hahn the end and evangelical united church of christ in portsmouth ohio layo stale praise be to god our elected representatives of god work diligently on this day to represent the entrance and the needs of the many peoples of this land holding a people together as one has been a challenge to former leaders of this land may our congressional leaders be guided throughout their many efforts to this day by the words of washington's prayer that we all be disposed to do justice to love mercy and to walk on glee before you oh god saving grace we know is not simply a personal attainment apart from community responsibility it is also community accomplishment expressed in thankfulness to the source from which it comes bless our leaders this day with thankfulness in their hearts may their lives and their leadership give praise to you oh god  the chair has examined the journal of the last days for seedings and announces to the house where approval there are pursuant to cause one of rawan the journal stands approved the pledge of allegiance will be led by the gentleman from tennessee  like to invite the our guests in the gallery to join the members in reciting the pledge of allegiance to our flag i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which  without objection the gentleman from ohio mishmash is recognized for one minute district in portsmouth ohio reverend galen hahn graduated from frederick high school in maryland as a high school student reverend hahn led youth in contributing to the building of the president john f kennedy library and served as an usher on the presidential reviewing stand of lyndon b johnson after high school reverend hahn went on to graduate from yale divinity school in connecticut and was ordained a minister in the united church of christ reverend hahn has pastor throughout the country has offered ordained christian service to the more avian church into the united methodist church in north carolina and started a montessori preschool in illinois which continues to this day he is lead scouts in worship on the battlefield tetum and get his burg and has held a memorial service at the gravesite of president george washington galen's wife sandy has led worship at camp david for president and mrs george herbert walker bush today galen and sandy are celebrating their thirty sixth wedding anniversary as well as their oldest daughter whitney's thirtieth birthday reverend hahn has invested his life energy in service to god and country and the oneness of these two entities madam speaker i ask all my colleagues to join me in welcoming reverend galen hahn to the house of representatives as our guest chaplain the chair all receive a message madam speaker a message from the  the chair will remind the house that on july twenty fourth one nine hundred ninety eight at three forty p m officer jake up jay chestnut and detective john and gibson of the united states capitol police were killed in the line of duty defending the capitol against an intruder armed with a gun at three forty p m today the chair will recognize the anniversary of this tragedy by observing a moment of silence in their memory the chair want to entertain requests for one minute speeches that objection madam speaker the farm bill in its current form is a missed opportunity to strengthen family farms while reforming american agriculture and the bill coming out of committee is absolutely the least that can be done long overdue support for specially crops is welcome but a relative drop in the bucket in terms of overall agricultural spending conservation is honored morion word than deed and the massive payments to the wealthiest few farmers are virtually unrestricted the new adjusted gross income limit of one hundred thousand dollars is almost meaningless the proof being that it only saves a few million dollars there is snow meaningful limits on rice and cotton farmers and it sweetens the outrageous deal for big sugar it's sad that it continues to shortchange the family farm forcing them to compete with heavily subsidized large operators who will continue to buy them out making it harder for most farmers to make a living luckily for people who eat and people who farm there still is a chance for reform and i urge my colleagues to carefully examine the bipartisan amendment from congressman kind like editorialized after more than five years of impasse and hostility the patient multinational diplomacy launched by president bush has borne its first fruit in north korea then took a deal reached last spring for a path to a nucular or korean peninsula is advancing with the shut down of a reactor that produces plutonium for the dictatorships nuclear weapons program it's ignores that north korea's committed so far to a step by step bettering of relations with its neighbors and particularly with the united states the shutdown was confirmed by the international atomic energy agency in two thousand and three i participated in a rare delegation visiting telling young and i am grateful that the six nation framework devised by mr bush and ably hosted by china has led to the current progress i saw firsthand where north korea can benefit by opening its economy in conclusion god bless our troops and will never forget september eleventh and the glasgow airport speaker the workers of the great in all of the area in large part our hospitality industry workers these hard working men and women greet the world with wide smiles and warm embrace is as they welcome millions of tourists a story of the difficult lives of the working poor these hardworking people never have a chance to take a vacation for themselves or attend a conference a benefit from the delights of they make it possible for this seed in reach and often that way just never crack the poverty level they are not unionized and have few if any job benefits so ross today to applaud the work of his congress this new majority for taking a big step in the right direction by increasing the minimum wage for the always work within my area it means that the nightmare  single longest stretch in our nation's history without a minimum wage increases ending it means that many of the workers of our area will have a little more food on the table and the more in the way of resources housing care for their families and a lot more dignity for this we think this congress  simply too high for us to ignore the consequences of failure most military analyst agreed that an arbitrary immediate withdrawal from iraq would spiral that country and the surrounding region into chaos failure to secure iraq will provide a fertile ground for terrorist actions that affect not only iraq but america and the rest of the free world extremist organizations will tout an american retreat as a major victory for terrorism once again saying that america doesn't ever have the stomach to finish a war terrorist leaders will make use of a fractured iraq to train equip and provide sanctuary for their forces in much the same way that afghanistan provided a haven for the taliban and al qaeda radicals will exploit the anarky and abandon iraq and will seek to spread you hottest movements to moderate arab states arbitrary withdrawal will only encourage our enemy war is hard but a plan defeat by retreat is hardly an answer to success and that's just the way it is gentleman from illinois right now we have jackson thank you madam speaker republicans and democrats throughout the nation agree no child in our nation should go without health care in states across the country democratic republican governors have supported strengthening the children's health insurance program in the senate republicans have come forward and said they support the democratic plan to give millions of children health care now the only question is whether our republican colleagues here in the house will join our effort to give ten million children the care they need and deserve remember this is the same guarantee our own children have the kids of congressmen and women get the health care they need and the health care they deserve the question is are we to provide that for our constituents children the children's health insurance program has broad bipartisan split will support and we are on the brink of providing ten million children that quality care that's millions of children will valuable to see the doctor they deserve when they are sick and it's millions of children in their families who aren't interested in our political battles or political posturing that won't heal a silk child or give them the comfort when they are ill republican senators senators have stepped forward now the children across america and their parents are waiting on this congress to act and the question is will this congress get this our wrote these are the times that try men's souls the summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will in this crisis shrink from sir service to their country america is again at war and duty calls us to be more than sunshine patriots i've been to iraq my son is a marine captain who has been in fallujah we have heard on the armed services committee from scores of witnesses liberals and conservatives and everything in between and no one has offered a plan that is better than what we are currently executing in iraq and everyone agrees that a rapid withdrawal of troops will result in civil war and a regional conflict if the democrats have a better plan let them offer it otherwise let our troops get the job done it's politically popular to sow and retreat and to play the sunshine patriot but duty honor and country demand that america stand for freedom once again we must accept nothing less for that purpose is general from pennsylvania rise without objection madam speaker today house democrats on veil the children's health and medicare protection act it was indorsed by the national governors association a bipartisan group of our nation's governors who just last week asked us for urgent action to reauthorize the children's health program the s chip program that we're reauthorizing will ensure that millions of children have access to high quality cost effective health insurance and it will protect and strengthen the medicare trust fund now while the president's budget under funded this program knocking one million children off of the rolls of the s chip program i ask my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to join us in a bipartisan effort to show support for the s chip program and r authorize and support the children's health and medicare protection act through that purpose is the gentleman from illinois right here to it's consent to address the house for one minute without objection thank you today bipartisan representatives from illinois will meet with bob malone the chairman of b p north america why because mr malone and his team want to increase their dumping of ammonia and suspended solids in our drinking water lake michigan p hired a consultant who told them what they wanted to hear that despite being one of the most profitable companies on earth and spending three billion dollars to upgrade their indiana refinery they can't find the space to prevent dumping in lake michigan this morning the house will take up a bipartisan resolution condemning b p s plan to dump in lake michigan i hope that b p will tell us today that they're reconsidering their plans i hope they hear the voices of twenty seven hundred americans in my district that signed the petition against the b p dumping plan i hope they hear the voice of nineteen republicans and democrats that asked the e p a to pull the permit b p should hear the voice of the house this morning if not b p has to understand that our action this morning is only the opening step by action in the congress to protect lake michigan to represent a gentleman from new york rice without madam speaker today marks the first time in a decade that those hardworking workers who are in a minimum wage will receive a pay raise today around the nation workers who have been paid five dollars and fifteen cents an hour for ten years will finally get a boost in their pay this wage increase will directly benefit low income workers who need it most we should never forget that most minimum wage workers are adults who work to support themselves and families and many are single mothers who must work several jobs to make ends meet and while some of the very top primarily benefiting from the supposed economic recovery most workers have seen very little economic progress average real wages are lower today than they were in two thousand and one even though productivity is up by thirteen percent madam speaker this wage increase is a great concrete step by the new democratic led congress toda broader agenda that will help us now only grow our rise today to honor and congratulate the community of chaska located southwest of the twin cities in a town i'm proud to say is part of minnesota second congressional district money magazine confirm what many of us in the great state of minnesota already knew by naming chaska as one of the top ten best places to live in america money magazine accurately describes chaska as having both beauty and brains a stroll downtown chaska by city square park brings to life images from norman rockwell paintings depicting all that is good about small town america chaska small nineteenth century downtown quickly yields to open feels farmland and the minnesota river it is also home to innovation with more than a dozen technology and biotech companies it is no wonder why this town is a magnet for families who can find reason we priced homes low taxes and quality schools congratulations again to the entire community of chaska for earning this prestigious distinction we in minnesota second district are proud of your back my time for that purpose is the gentleman from kentucky writes this and that objection madam speaker in this body where we often discuss proposals to allocate millions or billions of dollars it can become easy to lose sight of what just a few thousand dollars a year can do but the increase in the minimum wage the first part of which takes effect today will make a major difference in the lives of the mirror because working families the extra forty four hundred per year that these families will bring home in that to their families will have a very tangible impact on their lives for families who have struggled to own without a raise forty four hundred dollars a year translates into fifteen months of groceries nineteen months of paid utility bills twenty months of childcare or well over two years of employer pay provided health care the extra money could even pay for thirty months of jewish and other public two year college allowing these parents to get additional education or to help their children achieve their dream of attending college madam speaker thanks to the federal minimum wage increase passed by this democratic congress nearly thirteen million working americans and more than six million children will have a chance at a better life this very long overdue ago congress established cafe standards to lower our dependence on foreign oil and it caused hundreds of billions of dollars to comply with the regulation hundreds of thousands of auto jobs lost and dependence on foreign oil has gone up over one hundred percent cafe had not worked it's an antiquated model and we should be pursuing new technologies instead but democrat leaders are pushing even more stringent cafes democrats are telling auto companies to produce more hybrids and other unprofitable vehicles to comply with new regulations everything j d power survey shows consumer demand is dropping for hybrid forcing costly incentives to move these expensive vehicles even honda is discontinuing its accord hybrid because of course they'll if we work with the domestic auto industry to develop leap ahead technology to make them affordable for all consumers and stead of overregulating we could achieve breakthroughs to reach our goals and to protect american jobs but instead the democratic leadership has made a conscious decision to for the first time in ten years and provide tax relief to our small businesses today's increase in the federal minimum wage marks a concrete step that this new congress is taking to provide greater opportunity and prosperity for all working americans the considerable small business tax relief that was passed along with a minimum wage increase reflects a broader american agenda to expand our economy and give small businesses more room to grow and succeed this relief includes allowing small businesses large larger tax reductions making it easier to expand and providing better services and specific relief from the a m t i am proud that the state of new york has already been a leader in providing workers with a living wage and the raise that goes into effect today will put our businesses in new york on a level playing field with the rest of the country i yield back for that purpose is the gentleman from tennessee wri rise today to honor a fan group of six graders from my district in tennessee the merivale intermediate school sixth grade wind and sam ensemble band from merivale tennessee is head to chicago for the prestigious two thousand and seven midwest  orchestra concert the event is known in band and orchestra circles as one of the highest honors a musical group can receive they were chosen to participate only after an extensive audition process in which they competed against other bands in orchestras from high schools communities colleges and universities and militaries from around the world this is certainly a great achievement in and of itself but the merivale band especially in another way they are the first sixth grade band in the clinics sixty one year history to be invited to participate it's an honor that the close knit community of merivale can be proud of and just another example of the incredible spirit of the people of east tennessee madam speaker in closing irish mike college to join the is absolute  ensemble band and it's directors george hayden and roll and romance on this much deserved accomplishment i wish them many more musical scores to come i yield back the balance of my time for that purpose is a gentleman from ohio wri without objection thank you madam speaker today for the first time in a decade america's minimum wage workers are getting a pay raise the minimum wage increase would never have happened had not congressional democrats made it one of their top priorities when we came to capitol hill the beginning of this year during our first one hundred hours house democrats passed this much deserved pay raise it with the support of eighty two congressional republicans also a health care and groceries and energy and house housing costs skyrocketed for the average a consumer for many years these needs were were ignored by millions of americans and every day the minimum wage was not raised it lost its value as a matter of fact the minimum wage was that its lowest level in inflation adjusted terms since one nine hundred fifty five this is simply not fair and it's why the new democratic congress has made it increasing the minimum wage one of its top priorities and with this increase today madam speaker democrats are delivering on the promise that we made to the american people i yield back the balance of my time for that purpose is the gentleman from south carolina madam speaker we must find ways to be less reliant on foreign supplies of oil and gas and this is more than an energy issue this is a national security issue we cannot be a whole on to our enemies for our energy supply but the good news is we're making progress domestically to find a diverse energy supply using alternative energy sources south carolina which is becoming a front runner in alternative the alternative energy for the nation we see five million dollars to fund ethanol process development these funds will support a bio ethanol project the clinton university s c bio south carolina national lab and queens when university of technology collaborated on using novel technology the time is now to provide a secure inner g future for generations to come and fortunately we're working domestically to ensure that ethanol technology here at home is permanently fixed to solving our dependency on foreign energy sources have purposes the gentleman from north carolina right on without objection madam speaker today many american families will finally receive a long overdue pay raise when phase one of the federal minimum wage increase takes effect it has been ten long years since american workers have seen an increase in the federal minimum wage the longest gap in the history of the law over that decade inflation has all but he raised the effect of the last increase leaving millions of families including military families struggling to survive currently madam speaker ten percent of military spouses earn between five dollars fifteen cents and seven dollars twenty five cents an hour these fifty thousand military families a part of the nearly thirteen million americans who will benefit from the federal minimum wage increase that takes effect today madam speaker increasing the minimum wage is just one part of a broader american agenda to strengthen the economy and help working families democrats believe that all americans not just the privilege of you deserve to make a living wage i am proud that we passed this legislation and a space glad that it will help so many of our military families are you back for the purpose of the jelly from tennessee writes without objection thank you madam speaker i know this is beginning to sound like a broken record but to hold on to your wallet congress is a began in ten days the latest episode the liberal leadership has proposed another spending bill that will most likely be dead on arrival when it hits the president's desk because it shows disrespect for the taxpayers dollars the democrat transportation had spending bill provides for a whopping one hundred four point four billion dollars in spending for the next fiscal year which is more than four billion dollars in new spending and more than two point eight billion than the president requested the legislation increases spending for earmarks and it does fail to address the very real solvent the issues of the highway trust fund which will face a four billion dollars shortfall in two thousand  the bills are responsible sets the wrong priorities in adds to the already staggering level of additional new spending and the hundred tenth congress the current congress pledge to curb runaway spending but instead they have moved it to the fast lane and they've set the pedal to the metal to see how fast they can spin your dollar i yell back what purpose of the gentleman from new jersey writes without objection or madam speaker as a senior member of the house education and labor committee i am proud that today many americans will see receive their first pay raise in a decade because the fair minimum wage act passed by the democratic congress goes into effect these hardworking americans forty percent of whom are minorities will receive seventy cents per hour raise today which will be followed by two more seventy six cents in creases in july two thousand and eight and july two thousand and nine this will result in a total of two hundred two dollars and ten cents increase or four thousand four hundred dollars a year there's booze in pay will make a significant difference in the lives of these american families who are trying to survive on a minimum wage that has reached its lowest affective level in more than half a century it means more food on their tables better health care for their families and a shot at sending their children to college everyone who works full time should have the chance to achieve these pieces of the american dream and what this increase in minimum wage which begins today they can i am proud to be a part of the democratic congress that passed this long overdue pay raise for millions of hardworking americans i will i want to note that my home state of new jersey led the way in an increase in minimum wage our minimum wage is already seven dollars and fifteen cents an hour and that rate was affective resolution house concurrent resolution one ninety concurrent resolution authorizing printing of the brochure entitled how our laws are made the document sized annotated version of the united states constitution and the pocket version of the united states constitution is there objection to the consideration the concurrent resolution gentleman will the gentleman explain the resolution please yes us constitution and with constitution day september seventeenth approaching fast we need to replenish our supplies so that members can fulfill the request of school should be going to stations and others a no no controversy in origin i this gentleman withdraw his reservation under my reservation that simply can't comment that these are remarkably good documents and make great use of them in the united states frankly i'd like to see the dollar limit removed because these are very very valuable documents for students in the schools and i know we receive many many requests for them as frequently more than we can handle so i strongly support for a solution with one reservation well controlled twenty minutes the chair recognizes the gentleman from minnesota thank you madam speaker we are gathered here to commemorate two extraordinary events forty years ago the cuyahoga river and route to lake erie caught fire galvanized the attention of a nation and the action of congress to strengthen the federal water pollution control  that befell the great lakes over the years invasion of the lamprey eel and subsequent and non indigenous invasive species other tragedies that resulted industrial dumping that resulted in nearly the death of erie but here we are gathered forty years later to face report from the chicago tribune that the regulators of the state of indiana given permission for b p one of world's largest energy companies to release half more ammonia than they are and to add a third more sludge into lake michigan each day gentleman from illinois mr emanuel sprang to the defense of lake michigan as have numerous of our roots are like to think my colleague from minnesota who's been a leader on the great lakes issue and also my colleagues on the other side of the aisle because this issue is not a democrat republican issue is an issue between right and wrong you know british petroleum who is now seeking to expand their refinery capacity in indiana has run a cab or ties and campaign all over the country that they're beyond petroleum if they're allowed to dump more monia and and other metals into the great lakes b p s beyond petroleum will become to standard for big polluter and i say that not just as a way to shine and embarrass them although i hope it accomplishes akhil they have the capacity to live up to what they are advertising that they are a company that is sensitive to the environment now thirty seven million americans get their daily drinking water from the great lakes and is the largest body of fresh water in north america it contains twenty percent of the world's fresh water supply it is the economic heart of the midwest as my colleague mr oberstar noted the fire and cuyahoga river in the  lake on lake erie galvanized the country when i was growing up prior to that bill we used to run past a dead fish dive into lake michigan swim thirty or forty feet past all the dead fish to pop up the the clean water act improved dramatically the environmental standard of lake michigan lake erie superior ontario and all the great lakes the question here is are we going to move forward or go back and what's ironic about all this is that this issue isn't about technology they can do the refining and get to cleanup and so make sure that we don't dump ammonia and mercury another environmental hazards into the lake the question here is not technology or money they're spending three point eight billion dollars to expand the facility which is a good thing to do because it will help on the energy supply the question is they said they don't have the land  to deal with it they have two point six square miles there if you look on the girl google map you can see the size of what they have it is sixteen hundred acres they have the land capacity to do this and i compliment british petroleum on one other issue they brought democrats or republicans together on a single issue so there unite are not a divider usually we're divided here on other issues so i want to compliment b p for having brought democrats or republicans together in a unique act of bipartisanship realizing that lake michigan and the other great lakes deserve our our support we have made great progress the question before us is well the b p will live not only up to the advertising but what congress committed and every congress has committed for the last thirty years that when it comes to our lake our drinking waters whether we're going to go forward or backwards and i hope that b p would take this notion that what they're seeing today on the floor is the beginning of a pressure that they realize that the decision they made they can do the right thing and i think every one of us know that if they made a decision to expand the refinery with the environment applies every one of us will put a resolution on the floor the next day praising him for that decision and so they have the choice we will join them and say that they're right they are company that literally puts their money where their mouth is they're beyond petroleum or they will be the company known as the big polluter and they have a choice and i want to thank my colleague from minnesota for the having this resolution on the floor and taking the leadership in the time to commit to this i yield back the remainder of my time this gentleman is recognized thank you madam speaker this issue before us first came to my attention nine days ago in a july fifteenth story published in the chicago tribune entitled gets break dumping and like i shortly after that went into a meeting which mr oberstar was chairing and i had alerted him to the issue because i know he loves the great lakes as much as i do that article highlighted the wastewater discharge permit granted by the state of indiana to british petroleum for its refineries facility in whiting indiana on the shores of lake michigan the new permit allows  discharge an average of fifteen hundred eighty four pounds of ammonia per day up from one thousand and thirty pounds per day a fifty four percent increase above the old limit the new permit also allows b p to discharge four thousand nine hundred twenty five pounds of total suspended solids per day up from thirty six hundred forty six pounds per day a thirty five percent increase this level of discharges six dream a disconcerting to me and the entire great lakes region let me provide a little background information the b p facility in whiting was built in eight hundred eighty nine by john d rockefeller standard oil company today it is the fourth largest refinery in the country in employ seventeen hundred people and supports another fifteen hundred contract workers in producing gasoline diesel and jet fuel it is a major major refining operation not just in northwest indiana but indeed the entire midwest b p b p plans to spend more than three billion dollars in upgrading and expanding the facility so the that it can process more heavy crude from canada i support the expansion of vive refinery accusing b p of subverting the regulatory process the permit went through the regular public comment period although i must say that time between the notice and the final edition issuance seems to me a very short period for a project of this magnitude according to the indiana department of environmental management the permit was issued in full accordance and compliance with state and federal environmental laws if that is true and i don't doubt is there something with wrong with state and federal environmental laws the benefits of this project should not come at the expense of our most precious natural resource the great lakes are the world's largest freshwater system and they serve and serve as a source of drinking water food jobs and recreation for more than forty million americans it is critical that we enhance our restoration efforts for this vital resource it is already polluted enough and we certainly do do not want to degrade the condition of the lakes even further all the communities and states around the lakes have tried to improve their practices my own town my city of grand rapids michigan has spent several hundred million dollars improving its wastewater treatment system to help clean up the lake and that's a story around the lakes president bush two years ago issued an executive order calling together on the mayors the governors of the great lakes regions the members of congress and the tribes to work together to develop a solution to the pollution in the lakes over fifteen hundred public policy makers and stakeholders came together in a collaborative process to develop a long term strategic action plan for protecting in restoring the environmental health of the great lakes i was proud to participate in that as the congressional represent representative and i have a bill and process which will make their recommendations come into law the discharge of harmful pollutants that is proposed by p and permitted by the state of indiana is totally inconsistent with the goal goals of great lakes restoration ammonia and t s s suspended solids promote algae growth blooms that can  suffocate fish destroy fish habitat deprive plants of sunlight now action and trigger beach closings we can allow cannot allow for more of these kinds of problems in the lake for these radiant reasons man speaker i would urge both  and the state of indiana to take a second look at this permit and find a better means of disposal i also urge b p to look at other means of disposal certainly if they can afford to pipe crude oil from canada thousands of miles through pipelines they certainly should be able to find a better solution of disposal i urge my colleagues to support this by president resolution and i reserve the balance of my time thank you gentlemen f the resolution ever since the author rachel carson ushered in the advent of the fireman awareness with her book the silent spring americans have understood that we owe it to future generations to be good stewards of the planet and the environment as in the case with every problem we should work toward a solution not by asking how little must be done but rather by asking what is the right thing to do as a chairman of the energy water preparation subcommittee i feel i have a unique perspective on the issues are contained in this resolution as chairman of the energy subcommittee on appropriations i respect b p s foresight their investment a half billion dollars in collaboration with the university of california berkeley and the university of illinois are being shapin champagne urbana to increase energy production through renewable biofuels is worthwhile goal these fuels have the potential to increase our domestic fuel capabilities and strengthen our national security by reducing our dependency on foreign oil as chairman of the water subcommittee on appropriations i also fully appreciate the treasure that is the great lakes system including the potable clean fresh drinking water and its venue for recreation and refreshment i also appreciate that the federal government has made a commitment to the great lakes states over several generations to improve water quality and reduce pollution it is my ho that wallowed appears b p has the legal authority to potentially increase discharged materials into lake michigan that they will act responsibly refrain from doing so and reconsider their permit a man a speaker i would yield back the minutes thank you gentleman for yielding and i rise in strong support of concurrent house concurrent resolution one eighty seven madam speaker throughout my career as a public servant a principle advocacy of mine has always been to improve the quality of our precious great lakes our magnificent great lakes which are actually twenty percent of the freshwater supply of the entire planet that is one fifth of all the fresh water in the entire world we've seen efforts at the local and state and federal levels to prevent industrial pollution to stop water diversion to eliminate sewage discharges and to fight invasive species so that future generations can enjoy the beauty of our magnificent great lakes and in fact this house has passed many important bills that have helped make those goals a reality and though we have made tremendous progress there are still so many challenges facing the great lakes we need to continue to fight to protect the great lakes unfortunately madam speaker it seems that not everyone shares this vision and as it has been discussed the indiana department of environmental management recently issued a wastewater permit to a british petroleum refinery on the coast of like michigan welch will actually allow b p to increase the amount of ammonia and total suspended solids discharged into like michigan this is crazy  permanent flies in the face of everything that we in this body and numerous individuals and groups outside of this body have attempted to achieve and stead of increasing our efforts and creating more stringent regulations this permit marks a huge step backwards in our efforts to keep our great lakes clean and although b p might argue that they have to follow the law in this process to secure their permit i would say it does not make their actions right the resolution before us expresses congress's disapproval of this permit and urge urges the e p a to reject increased dumping of chemicals and pollutants into our magnificent great lakes this congress must speak up for the great lakes we owe it to our children to our grandchildren and for every generation which will follow and i urge my colleagues to support this resolution i yield back the balance of my time the gentleman from minnesota is recognized m work on this issue in helping to protect the lakes through federal regulations in state and local cooperation we have made great strides in cleaning up the great lakes right now we cannot step back i am deeply troubled by the peace plan to significantly increase or dumping of ammonia and other pollutants into lake michigan all these pollutants can cause great harm to the environment and to public health over forty million people in the chicago area get their drinking water from lake michigan is critical to tourism recreation and the fishing industry we should not be doing less to protect the great security and to create new jobs this cannot come at the expense of public health in the quality of our environment that is why b p must do everything possible to lower pollution missions into lake entire united states in terms of its concern i'm pleased to next recognize the gentleman from illinois to talk about the perspective of someone who lives very near this particular facility the gentleman from illinois mr kirk plans to increase its dumping into the source of our drinking water lake michigan it was a stunning mistake b p a pretend friend of the environment should have not done this tony hayward b claims that he is beyond petroleum when he plans to actually become a bad polluter governor daniels of indiana also made a big mistake his state e p a failed in their duty to protect the public and authorized the first new dumping in the lake in a decade now one thousand republicans and democrats joined with congressman lipinski and me calling on the u s e p a to pull this permit twenty seven hundred of my constituents signed the petition condemning b p s plan to increase its dumping in the lake congressman lipinski and i authored bipartisan legislation moving us to a time in which all dumping in the great lakes ends twenty four billion gallons of raw sewage are dumped into the lake each year and twelve billion gallons of raw sewage are dumped in the great lakes by the city of detroit alone but that is current dumping which it should definitely ends we cannot allow new dumping by b p now later today we will meet with the head of the b p north america and given the legislative tsunami that is we are preparing we should simply be discussing b p s terms of surrender on their lake dumping plan b p millions spent in the beyond petroleum campaign but we know it stands for bad polluter hopefully b p will age recognized for two minutes three minutes i'm sorry i thank the gentleman for yielding to me let me just give you a few numbers here thirty million that's the number of people who depend on the great lakes for our drinking water twenty percent that's the percent of fresh surface water on the entire planet that is represented by the great lakes six billion dollars that's the amount of money that b p earned in the last quarter one of the most profitable companies on the entire planet and a company that has spent a considerable amount of money promoting its green image i want to quote to you from a chicago tribune voice of the people article that was written by a b p whiting refinery individual and he talks about me minimises the problem he says of the twenty three substances regulated in the permit ammonia and total suspended solids are the only two limits that will increase when compared to the current permit no problem only two out of twenty three and later consistent with  bragging about its environmental excellence says about itself this is just one of the ways we've demonstrated our focus and continual improvement in environ mental performance our commitment to continuous improvement will carry on as we modernize the refinery meantime increasing the amount of ammonia and the amount of total suspended solid solid wa what's the consequence of those emissions the health consequences can't be understood or stated that dumping ammonia represents a direct threat to the health of millions of americans living in the great like roots region for example ammonia in the water promotes algae blooms that can kill fish and trigger beach closings so here is another number one thousand five hundred eighty four pounds of ammonia a fifty four percent increase every day every day into our precious like michigan and four thousand nine hundred twenty five pounds of liquid waste consisting of suspended particulate matter  thirty five pound a thirty five percent increase every day into lake michigan in addition to putting our health at risk the decision to allow b p to increase their dump it also puts the lakes ecosystem in jeopardy increasing the amount of liquid waste consisting of suspended particulate matter dumped into the lake each day endangers the marine life by making the water cloudy thereby making it more difficult to for fish  ample amounts of accident this is a big deal this is a serious problem and it's incredible that the environmental protection agency and all that is the i mean by and that the state of indiana would allow it is an outrage we can stop it thank you jackie nice for two minutes i think the gentleman for yielding and thank you madam speaker you know when you come here and represent the great lakes and you meet representatives from all across the country  folks from the east coast in the west coast and you begin having conversations about the water that surrounds their districts talk to californians and people from oregon and south carolina and they're very proud of their their coastlines as they should be and then as a member who represents a midwestern district madam speaker you try and describe the great lakes to them and it is really difficult to describe and then you have somebody come and visit and they look at lake michigan they look at lake superior they look at here on ontario and so forth and lake erie and they take their breath away because these are beautiful bodies of water bodies of water lake michigan in particular that so big and so significant that my entire congressional district almost gets its drinking water from lake michigan so you can imagine the sense of pause and outrage and deep concern that many of us felt when we heard of this plan that  had that was improved by the state of indiana to move forward and dump these pollutants into lake michigan madam speaker my district counts on the fact that drinking water is going to be as clear and pure as this cup when they open up the tap and i think it is incumbent upon us those of us both sides of the aisle the stand today and to say this will not stand madam speaker my predecessor congressman hyde had a great line and that was he said there one thing worse than gridlock when it comes to government and that is the greased chute of decision making our role in congress today is to stand up and to suggest and demand of the environmental protection agency and demand of the state of indiana that they rescind this order and with that i'm pleased to support the resolution and i yield back the balance of my time to many in fact gentleman from ohio from minnesota i'm sorry  you two minutes distinguished gentleman from indiana ms donnelly moore thank you mr chairman madam speaker i rise today to express my deep concern regarding the indiana department of environmental management's decision to permit significant increases in allowable discharges of ammonia and total suspended solids into lake michigan and i fully support resolution one eighty seven for communities in my district and i suspect most americans lake michigan is a national treasure not only does the lake serve as a source of drinking water and natural habitat recreation it is one of the greatest reminders of our responsibility to be good stewards of the environment one component in our strategy to achieve independence from foreign oil will need to be increased refining capacity here at home i would like to support this project but first b p can do better and must do better their corporate image is marketed worldwide as an energy company seriously committed to providing modern energy solutions that value our environment however b p s wrong headed decision here to increase discharges in a lake and in a region trying to overcome decades of environmental neglect will not stand i do not believe the health of our environment and the growth of our economy are mutually goals my congressional district in indiana features miles of beautiful lake michigan shoreline puerto county me again city long beach i note the next speaker congressman upton whose district is next to mine he has beautiful lake michigan shoreline and has done a great job protecting that resource and i know he'll do that again today the goals of energy independence and protection of the great lakes are not mutually exclusive b p just has to conclude that they have to do this in the right way and the right way is not to damage lake michigan thank you madam speaker gentleman yells back to norman from michigan thank you madam chair and please do you two minutes wisconsin illinois indiana and obviously in my state the great state of michigan my district does abut lake michigan and i am a member of the great lakes caucus with a long record of protecting our great lakes body the great lakes of the world's largest body of fresh water in our job here is to be good stewards we know that and we were stunned by the announcement that was made just a little bit more than a week ago with regards to the new refinery that's being built and expanded in indiana you know tremendous efforts have been made in this region to protect the great lakes but we see it in other places around the country the chesapeake bay and it's a disgrace that the mighty potomac is in the shape that it is we don't want the great lakes to take a step back it needs to be improved the last thing that we need to see is that the great lakes take a step back in terms of the protection that we have i travel in my district in southwest michigan to chicago quite a bit and i can remember as a young young boy going through gary indiana in some of those places there and it was awful in terms of the pollution and to their credit they've done a much better job but i gotta say that when it's my understanding that the state of indiana to issue an exemption to its own state law that prohibits mixing zones is wrong this will result in a serious setback in the efforts to clean up the great lakes especially at a time when this outdated mixing zone practice is a slated to be a limb unaided all together and yet we're seeing an exemption to have it continue it in essence rolls back the clock for sound environmental policy last week i picked up the phone and i called governor daniels of indiana i told him that we had a hornets nest in southern lake michigan and that they ought to reexamine exactly what the state raw sewage to be increased we've had our beaches close enough i don't care what side of the like you live on no new dumping ought to be the mandate that we impose on every municipality every state in the great lakes we shouldn't be adding pollution instead we should be subtracting to make sure that this resource stays a treasure for every family for every community for generations to come and with that madam speaker i yield back will conclude on our side all right with a were recognized gentleman from pennsylvania mr peterson for two minutes demonstrate dicer two minutes cautiously come to the floor today but i am troubled by the process here i come on the great lakes that pennsylvania we cherish the great lakes but we're we're passing a resolution today because of a newspaper article a column and we're not have a lot we have legislation without any hearings this is why we don't have refinery capacity in america in light of the recent attention given to the indiana department of environmental management permit to the b p refinery i would like to provide the facts and clear up this understanding says the department of environmental management in indiana the b p way spotter permit was issued in accordance with state and federal environmental laws which are protective of human health and environment the state coordinated with the e p a during the permanent process to ensure that final permit was compliant with clean water act on april fifth oh seven e p a issued a letter in ink that they had no objections to the permit being issued pursuant to the clean water act there are many inaccuracies in the recent media reports has provided they have given no exceptions to environmental conditions for this fulfilling the wastewater treatment permit meets all state laws regulations that apply to the facility and project many of the limits placed in the permit are actually more protective that are required by federal law folks this we need to deal with these issues with the facts not newspaper reports we we can't build refineries an american we've built in the refineries when this happens every time they try i'm not for pollution and i cure it but i would like to have had a hearing where indiana could have had its case hurt we shouldn't be here on the we're debating this with very little knowledge and history the future of refining  america the future of energy available to america we must have clean water and clean air but if we're going to have a political reaction without the hearings without the information we shouldn't make these kind of decisions on the floor the house i'm for cleaning up the great lakes i have a bill on the outer continental shelf to prove natural gas will give twenty one billion dollars to great life cleanup that's a bill that will help us get rid of the sludge and of the past folks i just wish this wasn't before us without adequate process and hearing so we could understand what's really happened there and we'd have a real knowledge of information because we desperately need i mean i'm happy they're talking about  i understand you have only one more speaker mr ok and i will be pleased for some comments to close particularly in view of the previous speaker as i said in my only comfort comment i emphasized i was not condemning british polow petroleum for their actions of that i wish they had taken the lead and demonstrating the environmentalism that they often advertise that they have but i do deplore that the state of indiana was willing to give them a permit do deplore that the environmental protection agency was willing to give them a permit this is contrary to everything that we have been trying to do to clean up the great lakes at huge expense all over the great lakes communities have tried to clean it up and my preference would be not only that b p does not add to the load they're putting in the lake i would prefer that they say we're going to find a different method and we're not even going to dump in the lake what we're dumping in now because they are already dumping a substantial amount and the whole goal here is not to drive b p away it's not to stop the refinery project says that over and over the goal is to make sure that we can maintain the purity and cleanliness of the great lakes and lake michigan of course drains into four of the other pardon me for three of the other great lakes and with a smattering going into lake superior so this is a very important issue general and talk go about drinking water out of the lakes forty million americans draw their water out of the great lakes their drinking water that is a huge number of people we are very worried about cleaning cleaning up the mercury that are already insists on the lake also the toxic feenan other contaminants because people are drinking that water and they are getting ill the goal here is not to stop b p the goal here is to make them make certain they find  alternative method of disposing of the ammonia and the total suspended solids that they are proposing to dump in the lake and i hope they would also while they're doing that stop dumping what they are dumping and make sure all of the all of the total suspended solids get disposed of elsewhere or perhaps it has this waste landfill perhaps something else but certainly we do not want him to be dumping any additional contaminants into the great lakes system with that i here reacting to and debating a newspaper story the report of the planned dumping of highly toxic received you will elements into lake superior has been into lake michigan has been done committee we will have a hearing in the committee on water subcommittee and water resources in due course that this is an emergency that called out and cried out for immediate action to lay a lie down in front of the state of indiana and british petroleum to let them know that their proposed indifference slap in the face to clean water this precious resource will not be tolerated by the american public they will go ahead and build their refinery but on that property they have plenty of room for appropriate disposal of these waste they ought to know they are understand water is more precious than oil the slow flushing action of lake michigan over three hundred years before water turns over in that lake means that whatever they put in that lake is going to stay there for generations to come they know that so does the state of indiana protect that lake there are alternatives to dumping every colossal waste that industry can sum up into a lake there are other alternatives they have to explore those alternatives madam speaker i yield balance of our there's a sad irony on this decision by british petroleum and that is ten years ago in one thousand nine hundred seven when i was working in the white house we had made a decision the g l a standards were negotiated that point coming on line just about now it took minutes all the states michigan indiana wisconsin illinois to set standards as also the other states that border the great lakes about polluting and what was allowed and permissible to pollute on the lakes and what wasn't and that those g alive standards that brought everybody together ten years ago and started this movement to protect our great lakes in a way that we have not seen since the clean water act negotiation in the product of that negotiation was just coming on line right now and just at that moment we have this decision by british petroleum which is most significant dumping in lake michigan and the other great lakes in lake michigan since basically we started the clean water act reversing the trend of using the lake as nothing but a dumping ground now if this can happen in lake michigan it can happen to other great lakes which is why other members of other delegations of step forward and all that i want to repeat all produce petroleum has to do here is they have the technology to actually do take a different course here it's about the size of the landmass that they have to acquire and if you look again at google map they have plenty of land six hundred acres to do what's right so many decisions we face on the environment are about jobs and the environment you can both double the size of the refinery create those eighty jobs and also  preserve our national commitment to the clean water of lake michigan and the other great lakes it's not an either or choice and what's so sad about the rush here is that this is a decision that can easily be won that's a victory for british petroleum doubling the size of the refinery but not doubling the size of the monia that's dumped into lake michigan and not increasing the amount of both mercury and other metals that are going to be untreated dumped in the lake michigan and then we're all going to be acting creates the money to clean up what they could have done in the beginning they're spending three point eight billion dollars for a fraction they can actually double that they can increase not only increase the freight refinery but increase the capacity to treat these chemicals and then we're all going to be asked to increase the money to clean up lake michigan what something that never should have happened and hasn't happened for ten years now this unusual unity here is because all of us have constituents that don't regard this as a party issue a part they got is a commitment we've had a tremendous increase in the consciousness of folks about the importance of lake michigan the other great lakes to the environmental if this was grand canyon or yellowstone there'd be no question lake michigan ontario superior ery and all the great lakes of the midwest national parks they stand as the largest body of fresh water in north america twenty percent of the entire world's fresh water is right there and it is america's third coast we would never consider doing this to any other national treasure we should the b p should not consider it here they can double the size of refinery which is a good thing they can increase the employment by eighty jobs a good thing and they could be true to their advertising beyond petroleum and being the most green energy company if they decide to take the right actions will help them if they want to do that but the act intransient like they have is wrong we're going to be meeting with the a good north american executive this afternoon i know the illinois delegation is we're going to meet with them to let them know that they have a choice here to live up to their word i want to again thank all my colleagues for stepping forward and giving a voice to their constituents who are outrage across the area with the decision by british petroleum to do something no other companies decide to do in the last ten years and reverse the standards in the product progress we've made on the environmental quality of our lake michigan and the other great lakes are you  five five eight and rule eighteen the chair declares the house and the committee of the whole house on the state of the union for further consideration of h r three zero seven four with the gentleman from new york mr weener kindly take the chair the house is in the committee of the whole house on the state of the union for the further consideration of h r three zero seven for which the clerk will report by title a bill making appropriations for the departments of transportation and housing and urban development and related agencies for the fiscal year ending september thirtieth two thousand and eight and for other purposes when the any of the whole rows on monday july twenty third two thousand and seven a request for a recorded vote on the amended by the gentleman from ohio mr shabbat had been postponed in the bill had been read through page sixty seven line to the clerk will continue to read page sixty seven line three housing certificates fund one billion three hundred million dollars is rescinded project based rental assistance six billion four hundred seventy nine million eight hundred ten thousand dollars public housing capital fund two billion four hundred thirty eight million one hundred sixty four thousand corrine brown which emphasizes the need for her to place a greater priority on the security in our nation's public housing communities indeed plaut the work of chairman although and ranking  member knollenberg and they're supportive of the bill however a recent criminal act that occurred in the district that i'm privileged to represent demands a response i won't go into the details because it was a brutal a that was all done allegedly by ten young men in a project referred to of known as dunbar village until two thousand two there was a program that funded security and safety and public housing unities football right there i recently spoke with the inspector of all who informed me that you cannot have good public housing without good security however in two thousand and one the bush administration felt that the public aisles and drug elimination program had a limited impact and did not reflect the core mission when the drug elimination program was consolidated with the public housing operating phone a grant of one hundred sixty eight thousand dollars for security services was cut just from the west palm beach  oversees dunbar village this jama this incident has demonstrated that the public housing drug elimination program had a far reaching impact in reducing all forms of crime in public housing facilities nation's communities at this funding level ten percent of the two hundred million dollars increase in the account could fund security programs in over one hundred public housing communities these functions include employing security personnel reimbursing local police for additional security services making physical changes to improve security funding community policing accreditation activity as well as training and equipping voluntary tenant patrols heart should recognize this amendment and the despicable incident like the one that occurred in my district and others around this nation as a clear indication that they need to do more to improve the safety in their facility unfortunately it takes violent acts such as the one that i discussed all for us to open our eyes and for congress ought to begin reversing funding trends and program adjustments that have left our communities vulnerable this amendment does not place and on to burden on desperately needed increase in the public housing operating fun while all of the two hundred million dollars increase could be used for activities prioritized in this amendment we rise today to call attention to the need for secure public colleges and once again i'm in chairman over and ranking  work on this legislation in including the two hundred million dollars increase in the public causing operating phone is our hope that this amendment is a welcome contribution to their work i urge my colleagues to support this amendment to begin demanding in recognizing five minutes mr chairman i want to thank my colleague from florida for bringing this issue to to light all of our public housing and section eight residences or to live in a safe environment we've done our best to ensure that the ha's have adequate resources to address security issues the gentleman from florida has is correct that there were public housing drug elimination grants a separate item in the budgets up until the fiscal year zero one budget and the last time we had that separate program for a drop of drug elimination grants the appropriation for that was around three hundred million dollars on a nationwide basis for securing for employing security personnel and reimbursing local police and other additional security services that were necessary now at that time the in the school year a one budget use monies that were in the operating funds for the purposes that had been ripped previously done with the direct drug elimination grants so  we as as my colleague from florida's pointed out we no longer have the direct drug elimination grants but all of the functions of those grants may be funded at the discretion of the individual pa public housing  it under the operating funds or under the capital funds for to support the use of either of those those funds for the important functions of safety and security for our public housing residents so i'm happy to work with the gentleman in the future on this issue i thank you gentlemen for bringing the issue to the discussion today and thereby highlighting the problem which is severe in some cases but the resources as we have indicated as he has indicated and we have already done have been added we have added two hundred million dollars this year about the president's request for the operating fun of the public housing and that should give them the necessary money to do where it is needed as they deem appropriate as the public  two thousand and five after numerous reports in investigations reveal that the program had been greatly abused and that funds were being spent for completely inappropriate activities ranging from picnics to conferences further as a competitive grant program the hud had difficulty receiving qualified applicants and much of the funds went on spent in fact at the time it was terminated almost two years of funds remained unspent instead the congress wildly wisely rather increased the formula the operating subsidy program that has continued to significantly increase that program each and every year as my colleagues amendment to suggest every activity funded by the former drug elimination  funding under the operating subsidy program and i think the chairman mentioned that this is a better way to achieve the members objective sense these funds are sent to the ph a's by formula so no competition or plan is required and because there is certainty of funding most importantly it leaves it up to the p h a to determine the priorities of use of those funds i yield back the balance of my time jameel back the question line three native american housing block grants six hundred twenty six million nine hundred sixty five thousand dollars native hawaiian housing block grant eight million seven hundred twenty seven minutes thank you mr chairman this amendment would simply eliminate the eight point seven million dollars for the native hawaiian housing block grant  been funded since two thousand and two so far there's been over thirty seven million dollars going to the house and fund in the two thousand census the native hawaiians and there was approximately seventy five thousand native hawaiians lived in homes on the island of hawaii that average median value was two hundred and nine thousand dollars the native hawaiians that live in georgia and there's a twenty two hundred of them about the two thousand census their median value home was one hundred eleven thousand dollars these grants can only go to native hawaiians on the islands of hawaii  i believe that this is probably unconstitutional in the fact that we're doing a set aside for a racial group and so i just want to point that out as a great opportunity to to save some money so great opportunity to look and make sure that we're all treated equally and that the fourteenth amendment of our constitution is kept intact and with that i yield i mean i reserve the balance of my time genera native hawaiian housing block grant program is a small program small account that makes a big difference in the lives of native hawaiians who happen to reside on a wire and homeland from two thousand and two through two thousand and five congress when the gentleman's party was in the majority funded in each of those years an average of nine point four million dollars for this program we have held it to eight point seven million in the zero seven budget and have frozen it at the same level as the o c seven budget in the recommendation in this budget for the zero eight fiscal year so this is not an increase we're in fact holding it steady for a program that has been funded a higher levels earlier when the other when the gentlemen's party was in the majority and in substantial majority control of this process with the funding in the bill there were more than one hundred native hawaiian families will be provided with the opportunity for homeownership including counseling and construction and rental assistance in the during that process this is one of the hud programs we have programs for native alaskans we have programs for american indians and so forth that are helpful in providing the  hope for homeownership on the part of some of our minority small minorities in our population and i think it's a goal that we should support and i strongly support program and i urge or no vote on i move to strike the last word in lays reckons for five minutes i write today's john opposition to the m m an offer by mr hicks are linked to eliminate funding for the native hawaiian block grant program the native hawaiian housing block gran authorized under title eight of the native american housing assistance and self determination act now has the the block grant is used to carry out affordable housing activities for native hawaiian families who are eligible to reside on hawaiian a and for lack of funding for infrastructure only eight thousand individuals currently hold leases and approximately nineteen thousand remain on a waiting list and many of our elderly are  oahu francis claimed the lease because her father had a fortunately passed away two years before frances herself now sixty years old was a baby when her father first signed up for the program francis stated that quote her father's legacy goes on because this award is for our ohana our family and called that is something i would like this body to remember that this is not just money we are talking about today we are talking about the opportunity for families to live the american dream of homeownership and native hawaiian families are among those with the greatest need a study conducted in one thousand nine hundred six by the urban institute the national commission on american indian alaska native and they to find housing and the state department a following homeland found that nearly half of hawaiian households and sixty seven percent of those on waiting lists for hawaiian homes lands experience housing problems related to affordability overcrowding or structural inadequacy that compares with forty four percent of american indians and alaska natives living on tribal lands and twenty seven percent of all u s households in  forty nine percent of hawaiian homelands africans lived in overcrowded conditions compared with thirty seven percent of all white households and twenty one percent of non hawaiian households twenty eight percent of hoeing hostels put more than thirty percent of income toward housing compared with twenty two percent for non hawaiians the rate of homelessness among hawaiians at twelve point two households per one thousand is double that of non hawaiians in  secretary of the interior and the governor of the state of hawaii established a federal state asked for three new h h ca and the programs carried under that act the federal state taskforce issued a report in one thousand nine hundred eighty three with specific recommendations including one that the state and federal government should each make contributions of twenty nine million per year to accelerate the program for the first time in two thousand federal funding was made available when housing assistance for native hawaiians was added to the hospice through the native hawaiian housing block grant this m m f follows what i sense is a developing pattern of challenges to programs benefiting native american alaskan native and native hawaiian the previously uncontroversial native hawaiian housing act earlier this year was the first apparent salvo against native american programs they attempt to strike funds in the labor and education appropriations bill for the alaska native native hawaiian serving institutions and higher education act raises the concerns that all programs benefiting native americans will be subjected to attack by certain groups the same arguments of constitut constitution now t of these programs benefiting native americans have been raised and rejected by this body time and again this is not race based discrimination the relationship between the united states the native americans is based on a political relationship as supreme court decisions have constant consistently held like other indigenous peoples such as native americans and alaska natives native hawaiians have a special trust relationship with the united states it has been well settled that congress has clear plenary power to fulfill its obligations to indigenous indigenous people who once had sovereign governing entities before those talisman of the united states and whose land are currently within the borders of the united states like native americans and alaska natives native hawaiians suffered the loss of their sovereignty and then to the united states i could go on as a speaker but for these and many other reasons i directness for five minutes thank you mr speaker mr chairman now apparently we're going to have to come to the floor over and over on this i would appreciate if the gentleman from the eighth district of georgia representing the people in grantville who i presume have more courtesy than the gentleman from that district has could let us know besides a smirk on his face when he intends to come and attack someone else in another district i don't know how you were raised i know how i was raised to confine his remarks to the chair i am confining my remarks to this year because if i was saying it directly to the gentleman he'd know it a lot more physically now the way i was raised when you have something to say to somebody you come and say it to their face now if the gentleman would like to accompany me some time off to hawaii  introduce him to some of these folks that he's attacking today now this act was established by the congress and every single dollar and every single item associated with that has been set forth by the congress over time the president of the united states republican or democrat including this president has put these funds in the budget in order to meet the obligations of the contract again mr chairman i'm not familiar with how the the gentleman from the eighth district of georgia handles five six nine i commended the gentleman's attention quote congress does not extend services to native hawaiians because of their race but because of their unique status as the indigenous people of a once sovereign nation asked to who the united states has established a trust relationship unquote the admission zakk that brought us into the union is the fiftieth state says specifically that with regard to these lands the hawaiian homes the lands that they are to be administered under the by the state of y in the united states quote for the betterment of the conditions of native hawaiians as defined under the hawaiian homes act commission hundred twenty unquote and goes on from there despite what is what is involved now the block grant program provides funds for infrastructure to no help native hawaiians obtain mortgages on land set aside from them for congress because of the conditions set up by the congress ordinary financing is not available to them this is why we have to do if the gentleman had had the courtesy to sit down for two minutes with us we could have explained what this was about a decision has to be made here of course we have to come and defend our programs everybody does i'm quite content to do that but this is the first time ever in my experience my legislative experience of more than thirty three years that this kind of thing has taken place no i know you folks over there i'm looking at friends of mine right here you would never have me or mr owner would never do this kind of thing to you if you have a disagreement about a common serious let's sit down and talk about it and if you still disagree with what we're doing and why we're doing it by all means bring it to our attention on the floor but these kind of attacks is unworthy of this house it's unworthy of us to have relationships with one another like this i don't understand it i've never experienced it before now i can you know we can do this in five minute segments if we want to but that's not the way to handle this i appeal to you if this is going to be a continuing on slot let's sit down and talk it over this legislation's pay the apartment one homelands is one the most effective housing efforts that we have in order to try and meet the conditions that were set forth by the congress and a ministry faithfully by the state of hawaii since our interested union in one thousand nine hundred fifty nine the house supported reauthorization of this program two hundred seventy two members including forty five republicans voted for it is not a partisan issue and i'll finish with this mr mr chairman the republican governor and the republican members of the house of representatives in the in the senate in hawaii as well as a democrat support this program it is not a partisan issue and so i ask out of out of a courtesy for members that if we're going to have a discussion about this at least let's have it on the merits of what is the issue is before us and if we're going to do this kind of thing at least have the courtesy the common courtesy that it should be extended to any member of the house to let us know that it's happening so perhaps mr speaker we could resolve the issue before hand gentlemen time has expired yielding and you know i missed in the rulebook where you needed to call any member or anything to discuss an amendment that you might have an opp ologist for not reading that chapter and the rule book and mr chairman i think i was raised very appropriately from a family that had to watch their money my father worked two jobs he was an atlanta firefighter he he worked shifts and one week he'd be gone who work at a fire department during the day and then he'd be home at night and then the next week he works servian during the day and far stay at night so we didn't see him for a week at the time and he had to watch every dollar that he had and i think he did a great job in raising me and my sister and providing for our family he never really asked for anything from the government and so i guess that i'm very careful about some of the ways that we spend our money and especially when it is on a program that i look at as a set aside program and whether the gentleman from home why or the lady from hawaii look at it as a set aside or not i don't know that's their right and i understand that they may know some things that i don't know and i can just look at this as a member of congress and look and see what the congress has had done in the past and for some reason mr chairman the tennessee for the majority party now is to tail me in other members that have stand that stand up here and tried to look after the the taxpayers dollars that what the republicans did i don't care what the republicans did what they did what other people did in the past doesn't make what we're doing today right or wrong and so all i'm doing is bringing up the point that this is a set aside for somebody for a group of people that are not native americans they're not an indian tribe this is a race group iness simple as it is now we can argue all the points that we want to argue in t learned gentleman from hawaii is a very smart guy i know he's probably a doctor in sociology and he can come down here in negatively about me if he wants to that's his prerogative but i was asking a learned defense attorney one day i said you know what does it feel like to have a client that you're trying to the fin in all of the information in the facts are against you he said you know what you just have to really get up and talk as loud as you can and really be as mad as you can and really talk about anything other than the facts and i know that i've seen that on a couple of occasions here from different people and so our lama asking is is that we have a chance in this house to vote on this amendment enough i think it's fair that we vote on this amendment that we vote on this amendment to try to decide if we want to give another eight point seven million dollars and regardless of what they've gotten from the republican congress since two thousand and two that we could start a new and so i think it's worthwhile that we can offer an amendment that we can have a vote on trying to take a special set aside for for a racial group to have something different than the rest of the people in this country have and with that  debate and i i felt candidly that that it was getting a little personal and uncomfortable with that but i was now uncomfortable with what was described i believe and i want to be on record since i was on this floor that eskimos native hawaiians are a group of people no different than american indians they were there before we got there and that's the way i view it and  i think that we need to look at how we look at all native americans native eskimos and native hawaiians but i don't see their differences i see them all collectively the same i oppose this and i would be voting against it but i certainly understand the the right of my colleagues to introduce an amendment and i certainly agree though that it should be opposed generally yells back the question now occurs on the amended by the gentleman from georgia all those in favor what purposes gentleman from florida right because i have an amendment at this minute number five we've not yet reached that point in the reading the clerk will read page seventy four line twenty two indian housing loan guarantee fun program account seven million four hundred fifty thousand dollars in addition to carry out the guaranteed loa a clerk will continue to read page seventy five line thirteen native hawaiian housing loan guarantee fund program act one million forty four thousand dollars in addition to carry out the guaranteed loan loan program thirty four thousand six hundred  fifty dollars community planning and development housing opportunities for persons with aids three hundred million one hundred thousand dollars to remain available until september thirtieth two thousand and nine where all housing in economic development sixteen million eight hundred thirty thousand dollars community development fund four billion one hundred eighty million dollars to remain available until september thirtieth two thousand and ten of the amount available under this heading one hundred  sixty million dollars shall be for grants for the economic development initiative of the amount available under this heading twenty million dollars shall be for neighborhood initiatives the reference statement of managers in title to a public law one zero eight four four seven is deemed to be amended with respect to item number one hundred four in the statement of managers correction of public law one zero nine dash one fifteen and deemed to be amended with respect item number eight forty six the statement of managers correction of public law one o nine dash one fifteen is deemed to be amended with respect to item number two fifteen the statement of managers correction of public law one hundred nine dash one fifteen is deemed to be amended with respect to item seven thirteen the statement of managers correction of public law one nine hundred fifteen is deemed to be amended with respect to item number eight forty fo the reference statement of managers of public law one hundred forty four seven is deemed to be amended with respect to item number thirty six the reference reference statement of managers of public law want to wait for four seven is deemed to be amended with city of maine let's florida which is located in the southern portion of my district had money advocated to them for the construction of a community center and fortunately the project was completed before funds was at the department of hood and urban development and will have no financial impact on this year's bill the community center is fully complete making funds earmarked for this project useless to the city s the chairman to work with me as this be a move forward to try to help the city of maitland solve this problem mr chairman i'm going to withdraw this bill but i'm hoping that as we move forward you will work to help  rectify this problem that was created by the partner of her in this administration apparently meant we haven't reached that point in the reading at the clerk will read page eighty one line one community development loan guarantees program account two million one hundred seventy thousand dollars remain available until september thirtieth two thousand  administrative expenses to carry out the guarantee loan program seven hundred forty seven hundred forty three thousand dollars brownfield redevelopment nine million nine hundred thousand dollars to remain available until september thirtieth two thousand  one million this funding will take a be taken the department's general salaries and expenses i believe the brownfields program is one of the most successful programs federal government is has to help revitalize urban areas these sites typically in the heart of urban areas  idle because no one wants to incur the large costs associated with super fun clean ups and the uncertainty of whether in fact it is the superfund as a result cities are marked by abandoned buildings and vacant lots while developers construct new buildings on what was previously open space in the suburbs those small these grants are to seed money unable in dozens of communities to leverage millions of of state and private dollars to move into the actual cleanup phase this funding should encourage more environmentally environmental cleanup and bring about economic development economic development of brown brownfield sites by reusing brownfield sites where not only really rebuilding blighted communities but also targeting development and city centers and avoiding unnecessary urban's urbanization on fringes of metropolitan areas mr speaker a brownfield is an abandoned idler unused property where expansion of redevelopment is complicated by the presence of potential presence of contaminations brownfields redevelopment can benefit both private investors in the communities in which they are located for the private sector brownfield redevelopment can mean new business opportunities the potential for profit on a new user underutilized properties improve community environmental stewardship and access to untapped urban markets the retail purchasing power of a central city resident is conservatively estimated at six hundred sixty five billion even households in the most economically distressed urban neighborhoods possess eighty five billion in annual retail purchasing power brownfields redevelopment is critical to untap in these consumer markets cities encounter many in peano and pediment to develop in brownfields the lack of necessary funding for cleanup concerns over liability the need for environmental assessments of the properties uncertainty over cleanup standards unfavorable neighborhood and market dish and land assembly issues we lucked into invest in distress communities due to concerns with urban social economic conditions the bottom line for me is the most successful program that we have encountered in this congress to deal with urban areas is brownfields legislation whether it comes from e p a or whether it comes from hood we need to do everything we can in my judgment to clean up these sites and make them productive and thereby in the end five minutes mr chairman i am hopeful that the gentleman will withdraw his amendment here and i would be happy to work with him because in in substantial measure i support the intent of the amendment but i have concerns about the offset even though it's a relatively small loss that but i do want to use this time to point out what has happened here on the brownfield program  the president in the zero seven budget process ended up recommending that we  this program in the zero seven budget and he actually recommended rescinding the zero six moneys which were exactly the same amount of money that has been put in for the last so in the zero seven budget finally and had been put in the zero six budget and and under those circumstances when they are making recommendations to rescind there their approach is not to give out any grants under the program until after the the budgets system the budget process for the following years complete and therefore those monies just don't get put out until very late there's a real big gap in that and that's what's happened previously this year the president did not propose to rescind the zero seven budget mon for the simple reason that the zero seven budget monies were lots other than that until the c r was adopted after the budget was submitted if they if that had been done prior to when the budget was submitted my guess  is that the president would have proposed rescinding the ost seven moneys as well as zero ing out the zero eight moneys which is what has happened in his recommendations for this year's bill so we are in this again in a situation where the where the people over at o m b believe i believe wrongly but they seem to insist that there is some place else in the budget namely under e p a where brownfields redevelopment is going to get done that doesn't happen throughout the monies that are then for brownfields under under e p a are for assessments and we have been doing assessments and i believe that this should be funded so we have in the face of what i have described we have for the last couple of years continued to appropriate but at the constant value of nine point nine million dollars for this program to keep it there until such time as we have someone who understands that that kind of program isn't being done anywhere else and is willing to move the monies along which the administration as i've described simply is not willing to do so  what i'm hearing is that you're not saying that these dollars are now going to be an e p a you're saying basically what's in the e p a are for assessment but not to help developers come in and start to clean up and what i'm hearing you say is that these dollars therefore are just being maintained at a cost and not and that this is ministration is choosing not to allocate them and spend them is that what  hearing from you no i'm saying that say they finally put the grant proposals out for award but a year later essentially and each time only after it is clear  for instance the zero seven monies will finally be sent out for grant announcements at the very end of this fiscal year when it is clear that we have not rescinded the zero seven money could i ask the gentleman another question yes  the ten million that is in here which is a smaller amount than the twenty five that used to be there a few years ago if we are able to go it it would it will be available for we can convince the secretary of hud to allocate these dollars to edification for the record is that your point that you are appropriating this ten million dollars in this budget that you have but that you do not anticipate it will be spent it will not be spent if we and congress are a able to convince hud this is not a trick question this is an edification question is there any legal impediment to the administration spending in the ten million that you've allocate there is none ok there isn't on the offset the offset that the gentleman has used is salaries and expenses sours in expenses is a is an account which we in the tightness of this budget in trying to do billion seven hundred fifty seven million two hundred fifty thousand dollars from an available until september thirtieth two thousand  coauthored by representative bigger of illinois and mr gilmore of ohio seeks to help families who are potential victims of lending practices that could lead to foreclosure the amendment increases the amount of funds available for housing counseling under section one zero six of the housing and urban development act of one nine hundred sixty eight the amendment would increase the program's funding by six point seven million dollars the increase is offset by reducing the office of inspector general account by six point seven million dollars the c b o t has scored this amendment as budget neutral funding for housing counseling has increased by only two million dollars since fiscal year two thousand and three as chairman a former mayor of the city of dayton ohio i have seen directly the detrimental impact that predatory lending and the practices of and warranted sub prime loans have had on urban families and communities in two thousand and one the university of dayton released a study of how mortgage foreclosures were affecting urban areas in ohio my community of dayton had one foreclosure for every forty three households similar findings were seen in cleveland akron columbus and cincinnati the problem of home foreclosures isn't limited to a high oh in the midwest according to a june twelfth two thousand and seven bloomberg article national home foreclosure rates in may soared ninety percent from last year many of these are tied to the sub prime loan industry many foreclosed homes sit vacant and boarded up for long periods of time these properties go beyond just being an eyesore more and become a threat to public health and safety these properties are a blight to our neighborhoods and result in falling property values and increased crime lead to an eroded tax base and impair a city's ability to provide important services to families beyond the individual impact these practices have on our neighborhoods the sub prime foreclosure crisis is resulting in the loss of capital in the financial market a market that if not righted could threaten our growing robust economy today we are seeing headlines from all across the country showing the growing concerns of financial markets regarding predatory and sub prime lending practices that have resulted in a record number of foreclosures recently members of the ohio delegation led by representatives gilmore price law to read and senator brown held a forum on the predatory lending crisis in ohio at this forum we heard from a variety of groups from banks to fair housing groups all of these groups shared a mutual concern over the issue of predatory and subprime lending and many agreed that an increased focus on housing counseling was a key component to fighting this problem is my hope that increased funding possible through this amendment will lousy housing counseling agencies the ability to provide vital counseling services to families in need these services will give families the assistance they need to protect themselves from practices and circumstances that could lead to foreclosure mr chair when i believe that homeownership is a privilege that everyone should enjoy we must give all american families the tools they need to be successful t to work with him in conference to address this is issue now are i otherwise i rise in reluctant opposition to the gentleman's amendment i believe the need as he has indicated for housing counseling is strong but we are not what is often does in this instance is to take the funding for the the inspector general for hud back to the level of the budget request for the year two thousand and seven where we had increased in the supplemental budget the appropriation for the i g to eighty eight point two million dollars in the supplemental in the supplemental budget had been added to the i g to do its work and have recommended in this bill  a less than two percent increase so that compared with the zero seven appropriation for the i g this would represent the the amendment would represent a five or six percent decrease in the amount of funding available for the i g we simply we simply are not in a position to be able to increase this account because of the other programs now taking the funding from the inspector general to increase this account is counterproductive i think to the gentleman's amendment should we reduce the oversight in order to increase the housing counseling the both vital programs we feel that we have struck the correct balance here for this for this pair of needs and i commend the gentleman's passion on the issue and i would be happy to work market problems later this year continuing problems as we have been having but i would urge the gentleman to to withdraw the amendment at this time and and we try would work it out families and neighborhoods throughout the country we're seeing the impacts are grave i would like to work with you on where perhaps an offset would be acceptable but at this time we would like the house to be on record in support of this increased funding and so i would desire not to withdraw the amendment but i appreciate your support of the increased funding and we'll look forward to working with you for had approved housing counseling services by six point seven six million dollars bringing the hud total causing counseling budget to forty eight point three four million for fiscal year two thousand and eight as the ranking member of the financial services housing and community opportunity subcommittee i want to thank my colleagues from ohio for their work on this amendment which is a modest increase in funding that could prevent millions of americans from losing their homes i spent many an hour this year listening to witness after witness testified before our subcommittee and the financial services committee about the current home foreclosure spike according to data released by the mortgage bankers association while our country will continue to enjoy record homeownership rates foreclosures are on the rise and we should expect another one million americans to lose their homes this year these mortgage foreclosure rate rates raising eyebrows and call into fair question what actions can be taken to help homeowners keep their homes i would like to emphasize the word action almost two two weeks ago this body passed by a vote of four hundred eleven to seven a resolution house resolution five twenty six sponsored by the gentleman from maryland mr cummings this resolution called on this body to take action to support homeownership and responsible lending lending the resolution directed us to increase opportunities for long conflict so what can congress do to meet this directive today what it what it what if we what should what is it we should be doing right now to ensure that six hundred fifty thousand homeowners and others who may follow can keep their homes one step in the right direction is to support the turner amendment to increase funding and therefore opportunities for housing counseling its crew crucial to promote financial literacy and educate our youth and adults this is the most direct way of ensuring that consumers understand the terms of their loan so that they may have void predatory loans and foreclosure altogether i'm pleased that on june twenty fifth neighborhood works america in the ad console launched a national ad campaign aimed at preventing home foreclosures homers and homeowners in trouble can try to save their homes by calling a hotline eight nine nine five hope a number provided by the homeowners preservation foundation and in addition  we have about two thousand three hundred hud certified housing counseling agencies across the country americans should know that they can visit hud website or call eight hundred five six nine four two eight seven to find to hud certified consular in their neighborhood  certified counselors can give straightforward and free or low cost advice to potential or existing homeowners about buying a home refinancing your mortgage or preventing foreclosure the turner amendment is one way that we can enhance the ability of our local certified housing counselors to help our constituents avoid foreclosure and keep their piece of the american dream but i think this amendment is good for the economy good for the whole american homeowners and i think it's crucial that we act upon it now where are we where so many people are in these dire straits so i would urge right colleagues to support this man and i know that there are groups that are in support of this and one that here i think this amendment recognizes the hard realities that in many places across the country families face delinquencies in mortgage payments and they're on a rapid rise michigan is one of those states as well that th professional counselors counselors to help families keep their homes and perhaps help them avoid high risk loans to begin with the program has been a proven success michigan like ohio has been experiencing a ris with loans this increase could make a huge difference in so many families who are facing a mortgage crisis the i g the inspector general has received significant increases since katrina to ensure that it can monitor the use of funds in the reconstruction therefore i do not believe the reduction will in any way impact the i g f ability to do its job and could greatly improve the lives of many families facing a financial crisis i do support the amendment and i on fortunately has been one of the leaders in foreclosures and i want to point out one of the things we found out about foreclosures nationally and also in the midwest most of those foreclosures have not come as a result of loans by federally regulated banks and savings and loans they have come for those lenders and mortgage brokers who are not regulated by the federal government by the by the states who have not done their job i called together conference i guess about six weeks ago on how financial institutions are regulators of community groups to talk about the foreclosure crisis and what affectively could be done and i was surprised that the consensus that came out of that meeting of all those groups was that the single most important thing you could do would be to provide for housing constantly and the people who did have consular had a very for low foreclosure rate and all this bill would do would be to provide a modest increase in conflict we will get a tremendous benefit and a decrease in foreclosures as a result of it i think this amendment presents a choice you have two agencies and you have a choice between if you got the inspector general and the housing counseling program which one are you going to fund level to last year and which one are you going to increase and i would say to you if you look at what's going on in the housing market it is pretty clear that if there is to be a priority between those two it ought to be to put more money  so that you can save people in their homes and i also point out that the senate has already passed language that goes much further than ours so i would ask for support of the turner bigger turner in ancient history i had the privilege of carrying this subcommittee and during those early years i was very very concerned with what was happening within the total housing programming what happens to the money as it closed the communities et c the focus then was upon section eight housing i'll never forget my trip to new orleans to try to see what was happening with money we'd sent there over a lot of years to the housing authority and met with the inspector general in the office of the f b i to discuss what i had seen and some of my concerns that the f b i guy who was there listening to our conversation was heard to say congressman if if you really want to get a handle on this i would suggest that one of the things that you might do is to put enough money into the inspector general's office so you could have a full time inspector general here in new orleans for this fall of flew in from houston to talk with you today and i heard a while ago that there had been added monies to the inspector general's office since katrina i have no idea what that means in the real volume etc but i do perceive that there's an ongoing problem across the country so this discussion or my  reason to talk with you is i admire very much what you are about i would hope also as you go about it that you work very closely with the chairman and ranking member about finding another source of money the issue is a very important one but i'm not certain just how well off the inspector searching for additional offsets for this in order to find additional monies for housing counseling and in that i'm certain that after the amendment passes the house that they would the a great deal of effort by the chairman in conference to seek perhaps a an addition offsite with the inspector general could be amount could be restored but as you've heard from so many of the members that are here this is an issue that that strikes at the very heart of the fabric of our neighborhoods and our families i have so many families who have come to me to tell me the stories of what they have experienced there are nonprofit organizations in my community who are every day working with families who have faced this issue of foreclosure and they they want to know that we support the the services that are being provided to them and that might be available to them and the general really reclaiming my time that the me say that it's my intention to support the journalism and i would urge the chairman to consider doing the same as we search for an offset somewhere else but in the meantime the issue is a consideration of h r three zero seven four in the committee of the whole pursuant to house resolution five fifty eight notwithstanding clause eleven of rule eighteen no further amendment to the bill may be offered except pro forma amendments offered at any point in the reading by the chairman or ranking minority member of the committee on appropriations or their designees for the purpose of debate an event by mr crowley regarding a study to determine staffing needs for our air traffic controllers and amendment by mr al green of regarding funding for the fair housing initiatives program and amended by ms slaughter mortgage insurance programs an amendment by gary miller of california regarding the author zation for additional moving to work demonstration agreements an amendment by mr blunt regarding corporate average fuel economy standards and amended by mr conaway regarding use of reductions made through amendment for deficit reduction and amendment by mr de fazio or mr hunter or ms boyda of kansas prohibiting the use of funds for certain cross border motor carrier demonstration projects and amended by mr flake fund limiting funds for the national mule and packers museum and would like california an amendment mr flake limiting funds for the los angeles fashion district in los angeles california and amended by mr flake limiting funds for the bell allison high school alumni association community development corporation in maryland an amendment by mr flake limiting funds for the hunting and fishing museum of pennsylvania an amendment by mr flake limiting funds for the houston zoo in texas an amendment by mr flake limiting funds for the wal clore wine and to one area center in washington and invented by mr flight limiting funds for the belmont complex in armstrong county pennsylvania and amended by mr flake limiting funds for the north central wisconsin regional planning commission in wausau wisconsin and amended by mr flake limiting funds for the arlington chamber of commerce and in texas and amended by mr flake limiting funds for the strand theater performing arts center in plattsburgh new york and amended by mr flake limiting funds for the huntsville museum of art in alabama an amendment by mr flake limiting funds for the friends of cheat rails to trails program an amendment by mr frank of massachusetts or mr wrangle regarding community service requirements and amended by mr frayling horizon limiting funds to implement a preferred alternative for the new york new jersey philadelphia airspace redesign and amended by mr genger gingrey limiting funds for certain economic development activities which obtain property through eminent domain an amendment by mr hastings of florida regarding tree con consolidation an amendment by ms jackson lee of texas regarding noise mitigation studies and amendment by ms jackson lee of texas regarding technology for temporary disaster housing and amended by ms jackson lee of texas prohibiting use  funds to undermine unions another labor organizations representing workers on federally funded transportation projects and amended by ms jackson lee for having use of funds to prohibit transportation workers from having necessary communication equipment and amended by mr jordan reducing funds in the bill by six point three percent which shall be debatable for forty minutes and amended by mr king of iowa limiting funds to implement davis ba requirements and a member of by mr king of iowa limiting funds to employ workers described in section twenty two seventy four a of the immigration and nationality act and amended by mr king of iowa limiting funds for the alpine heritage preservation in west virginia and amendment by mr gary miller of california ms waters or mr al green of texas for having use of funds to take certain actions on the standards for marketers investment in mortgage properties and amended by ms mrs musgrave reducing funds in the bill by zero point five percent which shall be debatable for forty minutes and amended by parlow nor mr frank mr patrick murphy of pennsylvania regarding weight processing and transfer facilities an amendment by mr price of georgia reducing funds in the bill by one percent which will be debatable by forty minutes for forty minutes and then by mr sessions limiting the use of funds for a certain amtrak route an amendment by mr schuler regarding use of funds designated for north shore road in swain county north carolina an amendment by mr upton is harman this inglis or mr lipinski regarding energy efficient light bulbs and amendment by mr price of georgia limiting f h a funds for the creation of an affordable housing fun and amendment by mr hensarling limiting park funds for parking facilities and amended by mr hensarling limiting funds for the admin center for the arts in washington an amendment by mr king of i was limiting funds for homeownership assistance for certain individuals an amendment by mr king of iowa limiting funds for association of community organizations for reform now and amended by mr crowley limiting funds for the blairstown historic preservation commission in blairstown new jersey an amendment by mr crowley limiting funds for the city of marshall texas an amendment by crowley limiting funds for the city of muncie indiana and amended by mr crowley limiting funds for the i twenty five north or north excuse me for the i twenty five north of h s sixty six project in colorado an amendment by mr crowley limiting funds for the state route three seventy four from state route one forty nine to seventy seven project mr peterson of pennsylvania limiting funds for tolling on i eighty in pennsylvania an amendment by mr hunter limiting funds for us in mexico three way and amended by mr obi regarding earmarks and an amendment by an amendment or amendments by mr olver regarding funding each such amendment may be offered only by the member named in this request or designee shall be considered as read shall not be subject to amendment except that the chairman and ranking minority member of the committee on appropriations and the subcommittee of transportation housing and urban development and related agencies each may offer one pro forma amendment for the purpose of debate and shall not be subject to a demand for division of the question in the house or in the committee of the whole except as is otherwise specified each amendment shall be debatable for ten minutes equally divided and controlled by the proponent and an opponent an amendment shall be considered to fit the description stated in this request if it addresses in whole or in part the object described console order through page ninety four line nine be considered as read printed in the record and open to amendment at any point are there any amendments to the to those sections i have an amendment at the desk will read page ninety four line ten fair housing and equal opportunity fair housing activity forty five million five hundred forty thousand dollars three made available until september thirtieth two thousand was recognized for five minutes thank you mr chairman i'd like to thank chairman obie subcommittee chairman over the ranking members lewis and colin berg nolan berg and i also would like to thank them especially for their leadership mr chairman we understand that budgetary constraints are necessary and that budget budget challenges are reality just as invidious discrimination in housing is a reality this is why congress passed the fair housing act of nineteen sixty eight the fair housing act prohibits housing discrimination not just in race color and national origin but also on religious sexual status disability and familia status however nearly forty years after the passage of this act four million fair housing violations occur annually tens of thousands of complaints of filed and most violations  investigated violations occur in the rental market when qualified buyers and renters are denied housing based upon invidious discrimination violations occur in the purchase margit market when qualified buyers are denied loans to pay more for loans austere to the subprime market when they qualify for prime loans this is why we need to fund the fair housing initiative program to the level authorized of twenty six million dollars the fair housing initiative program allows for testing this will allow us to have persons who are equally qualified perhaps one is disabled and one is not to go out and seek a loan or a piece of rental property if the disabled person is denied and the person that follows who is not disabled receives the loan or the property then we are gathering the empirical data necessary to show that the discrimination exists mr chairman miah been mitt would add five point eight two million dollars to the bill to bring it to the twenty six million dollar authorized level mr chairman the ne there the authorization exists and the time to act is here let us keep the american dream alive for all persons who are qualified let's do our part on our watch to prevent invidious discrimination in housing and i now w going to withdraw would withdraw this amendment is that the gentleman's intention yes sir it is my hope is that you and i would be able to work together to see if there is some means by which it can be accommodated if if you simply could not increase this amount this year because of the the budget constraints the the budget here is below  the the the excuse me the budget proposal here is the same as the zero seven and acted budget and slightly above the budget request by the administration and the offset the offset is in a place where there really isn't money to take from the offset to to do this so i appreciate the gentleman's willingness to withdraw the amount  and we'll be happy to work with them to try to find money in conference i thank the chairman and i look forward to working with the chairman so that we may seek an accommodation in conference and i ask  speaker first at the outset i want to give my thanks to chairman of or his wrist knollenberg for doing wonderful job on this bill and our i intend to withdraw this amendment but if i could just take a moment or two to discuss the importance of hundreds of lead has a control i'd like to be there as the findings crucial in reaching our goal of eliminating childhood lead poisoning nationwide by two thousand teen the grants provided by heard's office of lead has and control allow cities and states to create serious with hazards in low income and high risk homes make no mistake with the chairman this is not just an isolated problem lead poisoning affect over two hundred fifty thousand american children under the age of five each and every year high levels of lead in the blood have been linked to a child ashleigh brain damage hearing loss hyperactivity develop miserable developmental delays and in stream cases exposure to lead has caused seizures comas and even dads mr chairman is an acceptable in my home district alone over two thousand children fall victim to lead poisoning every year over half of all the homes in niagara erie county were built before nine hundred fifty and is therefore a very likely to contain lead ingestion erie county a thousand children have unsafe lead their a levels in their blood city rochester is among the top ten cities in the united states with the worst lead paper problems in two thousand and four nine hundred children monroe county were reported to have high blood in their levels we have city organisms affected try to deal with that but we've got not enough amendment by mr blake about was on a amendment by by mr flake of arizona an amendment by mr shabbat of ohio the chair reduced to two minutes the time for any electronic votes after the first vote in the series the on fish businesses the request for a recorded vote on the amendment by the gentleman the gentleman from florida mr mica which further proceedings were postponed and on which the nos prevailed by voice vote the clerk  a sufficient number having arisen a recorded vote is offered members were