i looked into this i learned that jerry city was not unique or what eight hundred public housing authorities had their operating budgets cut because of the way asset management was implemented by the u s department of housing and urban development at the same time that the palm it limited the amount of flexibility given to public housing authorities to make ends meet i knew something had to be done with the support of chairman frank chairwoman waters and others i enjoy doing a job thirty five twenty one the public housing asset management improvement act of two thousand and seven you will note that the title indicates that the building proves asset management it does not and i repeat it does not put an end to asset management that is because i feel strongly that the goals of the asset management are worthwhile by making public housing authorities run more efficiently asset management has the potential to improve the lives of all those who live in public housing in this country my bill simply makes for improvements to the asset management rule first it requires we new negotiations or with a management fee a little background of this is probably helpful in hundred ninety eight congress passed the quality housing and work responsibility act of one nine hundred ninety eight which called on the department to replace the all funding system with new wall efficient system in two thousand and four a negotiated rule making committee gathered together to decide how to implement this new system known as asset management one key piece was the management fee and congress required that the fee be reasonable t new negotiations to establish a reasonable fee and allows balik hours ago authorities to revert back to their war funding mechanism until finally implementation of asset management on january first two thousand and eleven second agencies particularly since the public housing program is under funded housing authorities know best where they need funding not in washington there is wide agreement on this provision in fact this provision was included in the consolidated appropriations act of fiscal year two thousand and eight that provision however it's all a valid for one year my bill would make the change permanent third my building creases the exception  from small to medium sized public outing authorities the department recognized that small authorities what fewer than two hundred fifty units of housing would not benefit from the efficiencies of assets asset management the final rule accent's public that consolidated appropriations act for fiscal year two thousand and eight race the exemption threshold to four hundred my bill goes a little further to five hundred units the impact of this change will only affect four new forty one public housing authorities some of whom may not have to ask may not opt out of asset management because they think it makes good sense if it would this change all but two thirds of all public outing units still w be covered by asset management rules finally my bill restates current law in terms of tenant participation it simply says that tenants should be allowed to participate in that decision affecting their homes it prohibits the department from altering tennis participation rates and it encourages public housing authorities doing lieutenants in discussion about asset management direct that directly affect their home let me end by talking about who supports myself such time as i may consume mr chairman i rise in opposition to h r thirty five twenty one the public housing asset management improvement act of two thousand and seven the bill makes several changes to the department of housing and urban urban development public housing agency asset management final rule and what i'd like to do rather than reading a lengthy statement is just to summarize some of my concerns in a nutshell without question there's been a great deal of good work in good faith  been put in on this bill but i think that there's a couple of key points that just fall a little bit short and i think i think we can do better the first is the exemption  many public housing authorities from the asset management mandate and that's something that good thing on balance asset management says that if you've got unit a and unit b and unit c of public housing then we're going to determine the cost of unit a the cost of unit b and the cost of unit c and we're not going to mix all these things up together and act as if each individual one isn't responsible for an individual cost asset management is a good business practice that makes all kinds of sense and if the bill as amended is ultimately passed by this house eighty eight percent of public housing authorities in the united states would be exempt that's a bad idea the second thing that is actually a bigger concern to me is section two of the bill and it relates to management and related fees let me just read part of the language that this house is being asked to vote on it says the secretary shall not impose any and that's the operative word mr chairman any restriction or limitation on the amount of management and related fees with respect to a public housing project if the fee is determined to be reasonable by the public housing agency unless and then there's a couple of limitations that have to do with timing the secretary shall not impose any restriction or limitation any restriction any limitation and who is it that's going to determine whether a fee is reasonable under this bill as amended under this bill it's going to be the very entity that's going to be the beneficiary of that fee so we're essentially saying to the fox why don't you guard the henhouse why don't you decide what your fee is going to be and you simply send the bill to the taxpayer and that's the bill that's going to be paid i think that's unreasonable i think that common sense says no no no common sense says there's going to be someone else that determines reasonable before a bill is going to be paid and what this does is it says and secure his thing to me i can't figure out for the life of me why it says that that that it terminations of reasonableness and the renegotiation of reasonableness can't be brought up for another year this can't even be the subject of a conversation a substantive negotiation until april first of two thousand and nine and then even if something is negotiated then it can't be imposed until two thousand and eleven three years away i just think that's unreasonable and i think it it is it is a financial control that's in place that is being put adrift and we're not going to be able to get it back for three years costs are going to go up mark my words finally this allows for the diversion of capital funds mr chairman you know there's always a natural tension right between capital funds and operating funds and we hear that all the time there is no shortage of national attention and national conversation and national concern about the atrophying of our capital the atrophying of our infrastructure and what ought not be doing is creating more fungibility in other words more pressure to take money and divert precious capital money from capital expenditures which are the traditional bricks and mortars of public housing to go seven and i want to thank mr cyrus and chairman frank for their dedication and commitment to resolving this at times perplexing and confusing process known as asset management to which our public housing agencies have been struggling to adapt for several years now this struggle has been made all the worse by the department of housing and urban development the overly prescriptive guidelines on some issues like of guidance on other issues and contradictory or insufficient guide and on everything and between i think we can all agree that public housing agencies can be better at managing our public housing resources and that asset management has the potential to improve how public housing is managed nationwide however in examining the issues behind the implementation of asset management it has become clear that had one size fits all approach simply won't work in addition the departments willful disregard of existing statute as a part of its implementation is eroding the trust of housing agencies residents and some members of this congress in light of the department actions and the need to proceed with asset management my friend from new jersey introduced this bill h r thirty five twenty one maintains and respect the negotiated rule making agreed to by all parties housing agencies their industry representatives and hud and still requires housing agencies to convert to asset management by two thousand and eleven however the bill settle three outstanding issues that have slowed the implementation of asset management number one them out of management the number two the ability of housing agencies to use a portion of their capital funds but operating expenses as allowed under statue and number three the kinds of housing agencies that must convert to asset management these are all critical issues that must be decided before two thousand and eleven h r thirty five twenty one w require our negotiated room akin to settle the issue of management these the fees that the department is attempting to impose on housing agencies are in many cases insufficient and will not meet the needs of housing agencies who have been historically underfunded in addition this these appear to have been arrived at in an arbitrary manner negotiated room a can on the subject of management these would allow the nation's housing manages to work with h to determine a reasonable theory for managing public housing because to date for full implementation of asset management would stay the same negotiated will make and would not delay our stall conversion to asset management on the use of capital funds for operating expenses the statue is very clear housing agencies have the ability to move twenty percent of their capital fun to their operating pod however in its guidance the department has disregarded this plain as day statue and has limited capital pon fungibility to ten percent the bill simply asserts what is already in law large housing agencies will benefit the most  asset management due to the economies of scale that will result from streamlining their operations by raising the threshold for conversion from housing agencies that manage two hundred fifty units to those that manage five hundred units the bill simply ensures that only those housing agencies with the ability to benefit from asset management are required to comply i with that furthermore the bill make sure that asset management does not stifle ten participation and resident organization public housing residents are very concerned about how asset management will impact their ability to participate and to organize the bill ensures that the of residents to remain in bob and to be represented is not impinged upon mr chairman this bill does not and do reverse our undermine the original negotiated room making between housing agencies transformation mr speaker in thirty years dealing with all of the public housing authorities throughout the united states this bill developed with the input of public housing agencies administrators and tenants as a commonsense measure that provides flexibility to the nation's public housing authorities as they transition to asset management i must say to my friend from illinois on the points that you bring up are salient but it doesn't work here and i'll tell you why h r thirty five twenty one was included as part of h r twenty seven sixty four consolidated appropriations act that two thousand and eight which the president signed on december the twenty sixth two thousand and seven it's already law specifically the consolidate appropriations act included the provision to allow flexible funding between the capital and operating funds it also expanded the exemption from implementing asset management from public housing authorities with less than two hundred fifty units  public housing authorities with less than five hundred four hundred units this legislation that was before us today increases that threshold to five hundred units so what we're taking is something already in the law and expanding it h r thirty five twenty one would also be permanent whereas the consolidated consolidate appropriations act would only provisions of place for the year two thousand and eight i asked that that be considered and i think it's a very important part of what we're debating today asset management is an efficient administrative style that allows public housing authorities to manage each individual housing development on a asset management they believe that hud has implemented it it's in flexibility for example one has mandated that public the authorities demonstrate compliance so this is not a  years the flexibility for compliance and what is overseeing them you act as if there is no one who's auditing the books time to we need time to issue timely and complete guidance on these new regulations causing some ph a's to lose funding in stamp i don't think any of us want that during this time of declining resources for public asing when is the last time we build public as and when is the last time we build public  years at a time when we know what's going on out there with people losing their own ones the last time we provided public as ing and let's recognize from minute so during this time of declining resources for public aus and it is imperative that we provide them with the flexibility they need to use their funds as they see fit this legislation requires new negotiated will making to begin in two thousand  authorities are funded according to an accurate funding formula and allows the public housing authorities the flexibility to move small amounts of funding from capital to operating funds also all this legislation exempt public housing authorities from massive management as they generally will see no economic or efficiency improvements from its implementation and ensures that the ph a's involve tenants in every decision mr speaker this bill makes real practical changes that will truly benefit our public housing agencies as they implement asset management i urge my colleagues to support its passage and i commend the sponsors of this legislation thank consume to close my appreciate the tone of the discussion this afternoon very very much and i just want to point out and really ask the house if you noticed something and at the beginning of my remarks i put out essentially as a challenge this concern that i have of this language the secretary shall not impose any restriction or limitation on the amount of management  related fees nothing no restriction no authority completely stripped so that there is nobody that has the ability and come in and say this invoice for management this amount of money for management are you kidding me that's outrageous nobody has the authority to do that they do now they do currently have that ability but under this and are under this bill mr chairman that authority goes away now the gentleman from new jersey the previous speaker mentioned the fungibility argument and i accept that as an argument i don't think it's a good idea i don't think that that something that's in an appropriations bill just because it's a bad idea that it needs the house is imprimatur once again that's going to expire at the end of the year and i think that we can do better so just in summary you know what we're being asked to do today is essentially to limit down the amount of public housing authorities that would be under asset management to only twelve percent of the public housing authorities in the united states only twelve percent of them would be subject to asset management if this bill isn't acted so i think those are sufficient numbers to say you know what i think we can do better those which have sufficient reason sufficient arguments that would suggest that we can do better they should go back to the drawing board a i urge you know vote and with that i yield back the balance of my time so many years back this time gentleman from new jersey mr speaker just the closing i'd like to say that there is oversight and the twenty percent that we're talking about is just increasing time percent because already they have the ability to blow that percent with all the costs all the increases and the underfunding of the housing authorities i think is reasonable and i yield back the balance of my  all time for general debate has expired pursuant to the rule the amendment in the nature of a substitute printed in the bill shall be considered as an original bill for the purpose of amendment under the five minute rule and shall be considered re norman to the committee amendment is in order except those printed in house report one ten that five twenty four each amendment may be offered only in the order printed in the report by a member designated in the report shall be considered read shall be debatable for the time specified in the report equally divided and controlled by the proponent and an opponent of the amendment shall not be subject to amendment and shall not be subject to other men for the vision of the recognizes the gentleman from new jersey thank you mr speaker this management amendment covers two different aspects of the bill just first part addresses compliance with section two of the bill section two grants agencies the laws funding because of asset management to opt out of the funding agreement the bill allows them to set their own reasonable management fee until a new negotiated rulemaking takes place however the department recently announced that any agency complying with this back the balance of my time we have no opposition of the amendment  on that theme of the quote about pursuant to close six of rule eighteen further proceedings of the amendment offered by the gentleman from new jersey will be postponed it is now in order to printed house report number one ten dash five twenty four offered by mr meek of florida pursuant to house resolution one seventy four the gentleman from florida mr meek and a member of close each will control five minutes the chair recognizes gentleman from florida thank you very much members i think that this amendment is well in order our first of all want to thank the chairman of the committee mr franks and also mr c is who's been a leader in this my friend from new jersey and also chairwoman waters mr speaker this amendment simply on page three line twenty three gives those individuals that are find themselves in the middle of a dispute between the department  of housing and urban development and a local housing authority when there is a reason when that particular local housing authority falls into receivership on all agreements that had been agreed upon as hope six grand and the housing authority failed the residents in being able to implement that grant and then the residents and housing authority came together for the better good to make sure that there were a number of homeless individuals and those  up going south and i think there are other communities that will be going through this in the very near future and i'm offering this amendment hopefully the members will accept this amendment and good faith and it will help us move forward as we look at these situations in the future t to cost six of rule eighteen for the proceedings on the amendment offered by the german from florida will be postpone pursuant to clause six of rule eighteen proceedings will not resume on those amendments printed in house report one ten that is five twenty four which further proceedings were postponed in the following order amendment number one i missed a series you're finished business is a request for a recorded vote on a member number one printed in house report one ten five twenty four by the gentleman from new jersey mr serious on which further proceedings were postponed and on which the aides prevailed by voice vote the clerk will read designate the amendment and then number one printed in house report number one ten dash five twenty four offered by mr series of new jersey every quarter vote has been requested those in support of the request for record a vote will rise and be counted a sufficient number having risen a record of voters ordered members will record their votes by electronic device this will be a fifteen minute vote followed by a five minute vote