mr speaker the united states is intending to send one point four billion dollars in taxpayer money to mexico to fight the cartel drug criminals on the border this may sound good on the surface but there are problems with sending money south of the border it's an unfortunate reality that border corruption exists between mexican law enforcement and the drug cartels america has no assurances some of that money or equipment won't end up in the very hands of the people were trying to stop this one point four billion dollars would be better spent if it stayed in america if you go to the border sheriffs coalition these are hard nosed law women from brownsville texas to san diego california that operate on a shoestring budget and they know better how to stop the drug smugglers and coyotes from entering their counties i have met with them numerous times along our southern border these border lawmen are amazing crime fighters and protectors of america the eighteen texas border sheriffs unanimously believe that quote the culture of corruption and smoke smuggling both in narcotics and humans and the threat terrorism on the border will increase if this money is sent to mexico mr speaker let's help out our first responders and give them the tools to fight crime on the border and keep the money in america and that's just the way it is i yield back gentlemen your back is time what purpose the gentleman from iowa rise georgia for what for without objection mrs speaker the president want to blame the democrats for the economic mess he made he is the one who want to see problems on the road he should be ashamed of himself when he came into raise president bush had his hand on the wheel but seven years he has been in shores but you want to blame the democrats for the economic mess he may well as they spend a foul ball won't hunt republican  around and we've shared some of that in the upstate of south carolina but there are also some real bright spots one of them is on girling to a road in greenville south carolina where general electric is currently looking for two hundred more engineers that would add to these three thousand employees they have a tat plant half for engineers roughly the other half manufacturing staff and one most exciting things they're doing there is wind turbines in fact general electric is now the number two installer of wind turbine units in the whole world and they're made in significant part in greenville south carolina if the renewable production tax credit is extended and that's an important if for us here in the house we need to do that if we do extend that credit general electric expects that the united states will surpass germany is the number one producer of wind energy in the world mr speaker it's an exciting thing when we see new technology create jobs especially when that new technology moves us away from dependence on oil and helps us break this addiction general time but first john from our eyes without objection mr speaker i rise today to congratulate during company for placing fourth among more than one thousand companies in the annual one hundred best corporate citizens list compiled by c r o magazine i'm proud to represent john deere facilities located in waterloo dubuque and the quad cities in my district john deere as long history and iowa iowa farmers were using john deere plows to break the prairie an eight thirty seven before i was even became a state in one thousand nine hundred john deere purchased that waterloo gasoline engine company which transformed the company into a national leader in far machine production in fact the waterloo boy tractor is displayed at the smithsonian hundred forty s deere expanded by building an industrial equipment factory in dubuque john deere is the world's leading manufacturer of agricultural and forestry equipment and today employs almost forty seven thousand people worldwide and nearly ten thousand of them are in my district i am proud to have such a strong dear john deere presence in my district and i'm pleased that the company scored high in the areas of climate change human rights and philanthropy i commend deer and company for all it's done for i when the country dollars this year according to a report set to be released today from the special inspector general for iraq reconstruction the cost of iraqi oil has skyrocketed in recent years up two hundred fifty thousand percent since two thousand and three with the soaring oil revenues the time is now for the iraqi government to take greater responsibility for the security and reconstruction of their country and begin the process of weaning themselves off the largesse of the united states of america recently secretary of defense robert gates announced that he was cutting one hundred seventy one million and pentagon funding for police station construction in iraq this is a good first step towards ensuring that the iraqi government understands that they need to show a real and sustained commitment to taking control of their country's destiny by spending some of their record oil revenues the iraqis can send a definitive statement that they are serious about investing in their you mr speaker this is national cover the uninsured week this recognition is particularly important this year as our economy continues to dip into recession the kaiser family foundation recently released a study that shows each time the unemployment rate increases by one percentage point an additional six hundred thousand children lose their insurance congress has worked hard to ensure that our children have access to health care coverage through the chip program in strong bipartisan votes this congress has repeatedly sent president bush legislation that would provide ten million children quality health care coverage but repeatedly he vetoed the legislation and prevented us from reaching more children this legislation is even more important today more americans are losing their jobs and their health care and yet president bush and most republicans in this chamber refuse to insure that ten million children have access to quality health care mr speaker as we recognize the uninsured this week i once promise to america's timbered counties including klamath county in southern oregon by not reauthorizing the county payments program now klamath county usually receives upwards of one hundred million dollars annually from county payments for the lapse of program obviously has created a major budget shortfall for that rural county it's forced been forced to deplete its operational reserves its cut over ten jobs in areas like the sheriff's office juvenile justice administration and planning if revenues fail to meet projections and with the operational reserves depleted the next round of cuts could easily result in more than twenty five people in the sheriff's department alone losing their jobs klamath county is known for running a tight ship so each new cut carry serious consequences to public services since january of this year the democrat majority in this house has sat on h r thirty fifty eight a bipartisan four your reauthorization bill for county payments nothing's happened no vote i again call on the democratic leadership do the right  thing keep the commitment to the timber communities of this country and pass a reauthorization or put it in the farm bill or put it in the supplemental don't strip it out restore faith with rural counties all across america keep the federal commitment to these timber the president announce that he's open to ideas to lower soaring gasoline prices that's good news because i notice gasoline prices begin to rise not long after vice president cheney held a secret meetings with the energy company so the first thing th president ought to do is have the vice president release the transcripts of those secret meetings the american people still don't know what the vice president's energy cobble cooked up the gasoline prices have skyrocketed ever since the president solution is to allow its oil pals to drill in the arctic national wildlife refuge that teaches addicted to oil risk environmental catastrophe but feed the profits of oil companies two of the oil companies b p and shell reported almost nineteen billion dollars in profits in the first quarter and their surrogates in the white house can only meet soaring gas prices with silence and secrecy the president claims he's looking for new ideas how about an old reliable one open government tell the people what happened in those secret meetings maybe then we'll find out why i paid three dollars and seventy five cents for a gallon of gas last night it was a dollar ninety when the president came in general years back it's time for what purposes gentleman from new jersey writes without objection mr speaker skyrocketing gas prices continue to squeeze americans who are now paying more than double the price for gasoline than they did when president bush forced office families and businesses paying a heavy price for the bush administration's failure to a a comprehensive energy plan in this amber a democratic congress passed the historic energy independence and security act which is expected to lower gas prices for the average family anywhere between between a hundred to seven hundred thousand dollars a year in addition to this landmark legislation the democratic congress has passed six other bills that put us on a pedestal as energy independence and crack down on price gouging however president bush and his republican allies in congress strongly oppose every single mr speaker i rise today to bring attention to an issue of great concern to the people of my district when i was home in indianapolis this week and i heard from countless homeowners who are concerned about losing their homes and the mortgage crisis these are good hard working people not speculators or investors who find themselves on the brink of foreclosure and the hooters i met on a loan some estimate that nearly fifty thousand homes in indiana will be lost of this crisis if we fail to act indiana families are counting on congress and we are taking action i am proud to serve on the financial services committee where we are continuing to work on a plan that will provide real relief to homeowners who are struggling our plan will help ease the mortgage crisis and help more homeowners stay in their homes and i am proud that the that the legislation includes an amendment i have offered to ensure organizations that serve minority communities have the resources they need to counsel and support homeowners in trouble many of these communities have been hit especially hard by this crisis and it's essential that organizations who serve these neighborhoods can step in and help prevent more mr speaker today house will complete work on the technical corrections bill for the federal highway transportation act and this bill includes a project that is critical to my district the future i seventy six chord or pittsburgh international airport is the only major airport not currently on a federal interstate this is hurt the regions of billy to compete and limited business development along the highways that lead to it the reed designation of pennsylvania routes twenty two thirty and sixty as federal interstate three seventy six is critical to future economic development and the marketability of western pennsylvania completion of the project is also so contingent on safety upgrades at two separate interchanges with today's passage of the technical corrections our one without objection mr speaker senator john mccain admitted months ago that he was an expert on the economy and that certainly explains his comments earlier this month when he declared quote you could make the argument that there's been great progress economically over the last seven years great economic progress clearly senator mccain has not been talking with the middle class families across america who overwhelmingly believe they are worse off today than they were when president bush took office in january of two thousand and one and there's a good reason they're feeling that way since january of two thousand and one health care premiums have increased by more than five thousand dollars per year for the average middle class family while college costs for their children have shot up twenty five hundred dollars a year for a public university middle class families are finding it increasingly difficult to find the money for these skyrocketing costs considering the average median income has actually fall more than nine hundred dollars over the last seven years and senator mccain calls this economic progress mr speaker the american middle class cannot afford another four years of failed republican leadership in the white house gentle lady district last night in a telephone call conference and visiting with folks in my district they want to know what congress is doing about gas prices and energy prices people are struggling as they try to fill up their gas tank they're struggling when they go to the store and see inflated food costs and so far we haven't seen any results from congress now the other side of the aisle the democrats are in charge they've been in charge they said they were going to take over and they would have a plan the speaker then leader on the other side said they would have a plan where is the plan gasoline prices when the democrats took control were just a little over two dollars now they're reaching four dollars in some areas where is the plan the only plan i've seen is eight hundred seventy thousand dollars plan to replace the light in the dome of the capitol  two hundred year payout for a plan where is the plan people in america want to know where the plan is and how we're going to reduce gas prices for them and food prices for them so may go back  balance of my time joan from connecticut that you are the speaker last night gas prices in new london connecticut reached three hours and seventy seven cents a gallon when george bush took office they were dollar fifty two cents a gallon those prices are seventy two cents higher than last year in london county forty two cents higher than just last month commercial fishermen on long island sound have seen their fuel costs double truck drivers are seeing their diesel prices more than double in the last year dozens of members of congress have written to president bush asking him with one stroke of the pen to change the delivery schedule for the strategic petroleum oil reserve which is a tried and true practice that he himself exercised in two thousand and five after hurricane katrina brought down the price of gas by forty cents at a time when the price per barrel with seventy five dollars today at one hundred twenty dollars per barrel it is time for president bush to listen to the people of this country members of congress who are asking him to exercise his power to bring down the price of gas and in our congress the democratic led congress are going to keep the pressure on the president until he listens to the people this country and avoid smothering our attempts to to bring this country out of recession with the economic stimulus package i yield back the balance of my time gentlemen your practice time what purpose no man from alaska wrecked don't recognize that objection thank god for george bush he's created the hurricanes earthquakes and the high price of gas there's only one group responsible high price of gas that consumers america and that's the united states congress they have done nothing nothing to the one nine hundred seventy three doing crease the productivity of fossil fuels the united states and they still are not doing nothing mr or mrs america they talk about it they blame mr bush that's it's the best thing you do when the other guy the truth the matter until we start drilling until we start look at buying coal until we use the offshore oil we have available and to use anwar in alaska we're going to pay a lot more t going to solve it by putting one hundred thousand dollars on the dome of the capitol saying and two hundred years ten bucks what's wrong with this congress remember i said this congress you know i haven't done the job you're not doing the job until we wake up mr mrs america to start drilling is we should drill you're going to pay a lot more at that tank you think about it two hundred dollars a barrel two years from now you better take and get a bicycle and years back it's time for what person on the from oregon rise burn calories instead of fossil fuels and i'm pleased that my community portland oregon was just designated a platinum level bicycle friendly city the highest rating granted by the league of american bicyclists portland celebrates three decades of consistently applying policies to promote cycling and the third consecutive year of double digit growth in bicycle ridership this makes a big difference for real life people it's why portlanders are nine times more likely to ride a bicycle than the average american and part of a rich choice menu for portlanders with cars and transit and bicycles that into up having them drive twenty percent less than the average american family and that translates into a savings of twenty five hundred dollars a year per family that they can spend on education on housing on entertainment on investing back into the community i suggest that it's time to celebrate choices and i'm proud that portland oregon has decided to give cyclists the choices they deserve so many years back in fact one person from pennsylvania wri was recognized for one minute without objection mr speaker recently i met with a number of independent truckers in my district who said that many of their businesses cannot survive the current cost of diesel fuel and many of my constituents of also said they cannot continue to pay these rising price of gasoline the rising prices of food and what much of this comes down to is congress has to end its embargo on american oil to say we cannot draw on the gulf coast the atlantic coast the pacific coast and the colorado area over the shale oil alaska has reached a point where opec has continued to grab us by the throat and continues to fund both sides of the war on terror americans understand that whoever controls the supply can demand whatever price they want and now with gasoline being over seventy percent the cost is or will widen isn't it time that america took control of its own economy and began to use its own resources in a or environmentally responsible way let's end the embargo on american oil let's take back control of our economy let's take action of this and i yield back gentlemen your back this time what persimmon from minnesota rise objection jones recognized misspeak or congressional democrats know that middle class families are struggling to make ends meet in an economy that is simply leaving too many of them behind that is why we worked in a bipartisan way to pass an economic stimulus plan earlier this year and starting this week more than a hundred thirty million americans will receive some much needed relief in the form of recovery rebate checks this is a good start but more needs to be done once again this democratic led congress is reaching out in a bipartisan way to develop consensus for a second round of economic recovery legislation we believe a second economic stimulus plan is needed as the bleak news around the economy continues to mount and americans everywhere are feeling the negative impact of president bush's economic policies unfortunately the president has said that a second economic stimulus package is not necessary mrs speaker the president's gradual democrats hope the president will reconsider so that we can work in a bipartisan fashion to get this economy back on track create jobs speed up assistance to middle class families i yield back gentleman yield back this time six the rule twenty record votes will be postponed questions will be taken later the gentleman from minnesota writes mr speaker i move to suspend the rules and concur in the senate amendment to the bill h r eleven ninety five to amend the safe accountable flexible efficient transportation equity a make technical corrections and for other purposes pursuant to the rule gentleman from minnesota mr over starr and the gentleman from florida mr mike each will control twenty minutes the chair recognizes the gentleman from minnesota misspeaks i ask unanimous consent all members  for at least the fifth time in three years to consider technical corrections to the safety lew legislation in the a hundred ninth congress the gentleman from alaska then chair of the full committee on transportation infrastructure and i worked to bring this technical corrections bill to the house f passed that successfully we dealt with hundreds and hundreds of minor adjustments changes that normally happen in the course of passing a major bill of this nature if i recall rightly in an iced tea in ninety one there were six hundred or seven hundred such technical corrections in the t twenty one bill in one thousand nine hundred ninety eight there were some like twelve hundred technical corrections that had to be made and we had a somewhat smaller number four for safety lou we passed that three times in that congress and three times we could not get the other body as we affectionately call them to come to agreement and and to move the bill we tried in fact after election in november zero six and a conference call i recall with the chairman young and i with the senate the other body leadership but they could not come to a resolution on the matter so we took it up again in this congress and we passed it it's been a year since we did since we move the bill now this is bipartisan finally it's by cameral agreement among all the issues under jurisdiction of our committee on administrators and and we've been accommodated those in this legislation particularly there are errors made in drafting the final language in the research program funding calculations resulted in lower than intended funding levels for several research programs these technical fixes now will finally recapture critical research funds for the future strategic high research program a useful and productive ideas for the practitioners of highway and bridge construction and transit operation we also have an important clarification to the repeat intoxicated driver law to interlock devices strongly supported by mothers against drunk driving this legislation gives states more flexibility either to continue with the one year license suspension or permit a five day license suspension with limited driving privileges we also have clarifying language to help the federal transit administration to interpret section thirty eleven of safety lou on new start and small start projects i say help you to put them on the right course to do the right thing that we intended and house senate conference on the transit title of the bill as as chairman young will very we call we had a very vigorous debate with the conferees from the other body on this matter and we came out with this language and now it's been it's been misrepresented over there by the federal transit administration the number of technical corrections that we provide in this legislation will allow hundreds maybe even thousands of projects to move more vigorously ahead to the construction stage and i am quite certain that we'll see generation of at least forty thousand family wage highway related construction jobs that will help lift this economy out of its doldrums and with over a million construction trades workers out of job will make at least a start and getting the economy back on track and then back back to work and for bring to this stage i especially want to thank the gentleman from florida mr mica ranking member of the committee who has voted a great deal of time i know that and i personally that he has interest ceded with the leadership in the other body to ask them to move this legislation along with intercede with one of the principal recalcitrant members of the other body has really done his share of shouldering the workload and then some and i'm  grateful to the gentleman and i appreciate during participation with former chairman young the work that we did together in the last congress to move safety lou legislation and then the technical correction and i appreciate that participation this really is a bipartisan initiative in the best trade initiative in the best tradition of this committee and again i thank the gentleman from florida for his splendid work and gentleman from oregon mr de fazio for the splendid effort he has made and i reserve the balance of my time time so i'm from florida thank you mr speaker and  consider before the house h r eleven ninety five i want to express my support for this legislation and first off i'd like to thank the chairman of the committee mr oberstar for his work and efforts for his staff mr de fazio who chairs the highway subcommittee and also mr duncan are on our side of the aisle now i know that this bill being here didn't come by accident as you heard this  to the house at least four other times a great deal of credit for the achievement in bringing this legislation forward also must go to the former chair of the committee the distinguished gentleman from alaska mr  young mr young worked closely with mr oberstar and crafting legislation to deal with some of the needed changes that we need that were necessary when you pass a two hundred and i think it was eighty six billion for transportation and highway transit authorization bill there are always that technical corrections that are needed it's almost impossible to pass a bill of that magnitude with that many numbers that many projects and not i'm back and make adjustments both and some of the formulas that are required and also in some of the requests from members so this is part of the process one of the most important things is people also ask us what we're doing to move the economy forward and i think it's absolutely essential that our transportation and infrastructure projects move forward and without this legislation that cannot be moved forward and now we have it in this congress the technical corrections in this bill have been clearly identified by the department of transportation and also by state departments of transportation and are  y conforming nature or correcting drafting errors again a huge bill with many provisions the largest section of the bill section one hundred five makes changes to three hundred eighty six high priority projects and section seventeen zero two of the safety lou bill these changes address surface transportation projects that cannot be executed as they are currently drafted in the current law again that we passed back in the tooth two thousand and five and of course next year we'll be doing another bill and that's why it's so important that we get this on the president's desk as soon as possible so that these technical changes clarify who the recipients are and project descriptions and make corrections that it ends and some instances will  increase the project funding levels and decrease others to achieve budget neutrality there are many members of congress in the house and senate who have written to our committee or to the senate committee or the public i'm sorry the environment and public works or banking committee in the senate supporting specific projects and policy corrections these request manner for everyone to see what has been requested what the projects are and who has requested them in this legislation there are one hundred fifty corrections made at the request of senators one hundred  ninety seven corrections made at the the request of house democrats and one hundred thirty eight corrections made at the request of house republicans i support this legislation it's necessary again to  move these projects forward to stimulate our economy and build our nation's infrastructure and i reserve the balance of my tongue german reserves as time john from minnesota i have no further speakers on our side at this time and reserve the balance of my time the gentleman reserves his time i'm from florida one of the members of our committee mr mack the gentleman from florida has requested time i'd like to yield him at this time you mr speaker and i also want to thank the ranking member for the for the time i rise today to lend my strong support to passage of this important legislation which will restore ten million dollars to the critical widening of i seventy five in and in which is now under way in southwest florida it is the same language that we included in the transportation bill when we voted on it in two thousand and five by ensuring this ten million will be spent to widen i seventy five in lee in color counties in florida where protecting the economic viability of quality of life and public safety for all who rely on it and for that i thank my colleagues for supporting this important legislation while this matter has received well deserved scrutiny the legislative process however flawed it has been is now dealing with the people want and deserve i would hope that as a result of what we have learned and what we may continue to learn that this institution will be better and that we will ensure it never happens again again i want to thank my colleagues for supporting this legislation and for doing what is best in right for the people of southwest florida i yield back the balance my time gentleman yield back is turned down from minnesota gentleman from florida my day inquire as to how much time i have minority member mr oberstar when i was chairman we worked very hard on a loop it was the only positive piece of legislation this congress passed in six years when i say positive it left a part of infrastructure not all of it but the good of this nation and i take great pride in that because it probably created about one hundred eighty five thousand new jobs two hundred eighty six billion dollars to be spent for the infrastructure and for the economy of this great nation and ice ice bring that up because i hear some people talking about well we'll repeal the eighteen point two percent tax on fuel to help our consumers out and then good bye to the roads the repair the new need for the additional automobiles on these the highways i see where it would be a terrible disaster for this great nation of ours we have other ideas about solving the high gas prices but that is probably the worst i've heard of all having said that i'm going through a con a logical order of waters and heard about the issue and to a one i became chairman of the house committee on transportation a position i held for six years you know this committee as many as the largest committee and house of representatives with oversight over all modes of transportation aviation highways railroads all public buildings waterways and emergency management as the only congressman from alaska i worked very hard for the state of alaska i worked with the governor state legislature and local officials and i can say with great pride we did very well for the state of alaska is we need transportation that state as every other state needs as chairman i was also and i want to read and remind people the responsibility of a chairman is addressed to transportation needs and all the country as chairman i work with officials throughout the country governors mayors transportation officials and of course all four hundred thirty five members and delegates of this body as repaired by the writing of the national transportation bill members of the committee and i traveled extensively throughout the country at the request of house members and state local officials for the thousands and thousand transportation projects requested of us i visited as many communities as a possible to meet with the members local officials and public to discuss these request in two thousand floor for florida gulf president william or  commissioned a study of road improvements that would increase the university's ability to cope with hurricane and other disasters one of the recommendations in the report was for the construction of an on ramp from coconut road to i ninety it road in february to all five i was invited by a congressional colleague who is a member of the transportation committee to his district to visit in florida to hear the needs and concerns of the local constituents on february nineteenth a town hall meeting was held in the horta gulf coast university whose area also serves as hurricane shelter this town hall meeting was attended by more than two hundred local constituents transportation officials and elected officials one of the issues discussed at the town hall meeting was a need for hurricane evacuation route to ensure that people could get to safety more quickly during a national disaster this project was to be an energy from the heavily traveled i know seventy five highway to coconut road which leads to the florida gulf coast university of benita springs at the town hall meeting university president william ur merwin spoke of the need for a research center at the university that would focus on transportation improvements using new technology he also presented a study showing the need for the interchange a coconut road to help hurricane evacuees reach the two main shelters in south lee county the goal was to provide ten million dollars for a study not to build but study this interchange i also like to note to the credit of the florida delegation this area received eighty one million dollars from the i seventy five this funding was totally justified and important to the area the ten million for the coconut road study did not take any money away or divert any funds of eighty one million dollars allocated for seventy five lightning that ten million for the coconut road was funded separately under the national highway bill otherwise as money above the line this interchange study had the support of the florida gulf coast advisory committee a local citizens vydra committee voted unanimously to include the study the long range lee metropolitan planning organization transportation plan unanimously voted for well i don't agree with this organization it's the study let's use me however the metropolitan planning organization voted not to include the interchange study and their long range plan they instead wanted to transfer the ten million to another project including i seventy five what i don't agree with is organizations in our respective is important to stress that this study funny did not go to any one person it did not go to any one group of people the funding was to go to the state of florida where they choose to proceed with the study this is always been a good projects the residents of this community deserve to have a safe and effective evacuation route for themselves in case of a national disaster with hurricanes katrina and rita we first saw we saw firsthand what happens when americans are unable to get to safety but for now i support these residents in their wanting to put this money towards another project i've always supported the communities right to do what they think best for them the in this declaration bill and i support it so why am i talking about as other than give the car a logical events that occurred while it's very easy i have been the subject of much in the window concerning my intent and occasion of this project these accusations have little of any connection with what actually occurred i outline my intent and notifications on this and it's quite different than what i have been hearing lately about this study some of the media have made this study into being about one landowner and the area no on not one word has been mentioned about the hundreds of people who attended the town hall meeting in support of this study or about the numerous local organizations and officials who supported this study was included in the largest national highway bill in history there are more and six thousand two hundred high priority projects some call america's and that bill about half of these were sponsored by the democrats and republicans in this body about half were sponsored evenly by republicans and democrats on either body the six thousand two hundred highly product priority project earmarks on the house and senate total five percent of the total highway bill five percent two committees handle this bill the transportation infrastructure committee and the ways and means committee for committee's work on this bill in the senate i did not write this bill by myself there were six committee chairman six ranking members and six dozen subcommittee chairman and six subcommittee ranking members members of both parties leadership and countless other who played major roles in the legislation the sixty two hundred high priority projects earmarks requested by virtually every member and this house other than fourteen members of the house including mr flake this body had nothing to do with the projects requested by the other body and they had nothing to do with those requested by this body there is a this was a massive bill that was not completed until several months after the previous highway authorization already expired members of staff were literally working around the clock and who were able to pass a bill in july two thousand and five as the debate concerning the process the process of the roman of this another legislation that is not a process i own or control their officers of the house and senate whose job is to oversee this process a committee chairman does not control the enrollment process i have never been in unrolling office and i do not believe any chairman has that right as are after all the accusations rumors about this bill i hope this sets the record straight this project was asked for by the community it was supported by the congressman from that district and there's letters to back that up but because of the senate and i can speak to the house  the senate is metally the house affairs i'm supporting this bill i want them if you want to welcome an investigation into the house i will support that but remember that is a slippery slippery road which we're about to be involved in we have an opportunity and this bill stimulate the economy keep our people working i am going to support this legislation but keep in mind that call going to grow was not my idea it was created and fostered by the local people that community is not the first time in the realm of process even in this bill jackson that was mentioned in the bill well we didn't know the senate and house voted on it that there were six jacksonville's in this nation it had to be changed and it was changed prior to the president going to this desk and the house never voted on it and i can go on to other cases go ahead i'd be pleased to you know one minute to the gentleman from arizona mr flake gentleman from arizona recognized for one minute i think the gentleman for yielding i rise in opposition to this bill h r eleven ninety five is purported to be a technical corrections bill when you hear technical corrections you often think of missing commas or misspellings or inverted numbers were other drafting errors were doing far far far more than that here with this legislation there are i believe more than two hundred earmarks that are receiving so called technical corrections here these are substantial in nature they're not simply technical and i think they deserve further scrutiny we have all found out what happens when we rush legislation like this through the underlying bill said sixty three or sixty two hundred earmarks as was mentioned and if you're making technical corrections they should be how much time our side is gentleman has seven minutes i'd like to yield five minutes to the distinguished gentleman from tennessee who heads the highway subcommittee on our side fazio the chairman of the house leeson transept me for continuing to work on this important technical corrections bill i rise to voice mass support for h r eleven ninety five as amended by the senate and i encourage my colleagues to do the same this is the fifth time we have brought a safety lou technical corrections bill to the house floor in the past two years the bill we are considering today is h r eleven ninety five this is a bill that the house passed in march of two thousand and seven the house also passed a more recent version of safety lou taking corrections on august first two thousand and seven h r thirty to forty eight and is chairman oberstar mention that the bill passed the house with only one dissenting vote the senate has amended h r eleven ninety five so that the version of h r eleven that in fact that we are considering today includes all the changes that were made in h r thirty to forty eight once the president signs this bill safety lou will finally be able to accomplish what the congress voted for it to do almost three years ago there were many minor errors in policy and in members projects and safety lou that needed technical correction we have heard from the u s department of transportation and several state the ots regarding fixes to different programs and have priority projects and i believe this bill addresses most of the issues that have been brought to our attention this bill makes critical corrections to the federal highway research program to ensure that the department can continue essential research programs including the future strategic away research program and the university transportation center research program will also correct several drafting errors regarding the magnetic levitation transportation deployment program is important to note that this bill does not make substantial policy changes to safety lou for this bill cracks provisions that were not workable bass state the ots are the u s department of transportation homebuilders from my district in tennessee in two thousand fortune magazine said the national metropolitan area was the most popular place to move to in the whole country based on the number moving in relation the fewest moving at ours has been a very popular fast growing area yet this group of home builders tell me that their market was down sixty percent just from last year i've been hearing similar stories we've got some problems that need work i'm one of the president one of the republican presidential candidates was talking about the stimulus package that we passed earlier and i said the problem with it was that we were going to be borrowing money from the chinese to the so that people c chinese products and what he said and i'm not really talking about the merits or are the merits of that bill but he suggested that what we should do is have a stimulus package on infrastructure because that would be doing things that need to be done here in this country and the money would be going to american workers to do that very needed work in this country and so i think that's something that we might want to consider at a later point but i simply will close at this time but once again thanking our gre was clarifying language to help federal transit administration to properly interpret section thirty eleven of safety lou on new start and small start project justifications the reason for that language is that in the consideration of the bill in the house in the senate and then during conference on safe is clear the federal transit administration was trying to buy administratively action change the existing law so the law makers gave specific direction to a that rather than rely so heavily on their own fabricated cost effectiveness index in the terminating authorization or approval of new start small start projects they're giving in adequate consideration to other factors economic development environmental benefits among them and the investments that private sector interests make at transit stops on major projects such as dallas area rapid transit such as the washing area metro project where over twenty billion dollars in private capital private sector capital investments have been made along the stops and dallas it's over a billion dollars f t is not taking into consideration those those additional benefits that flow from the investment in a transit project and similarly we're not taking those factors into consideration in evaluating the dulles quarter metro rail project extension out to we ave which is the otherwise known as a dollar's metro extension well i'm delighted that even before we move this bill through to final not meant the federal transit administration announced this morning that it intends quote to approve entry into final design for the dull quarter metro rail project close call one of the most important projects transit projects in the entire united states this is a vital decision very important to move ahead with this project so the frankly we don't look like a third world country when it comes to moving people and goods in our economy i would also like take this opportunity to to note that the  one of the technical corrections that was so important for us to make in this legislation is for the authority to move ahead with maglev development magnetic levitation levitation advanced with support of the congressional steel caucus to perfect magnetic levitation technology while we continued to study it and develop it in university research centers and in contracts with the private sector germany and japan moved ahead with test track maglev technology projects one of those has already been the german technology version has been implemented in shanghai china while we continue to lag behind because we have not moved i had with sufficient authority well we we provided that authority in safety loops but the language wasn't precise enough to satisfy federal transit administration to move ahead and so we have we have corrected that ambiguity if you will or at least what the department of transportation considered to be ambiguity with the with the following language fifty percent of the funds will be allocated to the nevada department of transportation who shall cooperate with the california nevada super speed train commission for the maglev project between las vegas and and fifty percent of the funds the other fifty percent of funds shall be allocated quote for existing magnet projects located east of the mississippi river using such criteria as the secretary deems appropriate close quote and in the company report section one zero two language on maglev we further specify  how those funds are to be used that and specifically the fifty percent allocated to california nevada superspeed train commission for the las vegas prem and the other fifty percent for projects east of the mississippi the intent in this clarification is to limit the eligible projects to three existing projects east of the mississippi river pittsburgh baltimore washington and atlanta chattanooga in a you know myself an additional minute in an addition in a competition to be determined by and evaluated and resolved by the secretary of transportation and i earnestly hope now that after two decades of studying evaluating record that gentleman from california mr rohrabacher and i have been working with the authority of law law los angeles long beach and the california transportation for the great crossings and actually haul a paying passenger containers i think these opportunities for advancing the state of the art of this very exciting magnetic levitation technology well now come to fruition with the final language in this legislation on on these two projects plus initiative in the port of long beach los angeles mr duncan who spoke previously mr young the previous chair of the transportation and infrastructure committee let me just respond to a couple of items here first of all i want to join mr oberstar both of us worked very hard intently with the governor where the virginia with the delegation from from virginia northern virginia delegation congressional delegation i'm so delighted to see that the extension of the metro rail will continue out to dulles it's expensive folks it's not going to get a any cheaper if you're looking at solutions to help the environment and deal with the congestion that's one of them and we have to move forward i'm very pleased and i thank the gentleman for his efforts and our joint efforts in making that possible we're all joined together by one common design i'm a nader in transportation from sea to shining sea we face congestion everywhere small towns middle sized towns metropolitan areas this bill more than any other legislation that we will do this year will move projects forward now there's been some criticism that the changes earmarks are redefines a mirror image if it does and these are congressional earmarks and i say from our side of the aisle i can tell you we've done everything to make this process transparent open and have members publicly state what their intent is so i feel good about what we've done i can't control what the other body does mr oberstar can either but we've done our best to vet these projects and move the interest of this country which is building the infrastructure of this country forward this legislation will do that i urge members to to support this legislation now i know it does have a provision in here that does allow the department of justice to conduct an investigation on one of the projects the leadership of the house and senate mr young and others have agreed to move forward with this i don't think it sets a good precedent because the house and senate should be the judge of his of their own members under the constitution be that as it may still support this bill move forward with the process and we'll try to do our best to keep america moving forward with its infrastructure and transportation here in this body and with the other body and moving them along to bring the technical corrections to conclusion and i also want to note for the record the gentleman from florida joined with me in an appeal to in fact he initiated the request of the secretary of transportation miss peters last october for a meeting in our committee offices with the governor administrator simpson to discuss this dulles metro rail project bring bring to the attention of the administration this is a bipartisan initiative we together on supporting it to move ahead and now we're there and  the gentleman for us consistency and constancy on on that initiative i concur also with the gentleman's remarks these are technical corrections or four hundred eighty five of them  some of them are a good many of them are just misspellings that needed to be technically correct that there were some some wording that is a federal highway administration wanted clarification on the federal transit and ministration asked us to provide clarifying language we do that in this legislation there are other projects where members found that a project had been designated not exactly what their constituents were anticipating they wanted to change dollar for dollar no increases no additional spending it's appropriate you know as former member former chairman but used to was fond of saying we members of congress are not potted plants we're not there to just stand and look on benignly while the executive branch implements the legislation that we vote for we're the ones who are accountable to raise the the revenues were the ones who are accountable to put the policies in place and we have a say in how they're carried out and that's what we do with these member high priority projects so i urge all members to support this legislation as a as an affirmation of the role of other peoples body and setting the question is will the house suspend the rules and concur in the senate amendment to h r eleven ninety five those in favor say aye those opposed no and opinion of the chair two thirds being in the affirmative the rules are suspended the senate amendment is agreed to and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table mr speaker on that request chairs prior announcement for the proceedings on this motion will be capitol grounds for the twenty seventh national peace offers officers memorial service statistics from the national law enforcement officers memorial fund indicate that in two thousand and seven one hundred and eighty one officers died in the line of duty and they will be honored at this year's memorial service on average in the united states a peace officer is killed every fifty three hours sadly these numbers make two thousand and seven one of the deadliest years for peace officers five officers were women forty states plus the district of columbia experienced officer fatalities in two thousand and seven thirteen states had five or more fatalities hundred sixty two president john f kennedy sign a proclamation which designated may fifteenth as peace officers memorial day and the week in which that date falls as police week the first official memorial service took place on may hundred two at which ninety one law enforcement officers were authored over the past twenty seven years the memorial service has authored over three thousand law enforcement officers from around our nation today the national peace officers memorial service on capitol hill has become one in a series of well attended events during police week activities on the capitol grounds conducted under age card three o eight will be coordinated with the office of the architect of the capitol will be free at open to the public i support this resolution and urges passage hours or the balance of my time joan reserves this time gentleman from missouri thank you mr speaker i'm a speaker and you know myself such time consume germans recognized thank misspeak or speaker house concurrent resolution three a way to authorize the use of the capitol grounds for the annual national peace officers moral service be held thursday may fifteenth two thousand and eight this is what was pointed out the national honored fallen federal state and local officers and their families this year will be the twentieth time the memorial service has been held on the grounds of the capital events of the national police week leading up to the annual peace officers memorial service with honors for the fallen officers this year national national police week will run from sunday mail eleven through saturday may seventeenth with events around the country in here in washington d c the families and colleagues involved cers killed in d killed in duty while will gather to remember and honor the men and women who protect our communities one of the fallen officers who we recognize this year's deputy sheriff charles cook from missouri deputy kirks cook served the canning county sheriff's office honorably for three years before his death in the line of duty it is entirely appropriate to honor on the floor of the house the service and sacrifice deputy cooke and the other officers who have lost their lives serving in protecting our communities and our country the service and the other events of national police week are valuable reminders of the sacrifices of many of our nation's police officers and their families i encourage my colleagues to attend the national peace officers memorial service to pay tribute to the fallen officers and recognize the individuals nationwide that put their lives at risk every day for the safety of our communities i support the measure would encourage my colleagues to do the same mr speaker i don't have any other or any speakers for that matter so i would go ahead and yield back the balance my t those opposed say no in their opinion of the chair two thirds being in there for many the rules are suspended the concurrent resolution is agreed to and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table resolution four four four resolution supporting the goals and ideals of national and the ation maintenance technician day honoring the invaluable contributions of charles edward taylor regarded as the fall father of aviation maintenance and recognizing the essential role of aviation maintenance technicians and ensuring the safety and security of civil and military aircraft pursuant to the rules the gentleman from california mr filner and the gentleman from missouri mr graves each will control twenty minutes the chair recognizes the gentleman from california thank you mr baker and i would feel myself which much time as i may consume the tone is recognized i thank the speaker and i thank the our house speaker for bringing this to the floor today a trade for four for a resolution which supports the goals and ideals of national aviation maintenance technician day honoring the invaluable contributions of charles edward taylor regarded as a father of aviation maintenance and recognizes the essential role of aviation maintenance technicians in ensuring the safety and security of civil and military aircraft with all those concerned mr speaker today about safety and airlines it is the men and women who actually do the maintenance that we depend on so greatly it was charles edward taylor who built and maintained the engine that was used to power the wright brothers first controlled aircraft the flyer and he was born in eight hundred sixty eight he is widely regarded as the father of aviation maintenance and was a vital contribution contributor of mechanical skills in the building and maintaining early wright brothers engines and airplanes taylor also built the wynn tunnel used by the rights to test their early designs he became a leading mechanic in the right aircraft company when it was formed in one thousand nine hundred ninety in fact when cabarets perry rogers made his famous cross country trip in a wright brothers aircraft he paid charles edward taylor seventy dollars a week pretty large sum at the time to be his mechanic tailor fall of the flight by train making required repairs and preparing the aircraft for the next day flight throughout the cross country trip from long island to california although taylor was largely ignored by history is important to note that the wright brothers were very close friends with him and remain in close contact with him throughout their lives charles  taylor saved enough money from his ventures to buy several hundred acres of farmland near the salton sea which is located in my district however the economic climate of the time eventually brought him to poverty and he died penniless in one thousand nine hundred eighty six at the age of eighty seven he was buried at the portal of folded wings trying to aviation in burbank california mr speaker the humble beginnings of the aviation maintenance profession belies the fact that all of us in the congress and our constituents rely on the work that these technicians do every day they play an invaluable role not only in ensuring the safety of commercial aircraft but also ensuring that our men and women in uniform have safe reliable planes and helicopters while in their combat and training thanks to these dedicated well trained professionals the united states is by far the safest air transportation system in the world we don't we owe aircraft mechanics a debt of gratitude for their service to the flying public we are hearing a lot today about consolidation in the airline industry and some airlines have already been outsourcing aviation maintenance abroad to cut their costs i urge everyone in this chamber to remember how critical it is for our own safety to have a well trained u s based workforce to fix and maintain our aircraft as the airline industry seeks to cut costs and merge is very important for all of us to keep a watchful eye on the impact of these consolidations on aviation maintenance technicians we cannot afford to cut corners when it comes to safety mr speaker forty five us states have already declared this may twenty fourth to be aviation maintenance technician they within our their jurisdictions my resolution is intended to support these efforts and honor aviation maintenance technicians including the first charles edward taylor  support of resolution four forty four supporting national aviation technician day and honoring charles edward taylor this resolution was introduced by gentleman from california mr filmer in honor of aviation maintenance mechanics and their profession dana day at aviation mechanics ensure the safety of the flying public they're also critical for the safety of our armed forces and its aviation infrastructure to keep our military aircraft flying are key elements in ensuring our security aviation mechanics creating bodies that professional philosophy words such as sacred trust judgment and dignity are used to describe their duties and professionalism a public confidence in aviation transportation is direct result of their commitment to these ideals in the unwavering integrity integrity of their work age resolution four forty four also rightly honors charles edward taylor who played a fundamental role in aviation history in one thousand no two mr taylor began work as a machinist in dayton ohio for the right cycle company in just six weeks he built a twelve horsepower engine with only a metal lathe a drill press and hand tools on december seventeenth one thousand three his engine was used on the wright brothers first flying machine and propelled the world into controlled fly  earned him a place in aviation history to this day he is known as the father of aviation maintenance the federal aviation administration's charles edward taylor master mechanic award is bestowed upon individuals who have over fifty years of experience in aviation maintenance and it's truly an honor to receive mr speaker forty five states currently designate may twenty fourth is aviation maintenance technician day and courage my members to support this resolution are the men and women of aviation maine it's in the life memory of charles e speaker i actually got to hear one of the very original wright brothers engines which was built by mr taylor at oshkosh just a few years ago there are still a couple of them that are existing today they were actually built by hand very and and i got an opportunity to hear one of them started up and the run it was actually the third engine that he ever built and it was absolutely a neat thing to see in my district i have the one of the american airlines overhaul basis which has a lot mechanics and aviation technicians that work on those airlines and and from from a a base as large as that right down to some of our very small businesses like joe rankin who runs an aviation shop in a little airport in maryville missouri  those aviation mechanics are important to the entire industry being a pilot myself i know just how important good maintenance is and those mechanics can be to tear a crap so it's really an honor to have the opportunity to be able to handle this bill from the northeast side today and i thank the gentleman for apps for his work on it in and i think it truly says a lot about aviation mechanics and and and the reason that we are honoring polled say no and their printers the chair two thirds being in their formative the rules are suspended the resolution is agreed to and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table resolution nine sixty four resolution to promote the safe operation a fifteen passenger van pursuant to the rule of gentleman from oregon mr de fazio and the gentleman from missouri mr breeze each will control twenty minutes the chair recognizes the gentleman from oregon i ask yamma so that all members may have five legislative days within which revising said their remarks include extraneous material  ranking member mr duncan it's his resolution and he has been an activist on the committee to highlight the problems with safety with fifteen passenger bands and  higher rollover fatality rates than any other passenger vehicle type from two thousand one to two thousand and five the death rate for fifteen passenger vans was two hundred fifty per million registered vehicles compared with one hundred and fifty one  per million for all other registered vehicles the committee had formally noted problems with this and in in the safety lou legislation which was amended by technical corrections earlier by the house congress directed the national highway transportation safety administration to test fifteen passenger vans as part of their rollover resistance program we also prohibited schools from purchasing renting or leasing fifteen passenger vans to transport students but there is still a lot of these bans on the road it's imperative that drivers be alerted to the entry risk of driving a fifteen passenger van compared to a regular passenger vehicle  you know there have been cases even when you know the occupants particularly children because of their smaller size were wearing lap and shoulder belts where  tragic deaths occurred in some of these rollover crashes i look at this resolution as as a first step by raising public awareness and i hope that the committee and other committees which have jurisdiction in this area will take more definitive action in the near future with that i reserve the balance of my time don't reserve this time john from tennessee thank you mr speaker i yield myself such sixty four i introduced this resolution because of a tragic fifteen past year van an accident last year last in which a ten year old girl from our hometown of knoxville was killed alexis lexie james was traveling in a fifteen your van being driven by a close family friends to savannah georgia for a softball tournament the driver was not a professional driver with a commercial driver's last and in fact a commercial driver's last and is not required to graph if seen past your veins this family's privately owned and there were only five passengers the dad and mom their sixteen and ten year old children and links on the last seventy two thousand and seven as the van was traveling east on interstate twenty six near van was wearing a seatbelt but somehow lexi slipped out of her belt and was ejected from the van and on to the friend's road and was killed i have met with lexi's dad patrick james and he is asking some hard questions about the safety if this fifteen past your veins the resolution we are considering today focuses on safety issues that are firmly within the jurisdiction of the transportation and infrastructure committee regarding the driver and past your regarding driver and past your behavior including the need for better driver training and passed your safety information a fifteen passed your van does not handle or operate like a larger version of a passenger car these vans have a higher center of gravity which makes them less stable and more difficult to handle in addition the bodies of the veins extend four to five feet the young and the rear wheels causing instability during emergency maneuver such as sudden turns this causes the van's to fish and because they are top heavy and maybe overload in the rear they are prone to rollover and result in devastating crash in may of two thousand and five the national highway traffic safety administration issued a consumer advance free safety warning to all drivers seatbelts are the appropriate child restraint for if possible seat pastors in place car go forward of the rear axle five do not place loads on the vans ruth and six the very man full of speed and road conditions this resolution is a first day it towards tolling the public's attention to the very dangerous situation our condition of some of these fifteen past your veins and how prone they are to very serious vehicle accidents i strongly support this resolution and hope this important safety hope to make this important safety issue a priority for the nation mr speaker our job my colleagues to support this resolution  gentleman it's sad that such a tragedy occurred to one of his constituents but the best we can do to try and make sense of that tragedy is to try and prevent future tragedies as as a result of  of these sorts of vehicles it is been fully my intention of the as chairman of the committee to hold hearings on on both on these vans and some other related safety items that have come to the attention of the committee the reason the hearing has been delayed is because the head of the national highway transportation safety administration has been on administrative leave for personal reasons and we expect her back in the not too distant future and then intend to go ahead but in the interim by passing this legislation we can at least send a message that we are we have a concern and we can try and alert the american public we can try and  t more tragedies i'd also point out that our colleagues on the energy and commerce committee have substantial jurisdiction in this area and hopefully as they cast their votes for this and they should have this resolution here  today they will think about their they will think about their jurisdiction and perhaps they too will join with us in raising in raising concerns so with that i have no further requests for time and i would say that the gentleman joan from tennessee mr speaker i have no other speakers and i just once again i would thank chairman the fazio for his support and for his offer to hold a in the opinion of the chair two thirds being in the affirmative the rules are suspended the resolution is agreed to and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table without objection the title is amend bill to make technical corrections regarding the newborn screening says live act of two thousand and seven pursuant to the rule the gentle lady from california ms robo allard and the gentleman from speaker i rise in support of h r fifty nine nineteen bill to make minor technical corrections to the new born screening saves lives act that was signed into law last week by president bush i think  dingell and chairman polonca for bringing this technical corrections bill to the house floor so promptly passage of h r fifty nine one thousand will help us implement the provisions of the newborn screening saves lives act to address the state disparities that currently exist in newborn screening the act encourages states to uniformly test newborns and keep an updated scientifically recommended panel of disorders  new law also provides resources for states to expand and improve their newborn screening programs it provides grants to empower health care professionals and parents with information about the importance of newborn screening and follow up care and it requires the centers for disease control to ensure the quality of laboratories involved in newborn screening passage of the newborn screening saves lives act has been one of my legislative priorities for over four years i sincerely thank my original co sponsors congressman michael simpson tom reynolds and henry waxman and my colleagues in the house who support help to make passage of the bill a reality i also thank senators chris dodd hillary clinton and orrin hatch for championing the senate companion bill mr speaker i urge my colleagues to support h r fifty nine  speaker and i to rise in support of h r fifty nine nineteen a bill to make technical corrections to the newborn screening save lives act of two thousand and seven the house and senate both overwhelmingly agreed to the underlying legislation just last month however there needed to be a change in the date another version was sent to the white house so now we're here to make the corrections that were supposed to have been made  then so that's all what this is we all support it and i yield back my time the gentleman yield back this time generated from california this again i thank the gentleman for his support and i urge my colleagues to support h the pain of the chair two thirds being in there for maybe the rules are suspended the bill is passed and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table this is for the purpose of the gentleman from massachusetts drives the speaker by direction of the queue by the rules of the call up post resolution eleven fifty seven and as for its immediate consideration the clerk will report the resolution house calendar number two twelve house resolution eleven fifty seven resolved that at any time after the adoption of this resolution the speaker may pursuant to clause to be of rule eighteen to clear the house resolving to the committee of the whole house on the state of the union for consideration of the bill h r fifty five twenty two to require the secretary of labor to issue interim and finance final occupational safety and health standards regarding worker exposure to combustible dust and for other purposes the first reading of the bill shall be dispensed with all points of order against consideration of the bill are waived except those arising under 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 education and labor after general debate the bill shall be considered for amendment under the five minute rule and it shall be in order to consider as an original bill for the purpose of amendment under the five minute rule that men men in the nature of a substitute recommended by the committee on education and labor now printed in the bill the committee amendment in the nature of a substitute shall be considered as read all points of order again the committee amendment in the nature of a substitute are waived except those arising under clause ten of rule twenty one notwithstanding clause eleven of roll eighteen no amendment to the committee amendment in the nature of a substitute shall be in order except those printed in the report of  committee on rules accompanying this resolution each such a minute may be offered only in the order printed in the report may be offered only by a member designated in the report shall be considered as read shall be debatable for the time specified in the report equally divided and controlled by the proponent and an op own it 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 of the whole all points of order against such amendments are waived except those arising under clause nine or ten of rule twenty one at the conclusion of consideration of the bill for amendment the committee shall rise and report the bill to the house with such amendments 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 amendment there to two final passage without intervening motion except one motion to recommit with or without instructions section two during consideration in the house of h r fifty five twenty two pursuant to this resolution not withstanding the operation of the previous question the chair may postpone further consideration of the bill to such time as may be designated by the speaker gentleman from massachusetts reckon a one hour thank you mr speaker for the purposes of debate only or you of the customary thirty minutes the gentleman from florida mr diaz florida all time yielded during consideration of the rules for debate only i yield myself such time as i may consume and i also ask unanimous consent that all members may be given five legislative days in which to revise and extend the thousand and eight under a structured rule the rule provides one hour of general debate controlled by the committee on education and labor and makes an order the committee reported substitute it also makes an order to amendments printed in the rules report with  manager's amendment debatable for ten minutes and the wilson substitute debated for thirty minutes finally the rule provides one motion to recommit with or without instructions mr speaker i rise today in support of this role in the underlying legislation h zero five five two two the worker protection against combustible dust explosion and fire act of two thousand and eight directs the occupational safety and health administration to issue rules combustible industrial dust that can build up to hazardous levels and explode combustible dust has caused the deaths and injuries to workers in our nation deaths and injuries that could have been prevented most recently everyone can recall the enormous explosion in february at the imperial sugar refinery in savannah georgia which claimed the lives of thirteen workers and injured over sixty many of these workers remain hospitalized today receiving care for this severe burns they received on that awful day while osha has marginally improved dust inspection procedures this legislation goes further to bring combustible dust emissions under control by establishing stronger standards included our engineering controls hazardous inspection security assessments housekeeping and explosion protection standards specifically the worker protection against combustible dust explosion and fire act requires osha to issue an enter a final standard to control the risks of combustible dust explosions the standard would contain provisions for housekeeping engineering controls and worker training there's a speaker in two thousand and three there were a series of similar explosions at various factories due to combustible dust the us government undertook a study carried out by the chemical safety board to determine the causes and make recommendations to osha that report came out two years ago in two thousand and six osha has yet to issue standards to control the risks to workers and companies on the hazards of for this reason the bill requires an interim standard to be issued osha would then be required to issue a final standard within eighteen months to its regular procedures osha would be required to quote include relevant and appropriate in the hazard communication standard which requires employers to train workers about the chemical hazards that they are exposed to this is bigger every worker in this country deserves a safe and healthy work environment the  the international association of firefighters the american industrial hygiene association the s c r you the teamsters and the united food and commercial workers union all trying leads support this important legislation b establishing stronger protections and safer standards this legislation better ensures thousands of workers in refineries mills and plants from risk of death or injury i urge my colleagues to support the role and support the underlying on february seventh two thousand and eight a terrible explosion occurred at the imperial sugar company refinery in the community of port wentworth ga the explosion killed thirteen people injured over forty refinery workers that explosion at the imperial sugar company refinery pointed to the danger of combustible dust in the workplace it's a very serious concern and we must take every possible step to protect workers from those dangers the underlying legislation combustible dust explosion and fire prevention act would require osha to issue an interim final combustible dust standard within ninety days and a permanent standard within eighteen months it also lists a number of specific items that would be required under the interim final standard including a written dust control program hazard assessment worker training and employee participation in the development and conduct of the dust control program o sho would also be required to include combustible dust in the definition of physical hazard hazards in osha's hazard communications standard it is quite disconcerting mr speaker that on an issue as important as workplace safety the majority is only allowing the house of representatives to consider one amendment by the minority one republican amendment the majority's campaign platform said that they would run the house of representatives in an open and bipartisan manner yet they systematically and consistently block the minority time and time again from offering amendments all members of this representative institution wish to do the most they can to provide workers a safe working environment mr speaker and it is most unfortunate that the majority blocs members from offering their proposals instead of instead of offering such a tightly structured rule the majority should be allowing every member the opportunity to offer their thoughts and proposals to the house for consideration as important as the underlying legislation may be i believe there are other issues that are on the minds of americans at this point that are pressing to americans for example confronting the rising cost of gasoline on monday hundreds of truckers drove through the streets of this capital city to protest in desperation the rising cost of diesel fuel they are not the only ones desperate due to the rising oil prices all consumers are paying more for gasoline which also causes price increases in virtually every consumer product including food a recent poll found that forty four percent of americans find paying for gasoline to be their top personal economic problem since democrats took control of congress in january of last year the cost of a gallon of unleaded gasoline has skyrocketed according to the aaa the national average for regular unleaded gas has gone up one dollar and twenty cents during that time the cost of gas has gone up more in fifteen months than it had gone up in the prior six years but all prices don't have to be so high mr speaker because i understand a majority claims to have a plan a plan to reduce oil prices just over two years ago april two thousand and six distinguished house speaker now house speaker nancy pelosi then the democrat my already leader issued a press release claiming that house democrats and i quote have a common sense plan bring down skyrocketing gas prices and quote two weeks after that press release that minority leader pelosi said the democrats have real solutions that would lower the price at the pump that was two years ago democrats have controlled congress for a year and a half and we've yet to see them act on their commonsense plan to bring down skyrocketing gas prices instead of empty promises republicans are working on providing relief to consumers faced with faced with the constantly rising cost of gasoline for example last week i along with several of my colleagues introduced h r fifty nine o five the cars act the prime sponsor of which is congressman mario diaz balart that legislation would give commuters a tax break on their commuting expenses that in part important legislation will actually help taxpayers with the rising cost of gasoline unlike the majority's mystery plan the mystery plan mr speaker that we have not yet seen this time i reserve gentleman from massachusetts the speaker i have no further requests for time and asked the gentleman if he has any other speakers i reserve my right time with a general close gentleman from florida i'm a speaker again like t back in april of two thousand and six as i just said over two years ago the now a distinguished speaker of ms pelosi issued the fall owing with skyrocketing gas prices it is clear that the american people can no longer afford the republican rubber stamp congress and its failure to stand up to republican big oil and gas company cronies americans this week are paying two dollars and ninety one cents a gallon on average for regular gasoline thirty three cents higher than last month and double the price that the man when president bush first came into office and quote this figure most americans would be happy if they were paying two dollars ninety one cents for a gallon of gasoline in the same press release the distinguish speaker went on to say and i quote democrats have a common sense plan to help bring down skyrocketing gas prices and quote well while i hear they have a plan i haven't seen the mistry plan mr speaker instead while we wait for the majority to act the cost of fuel continues to rise with the average cost of a gallon of gasoline now being over three dollars and sixty cents hitting consumers at the pump every time they go to fill up their cars reinforcing the fact the majority has yet to confront the high price of gasoline today the investor's business daily in an editorial said that this congress is and i quote possibly possibly the most irresponsible in modern history this is especially true when it comes to america's dysfunctional energy policy and quote  into the congressional record that editorial from the investor's business daily without jackson today i will be asking each of my colleagues to vote no on the previous question this rule mr speaker the previous question is defeated i will amend the rule to make it in order for the house to consider any amendment that would actually do something to reduce gas prices for consumers such as h r fifty nine zero five the cars act which would give commute commuters a tax break on their commuting expenses and actually bring help alleviate the price of the of the energy for the consumer it will also give the majority the chance to introduce mr speaker the mystery plan that they have that they claim to have by voting no on the previous question members going to take a stand against these health high fuel prices and demand that the majority act on their plan and the majority said they had a plan let's see the mr plan mr speaker let's see the mystery plan i encourage innovation of the previous question and i yield back the balance of my time gentleman yield back the balance of his time the gentleman from massachusetts thank you mr speaker and let me remind my colleagues that the underlying bill that we are dealing with is as a rule to it is a bill that would actually protect workers in the workplace the combustible dust explosion and provide and fire prevention act of two thousand and eight  it's a bill that responds to a terrible tragedy that has killed a number of workers and injured a number of workers and we need to pass this bill and i hope we will pass the rule and pass the underlying bill but i have to say mr speaker that it is almost laughable to hear a member of the minority get up and talk about energy prices the republicans control the white house for eight years they have controlled the congress  twelve years and we have seen energy costs rise and rise and rise under their leadership and we have seen their policy which is to give more subsidies and more tax breaks to big oil and they have fought us consistently in trying to invest resources into alternative sources of energy into two forms of energy to help us make delp make us more independent from foreign oil speaker pelosi called on president bush to suspend purchases of oil for the strategic petroleum reserve temporarily filling the strategic petroleum reserve mr speaker takes seventy thousand barrels of oil off the market each day even though the reserve is it is ninety seven percent full with enough to meet our national security needs that's a good idea republicans oppose that at a time record gas prices prices suspending these government purchases as we have done in the past could reduce gas prices by five to twenty four cents a gallon a critical first step for america's families businesses and the economy for years was the speaker democrats have fought to reduce our dependence on foreign oil and bring down gas prices and launch a cleaner smarter future for energy future for america yet with republican obstructionism american consumers and businesses have had more pain at the pump paying a record three dollars a fifty six cents a gallon president bush and congressional republicans have spent all their time in power domingo billions and billions and billions of dollars in big oil subsidies to big oil companies instead of working for energy independence plans for america you know we have had a number of important pieces of legislation that we have brought to the floor h r twelve fifty two the federal price gouging prevention act to crack down on gas price gouging something that is a reality in this in this market i was opposed by one hundred forty republicans we had a bill twenty two sixty four the noise no oil producing and exploiting c act to hold opec accountable for oil price fixing that was opposed by sixty seven republicans including almost entire republican leadership we have had a bill to repeal the subsidies to profit rich big oil companies and invest in renewable energy which is h r fifty three fifty one the renewable energy and energy conservation tax act of two thousand and eight you know it passed on february twenty seventh two hundred thirty six to one hundred eighty two one hundred seventy four republicans oppose that including the president noted states get this mr speaker the republicans have opposed a measure that would require that would that would take away the taxpayer funded subsidies from the five biggest oil companies in this country that are making record profits historic profits it would take those subsidies and put it into renewable energy to help us become more energy independent and they opposed it and the president said he would veto it and they have stopped progress on that measure they oppose the energy independence law that the energy independence security act which would be an energy independence law you know with mark and with the market manipulation ban and new vehicle mileage standards again majority republicans stood up and oppose these commonsense measures to help us become more energy independent and to help bring these gas prices down so their record is clear it has been obstructionism and it has been one it's been a record that has always been in the corner of big oil and against investing properly and some of these new technologies so president bush and republicans have blocked our efforts virtually every step of the way i hope that that will change after the next election i expect that will change after the next election but it is it is time for the republic seems to change their habit of saying no to consumers and american business on gas prices and always saying yes to big oil and nothing is enough and no it is time for house republicans to provide the critical votes needed for a veto proof majority for the legislation that i have outlined here  today americans are paying a heavy price for the obstructionism of the other republicans in this congress and the president noted states they don't want to give any more taxpayer subsidies to the big oil companies they want us to redirect those resources into commonsense clean renewable alternative sources of energy if we do that mr speaker then we will get these gas prices under control and we will also take a big step forward in cleaning up our environment so again as we speak i would urge yes vote on the previous question and on the role and i would yield back the balance of my time and i move the previous question on the resolution without objection the previous question is ordered the question are postpone in ninety six into the record without objection so or no misspeak i would yield myself such time as i might consume gentleman's recognized thank you mr speaker all of us know of the tremendous importance of the game of basketball to the united states of america and all that it provides for all of us in terms of the three of us everybody share when they watch in their favorite teams i rise to congratulate the university of kansas jayhawks for their win in the two thousand and eight national collegiate athletic association division one men's basketball tournament april the seventh two thousand and eight the university of kansas has won their fifth men's basketball now title by defeating the university of memphis tigers college basketball fans and players were treated to an excited national championship game with victory coming to the jayhawks after an amazing effort which pushed the game into overtime i want to extend congratulations to head coach bill s athletic director lou perkins university of kansas chancellor robin hemingway and kansas student athletes on an excellent season while securing their first national title in twenty years the jayhawks also won the big seven conference championship title the jayhawks also set a school record of all time season wins with a thirty seven three record i also wish to extend congratulations to the university of memphis tigers and their student athletes for a great season the tigers lost in the finals was only their second loss of the season memphis also won conference usa with a perfect sixteen zero record when the two thousand and eight national championship has brought national attention and a claim to the university of kansas outstanding basketball program and i know that the fans of this universe they will remember this very special moment for many years to come and so i thank you mr speaker and reserve the for winning the two thousand and eight national collegiate athletic association division one basketball championship on april seventh of this year trailing sixty to fifty one with just two minutes and twelve seconds left in regulation the university of kansas jayhawks mounted a comeback that will go down as one of the most memorable and n c a a history in overtime the jayhawks defeated memphis seventy five sixty eight to win the national championship its fifth national title in school history with this win the jayhawks achieved a school record for all time season wins posting a thirty seven three record during their run for the title the jayhawks finish this season with a thirteen game winning streak securing the big twelve conference championship in addition to the national title jayhawks guard mario chalmers was chosen as the most outstanding player of the final four and was named to the n c a a final four all tournament team along with guard brandon rush and forward darrell arthur seniors jeremy case darnell jackson sasha khan russell robinson roger extort and brad witherspoon ended their collegiate careers with a national championship in addition this was head coach bill selves first n c a a title he improved his all time record at kansas to one hundred forty two wins thirty two losses k u has a rich history beyond the basketball court as well opened in one thousand nine hundred eighteen sixty six the university of kansas is a comprehensive educational and research institution with twenty nine thousand plus students and more than two thousand faculty members k u includes a main campus in lawrence a city of about eighty eight thousand in northeastern kansas the medical center in kansas city kansas the edwards camp is in overland park a clinical campus of the school of medicine in wichita and educational research facilities throughout the state pulitzer and noble prize winners have graduated from this great university and many pharmacists teachers nurses and doctors have begun their careers aka you as well today i'd like to congratulate robert hemingway kay hughes chancellor lew perkins to draw active athletics the student athletes the students alumni and all fans for the jayhawks historic win i'm happy to join with my colleague representative moore in honoring this exceptional team and all its accomplishments and wish them continued success in their future endeavors with that i reserve the balance of my time represented the gentleman from kansas is recognized thank you mr speaker it's my great privilege today to honor the two thousand and eight n c double a men's division one basketball champions the university of kansas jayhawks and to encourage my colleagues to support h r ten ninety six the univers diversity of kansas men's basketball team began their season by winning twenty straight games on their way to a final regular season record of twenty eight three a share of the big twelve regular season title in the big twelve conference tournament title upon being selected number one seed nancy double a turn of the jayhawks the fate of their first three opponents by twenty four points nineteen points and fifteen points respectively when challenged by davidson in the final regional final and the university of north carolina in the national semifinal game kansas won these competitive emotionally charged games by emphasizing teamwork persistence and focus three qualities they displayed all season long and finally the jayhawks won the national title by best in a skilled memphis team in one of the most dramatic games in final four history twenty years after another kansas team led by danny man also won the national championship in dramatic fashion as alone as a problem of the versity of kansas i was proud to through through the entire season the student athletes coaches and every one associate with the university of kansas men's basketball team represented the university in the state of kansas in great fashion by demonstrating sportsmanship skill and the ability to overcome adversity they deserve praise and credit for their efforts and for their dedication of the common goal of winning the n c double a championship it should also be said that the students of the university of kansas the members of the lawrence kansas community and jayhawk fans everywhere showed tremendous class in their celebration of the jayhawks historic win and fr this is a jayhawk students and fans take great pride in kansas basketball and i believe this commitment that there's commitment and propulsion was demonstrated by the fact that nearly eighty thousand people showed up on a chilly spring afternoon for the team's championship parade and celebration mr speaker i'm honored to stand here today to pay tribute to the hard work and success of this championship team its coaches its fans and i encourage my colleagues and i ask my colleagues please to support house resolution ten ninety six rock chuck jayhawks i yield back my time and thank you very much gentleman from pennsylvania thank you mr speaker i yield as much time as he may consume to the distinguished gentleman from kansas mr moran and would recognize that he's kansas mr moore as we command and congratulate an amazing year at the university of kansas in this department of athletics with an earlier victory at the orange bowl in the football program followed up by a victory by our basketball team at the final four in san antonio texas just a few weeks ago were anxious to have jayhawks and the players the team and school officials as well take officials here so that our colleagues from congress c greet and congratulate them and we hope that happens in the near future and we also are expecting that the president will invite the jayhawks to the white house for the traditional commendation from the present united states core support the house resolution ten ninety six commending my alma mater the university of kansas it's been a long time for kansas jayhawks basketball fan since danny manning in the miracles shocked the sporting world and defeated oklahoma sooners and won the k k use last basketball championship in that time since one thousand nine hundred eight k you has had many memorable moments but also some real heart breaks and a few times that came up just a bit short in returning the championship trophy back to kansas on april seventh the jayhawks were trailing the memphis tigers sixty fifty one with two minutes and twelve seconds in regulation then began one of the most amazing comebacks that we have seen in the history of basketball and one of the most memorable college basketball experiences with just two point one seconds left in regulation final for m b p mario chalmers had a game tying three point shot it was the exact scenario that every young kid dreams of when practicing shooting those baskets and their home driveway you went on to defeat memphis seventy five sixty eight to claim its best national championship the jubilation of kansans everywhere and in our state we have a number of choices first for students to attend college and a lot of rivalries within our state two of the greatest rivalries that kansas state university in their outstanding program as well as the university of kansas and their program but even  wildcat fans in case state supporters were pleased and proud of the kansas victory forty thousand fans celebrated that night and lore and later close to one hundred thousand kansans came across our state to share in the jayhawk victory parade in lawrence kansas i should also mention that the class that all kansan showed that night and celebrating kansans were typical kansans that evening well behaved but in a great mood of celebration university of kansas has one of the most distinguished histories in college basketball the founder of basketball dr james naismith was the first coach at the university of kansas and he was also the only coach in k u s history to ever have a losing season this is k hughes fifth national championship and they've been to the final four thirteen times and captured an outstanding fifty one conference titles in history my congratulations to the chance outstanding k u basketball team all can join our proud we commend you on this amazing year and your success and as the congressman from kansas mr moore says rock chalk jayhawk mr speaker i yield back the balance of my resolution representative massive border from kansas gentlewoman from kansas is recognized thank you very much and mr speaker i rise again with my colleague mr moran to salute the two thousand and eight national champion kansas chalk jayhawk rock chalk jayhawk my district includes some of the most loyal college basketball fans in the nation every week they a get up go out in the dark in the middle of the kansas winter prayer prairie winter and they journey out into the cold and dark to sit on wooden benches in an old field house and they cheer on our local team the kansas jayhawks just like their parents and grandparents dead there are also some of the luck college basketball fans in the nation our field house is the legendary allen field allen fieldhouse and our local team or the kansas jayhawks one of the most dominant kansas college basketball teams in this nation this year the kansas jayhawks made their thirteenth their thirteenth final four and they won their fifth national championship eat your heart out m u hundred and nine years of basketball the jailhouse have had only eight head coaches the position was first held by james naismith the very founder of this legendary game but there have been no other that's better than our current head coach bill self bill came to kansas five years ago and since then he's led the kansas jayhawks to four consecutive big twelve conference regular season championships and two three consecutive big twelve tournaments championships and mr speaker this is a tough tough conference or even the lowly missouri tigers are able to hold kansas close until the final minutes the kansas jayhawks won the first final four for all four number one seeds this year all four of the number one seeds were in the last final four and are kansas jayhawks we beat it in dramatic we want to dramatic dramatic fashion those of us who are from kansas are hoping that that last three points that that mario chalmers sunk into that basket might replace some of those annoying comments about dorothy and the wizard of oz and then they're going to say you're from kansas aren't they the great basketball team that won in such a wonderful fashion and i'm going to say yes mr speaker they are our kansas jayhawks have made us all proud and i congratulate them i congratulate our chancellor bob hemenway and the entire case you and bill self for their wonderful victory and for making cannes and so proud mr speaker i yield back gentleman from pennsylvania gentleman yield back the balance of his time the gentleman from illinois thank you mr speaker i want to again do in with all of the residents of kansas and also indicate that they have a tremendous recruitment program because mario chalmers the young fellow that people have been talking about is the outstanding player grew up in my neighborhood in my community went to crane high school just happen that i talk to the principal of that school this morning about something else and i didn't know that i would get an opportunity to congratulate them on the floor this afternoon and so i join with all of america and congratulate in rules and a great house resolution ten ninety six doesn't favor say aye those opposed say no then you know the chair two thirds being in the affirmative the rules are suspended the resolution is a great two and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table report the title the resolution house resolution eleven hundred resolution congratulating the university of iowa hawkeyes wrestling team on winning the key thousand eight and the a division line national wrestling championship pursuant to the rule the gentleman from illinois mr davis and the gentleman from pennsylvania mr plenty to a control twenty minutes chair recognizes the gentleman from illinois speaker i request five legislative days during which members consume the sponsor of this resolution the gentleman from iowa the gym of mile is recognized i think the gentleman from illinois mr speaker i rise today to congratulate an amazing team from the second district of iowa which i represent i'm proud to stand before my colleagues today and commend the university of iowa hawkeyes wrestling team for winning the two thousand and eight and see a division one national wrestling championship as many wrestling fans now the university of iowa has a celebrated history of example where you want wrestlers and cultures who have allowed the university of iowa the city of iowa city and the entire state of iowa to boast a division one national wrestling championships the current team has kept the hawkeye record strong and it's my privilege to graduate them on the thirty second big ten title and the twenty first national championship for the school the university of iowa hawkeyes wrestling team is led by head coach tom brands who in addition to this championship win was named big ten coach of the year and national wrestling coaches association coach of the year under coach brand's leadership along with his assistants and strength coaches the team also head to individual national champions mark perry won his second national title even while overcoming a knee injury during his match and also was awarded his fourth all american honor brett metcalf won his first national title he was also awarded his first all american honor the dan hodge trophy was named big ten wrestler of the year keen national duals including the two individual national champions the team had a total of seven all americans and six academic all big wrestlers what the wrestling program was of what the wrestling program starting in one thousand and eleven the current university of iowa hawkeyes wrestling team has built up on past successes to continue the teams and schools winning tradition as wrestling fans know much of this past success was made possible by the leadership of former head coach and a limpid gold medalist dan gable who continues to provide guidance and leadership to the program congratulations to the entire university of iowa hawkeye wrestling team thank you mr baker i rise today in support of house resolution eleven hundred congratulating the university of iowa hawkeyes wrestling team since the program began in one thousand and eleven the university of iowa wrestling team has had a rich tradition and a history of producing champions and outstanding collegiate athletes and coaches and this year proved to be no different as a top ranked hawkeyes wrestling team clinched its twenty first national team title in the n c a a championships in addition to the team title the hawkeyes also crown two national champions mark perry and brett metcalf seven all americans and six academic all big ten wrestlers at the helm of this outstanding team says head coach tom brands who is named the big ten coach of the year and the national wrestling coaches associations coach of the year coach frans a former hawkeyes wrestler and one nine hundred ninety six olympic gold medalist and four time all american is in his second season as head writes in coach at the university of iowa former head coach and olympic gold medalist dan gable should also be commended for his leadership and guidance provided to the current two thousand and eight championship team throughout his tenure coach cable helped establish one of the most successful wrestling programs in the nation university of iowa wrestling team has brought honor to themselves but i would be remiss if i had failed to also recognize the university first outstanding commitment as a public university established in eight hundred forty seven i will has won international recognition its wealth of achievements in the arts sciences and humanities iow it was the first united states public university to meet men and women on an equal basis and the first institution of higher education in the nation to accept creative work in theater writing music in art as a species for advanced degrees it established the first law school and the purse educational radio station west of the mississippi broadcasting world's first educational television programs and developed and continues to hold preeminence and educational testing i extend my congratulations to the university's president sally nation athletics director gary barta head coach tom brands and a staff all the hardworking wrestlers their fans and the entire university of iowa community are happy to join with my distinguished colleague reps and love love sack in honoring this exceptional team and all this accomplishments and wish all involved continued success with that i yield back the balance of my time iowa and the entire delegation as well as all of the members of the house including congratulating the university of iowa hawkeyes wrestling team for their victory in the two thousand and eight in double ca division one national wrestling championship on march second college wrestling fans were treated to an exceptional wrestling match as the top ranked university of iowa won its twenty first national team title and crown to individual national champions mark perry and brant metcalf three of the hawkeyes seven all americans competed in the finals in st louis boy combined team score of one hundred seventeen point five points i want to extend my congratulations to tom coach tom brands who returned to his alma mater and led the team to a perfect eight zero conference rec in his second season as head coach impressive feat such is the reason why i coach brands was name coach of the year by both the big ten conference and the national wrestling coaches association congratulations also in order for senior mark perry who overcame a knee injury to win his second national title he is only the fourteenth university of our wrestler to earn two national titles additionally perry rounded out his final year with his fourth all america ana the other individual national title when i was sophomore brett metcalf met kevin at the season an impressive twenty three match winning streak and earn many accolades including the dan harsh trophy big ten wrestler of the year and outstanding wrestler at both the in doubles the a and big ten championships the national championships the help guys wrestling team is a premier program the extraordinary achievement of this season is a tribute to the skill and dedication of the many wrestlers cultures students alumni families and fans that have helped to make the university of iowa a wrestling powerhouse when the national championship finish in the season with a twenty one n one overall door record and win in the big ten conference championship for the thirty second time has brought national acclaim to the university of iowa i know the fans of the university whirl revel in this accomplishment as they look forward to the two thousand and nine season so mr speaker once again i congratulate the university of our for their tremendous success and you'll back the balance of our time gentleman yield back the balance of his question is will the house suspend the rules then agreed to house resolution eleven hundred as amended those in favor say aye i was opposed to a no then you the chair two thirds being in the affirmative the rules are suspended the resolution is a great to them without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the  concurrent resolution three thirty concurrent resolution supporting the goals and ideals of national sexual assault awareness and prevention month pursuant to the rule of the gentlewoman from what's  the gentleman from florida mr keller age will control twenty minutes the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from wisconsin thank you mr speaker i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous materials on the bill under consideration without objection so ordered thank you mr speaker i yield myself such time as i may consume gentlewoman's recognized thank you but studies show that one in six women and one in third three men will be a victim of rape or attempted rape in their lifetime and that on average a person is a sexually assaulted in the united states every two and a half minutes in my state of wisconsin there were five thousand six hundred twenty eight sexual assaults reported in the year two thousand and four the last year statistics are available this marks a three point seven percent increase from the previous year nationwide as we we know that children and young adults are most at risk forty four percent of sexual assault victims are under the age of eighteen and eighty percent are under the age of thirty although most victims are younger women the effects of sexual assault across all racial social religious ethnic and economic boundaries whether the crime is rape incest child sexual abuse stalking or sexual harassment sexual  sexual assault impacts our schools our workplaces our streets and our homes survivors are our sons our daughters our brothers our sisters our friends our grandparents in addition to the physical effects of victimization the emotional scars felt by sexual assault survivors may persist long after the physical scars have healed sexual violence costs an estimated one hundred twenty seven billion dollars per year in medical expenses lost productivity treatment of psychological trauma and pain and suffering yet we know that only forty one percent of sexual assault survivors pursue prosecution by reporting their attack to law enforcement officials and despite the support services offered by the national sexual assault hotline and more than one thousand crisis centers across the nation fewer than fifty percent of survivors ever tell anyone about their experience these two to six are staggering and unconscionable despite the alarming prevalence of sexual assault there is a clear and significant need for more public education and awareness national sexual assault awareness and prevention month does just this observed each year in april the dead dedicated month provides a special opportunity to educate americans about sexual violence and to encourage the prevention of sexual assault the improve treatment of its survivors and the prosecution of its perpetrators as part of the national sexual assault awareness and prevention month we recognize national and community organizations as well as private sector supporters for their work in promoting awareness about sexual assault we also applaud public safety law enforcement and health professionals for their hard work and innovative strategies to increase the percentage of sexual assault cases that result in the prosecution and incarceration of offenders along with my colleague congressman ted poe from texas i introduced house concurrent resolution three thirty to recognize april two thousand and eight as national sexual assault awareness and prevention month by supporting this resolution we highlight the efforts of individuals and agencies that provide rape crisis intervention and prevention services we also call attention to the sexual violence as a major public health issue and raise awareness of the need for increased resources for preventing sexual violence mr speaker i want to quickly extend my thanks to a number of advocates for their work on sexual assault prevention in wisconsin we are incredibly lucky to have the wisconsin coalition against sexual assault working to create the social change necessary  sexual violence my thanks to the coalition and their member organizations asta state for the important work that they do since the first national observance of sexual assault awareness month in two thousand and one many members of congress have been actively involved in ensuring congressional support for efforts to raise awareness around sexual violence i wholeheartedly thank all the co sponsors of this bipartisan resolution for once again lending their names to this worthy cause and finally i want to extend my sincerest thank you to my colleague congressman ted poe for his strong support as the lead sponsor of this resolution mr poe has been a dedicated advocate for victims and victims rights in this congress and i very much admired his commitment to ending sexual violence in all forms thank you for your hard work and leadership on this resolution although we have made significant progress we still have  go in eradicating the harm inflicted on our communities by sexual assault i urge all of my colleagues to fully support this resolution recognizing the national sexual assault awareness and prevention month thank you mr speaker and i reserve the balance of my time gentleman from florida thank you mr speaker i yield myself as much time as i may consume is recognized thank you mr speaker i rise today in strong support of house concurrent resolution three thirty recognizing april is national sexual assault awareness and prevention month every two and a half minutes a person is sexually assaulted in the united states sadly one in six women have been victims of rape or attempted rape two thirds of these assaults are committed by someone known to the victim and yet only forty percent of sexual assaults are reported to the police sexual assault awareness month attempts to change these startling statistics by promoting educational programs victim support services advances in d n a and forensics technology and aggressive prosecution and incarceration of sexual offenders national sexual awareness and prevention month helps to educate the public about sexual violence in our communities and the long term effect on these victims it also recognizes the selfless work of staff and volunteers at rape crisis centers and other community organizations across the united states that provide counseling and victim support services to sexual assault survivors this year the featured event of sexual assault awareness month was shot to end sexual violence businesses throughout america pledge to donate a percentage of their sales during april to increase awareness of sexual violence and promote community involvement in reducing these crimes with education and community support  hope that more victims will pursue prosecution of their attackers by reporting these assaults once the victims take the first and critical steps it is up to lawmakers and law enforcement to ensure these violent offenders are put away earlier this month the judiciary committee held a hearing on h r fifty fifty seven to reauthorize it debbie smith d n a backlog program the deadly smith program originally authorized in two thousand awards grants to state and local governments to reduce the d n a backlog of samples collected from crime scenes and the backlog for entry into the national d n a database through these grants state and local government received funding to test approximately one hundred the department of justice estimates that over five thousand hits or matches are the result of this d n a backlog action this is a positive step forward but we must continue to our efforts to reduce the d n a backlog to provide justice for sexual assault victims and put their attackers behind bars for good i wish to thank my judiciary colleague congresswoman tammy baldwin for sponsoring this resolution and i also thank congressman ted poe for taking the lead on our side they are and moving for this important resolution i urge my colleagues to support this resolution and i reserve the balance of my time gentlewoman from wisconsin mr speaker i have no requests for time at this moment i would continue to reserve gentleman from florida mr speaker i yield the balance of our time or as much time as he may consume to the gentleman from texas mr poe the co author of this resolution gentleman from texas is recognized thank the gentleman from for yielding i'm proud to have introduced this national sexual assault awareness and prevention month resolution with my friend and congresswoman baldwin from wisconsin appreciate her leadership in bringing this issue to the national attention of all of us when i was assistant district attorney back in texas i prosecuted write this for eight years and then i sat on the bench as a judge in houston for twenty two years hearing felony criminal cases and during those thirty years i learned a lot about sexual assault and the devastation it has on victims probably one of the best statements ever made about a sexual assault and how to fix a victim was a sexual assault victim who was ninety years old and had been raped and she testified on the witness stand that what happened to her was a fate worse than death and yes in many times it is a fate worse than murder itself the crime that occurs against these individuals throughout our country it devastates the victim and after the crime occurs the victim faces a lifetime of battle the recover in many cases sexual assault or rape is an attempt on the part of the offender to destroy the inner soul and bean of the victim and sometimes that actually occurs when i came to congress i found a victim's rights call chris to advocate on behalf of victims so that this caucus could be a voice for all crime victims the gentle lady from wisconsin who introduced this resolution is a member of this caucus and continues to be a leader of her public awareness with this resolution i hope we can educate the public as to this or when described but also thank the outstanding victim advocates who hold a victim's hand from the time the crime is committed and sometimes throughout the entire episode till the trial is over with rape and sexual assault statistics are difficult to determine because many victims are ashamed and afraid to come forward and report these crimes there are outstanding support services in this country like the national sexual assault hotline and many many hundreds of thousands of crisis centers throughout the country but still sexual assault victims are reluctant to come forward by drawing attention to sexual violence and speaking about it on the national level here in our congress we can encourage victims to report these crimes and get the help they need predators intimidate and threaten victims a hope and that these victims will never tell anyone about it victims need to understand that american american citizen support victims and on their side of those reported sexual assaults are a haunting statistics three out of four victims knew the perpetrator that committed the crime against them the rapist is not a stranger i would like to relate one case that occurred many years ago when i was prosecuting these types of cases i will call this young lady lisa to  protect the privacy of her family but she was a student at one of our universities in houston she left the university one night and stopped at a serve station for help because her car was having difficulty in moving down the highways she came in contact with an individual that i will call luke he was not a service station attendant but he was just a criminal he kidnapped lisa he sexually assaulted her he pistol whipped her he beat her so bad that he thought he had killed her and when he was finally arrested he was mad that he hadn't killed her he was captured he was tried a jury in houston texas convicted him and gave him ninety nine years in the texas penitentiary which he earned deserved but lisa's life fell apart she never went back to school she lost her job her husband the kind of individual he was sued her for divorce and got all the children and left the state and she started using drugs first alcohol and then everything else and not long after the trial i received a phone call from lisa's mother telling me that she had taken her own life and she left a note that i still have today that says i'm tired of runnin from luke johnson in my nightmares you see crime occurs victims are victimized but sometimes they live a short life they're after because the crime that the as occurred in no crime is more devastating to a victim and sexual assault so it is important that we designate april as national sexual assault awareness month so we can educate our fellow citizens on these statistics and encourage rape sexual assault victims to no longer be afraid we need to promote justice for sexual assault victims because justice is what we do in america and that's just the way it is i yield back my time mr speaker in closing i wish to urge my colleagues to support this resolution as we have heard this bill supports the goals and i deals of the national sexual assault awareness and prevention month and highlights the need for increased awareness about this major public health issue i wish to again command my colleague the gentleman from texas mr poe for his heartfelt and strong leadership on this issue and urge all of my colleagues to support its passage and i yield back the balance of my time the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass house concurrent resolution three thirty those in favor say aye those opposed say no opinion of the chair two thirds being in the affirmative the rules are suspended the concurrent resolution is agreed to and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table for what purpose does the gentleman from illinois rise the speaker i move that the house spin the rules and parents dread the eleven thirty the clerk will report the title the resolution house resolution eleven thirty resolution recognizing the roles and contributions of america's teachers to building and enhancing our nation's civic cultural and economic wellbeing pursuant to the rule of the gentleman from illinois mr davis and may have five legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks that objections so ordered the speaker and now your myself such time as i might consume germans recognized speaker i rise today to recognize the important contributions that teachers make to our nation next week is national teacher appreciation week the national p t a created teacher appreciation week hundred four to show gratitude to the many teachers in the united states it is a chance for us to thank those individuals who have contributed greatly to society in ways that cannot be m it is a chance for us to recognize the selflessness and dedication of teachers and to show our respect for the teaching profession the speaker we know that good teachers make a tremendous difference to our nation's you do in the last decade a body of evidence has grown to support the notion that teacher quality is the single most important factor outside of the home in effect in student achievement teachers service excellent role models and instill a love for knowledge and lifelong learning in our students we know that teaching is an important profession that deserves  support and respect teachers have the important job of helping to shape tomorrow's leaders those in the teaching profession work tirelessly a little reward and good teachers constantly reflect on their lessons and modify instruction to reach the diverse needs of the students in their classrooms quality teachers hone their skills and experts not only in the subject matter but also in connecting with young people and making learn in come alive unfortunately research has also shown us the negative impact of teacher shortages it is important and imperative golden community support teachers national teacher appreciation week is an opportunity for all of us to pursue and recognize the selfless dedication of our educators it is also an opportunity for us to recognize the importance of education i'm a gap salut least certain that every child in america has the greatest opportunity to achieve this commodity that we call education and so we have to search out budgets stretch our imagination than the resources that are necessary to attract the best and the brightest individuals into the teaching profession and so yes there is no greater profession in our country than that of teachin i call teachers the salt of the earth the pillars of the universe those individuals who give of themselves each and every day so that others will have the opportunity to connect with this vast reservoir of knowledge that we have to be spread around and so i am indeed pleased with speaker to join with all of those who are just passage of this resolution eleven thirty recognizing the roles in contributions of america's teachers in educating and nurturing our nation's children and thereby building and enhancing our nation's civic cultural and economic wellbeing a teacher's role in student veltman is irreplaceable all of our lives have been influenced by the teachers and directed our classrooms classrooms where students acquire the knowledge necessary to become a part of our nation's future showing teachers appreciation and recognition during the upcoming national teacher appreciation week which takes place next week helps to remind us how important teachers are and what an enterable role they play in the lives of our nation's citizens it's important that we recognize teachers for the critical work they do in approving our nation in so many ways teachers today devote more their lives to teaching young people than ever before and spend more time in professional development their own education and no class preparation outside the classroom teachers spend an average of over fifty hours per week on teaching duties an average of four hundred forty three hours each year out of their own pockets to meet the needs of their students all the while earning an average annual salary slightly more than thirty one thousand dollars the future of our nation's children is dependent on the individuals that make these time energy in monetary commitments and they deserve recognition for their service on a personal note i certainly am honored to recognize the teachers i had in kindergarten through twelfth grade in the york suburban school district and know but for their support and guidance i would not have had the opportunity to pursue my dreams including the dream of serving in this very united states house of representatives behind the upbringing of my mom and dad my teachers dorothy mertz my third grade teacher who's now ninety seven years old and still going strong as i visited with her just a few weeks back my eighth grade teacher  who took the lessons of my parents of community service and inspired me to pursue a career in public service they and so many other teachers and ministry years i had the blessing to interact with in my education career played a critical role in my life as teachers do in all of our nation's children's lives in the past the present and the future so i'm honored and pleased to stand in support of this resolution recognizing the important roles and contributions of america's teachers and support national teacher appreciation week i certainly thank my colleague mr gray's from missouri for introducing this resolution and encourage a vote in favor of the resolution i reserve the balance of my time mr speaker teacher of supplant the seat of learning in the minds of their students and i support america's teachers and i'm proud to be a co sponsor of this resolution this measure recognizes significant roles and contributions that america's teachers have had and continue to have building enhanced in our country's civil civics cultural and economic wellbeing the u s census bureau reports that there are six million teachers in the united states i like many others in this house turned out the way i did because the teachers that were in my background like my seventh grade texas history teacher mrs wilson she formed early on it is our in my soul to go into public service and she gets the credit or the blame whichever people see for our lifetime career in public service also come from a long lot of teachers my mother was a teacher my wife's a teacher much three daughters are teachers and two of those teach an elementary school level and one of my daughter's teachers at baylor university even while i was prosecuting back in houston texas i spent some time teaching law to university of houston but true teaching isn't just a tradition in my family teaching has been a tradition in this country since its very inception back then of course most teaching happened at home under the instruction of parents and today parents have many options when it comes to education of their children some are taught in private schools others public schools some of charter schools and others continue to home school teachers play a primary role in equipping our youth to be good citizens to take pride in the democratic heritage of our nation and to be competitive on the world marketplace of ideas teachers spend a long week and long hours teaching our greatest resource children this year we celebrate national ticket teachers week on may fourth through the tenth and let's be sure that to let teachers know that those especially that have touched our lives how important they are this resolution and certainly join with them and express and again tremendous appreciation all of those in the teaching profession as i listen to them i couldn't help but be reminded of important teachers do in my life i begin school all in a one room school as a matter of fact in your home state of arkansas where one woman miss b the king taught eight grades plus the little promo and the big drama all bad herself but then i was fortunate because later on she was a bit high school english teacher and there are individuals who would suggest that i sometimes use poems and poetry in pithy words and expression and practically all of that really came from ms became i mean she was unbelievable mero fact she walked at least seven eight miles to school every day to teach there are a lot of teachers who give that kind of dedication today they don't necessarily walk seven eight miles but they go into their pockets and by materials they purchase clothes and while they're students when they don't have the appropriate things to wear they purchase lunch which for students buy materials for their classes they give the very best of everything that it is that they have and so i don't think that we can ever express i used the opportunity to express appreciation to my wife who taught for more than thirty years members of my family my sister who just retired as a principal my sister in law who just retired and so they're minute teachers that all of us stand on their shoulders and like you representative plant i know that had it been for those individuals that i came into contact with growing up there's no way a that i would be standing here this evening express and myself as a member of the greatest body that exist in the world the united states house of representatives so again i think all of the teachers in america urge passage of this resolution and yield back the balance of my time the question is well the house has been the rules in a great house resolution eleven thirty thousand favor say aye those opposed say no to any of the chair two thirds being in the affirmative the rolls are suspended the resolution is a great for that objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table for what purpose does the gentleman from illinois write the speaker move with the house suspend the rules and pass a resin levin one thousand clerk will report the title resolution house resolution eleven nineteen resolution supporting the goals and ideal reward to support america's community national volunteer week is an opportunity to engage individuals throughout the ation in a common goal of service to better our nation this year's theme volunteer to change the world hopes to inspire all people to connect with their community and truly make a difference through working together to effect positive change in addition to many volunteer opportunities the weak will recognize deserving volunteers with the president's volunteer service award and other significant signs of thanks next week volunteers across the nation will work on a wide variety of projects activities range from community arts projects school renovations parks rehabilitation and minimal equally engage in projects with a large force of volunteers working together national volunteer week will demonstrate the power of volunteer ism and highlight the strength of compassion the large number of volunteers will continue to inspire the nation to mobilize for positive change and help people discover their ability to make a difference volunteer in has far reaching positive impacts on the community as a whole and even on individual volunteers themselves research has shown that communities with high levels of social capital have a higher quality of life communities with strong volunteer networks therefore healthy and dynamic places to live and work additionally data shows that individuals who volunteer live longer than those who do not individuals and communities reap numerous constructive benefits from volunteers and can be the center of positive social change and so once again i express my support for national volunteer week and recognize all the hard work that volunteers put in on a daily basis i encourage more people to become national volunteer week i'm proud to introduce this resolution with my national service caucus co chairs represents chris shays david price and doris matt tsui as well as representative buck mckeon mr speaker national volunteer week was created in one thousand nine hundred seventy four when president richard nixon signed an executive order to establish that week as an annual celebration of volunteer ing every year since that time each president of the united states along with many governors mayors and other elected officials have sign a proclamation promoting national volunteer week this year national entire week is being recognized this very week april twenty seventh to may third various of ants are being held throughout the nation to promote the two thousand and eight theme of quote volunteer to change the world unquote throughout history the united states americans have valued an ethic of service voluntary not only has a positive impact on local communities but also on the volunteer himself or herself those americans who give their time to serve are valuable assets to our local communities and national volunteer week is our opportunity to thank them for their service and to encourage others to serve across our country americans of all ages backgrounds and abilities are donating their time and talents to schools churches hospitals and local nonprofits in an effort to improve their communities and serve a purpose greater than themselves according to data collected over the past thirty years by the united states census bureau americans are volunteer ing at historically high rates between september two thousand and six and september two thousand and seven sixty one point two million americans donated their time to help others by mentoring students beautifying neighborhoods restoring homes after disaster disasters and much more a fact earlier this week i had the pleasure of participating in a recognition ceremony at a local senior center the red line area senior center in york county pennsylvania where dozens of senior volunteers and others were recognized for thousands of hours of donated volunteer service time in two thousand and seven in fact the top two volunteers recognized a gentleman by the name of jim fitz ski and leona deardorff each of them contributed almost seven hundred hours of volunteer service to this center in two thousand and seven volunteer ing is not only a rewarding but a necessary aspect of meeting the most pressing needs facing our nation including combating crime against poverty disasters illiteracy and homelessness bond hearing is also an important part  maintaining the health of our citizens as research consistently shows that those who volunteer especially those sixty five years of age and older lead healthier lives and those who do not engage in their communities the intangible benefits alone such as pride satisfaction empowerment and accomplishment are worthwhile reasons to serve and give back today i'd like to recognize a diligent efforts of our major fairly funded community service and volunteer service programs thank the millions of dedicated and caring volunteers for their service and encourage all americans to give of themselves to make a difference in their local communities i urge my colleagues to support house resolution an eleven one thousand and reserve the b know the chair two thirds being in the affirmative the rules are suspended the resolution is agreed to and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table nine resolution expressing support for the designation of april twenty eighth as national sarcoidosis during this awareness month and supporting efforts to develop new resources to research and that research the causes of the disease environmental and otherwise along with treatments and work or strategies to support individuals with sarcoid doses pursuits of the rules gentleman from illinois mr davis and the gentleman from pennsylvania mr plant's age will control twenty minutes chair recognizes the gentleman from illinois will speak i ask unanimous consent that members may have five legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and insert relevant material to a dresden eleven forty nine into the record and commemorate in april two thousand and eight as national soccer doses awareness month according to the national heart lung and blood institute tens of thousands of americans nationwide  afflicted with this disease however currently there is no cure no definitive identification of exactly what caused the socket dosis no known measures to prevent it and many people with the production of tiny lumps of sales and various organs of our bodies called granulomas because they look like grains of sugar are sa these grain like sales grow and clump together in an organ effect and how the organ works the increase of these groves can inflame vital organs like the lungs brain skin eyes the nervous system calls in seizures blindness this figure in lesions heart failure and sometimes even death socket those is overrepresented among african americans compared to other races than ethnic groups and afflicts african americans more severely than other races in this country by documented in the prevalence of sarcoidosis amounts of rest on light bulb workers in the forty's among us navy deck grinders among other factory workers and disproportionately found among rescue workers in new york on september the eleventh in two thousand  research does that the american lung association have uncovered a link between certain types of occupations and this disease more careful monitoring of sarcoidosis diagnosis can dramatically improve public health including the health of civilian and military workers it is my hope that by passing this legislation we will promote more careful examination and investigation soko diagnosis and lead to the reduction of the morbidity and mortality of workers as well as to reduce cost by support in house resolution eleven forty nine designated in april two thousand and eight as national start socket those this month we as the house of representatives of these united states of america will demonstrate our acknowledgment of and commitment to the importance of raising awareness for the purpose of uncover in the calls is of socket those this disease environmental and otherwise and the promotion of strategies to support rising support of house resolution eleven forty nine expressing support for the designation of the month of april two thousand and eight as national sarcoidosis awareness month to bring attention to this disease its potential causes and the need for research on the causes and potential treatments sarcoidosis is a noncontagious systemic disease of unknown origin that causes inflamed microscopic gross called granulomas that often affect one of more systems in the body including the lungs skin in eyes and nervous system this disease is sometimes difficult to god knows the american lung association reports that more than ninety percent of the people diagnosed with sarcoidosis experience some degree of problems with their lungs which may reduce their ability to have sore oxygen because of scarring caused by the inflammations between twenty and thirty percent of people with palminteri sarcoidosis end up with some degree a permanent lung damage although death is relatively uncommon mortality can occur due to lung failure or the deceased causes serious damage to a vital organ other than the lungs it has been observed that the disease occurs through out the world in all races in both sexes although gender and ethnicity may have an impact on the risk of developing sarcoidosis and it's a very women and people of african descent along with those of scandinavian german irish and puerto rican descent are particularly prone to the disease and it's more chronic and serious m stations the reasons for this are yet unknown the cause or causes of sarcoidosis remain a mystery our best medical evidence to date has not discovered the extent to which lifestyle environment or heredity affects the development severity or length of this disease the american lung association reports that most researchers believe that the disease involves an altered immune system system some studies suggest that sarcoidosis is caused by the infection triggered by bacteria or virus or even by exposure to burning wood others suggest possible occupational or environmental risk and some studies also show that sarcoidosis may run within families suggesting  genetic link medical science has developed treatments to manage the symptoms of the disease but no treatment is clearly effective for prolonged period and there is yet a cure considering the broad reach of this disease across people  different genders at nesis throughout the world and the lack of scientific evidence as it to its cause or a cure is important to acknowledge the efforts of individuals in organizations she observed national shark it does just awareness month and work on promoting awareness and the search for the calls and effective treatments and please therefore to stand in support of this resolution and ask for a yes vote i reserve the balance of my time gentleman from illinois resolution and i want to commend and think all of the socket doses activists who have visited my office who have called me who have written letters and telegrams and e mails urging that we do something to further promote and raise awareness around this illness and i'm pleased that we have this resolution on the floor today i urge its passage and you'll back the balance of my time gentleman yield back the balance of his time all time for debate having expired the question is will the house has been the rules in a great house resolution eleven forty nine mended those in favor say  the post say no then you know the chair two thirds being in the affirmative the rules are suspended the resolution is a grade two and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table for what purpose does the gentleman from illinois writes the speaker move that the house to spin the rules and pass a teacher is eleven fifty four clarke will report the title of the resolution house resolution eleven fifty four resolution supporting the mission and goals of workers memorial an order to honor and remember the workers who have been killed or injured in the workplace pursuant to the rule of the gentleman from illinois mr davis and the gentleman from pennsylvania mr plan will control twenty minutes chair recognizes the gentleman from illinois speaker i ask unanimous consent that members may have five legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and insert material relevant to thread the eleventh of to pull into the record without objection so ordered and now i'm the speaker it is my pleasure to yield such time as she might consume to the sponsor of this resolution the bill to the floor on monday of this week millions of people worldwide recognize work a memorial day in i introduced h r eleven fifty four because each year this country has spouse and a work of a keel due to the workplace related injuries and tens of thousands of occupation illegal nisus it is staggering to think that each day an than in wars the bottom line is that everyone deserves a safe and healthy workplace many of us may take this basic right for granted but for millions of americans the threat of being permanently disabled or even killed on the job is very real workers memorial day not only recognizes and honors those who have been killed or injured on the job it also reminds us of the overwhelming need to improve health and safety standards in our nation's workplaces it has been thirty eight years since the creation of osha and over this time work on health and safety standards have vastly explosions which have killed more than one hundred workers since nine hundred eighty one hundred workers who went to work in the morning but never returned home to their families and loved ones work this memorial day remembers those workers who gave their lives and their families they left behind like to thank the house leadership chairman mr miller for his support and bringing his resolution to the floor today and of course mr davis  supporting the mission and goals of workers memorial day in order to honor remember and pay tribute to the workers who have been killed or injured in the workplace monday april twenty eighth marked the twentieth annual worker memorial day a day to honor our nation's workers who  result of incidents in the workplace and i was honored in my district in york pennsylvania to participate with the york at on the central labor council in a work or memorial ceremony where the three individuals who were remembered for their deaths in the workplace in two thousand and seven and paid tribute to with their families being in our sympathy in our thoughts and prayers and our sympathies going out to those members on the loss of their loved ones we remember and pay tribute to all americans that have given the most to ensure nation's economic growth and sustainability on this day we reaffirm our commitment to guarantee a safe and healthy work environment for all employees employers employees and the local state and federal governments have all shared in the mission of protecting our nation's workforce i would note mr speaker that labor organizations are not specifically mentioned in the resolution but certainly they have played a critically important role in promoting enhancing workplace safety we all aspire to have hazard free workplaces and the combined efforts of these groups and individuals have moved just closer towards achieving additionally fatality rates remain at historic lows clearly these numbers show that workplaces are getting safer but we must ensure that this trend continues april twenty eighth also commemorated the thirty seventh anniversary of the start up of the department of labor's occupational the and help the ministration we commando share for years of hard work and dedication from day one the agency has promoted a safe and healthy workplace for all employees osha's regulations educational efforts and enforcement activities have enhanced both workplace safety and success across the united states moving forward it's important to remember that osha cannot guarantee the safety of our workers by itself osha cannot write and its force rules effectively if it does not receive adequate funding and valuable input from all interested stakeholders we must ensure that our efforts to enhance workplace safety provide for this funding and implement we must maintain a strong commitment to work with osha on its mission of protecting the american worker even one workplace injury or for tally is one too many worker memorial day commend representative johnson from taxes for introducing this resolution and i'm pleased to join with her and with representative plant in promoting its passage i rise in support of the mission  unfortunately while the united states loses about five thousand five hundred workers each year more than two million people die worldwide from workplace related accidents and disease according to the national safety council and the bureau of labor statistics the job fatality rate has been cut by seventy percent since the one nine hundred seventy and while direct comparisons of injury data for two thousand  years prior to two thousand and three are not possible due to a change in classification systems in general decline in workplace fatalities and injuries have been much greater in these those industries where the occupational safety and health administration has targeted its standards and in postman activities so mr speaker i urge my colleagues to support this legislation which encourages osha industries employers and employees to support activities that increase awareness of the importance of preventing illness injury and death in the workplace i would also like to thank all those who took the time on monday to remember those americans who were injured or those who have lost their lives due to a workplace accident and so again mr speaker i commend representative johnson from texas for introducing this timely and important resolution i also think mr platts the gentleman from pennsylvania for his support but i also thank him for the opportunity to work with him this afternoon it's been a pleasure as it always is he is one of the most pleasant members of this house and it's always a pleasure to interact and work with him and i would yield back the balance of our time questionnaires with the house has been the rolls in pascals house resolution eleven fifty four thousand five or so i those opposed say no opinion of the chair two thirds being in the affirmative the rules are suspended the resolution is agreed to and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table for so at the close eight of rule twenty proceedings will resume on questions previously postpone votes will be taken in the following order ordering the previous question on house resolution eleven fifty seven by the azan a adopting house resolution eleven fifty seven if ordered an suspending the rules and concurring in the senate amendment to h r eleven ninety five by the days and days the first electronic vote will be conducted as a fifteen minute vote remaining electronic votes will be conducted us five minute votes the unfinished business is the vote on ordering the previous question on house resolution eleven fifty seven on which the a's and they s are ordered the clerk will report the title of the resolution h calendar number two twelve house resolution one one five seven resolution providing for consideration of the bill and our fifty five twenty two to require the secretary of labor to issue interim and final occupational safety and health standards regarding worker exposure to come bastable dust and for other purposes questions on ordering the previous question members will record their votes by electronic device this is a fifteen minute vote so into a procedural vote now in the house on ordering the previous question on the rule an attempt to change the rules for debate on the industrial dust bill that underlying bill requiring more safety rules to prevent industrial explosions due to dust back on the february back in february of this year thirteen workers were killed in an explosion at a georgia sugar refinery the president has issue