house will be an order house will be in order for what purpose is a gentleman from california arise just to suspend the rules and call up h r fifty five sixty three generations invigorating volunteers and education act clerk to report the title of the bill h r fifty five sixty three reauthorize and re form the national service pursuant to the rule the gentleman from california mr george miller and the gentleman from pennsylvania mr platts weed control twenty minutes the chair recognizes the gentleman from california figure the house is not in order gentlemen is correct the house is not in order gentlemen from california serious gavel as the speaker i rise in strong support of h r fifty five sixty three the generations invigorating volunteerism and education act the first reauthorization of the national and community service laws and programs since one nine hundred ninety three the legislation we are considering today includes all of the amendments approved last week by voice vote it also includes a provision on background checks from the republican motion to recommit this bill is a bipartisan product the volunteer and community service programs tens of millions of americans through volunteer and community service programs tens of millions of americans of different generations have become inspired to build stronger more vibrant communities to build to help children succeed in school and rebuild cities in times of disaster in two thousand and six more than sixty one million americans gave back to their communities through service letters on majority side please take their conversations off the floor or to the cloak room gentlemen will proceed to give act recognizes this growing service movement that is taking place across the nation it builds upon the success of the work being done by members of america corps of vista of the senior corps and the learn and serve america the give act would put us on a path to increasing the number of american our members from seventy five thousand to one hundred thousand by two thousand and twelve with a focus on engage in low income disadvantaged an at risk young people the  give act would also help america core members pay for college by increasing the scholarship they earn in exchange for their service for four thousand seven hundred twenty five dollars to five thousand two hundred fifty five dollars by two thousand and twelve this would introduce young people to community service by creating a new summer of service initiative that will offer middle school and high school students the opportunity to spend to spend a summer working to improve their communities while earning five hundred dollars toward college or college preparation alumni have service programs remain a valuable resource to our communities after hurricane katrina devastated the gulf coast communities america corps alumni played a key role in relief recovery and rebuilding efforts on the gulf coast to help tap into these resources in times of emergency this bill would create an alumni reserve corps to serve two service alumni with previous disaster relief experience each year nearly a half a million older americans participate in the senior corps programs mentoring children of prisoners providing independent living services to seniors assisting victims of natural disaster and mobilizing other volunteers to give act would expand the purpose of the senior corps program by adding in the emphasis on recruiting retired science technology health care law enforcement and military professionals to help with education  afterschool public safety and technology needs i want to thank the many members on both sides of the aisle who have worked on this bill in particular representative mccarthy on our side of the hour representative mckeon and mr platts on the other side is handling the bill today for their leadership well as this as a service caucus for its support let me also think the voices of service in its member organizations which have been invaluable in helping us develop this legislation service to volunteer in it played an important role in our nation's history and will continue to help us meet the challenges of the needs of our communities this legislation reflects the important role and builds upon it and i reserve the balance of my time that all men research this time the gentleman from kathy from pennsylvania community service programs as you know we debated this legislation for hours last week and adopted some very positive amendments i'm pleased that the majority has included these amendments in the bill as well as a republican motion to recommit which will ensure that adequate criminal history checks will be performed on anyone seeking a fairly funded national service position and that individuals who are registered sex offenders or convicted murderers will not be selected for such positions was my hope that the duplicative energy conservation corps is struck from the village and the conference because the bill already addresses that through other sections of this legislation i am proud to be part of this effort to provide more flexibility for existing community service programs to ensure that the most innovative and effective grantees continue to receive funding and to increase the accountability within the corporation program such as foster grandparents and learn to serve learn and serve truly impact the lives of america's most needy america corps and triple c participants engage often disadvantaged youth and provide them with a sense of pride and civic responsibility these programs are truly win win and provide a tremendous return on the federal investment again i want to thank chairman miller ranking member mckeon and chairwoman mccarthy for working with me and for all the staff who've made this effort a success i urge a yes vote and hope that my colleagues will these commonsense reforms to our national service programs and to support the give act i reserve the balance of my time gentleman reserves a balance of this time the gentleman from california are you of five minutes to join from new york mr mccarthy a major champion of this legislation gentlewoman from new york is recognized for five minutes thank you mr speaker and i thank my chairman george miller for the great work that he has done you know this is a great day for national service it's been fifteen years since we have reauthorized the national service laws as chairwoman of the healthy families and community subcommittee i am pleased to speak in support of h r five five six three the generations of ignoring volunteer ism and education act the give act unfortunately this legislation hit a procedural hurdle last week but i am glad the house will today have a chance once again to pass this important piece of legislation the bill before us today incorporates the amendments that were two amendments from representative sutton it also includes a language from the republican motion to recommit the administration in the service community support to give act i would like to thank chairman miller again for his continued support and work on this reauthorization i would also like to extend my thanks to ranking member of our committee mr mccain for his hard work and finally i would like to thank the ranking member of my subcommittee mr plaster his work on the reauthorization i would also like to thank you again the staff on both sides of the aisle for their work on this important piece of legislation national service as is things mission strong history in our nation the benefits of service cannot be duplicated evidence shows at the service and volunteer ng lower school drop outs and crime rates lowest cost associated with the aging population and improve the health among the elderly volunteering is cost effective way of working to solve the challenges facing our nation that is why the passage of the give act is necessary one of the most effective volunteer organizations in this nation is america for america volunteers offer a range of services focused on low income and disadvantaged communities  legislation recognizes their invaluable work and increases the number of just offense to one hundred thousand to give act also encourages programs to recruit under represented populations to serve including scientists and engineers young people in or a gene out of force to care children at risk for delinquency and other disadvantaged young people i truly believe that expanding national service particularly to disadvantage youth is an effective way to combat things like gangs and violence and the evidence bears that out if we have seriously if we're serious about reducing gang violence in this nation we must take the first step and offer our children alternative this legislation creates a summer of service program which cues middle school and high school students an opportunity becoming gauge in a positive way within their community through the service summer of service program our nation's young people will have a chance to serve with others and in their own age well improving their community we share shows that have students are engaged in service at an early age they will continue to serve throughout their lifetime we're strengthening the mission of the first responder volunteer program the national civilian community corps requiring by more intense disaster emergency relief training during down periods in order to be better prepared for the future we're all aware of what our nation faced in the wake of hurricane katrina and the n triple c was there was to respond and continues to risk recover today a year that will help our nation become better prepared for future disasters by train preparing more emergency volunteers to give that creates a cooperation an office of outreach and recruitment this new office among other duties will establish a reserve corps made of those who have gone through the program and our alumni reserve corps alumni will be calling called upon during emergencies disasters or other times of national need we heard people asking over and over again during our hearings why aren't we using our former members the new outreach office will work to connect the over five hundred thousand form volunteers who can be a resource for the recruitment to give back lowers the age of participation in the national senior service to fifty five years age by lowering the age we are in coverage retiring americans to participate in national service and giving older americans yeah patootie to lead us into the future of our nation's retiring retired adults our rich resources that no one can duplicate nor should they be overlooked every american old and young has skills can improve the day to day functions of our society they give act encourages individuals to get involved creates a deeper commitment to service and makes our nation more like what it should be i give want to thank chairman miller for his d commitment to national service and ranking member mckeon and congressman plats for their work with us on this bipartisan activity i do urge all of my colleagues support this must much needed legislation with that a yield back the balance of my time just like the gentleman for yielding i am i stand in opposition to the give act i think that it has its promise that we won't have volunteerism in america unless we pay for it somehow or unless this body comes up with it the the volunteerism represented by america or in the other programs here represent i would venture about one hundredth of one percent of all the voluntary activity that goes on out there but here we act as if it won't happen unless we create it and pay for it paid volunteerism is not a very good principle in men in my view we have to remember we are running  deficit our federal government is running a deficit so any money we pay here any increase in any programs any new authorization which i think over the five year reauthorization is about four point one billion dollars more than we were paying before that's money that has to be borrowed from the treasury in effect borrowed from our kids and i think it's prudent to ask what this is going to be used for i think that most people would be surprised to learn that this legislation would expand and reauthorize programs that the office of management and budget has rated as inefficient and ineffective for example the learn and serve program was rated as not performing and results not demonstrated by the o m b the american or national civilian community corps was rated as not performing and ineffective it's bad enough that we're continuing funding but under the learn serve program that was rated again by the o m b as not performing and results not demonstrated we're actually creating a new program within that and funding it with twenty million more dollars that simply is not a prudent use of taxpayer dollars we have to remember where to taking money from people who are working and giving it to others who are supposedly volunteering to work when you're providing a financial in say in the two programs the gentleman from arizona raised it's exactly why we have the reauthorization so we can go back to those programs in fact as a result of those reviews the administration has insisted upon substantial changes in those programs which have been carried out and that's why the administration now supports this this legislation i yield three minutes to mr sarbanes member of the committee gentleman from maryland is recognized with agreement in maryland thank you mr speaker i want to commend chairman miller chairwoman mccarthy and others for putting together the give act which we authorize is the national community service act of one nine hundred ninety and the domestic volunteer service act of one nine hundred seventy three this  of ports the nation's priorities in a number of important areas mr sneaker americans are hungry to serve last year sixty two million americans contributed eight point two billion hours of volunteer service and the question is are we ready to absorb that energy do we have a way of capturing it and channeling it what to give act does it create that infrastructure and that's why we need it because if we don't have an infrastructure to respond to that volunteer energy then people will go away even more just solution so they give steps up and does exactly the right thing and here are some of the things that it does it sets a goal of one hundred thousand americ volunteers by two thousand and twelve putting twenty five thousand additional volunteers into our communities it engages you through a summer of service and it creates a new energy conservation corps that core will focus our service corps apparatus on some of the nation's most pressing problems energy efficiency and conservation training for green jobs and rehabilitation of our nation's critical infrastructure it one lives both seniors and young people in that enterprise the act will also do right by our veterans i was pleased to work with mr miller mrs mccarthy to include language in this bill that would require the corporation for national and community service to initiate a national conversation by commissioning a study to develop and test a service corps program that both targets veterans as re sippy and of community service and utilizes their service as participants and volunteers this national conversation would provide a framework for better targeting the needs of veterans in the community mr speaker i commend the committee on its work on these important issues it is said that the poles and time of a nation are best reflected in its service to others to give act that launches a new era of service and in so doing will showcase the best of what america has to offer for as much time as he may consume thank you miss speaker i rise today in support of h r fifty five sixty three and to thank chairman miller and chairwoman mccarthy for their efforts including the motion to recommit that i offered h r twenty eight  corporation for national community service complete a rulemaking process to institute background checks for any individual seeking federally funded national service position within senior companion and foster grandparents program and within america corps programs in which individuals have recurring access to children the elderly or individuals with disabilities that rulemaking process also prohibited individuals from serving in those positions if they were and are registered sex offenders well the motion to recommit will kind of fly the corporations regulations it will also expand on the corporation's effort by requiring criminal history checks for any individual seeking a federally funded national service position and not just those within the foster grandparents and senior companion programs or just those america or programs dealing with specific populations further in addition to prohibiting registered sex offenders from serving in federally funded national service positions the motion to recommit includes those individuals convicted of murder as well again i applaud chairman miller and appreciate his courtesies last week on the floor and chairman mccarthy for including a motion to recommit which expresses a loud and clear message that this house represent representatives believes that those in need who are served by programs supported with assistance under these laws should be assured that they will be not placed in harm's way when approaching these programs for help although i am pleased that the motion to recommit was included in the bill i'm disappointed that the house majority has chosen not to take up the flies unless the feis amendments which we've been hearing about all day acted provide our intelligence community with the critical tools it needs to conduct surveillance on foreign terrorists without getting tied up in court the senate as we all know by pass our passes bipartisan legislation almost a month ago so i urge the majority to bring this crucial bill up for a vote and again i urge my colleagues to dreamin to the gentleman from new jersey mr holcombe member of the committee support of the bill gentleman from new jersey is recognized for three minutes mr speaker i thank the gentleman and i rise in support of this legislation i'm pleased to have been a co sponsor of this bill because the service programs the new initiatives will help to address some of our nation's toughest problems from poverty to natural disasters and will help improve the lives of millions of our most valuable citizens the bill will increase the number of american or volunteers by a third and will significantly increase the stipends for those volunteers i particularly want to highlight a section that i'm proud of it is a section that will opportunities for professionals in the sciences and technical fields to keep america competitive it engages scientists and engineers and volunteer ism and encourages their efforts to address unmet education and human needs it will use scientists technicians engineers mathematicians for example to close the digital divide that creates such a chasm between low income communities and the more privileged communities the bill also creates a national civilian conservation corps that as a residential program will be deployed in times of national need such as emergencies and disasters when not deployed in such circumstances they will build infrastructure protect the environment conserve our resources and help with urban and rural development mr speaker this is outstanding legislation and we really should com and distrust over the manner in which this bill is coming to the floor when the republicans were in the majority in the bill there was an excess of a hundred million dollars ahead to go to the regular process was subject to amendments on the floor etc and now we're bringing on the suspension calendar which is for naming post offices of minor things like that a bill that would spend six point two billion dollars over the next five years and according to the congressional budget office the estimated current i'll lay in fiscal year two thousand and eight for existing federal community service and volunteer programs is already six hundred seven million dollars a year spending under this bill would go up eight hundred eighty four million in fiscal year zero eight nine hundred forty two million than zero nine one point zero five billion in fiscal year two thousand and ten one point one five four billion in fiscal year eleven and one point two three five billion and fiscal year two two thousand and twelve for total new spending for volunteers of four point one billion dollars over five years that's outrageous to pay for volunteer programs that had to build not subject to any amendment on the floor such as an amendment to pare down the size of the spending and i think in a time when we have a fiscal crisis on our hands where the stock market is tanking and people are losing their homes and people are not sure of having a job for this congress to come in and use this extraordinary procedure to waive all the rules they could have a way to amend the bill and spend an additional four point one billion dollars over five years that really cracks the back of fiscal responsibility the majority has shown unequivocally here that it is not the party of fiscal responsibility and i would therefore encourage my colleagues to vote no on this bill that yield back the balance of my time gentleman yield his time back to the gentleman from pennsylvania to chair recognizes gentleman from california are you myself two minutes demonstrators a little hard to sit here and be lectured to by somebody from the other party that ran up an eight trillion dollar deficit in a matter of eight years about a trillion dollars a year they've succeeded in running up the deficit more important than of the gentleman from illinois was absent last week or he doesn't remember i don't know which but we were here last thursday considering this bill under the rules of the house and are essentially an open rule where every republican amendment every democratic amendment that was requested i believe was offered the new programs were subjected to a vote of the house because we thought that was fair they prevailed we finished the business of this bill last week and then people decided they wanted to play some games on the motions to recommit and so that forced us to bring the bill up again this week we cannot go back to committee that would be even more expensive more more more time consuming and bring back the bill so we've chosen to do it under suspension but that's after all of the members have been given full consideration that's why the administration supported the legislation that's why it has bipartisan support because it was bipartisan in the committee i think it was forty four to nothing that it came out of the out of the committee it was bipartisan in the rules committee it was bipartisan on the floor until the gentleman's party decided the last minute that they wanted to try to somehow incorporate the fight the discussion into national service that was out of order that was that was not allowed and then mr cool decided to offer an amendment which we ask unanimous consent to accept  that time and we were not allowed to accept it so we're back here today and we're trying to do it in the most expeditious fashion because it costs something to run the house we should be back here today but that's the history in case the general was absent last week finally and getting it through the subcommittees in the committee for our for our consideration here on the floor and i want to thank them very much for that effort a couple of speakers suggested that somehow americans volunteer so we don't need this  this act the fact of the matter is this act builds much more than just volunteers i volunteer for habitat for humanity i volunteer in the schools in my district i volunteer and close to clean up by volunteer and community weed and seed programs i volunteer a lot of effort this is also about taking people who would never think of volunteering young people who come from neighborhoods where that's not that's not a an opportunity that they may have necessarily and not only get them into volunteering but also build skills wh people really like to have volunteer people with skills come in volunteer it builds also leadership skills so that those young people can either incorporate their skills in additional volunteering or organize other people to volunteer as they leave these programs many of these young people graduating go into public service in california will find people who will go from one of these programs to the california conservation corps to maybe the national parks program where they end up working in rebuilding the infrastructure of our national parks our public lands our coastal areas of the state and yes the young people when you run across them where did they get their start they got the support start in america or are vista program or are like that they end up they end up maybe later after they go to school they come back and they work in the community that's why one of the things that this legislation does is try to reach out to the alumni of this program because we now realize how valuable they are to our communities and we want them to continue to participate and continue to organize people who have been the beneficiaries of this program and those who have participated in it as leaders and as participants so that we can build that core it's very interesting now there's a number of people discussing it the national defense level of this country that one of the things we failed to do after nine eleven was build in a resiliency of this country in the event of another attack tragically after nine eleven the president told the country they didn't have to do anything they could if they would just go shopping but now what we see is we still don't have the basic infrastructure in our communities to deal with national disasters to deal with with possible terrorist attack to deal with regional wide problems whether they be fires earthquakes terrorist attacks or any of that and fact what we need is we need volunteers and people with volunteer experience people with organizing volunteers to start to come together to think about how a community would respond whether it's a chemical spill whether serif a chemical plant explosion whether it's an earthquake or a fire just to respond to help those people to help those first responders we've never organized that but we would like to start thinking about organizing that and i'm sure when we do we will be calling upon the professionals that we're in in america or that we're in the senior corps that have connections through their business connections through the community involvement so this program pays many dividends way beyond the idea that this is just about volunteering on a saturday morning or a sunday morning with your church we all do that we all do that but there has to be more and there has to be avenues for people who want to encourage to volunteer and that we can provide that that encouragement and we can provide people to participate with with populations that need that kind of assistance that's the important of the portents of this legislation it's unfortunate with taken so long for us to reauthorize this bill but i think the fact that what we what we know is americans all across this country in every region of this country want to see a greater sense of people giving back to their communities people volunteering their communities organizing people to volunteer to provide services to their to their communities that's what this legislation responds to it's been incredibly successful when you meet the graduates of these programs when you meet the alumni is of these programs they don't stop there they don't stop there it becomes part of the ethic of their life and they continue it in their business in their professions they continue that that that kind of activity because they see the value of they participated in it and i would hope that my colleagues would give this legislation overwhelming bipartisan support and will back the balance of my time gentleman's time has expired all time has expired the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass h r five five six three those in favor say aye aye those opposed no  standing until counted a sufficient number having arisen the azan naser ordered pursuant to clause eight of rule twenty in the chairs prior announcement further proceedings on this motion will be postponed gentlemen from california the speaker i ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days to revise and extend and to insert extraneous materials on the record on h r fifty five sixty three and on h r chair will receive a message mr speaker i message from the president of the united states mr speaker madam secretary i am directed by the president of the united states to deliver to the house of representatives a message in writing the gentleman from california victor i move to suspend the rules and call of s twenty seven thirty three a bill to temporarily extend the programs under the higher education act of one hundred sixty five the clerk will report the type of the bill senate twenty seven thirty three an act to temporarily extend the programs under the higher education act of one hundred sixty five pursuant to the rule the gentleman from california mr george miller and the gentleman from pennsylvania mr platts will each control twenty minutes the chair last month we took the next step toward off reauthorizing the higher education act by passing h r forty one thirty seven the college opportunity and affordability act in the house with overwhelming bipartisan support that bill builds on the bills on the law congress enacted last year and put twenty billion dollars in federal student aid in the hands of those in most need low and middle income students and families working hard to pay for the cost of college now we are at work with the senate in the towards the conference report to  reauthorize the higher education act we are close to provide things students and families with additional reforms needed to truly ensure that the doors of college remain open to all qualified students it is our goal to ensure that the final bill include vital provisions of r forty one thirty seven that addressed the major obstacle families face in the path to college from skyrocketing college tuition prices to the needlessly complicated student aid application process to predatory tactics by student lenders it has been nearly ten years since i or education act last reauthorized and i believe the members on both sides the island both chambers are eager to complete the work on the compromise bill this congress this bipartisan reauthorization prevents the best opportunity that we had to bring our higher education system into the twenty first century the bill under consideration today s twenty seven thirty three will extend the programs under the current higher education act until april thirtieth two thousand and eight to allow sufficient time for the further deliberations to continue the two bills to conference and work on the two bills passed in the house in the senate and while that process of reauthorizing the higher education act may be coming to a close i would like to know score that it does not mean that we will complete act we will complete work in higher education altogether the education labor committee will continue our efforts to ensure our higher education programs operate in the best interest of students and families which include overseeing the proper implementation of the college cost reduction access act and other provisions of higher education nation's students and families and they reserve the balance of my time the gentleman reserves his time gentleman from pennsylvania thank you mr speaker i yield myself such time as i may consume them as recognize thank you mr speaker i rise in support of s twenty seven thirty three the higher education extension act of two thousand and eight while this is the first extension of the higher education act for this year we have passed over a dozen extensions of this law since it first expired as twenty seven thirty three will ensure that vital federal college access and student aid programs continue to serve those students who depend upon them for an additional month earlier this year the house passed h r forty one thirty seven the college opportunity and affordability act of two thousand and eight by a vote of three hundred fifty four to fifty eight unlike last year when the senate failed to act but the house passed its bill the senate passed their higher education act reauthorization bill as well we are now the close as we have been in recent years to passing a i stand in support of this extension of the higher education act through april thirtieth of this year because i hope that we can move forward in developing a conference agreement in a bipartisan and thoughtful manner if it takes one more month or two more months i think others would agree that we would rather see a thoughtful product rather than something that was rushed through the process is to meet an artificial deadline i join with my colleagues in fully supporting efforts to extend the higher education act today and hope that we can work together to develop a conference agreement that will fundamentally reform and update the programs included in the higher education act i urge my colleagues to support this extension and preserve the balance of my time gentleman reserves the balance of this time the gentleman from california all time having expired the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass senate two seven three three those in favor say aye aye those opposed no in the pinion of the chair two thirds being in the affirmative the rules are gentleman from pennsylvania has a sufficient number having arisen the azan days are ordered pursuant to clause a rule twenty in the chairs prior announcement further proceedings on this motion will be postponed the gentleman from pennsylvania  speaker i object to the grounds of vote jep to the vote on the grounds that a quorum is not present and i make a point of order that a quorum is not present evidently a quorum is not present the azan naser ordered members will record their vote by electronic device pursue it the clause eight and clause nine of rule twenty this fifteen minute vote on the motion to adjourn will be followed by five vote on motions to suspend the rules with respect to house resolution nine twenty four and house resolution nine forty eight this is a fifteen minute vote and this the fourth time today here on the floor of the u s house a motion to adjourn a procedural motion as this goes on we'll remind you of the statement earlier today by republican minority leader john boehner saying that quote republicans will use every means necessary to shut down the house until congress does its duty to protect the american people close quote talking about the desire of the house republicans to bring the pfizer legislation to the floor majority leader standing hoyer saying earlier today that the house will consider that phase a bill on thursday