the world proud of america and see us as a leader on such issues on wednesday this house vote on the stem cell bill embryonic stem cell research sent from the senate which the president has threatened to veto i don't think there's a more important bill that this house could pass and send to the president stem cell research if you or anybody in your family mr speaker had parkinson's disease alzheimer's a spinal cord injury cancer stroke burns heart disease diabetes osteoarthritis arthritis or rheumatoid arthritis you could have relief and possibly a cure for that illness because of stem embryonic stem cell research america could reestablish its itself as a country that has the best scientific research and provides the world with hope for cures for these catastrophic illnesses last night the republican debate one of the candidates said we need to find a cure for cancer he's right and the way to do it is through embryonic stem cell research i would urge this house to pass the bill and i would urge the president to have the courage to do the right thing to be pro life and extend life for people on this planet thank you mr speaker gentleman's time has expired jonathan south carolina without objection mr speaker today the house armed services committee will examine the issue of body armor for our troops in combat fortunately before going into recess for memorial day congress passed a critical war funding bill that will allow the military to purchase body armor and other equipment for our men and women in uniform i was grateful to visit with their troops during the break in iraq and afghanistan everywhere we went the troops thanked us for the passing the legislation to provide for their being fully equipped our soldiers of fighting the terrorists overseas so we do not have to face them again in the streets of america where protecting american families and stopping allocators threat to our nation on the sixty third anniversary of d day we appreciate the new greatest generate i am pleased congress passed and president bush signed a bill that will provide our military with the tools it needs without him coaxing our commanders on the battlefield in conclusion god bless our troops and we will never forget september the eleventh jamiel back the balance of this time the gentlewoman from california mr speaker i voice my deep disappointment with the recent supreme court decision in lead better versus goodyear tires women on average are paid less than their male counterparts for women of color the pay is much less and less you can look me in the eye and say that women are less intelligent less capable than their male counterparts in the same fields the most glaring explanation for this discrepancy is discrimination we've made great strides in working to equalize wages for all americans regardless of gender race or age but the decision last week to limit a workers available recourse in the face of discrimination is a setback to all of our civil rights and reminds us of how far we must still have to go now we must mobilize fix this disparity lead must move forward and correct the law so that this misinterpretation will never occurred again i urge my colleagues to support a legislative remedy to preserve a worker's right to be compensated for discrimination  system that leads to duplicative tests and avoidable medical errors despite the advance of innovative health information technology america's health care system remains trapped in the twentieth century the need for hill's i t became even more apparent during hurricanes rita and katrina when i saw displaced patients present themselves in makeshift clinics with little or no medical history to guide their health providers today only twenty four percent of louisiana physicians have converted their offices to electronic health records because either they are unwilling or unable to handle the cost i will soon introduce a bill to create a demonstration project for the department of health and human services to provide financial incentives to providers and health information exchange networks to encourage adoption and use of interactive personal health records health i t will greatly improve the quality information and care that patients receive but congress should do more to encourage physicians to transfer to a paperless system  effectively indorsed pay discrimination against women pay equity is a problem for women around the country but especially women of color women who look like me on the average african american women earn only sixty four cents for every dollar earn only fifty two cents on the dollar compared to their white male counterparts we need to protect the rights of workers to remedy wage discrimination and do more to close the pay gap between men and women that's why i c sponsored the paycheck fairness act which would give teeth to the equal pay act the paycheck fairness act would entitle the plaintiffs to back pay compensatory and punitive damages for intentional wage discrimination without serious penalties for wage discrimination violations will continue and working men and their families will suffer we can and must fix the pay equity acts so that workers all around can be fairly compensated for wage discrimination an upstanding contributing member of the community in two thousand and four our courts gave him protection because they believe quote it is more likely than not in quotes that he would be tortured should he return to egypt even our state department reports outline extensive extensive torture in egypt having personally heard stories of individuals who have suffered torture by gyptian authorities i firmly believe that the court has been right to prevent his deportation u officials are now prepared to ignore the court's decision and deport because based on nothing more than quote assurances in quote of no torture from known tortures mr speaker a former cia officer stated this week on an australian news program that sending someone like a zombie back to egypt is quote pound amount to condemning them to death end quote our government has the ability to prevent his torture do not deport mr  bellman has expired the gentleman from california without objection thank you a speaker i rise today in recognition of capital oceans week the president has declared june as oceans month and this friday will be an international celebration of oceans day why do we need to pay attention to the oceans well the oceans are dying and the earth is dependent upon them we are dumping everything we don't want into the ocean and extracting every living thing we can to eat we've created a commission by congress and by private trust of the best talent in america to advise congress on what we should do and they recommended national ocean government policies new policies that can be adopted by this congress i've introduced the bill h r twenty one and as national oceans week and month i'd like to ask all my colleagues to seriously consider co sponsoring h r twenty one it provides solutions to the problems of the earth thank you very much as time has expired  mr speaker today june sixth marks the anniversary of d day the invasion of normandy it marks one of the most selfless acts of humanitarian love known in the history of mankind it exemplifies a nation willingness to lay down our lives and to expend our treasure to free a people from brutal oppressors today mr speaker remains the greatest nation on earth and we have our american soldiers to think for securing our safety for securing our freedom to those who march to a near certain death that morning on a fresh french sandy shoreline we pay you tribute we can never repay the price that you paid for our freedom but we will never forget that us consent to address the house for one man and to revise and extend my remarks without objection mr speaker on monday military judges dismissed the cases against the only two men to have been charged with a crime still being held at guantanamo bay this legal impasse creates an imperative for congress to address the legal black hole that we have created at guantanamo there have been almost eight hundred people sent to guantanamo there are three hundred eighty five left and of those three hundred eighty five only eighty will be charged and tried with a crime now that's means that ninety percent will not even be charged and tried but it will take more than a decade even to try those eighty people given the island's remote location of the fact there's only one court room there mr speaker every day that we keep g open we damage our credibility and we lose ground in the global war on terror congress has an opportunity to change this wrongheaded policy and we can do so by shutting the facility down and transferring that detainees to the u military brig system there they will still be under lock and key but also have the right to a fair and speedy trial the united states is a country that should stand for justice and be governed by the role of law apo let's say should reflect our values  speaker i rise today to support the stem cell research and handsome act of two thousand and seven stem cell research has the capability to cure our most common and pervasive diseases and conditions from all timers to parkinson's disease cancer to juvenile diabetes the potential of stem cell research presents one of the humanity's greatest leaps toward the ultimate goal of preserving prolong and improving life as a member of the florida state senate for ten years leading efforts to lies and fund embryonic stem cell research was not just a priority of mine it was a passion a large part of my passion and drive toward funding stem cell research is driven by people like adam susser a young boy from the town i reside in boca raton adam was a spic stated at birth and as a illnesses that stem cell research could find cures for today i encourage my friends in congress to support the stem cell research act the passage is vitally important to millions of americans to suffer today and to the millions of americans who will suffer from in speaker according to the national committee on pay equity working women stand to lose two hundred fifty thousand dollars over the course of their careers because of unequal pay practices while women's wages and educational achievement seven rising there's still a sizable gap in the gender wage gap this is a national disgrace unfortunately last week's supreme court decision led better vs good year does little to achieve fairness for american workers in a narrow five to four decision the supreme court threw out the case not because she wasn't being discriminated against but because she filed her claim too late this interpretation which is the rejected by eight federal peels courts and the e e o c fails to realize that employees are discriminated against every time they receive a discriminatory paycheck congress needs to step in and stand up for ordinary people without delay we should move quickly to pass congresswoman delores paycheck protection act that would provide remedies to women facing pa discrimination mr speaker i don't want to live in an america where my daughter earns less than my son for doing the same job that they yield that tillman's time has expired the gentleman from new jersey without objection mr speaker the supreme court the judicial branch of our government has ruled that the president of the united states is not above the law even during times of war the charter tourney general's office within the executive branch of government is undermining the entire judicial system over four hundred u s attorneys have it confirmed over the last twenty years three have been fired for political partisanship during that time however in the last nine months nine i've been fired because they didn't bow to the partisan pressures of the executive branch of government the attorney general has allowed these nine u s attorneys names to be trashed in the public this is worse than watergate there is reason to believe that a cover up occurred and that will be worse than the dirty deed how did each of these get on the list in the first place and that of the original thirty how did you get off the list what did you have to do to be removed from that list mr attorney general this is not them are high ground no one is above the law thank you mr speaker thomas time is expired to address the remarks of the chair for what purposes the gentleman pennsylvania seek recognition mr speaker i offer resolution and ash and honestly consent for his immediate consideration in the house the clerk or report the title of the resolution house resolution four sixty resolved that on such date as the speaker of the house of representatives may designate official photographs of the house may be taken while the house is a national session payment for the costs associated with taking preparing and distributing such photographs may be made from the applicable accounts of the house of representatives is objection to consideration of the resolution without objection the resolution is agreed to in the motion reconsider is laid upon the table senate fifteen thirty seven to authorize the transfer of certain funds from the senate gift shop revolving on to the senate employee child care center is or objection to consideration of the bill without objection the bill was read a third time and passed and the motion to reconsider is laid upon the ta resolution dismissed me election contest relating to the office of representative from the twenty first congressional district of florida report to accompany house resolution four sixty two resolution house resolution report to accompany house  resolution four sixty one resolution dismissing the election contest relating to the office of representatives in the twenty fourth congressional district of florida report to accompany house resolution four sixty two resolution dismissing the election contests relating to the office of representative from the forking and congressional district of louisiana report to accompany house resolution four sixty three resolution dismissing the election contests relating to the office of representative from the fifth congressional district of florida recorded votes postponed questions will be taken later today the secretary will also under this legislation disseminate information about the database to secondary schools and to colleges and universities institutions of higher education it will serve as a one stop shop for financial aid for those who want to study in the stem fields now it may be surprising to my colleagues that this doesn't already exist but it does not and although there are many things that we need to do to improve the science and math teaching in the elementary and secondary schools and in higher education many things we need to do to direct  encourage students toward science and technology fields this is one important thing we all know that study in university higher education is expensive and in fact many students are deterred from studying these important fields because of the cost and yet at the same time some of the opportunities for financial assistance go unused and students however motivated they may be often don't know where to start to look for financial assistance certainly in high schools school counselors are overloaded with typically four hundred students each  and as a college student is trying to decide on a major and a specific field of engineering for example it's hard to know where to turn this simple straightforward database available through a website will greatly i think facilitate the student's ability to go into these stem fields and it will serve all students at all levels as they're thinking about going into college as they're thinking about choosing a major in college as they're thinking about going to graduate school as they're thinking about whether or not to teach in a science or studying science and math and will assist our country in our efforts to be more competitive internationally without i reserve the balance of my time gentleman reserves the balance of his time the gentleman from georgia  scholarships and fellowships and other programs of financial assistance for the study of science and technology and engineering and math and before i begin i just want to commend the gentleman from new jersey for introducing this piece of legislation and for his leadership in this area also want to commend the gentleman from michigan mr ailes for his leadership as well as ms mcmorris rodgers and ms biggert and and others for their support of this bill itself i'm a strong proponent strong proponent of stem education programs and anything that congress can do to strengthen interest in these fields is wholeheartedly welcome as a physician i understand and appreciate the challenge that our nation has in maintaining its preeminence in these fields and courage ing our best and brightest and interested young people to choose this field of study is a positive step and i believe this bill is a step in that direction as we continue to discuss new ideas for the reauthorization of the higher education act it's important that we develop proposals that will ensure students are informed about their options for financial aid both from the federal government and from the private sector fact the house has already taken one step in that direction and clued in h r eight ninety the student loan sunshine act which passed last month was a proposal that was offered by representative rick keller that would make it easier for students to get information on their options for federal financial aid this proposal would launch a single website for opportunities for financial aid  fellowships and scholarships being offered by any agency within the federal government this bill this bill simply takes this idea one step further by making sure that information about scholarships and fellowships and other forms of private financial aid is readily available to students interested in pursuing their opportunities in education in science technology engineering and math as we continue to examine proposal to increase america's competitiveness it's helpful for us to equip students interested in pursuing careers in these fields with the information that they need that might assist them in financing their education so for these reasons and others i respectfully ask my colleagues to support h r ten fifty one and i reserve the balance of my time gentleman reserve the balance of us on the gentleman from new jersey thank you mr speaker i think mr price who is an original co sponsor of this legislation along with many others from the education committee from the science committee and from elsewhere here in congress and with that i am pleased to yield three minutes to the gentleman from texas my colleague on the committee on education and labor history in hausa jonathan texas is recognized for three minutes mr speaker i rise in strong support r ten fifty one the national stem scholarship database act i would like to commend the work of my good friend and colleague from new jersey congressman rush holt for bringing this bill forward and for all of his efforts to ensure that our nation stays at the forefront of the stem fields i share his commitment to mobilizing our resources at all levels to expand the pool of opportunities in these career fields that are critical to our future security and prosperity it is not these great that we are losing our competitive edge in producing experts in science technology math and engineering of the forty two countries that granted more than twenty thousand universities university degrees in two thousand to the united states is in the bottom court tile in the ratio of stem college degrees awarded of future stem professionals can be found in our public schools in america that two thousand seven condition of education reminds us that a growing percentage of these students are minorities with a growing percentage from low income families these are the students that will rely on college scholarships and and college financial aid to achieve the dream of a college education the national stem scholarship database will be an invaluable tool to help our young people to find the resources they need to finance college education in the stem fields as the chairman of the sub committee on higher education i believe this legislation will also underscore that a stem career is possible anything chill message for young people to hear this is a real service to our young people into our nation i thank the gentleman from new jersey for his efforts and urge all my colleagues to support this legislation thank you i now you'll back the balance of my time  yells back the balance of his time the gentleman from georgia thanking the speaker at this time i'd like to yield five minutes to the gentleman from michigan who has been pivotal in this area in this field mr ayling the gentleman from michigan is recognized for five minutes thank t gentleman for yielding i rise in support of the national stem scholarship database act h r ten fifty one and i thank my friend and fellow nuclear physicist congressman rush holt for introducing this important legislation and i am pleased to be a co sponsor of this excellent bill for each several years congressman holt and i have worked tirelessly to improve prove our nation's math and science education it has been wonderful to have a member from the other party sharing my concern about the quality of math and science education in this country and the limited number of young people who are pursuing math and science related degrees and i'm fact i'm very pleased that represent of one hundred fifty other members have joined the stem education caucus that i founded in two thousand and four and of course i'm sure by now everyone knows that stem stands for science technology engineering and mathematics it's very important to make that clear because tomorrow we'll be debating a few stem cell issue bills on the floor and this has nothing to do with that this year an estimated one hundred  eleven thousand students in michigan will graduate from high school and may face the pricey but critical investment in the future known as paying college tuition and fees in michigan the average cost  two hundred dollars per year at a four year public university and thirteen thousand two hundred fifty dollars at a four year private university according to the common cause of higher education unfortunately data ha shown that missed some students do not attend college or graduate school because they think they cannot afford it according to the national center for education statistics science and engineering students who had taken out loans as under undergraduates were more likely to indicate a cost related reason for not applying to graduate school compared to students who had never borrowed fronts unbeknownst to some students significant financial aid resources are available the federal government alone provided about eight eighty billion dollars in student financial aid this fiscal year which states providing almost eight billion dollars in additional financial aid also the private sector provides significant financial aid resources the national stem scholarship database act will provide students with better information about financial pardon me available financial aid resources related to the stem fields it simply establishes a database to be accessed on the u s department of education's website i am very hopeful that this database will link students with available financial read aid resources and i particularly hope this will chords encourage more students to enter stem related careers by entering graduate schools related to th stem fields this is an excellent bill and i urge my colleagues to support this bill again thank congressman holt for his work on improving stem education and urge all of our colleagues to support this bill really reserve the bone to my time john yelled back at alex's time the gentleman from new jersey i thank the gentleman from michigan for his support and also for pointing out that this has nothing to do with pluripotent stem cells but it has to do with what is generally known as stam education science technology engineering and mathematics education and mr speaker i'm now pleased to yield two minutes to the gentleman from illinois my colleague on the education committee mr hare who understands that financial assistance is necessary for nearly two thirds of undergraduates and most graduate students and anything we can do to help them take advantage of available financial aid will improve their lives and our society mr hare just an illinois is recognized for two minutes i thanks gentleman for yielding thank misspeak or i come to the fore a day and a very strong supporter of h r ten fifty one the national stem scholarship database act i want to commend my friend congressman rush holt with whom i serve on the education labor committee for introducing this vital piece of legislation america's global competitiveness will increasingly depend on our ability to attract more of our best and brightest students into technological careers sadly the us is growing reliant on foreign talents to fulfill  science and engineering workforce needs according to the national science foundation twenty five percent of all college educated profession calls in science an eerie and engineering occupation the united states are foreign born the national stem scholarship database address this problem by directing the secretary of education to establish a database on the department's website was information on financial assistance for post secondary and graduate programs in science technology engineering and mathematics this important data base will help capable students who are interested in stem careers find scholarships to support their studies we all know the cost of higher education is very expensive in fact two thirds of and urged by college two colleagues to help the u s take globally competitive by voting for this bill i thank you mr speaker and i yield back the balance of my time and yells back the balance of his time the gentleman pennsylvania georgia shows me the gentleman in georgia i thank the speaker i'm not pleased to yield two minutes to my good friend from illinois mr manzullo has been a leader in this field as well john is recognized for how much time for two minutes mr speaker the science and technology and math education fields are they're inseparable the tremendous assets to our economic strength and national security these disciplines are critical to ensuring our global competitiveness the demand for knowledge base jobs is growing from one thousand nine hundred four to two thousand and three the proportion of the workforce working in stem fields jumped from seventeen percent to twenty three percent furthermore of trends in manufacturing continue over forty percent of factory jobs jobs require post secondary occasion by two thousand and twelve i spent at least half of my time congress working on manufacturing issues i'm one of the founders of the manufacturing caucus and service cochairman along with congressman tim ryan from the state of ohio and this is obviously a bipartisan effort in order to encourage more education people who will be qualified to to play a more meaningful role in the field of manufacturing the skyrocketing costs of college education have made access to this type of education more and more difficult for many of our brightest students this bill seeks to correct the problem it creates a web portal a public and private scholarships for science technology ma education for scholarships loans and grants that are available in the database would be searchable by field of study demographics and level of studies by placing all of these scholarships in one easily accessible location r ten fifty one greatly increases the chances that are students will be able to pursue these valuable opportunities it's not without coincidence this bill comes up three to four weeks after the nist reauthorization  were and we set aside a certain amount of money to complete the huge web portal that would place what agencies are doing in manufacturing and what programs are available so this  that program but encouraged at the house adopted i think you don't assign as expired the junk on the jersey mr speaker i am now pleased to yield three minutes to the gentle lady from new york my colleague on the committee on education and labor miss mccarthy who also understands the importance of this legislation to individual students as well as to our economy at large gentleman from new york is recognized for three minutes i thank the gentleman for yielding i'd like to legislation will help students become more competitive in science and math and allow them to find the scholarship that is right for them this is speaker in the audience today we have many young students this is the future of this country and we have to do everything that we can to encourage our young people to go into the science the math the engineering last year the education committee went to china and we spoke with many students there in that the minister of education and their effort and certainly and what they're pushing their young people to do is to go into the math and sciences this country has an obligation to give our young people to be able to compete in the future this kind of legislation to help in so many ways as far as our country on security our economy of more than that our young people deserve this opportunity you know when you think back into the sixty's when we were looking at the moon and having programs that putting us into space those were kids dreams we need to reunite that dream to have people understand that engineering and math is exciting the last several years missed a whole list of elders have been talking about science and math in our committee so it's right that at this time that we are pushing to encourage our young people saying if these are the careers that you want to go into we are going to help you between a private partnership and certainly with the government helping this is a great piece of legislation we should be seeing more and more of this this is only the beginning and i have to say you know less i had a field hearing back in my district and the  issue had to do with gangs and we had testimony from all the experts but even those young people that had gotten into gangs all they asking for were opportunities to better themselves this young fell did go back to college he did start studying science and math and now he's reaching out to education is the most important thing that we can do for our young people and for this country so again i say to my colleague hall for thank you for bringing this in the courage certainly all of my colleagues to support this legislation h r fifty one thirty nine this is that only the beginning we must do more things like this thank that thank you and i my time gentleman young gentleman yield back the balance of our time the chair would remind all my members to refrain from references to persons in the gallery the gentleman from georgia continued reserve the gentleman from georgia reserve the balance of his the jersey reserves the balance of the time the gentleman from georgia thank misspeak or i simply want to close and command once again my good friend mr holt for introducing this legislation and for moving this forward i think the discussion that we've had has been good i think that the breadth of individuals that have signed on as co sponsors to this legislation as well as the diversity of the background of those members who come to the floor today to speak on behalf of this legislation give testimony to the importance of moving forward having this kind of information earlier it may come as a surprise to my colleagues that this single database where any student who might be interested in science technology engineering or mathematics could go might be they might be surprised that it doesn't already exist in fact it doesn't this is straightforward legislation that will make it easier for students to pursue a line of study or one of a number of lines of study that are critically important not only for their personal development but for our economy and our society our international competitiveness indeed the future of our country this is only one piece of the many things that we need to do that you've heard from other speakers about this morning it is a straightforward simple thing that we can do not expensive if we could through this inexpensive method encourage eight or ten or twelve more students to go into science that would be wonderful instead i expect we will get hundreds if not thousands who will find their way into these critical fields because of the existence of a database that gives them a place to start as they look to their future with that mr speaker i urge the passage of h r ten fifty as amended the gentleman from new jersey yields back the balance of his time all time has now expired the question is well how suspend the higher education act the clerk will report the title of the bill h r twenty five fifty nine a bill to temporarily extend the programs under the higher education act one hundred sixty five and for other purposes persaud of the role  gentleman from texas mr in the whole saga in the gentleman from georgia mr price will control twenty minutes the chair recognizes the gentleman from texas mr speaker i request five legislative days during which members m insert material relevant to h r twenty five fifty nine into the record that objection unanimous consent i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend that objection through october thirty one two thousand and seven this bill is very straightforward it simply extends the current programs authorized under the higher education act until october thirty one two thousand and seven giving us the time to fully consider and complete the reauthorization act i would like to thank congressman mckeon the ranking member of the full committee and congressman rick keller the ranking member of the subcommittee on higher education lifelong learning and gun pettitte given is for joining sharon than george miller and me in bringing this non controversial extension to the floor in a bi part of in manner i urge all of my colleagues to support this legislation and i reserve the balance of my time the gentleman from texas reserves the balance of this time the gentleman from georgia speaker i yield myself such time as i may consume gentleman is recognized in such time as he may consume the speaker out rise in support of h r twenty five fifty nine which is a measure to extend programs under the higher education act that are set to expire at the end of this month to thank my committee colleagues chairman miller chairman ino issa mr mckeon and mr keller for their work on this bill as well as their consistent efforts on behalf of our nation's college students and their families bolstering our higher education and student aid programs has long been a priority for congress regardless of which party was in the majority in the last congress for example under republican leadership we passed a measure that reduced lender subsidies increased loan limits for students and provided additional resources for students studying math science and critical foreign languages in college unfortunately the senate didn't act on the higher education reauthorization in the last congress so we were forced to extend programs under the law last september in that extension we included a number of important benefits for college students and institutions of higher education as well for example we reduced red tape and provided loan forgiveness to spouses and parents of those who died or became disabled on september eleventh and just last month the house continued our work to strengthen the student aid system by passing the student loan sunshine bipartisan legislation that will restore confidence in the relationships between student lenders and colleges and universities now as we prepare a new to reauthorize programs under the higher education act where again faced with the need to pass an extension of these programs to bridge this gap and make no mistake the measure before us today is worthy of our support but at the same time i for that our friends on the other side of the capitol will renew their commitment to a full reauthorization these extensions now five of which we've had in the last congress alone ought to become a thing of the past  speaker i look forward to working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle and on both sides of the capitol and completing our reauthorization work in the hundred tenth congress just as importantly i also look forward to working toward reforms that recognize the contributions of market based programs that they've made on behalf of millions of students for the last several decades in the meantime i urge my colleagues to support this resolution and i reserve the balance of my time gentleman from georgia reserve the balance of his time the gentleman from texas i want to express my strong commitment that i will as the chairman of the via as chairman of the higher education subcommittee that i will work very closely with congressman price from georgia and all of the members of our committee to be able to finish the work necessary to reauthorize the higher education act sometime before the end of this year hopefully in october and i would ask the gentleman if he has other speakers the speaker i have that least one more speaker yes if so i wish to reserve the balance of my time jonathan texas reserve the balance of his time the gentleman from georgia thank you mr speaker i am now pleased to yield to my good friend and fellow physician gentleman from louisiana who has been a strong proponent of higher education in his work on the committee of the gentleman three minutes the gentleman in louisiana is recognized for three minutes thank you mr speaker and i think my colleague time that we extend that we actually get the work done on this we really need to get this done permanently but i rise in support of this extension so we can continue to move the ball forward and i hope it's my hope that the other body across the capitol will move this time around i don't we are going to do it here in the house i'm pleased that the house has agreed to include a provision offered with subcommittee chairman rob andrews that would limit projected position shortages this was an amendment to the bill that we had in the hundred ninth congress and it's my understanding that it will be included in the base bill and i am very pleased i hope also that congress will add a provision that i introduced with congresswoman mccarthy to meet the future need of qualified nurses which is an area where we have critical shortages throughout the country and so is my hope that as we go forward with this bill in the house side we can introduce this language into the bill or perhaps amend the bill if necessary once again i think it's critical that we get the job done on this we did our work in a hundred night the other body needs to move forward we need to complete our work here so we can get a good solid reauthorization bill issue forward i look forward again to working with him as we move forward with the higher education reauthorization act and i'm confident that we'll be able to get it done in this congress urged my colleagues to support this resolution and i yield back the balance of my time the gentleman from georgia yield back the balance of this time the gentleman from texas i thank congressman price for those closing remarks and i do not have any other speakers and with that mr speaker i ask the house to pass  twenty five fifty nine the general from texas also you back the balance of his time all time has now expired the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass h r two five five nine those in favor say  no and the opinion of the chair two thirds being in the affirmative the rules are suspended the bill is passed and without objection motion reconsider is laid upon the table for what purpose does the gentleman from oregon seek recognition mr speaker i move to suspend the rules and pass the resolution are four to one honoring the trailblazing accomplishments of the mercury thirteen women who efforts in the early one nine hundred sixty s demonstrated the capabilities of american women to undertake the human exploration of space the clerk will report the title of the resolution house resolution four twenty one resolution honoring the trail blazing accomplishments of them or mercury thirteen women whose efforts in the early one nine hundred sixty s demonstrated the capabilities of american women to undertake the human exploration of space personal into the resolution of the rule the gentleman from oregon mr wu and the gentleman from florida mr feeney each will control twenty minutes the chair recognizes the gentleman from oregon thank you mr speaker i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and speaker i rise today to honor the trailblazing accomplishments of the mercury thirteen women whose efforts in the early one nine hundred sixty s demonstrated the capabilities of american women to undertake the human exploration of space the mercury thirteen women were murdered myrtle cagle children jerry cobb jan dietrich marion marion dietrich mary wallace wally funk jane briggs hart gene allison wolfman all of these mercury thirteen women were accomplished pilots with commercial ratings or better and at least two thousand hours of flying time and they passed the same rigorous physical and psychological tests that the original mercury seven astronauts underwent the mercury thirteen women were prepared to continue their service to america's space program until they were informed that their testing program was cancelled while those former soviet union flew the first women in space in one thousand nine hundred fifty three it was another twenty years before the united states flew dr sally ride as the first american woman in space in one thousand nine hundred eighty three mr speaker i seek support for h r for twenty one to honor the mercury thirteen women pioneers and to encourage young women to follow in the footsteps of the mercury thirteen women in pursuing careers of excellence in aviation and astronautics as well as in engineering and science times to change i spent a chunk of my time last week at home during recess handing out space camp scholarships and at every stop it was unclear whether the winner was going to be a broke boy or a new nation in the among spacefaring nations and there's all chinese saying as there always is that women hold up half the sky and this recognition that american women have been participating in space long before nine eighty three is very very appropriate at this point in time i reserve the balance of my time the gentleman from oregon reserves the balance of this time the gentleman from florida  so called mercury thirteen women whose efforts in the early one nine hundred sixty s demonstrated the capabilities of american women to undertake human space exploration at a time when there were many prejudices against women the loveless clinic in albuquerque new mexico began testing female pilots to undertake human exploration of space under the same rigorous physical and psychological standards as nessus male astronauts in one nine hundred sixty the first of the mercury thirteen geraldine jerry cobb went to levels clinic by the end of one thousand nine hundred sixty one thirteen women had successfully completed this rigorous training following their testing program the thirteen women were prepared to continue their contributions to america's space program at the naval school aviation medicine in pensacola florida undergo advanced their own medical examination using jet aircraft and military equipment but their program was cancelled the careers accomplishments of these great american women served as inspiration for many other young women that followed in their careers in aviation aeronautics science and engineering this resolution recognizes the accomplishments of myrtle cagle geraldine jerico jen teacher geraldine jerry sloan true hill and ray hurley allison woman mr speaker i urge my colleagues to support resolution four twenty one and again thank the gentleman from oregon and would reserve the balance of my time the gentleman from florida reserve the balance of this time the gentleman from oregon mr speaker i yield five minutes to the gentleman from wisconsin dr kagan and thank him for his leadership in bringing this legislation to the floor the gentleman from wisconsin is recognized for five minutes mr speaker and thank you to my colleague from oregon and florida i appreciate your support on this important resolution i rise today to support house resolution four twenty one to honor the first american women to participate in the united states space program known as the mercury thirteen they were extremely accomplished pilots and aviators and were selected from a pool of women to become astronauts conducted loveless clinic in albuquerque new mexico they excelled in the physical and psychological studies and tests the same tests as the male candidates for astronauts school did the mercury seven although many of these women out shined and outperform their male counterparts they were never allowed to fly into space the pressures of the day grounded their mission before they could reach the stars but it did not ground their dreams in  sixty one just before their final phase of training at the naval aviation center in pensacola florida the mercury thirteen women received notice that the program had been cancelled twenty two years later nasa sent our first american woman into space sally ride in these past decades the groundbreaking the treatments of the mercury thirteen women have often been overlooked an author martha ackerman wrote this about the mercury thirteen and their quest for flying into space and she commented quote while the mercury thirteen did not get their shot at space at least not yet they refused to let someone else trim their dreams they fought for what they wanted what they believed in and spoke out against discrimination close quotes the mercury thirteen women as already stated were jerry cobb gene nora jensen wally funk marion dietrich i had the honor of meeting several of these very tough and spirited women at the university of wisconsin and osh kosh in a commencement ceremony and i was privileged and honored to present to the mercury thirteen women and honorary degree an  honorary doctorate today i have the extreme parallage to honor these phenomenal and extraordinary women on the floor of the united states house of representatives i urge my colleagues to support this resolution and their pioneering spirit that has advanced the rights of women everywhere and as these mercury thirteen women have demonstrated the sky is not the limit now you'll back my time but elementals back the balance of the time the gentleman from florida mr speaker i'd like to inform my friend from oregon that i have no further speakers and prepared to reserve my time until it's of appropriate to close when there are no for the speakers on this side either if the channel would care to close in  as recognized thank you mr speaker and again i want to thank my colleagues for their support for the great history of the mercury thirteen and say that since that mercury thirteen program there have been thirty four women that have flown aboard the space shuttle including four who made the ultimate sacrifice in the challenger and columbia accidents in order to honor such dedication after the columbia accident america committed to a vision for space exploration that will return americans to the moon undoubtedly several women will make that journey i look forward to that moment when the first american woman steps on the moon shares her experience with the rest of the world this resolution by mr wu and others recognizes the first thirteen of women that helped propel that entire gender in an entire nation into space and with that yield back the balance of my time the gentleman from florida yield back the balance of this time the gentleman from oregon i thank the gentleman from florida mr speaker again i'd like to recognize the good work of my colleague from wisconsin dr kagan for bringing this legislation to the floor it is timely and it is timely recognition of a space program that includes everyone from america and now because of the international space station and international space efforts and in includes many people from around the world and with that  speaker i yield back the balance of my time the gentleman from oregon all so yells back the balance of his time all time has now expired the question is will the house suspend the rules and agree to house resolution four to one those in favor say  those opposed no in the opinion of the chair two thirds being in the affirmative the rules are suspended the resolution is agreed to and without objection a motion to reconsider is laid upon the table what purpose of the john the morgan seek recognition mr speaker i move to suspend the rules and pass a resolution h r four four six honoring the life and accomplishments of astronaut walter sure was known as marty straw and expressing condolences on his passing the clerk report the title of the resolution house resolution four forty six resolution honoring the life and accomplishments of astronaut walter markey sharod and consent that all members have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on h r four four six the resolution now under consideration without objection mr speaker i yield my such myself such time as i may consume them as he may consume thank you mr speaker i rise today to honor the life and accomplishments of one of our heroes of the american space program astronaut walter serving in the pacific during world war two during the korean war captain sure served our country as an exchange pilot with the one hundred fifty fourth fighter bomber squadron and flew ninety combat missions and downed at least one made fighter in april of one nine hundred fifty nine wally sharod was selected by nasa as one of the original mercury seven astronauts on october three hundred sixty two he became the third american to orbit the earth when he piloted his sigma seven spacecraft on a six orbit mission that lasted nine hours thirteen minutes and eleven seconds as a brand new american who had just been in this country for a year and about eight years old i remember that and i just remember that it's one of the signal moments that i indeed had come to a country where anything and everything was was and others of the mercury seven group demonstrated that to america and to the world while sure i went on to pilot the gemini six a mission in manned apollo mission apollo seven during his career as an astronaut wally schirra was was the only astronaut to fly aboard all three generations of our late sixt early seventy's spacecraft the mercury gemini and apollo spacecraft and as outstanding service the u s space program is marked by several awards including a distinguished flying cross air force medal nasa distinguished service medal and induction into the national aviation hall of fame while he sure was a tireless advocate for discovery and spent his later years helping to connect children with the amazing possibilities that a career in space exploration can offer mr speaker today i see the support of this chamber to honor the life and accomplishments of astronaut wally scha express condolences on his passing and to recognize the profound importance of astronaut sure ross record as a space pioneer and a longtime contributor to nasa submission of space exploration scientific advancement and education in the united states mr speaker it is only fitting that this chamber honor wallish ross achievements and i urge my colleagues to support this resolution and reserve the balance of my time the gentleman reserves the balance of his time the gentleman from florida the speaker i yield myself such time as i may consume the gentleman is recognized as such time as he may consume i again want to thank mr room my friend from oregon for this resolution and i want to speak in favor of resolution four forty six which honors the life and accomplishments of an extraordinary man astronaut walter martie sure are while you sure are as he was known to nearly everyone was truly a great american and a terrific human being wily sharara was born in hackensack new jersey on march twelfth one thousand nine hundred three and was happy perhaps best known as an accomplished nasa astronaut and human spaceflight pioneer with the distinction of being the only astronaut to fly aboard the mercury gemini and apollo spacecraft he was named one of nasa's original mercury seven astronauts in april of one nine hundred fifty nine became the fifth american to fly into space then as the commander of the g country with honor as a pilot one hundred fifty fourth fighter bomber squadron during the korean war shara flew over ninety combat missions in f eighty four egypt and was credited with downing at least one enemy mig fighter what is perhaps less well known about wallace rara is his personal warmth his contagious sense of humor and his tireless dedication as an advocate for discovery after his retirement in one thousand nine hundred four he spent many years working to inspire children to pursue their dreams by connecting them to the amazing possibilities of space exploration for captured the pride of our entire nation when he wrote in quotes we shared a common dream to test the limits of man's imagination and during those early pioneering flights of mercury the performances of gemini and the trips to the moon established us once and for all as what i like to call a space faring nation like england spain and portugal crossing the season search of their nation's greatness so we reach for the skies and emboldened our nation in quote i am deeply saddened by wallace for hours passing on may to two thousand and seven he was truly an american hero i'm proud to support this resolution honoring such a prominent american citizen military veteran and astronaut mr speaker i heard by urge my colleagues to support house resolution four forty six and with that would reserve the balance of my time the gentleman from florida reserve the when we go through the record of the life of of wally he was a san diego for a long time and we celebrated wally as a neighbor and as a friend and as a national and international hero the fact is is that he did serve extensively like many san diego and then military and three distinguished flying cross as to where medals more than you know a minute or two on the side obviously went into the space race with a lot of accomplishments the being the only individual to fly and all three of the the first stages of manned space flight for america was unique but i think just point out before wally is a man that filled in so often when others might have hesitated after the terrible disaster of losing astronauts in a major fire he did not hesitate to look forward to be the first to step back into those capsules and move on and move up with our space race that kind of bravery we didn't really take into consideration i think at the time what a huge challenge it must've been to explain to your wife you know honey i am going to get in this capsule no it's not going to somebody has to do it and i will be one and we don't think about that family that personal aspect of being a hero and that moving forward with those kind of accomplishments and i also like to say that we forget that without the docking procedure that wally was able to master there was not going to be any trip to the moon it was an essential component as important as any missile any rocket any control system the ability for man to dock with another space ship it was an essential part and wally was a major part of that but i want to thank all of my colleagues for sorting supporting this bill wiley was our neighbor he was our friend and he really did live a life that sandy as a proud of the public service he's managed later years working with the local museums with for flight history and he also spent a lot of time on a sailboat in san diego but i want to thank all of you because while he was not just a hero to the world in a and to america he was a neighbor and a friend for those of us in san diego and now you're back as well i expect to be proudly this friday evening where we're down at cape canaveral where we will hopefully send the next shuttle flight into space with with some good luck and good fortune and as i'm down there i'll join many americans in thinking are and the other great heroes that have come forward and made these great feats today possible in the many more opportunities in space they would not have happened without heroes like wally sharara with that i yield back the balance of my time spend the rules and agree to house resolution four four six those in favor say aye those opposed no in the opinion of the chair two thirds being in the affirm motive the rules are suspended the resolution is agreed to without objection reconsider is laid upon the table the chair lays before the house the following unrolled bill what purpose does the gentleman morgan rise the speaker i ask unanimous consent that executive communications thirteen seventy the department of transportation's final rule human spaceflight requirements for crew and space flight participants be referred to the committee on science and technology without objection what purpose is the john morgan seek recognition mr speaker i move to suspend the rules and pass h r fourteen sixty seven the ten thousand trained by two thousand  institutions of higher education to develop and offer education and training programs pursuant to the rule of the gentleman morgan mr willow and the gentleman from texas mr hall each will control twenty minutes the chair recognizes the gentleman from oregon mr speaker i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to account include extraneous material on h r fourteen sixty seven bill now under consideration without objection but speaker i yield myself self such time as i may consume the gentleman organised recognizes such time as he may consume thank you mr speaker i and other members of the science and technology committee have been working on the issue of health care id for several years the genesis of this legislation h r four thousand nine hundred seven was a roundtable i held in oregon in august of two thousand and five this roundtable was followed by an environment stance of standards and technology hearing on healthcare information technology in february of two thousand and six represent his right representative right here of washington chaired the hearing and our current ranking member mr hall also had staff in attendance one of the common issues raised at both of these events was the lack of training people who are experts in both health care and in information technology despite the federal focus on developing a national electronic health care recipe records system there is no systematic plan for the training of current and prospective professionals in both health care and i t without the specialized training the technology can sit on healthcare providers desks as a box cold and unused rather than as an integrated system of health care doing what it should do the need for individuals to manage health care i t is expected to grow forty nine percent between two thousand and two thousand and ten and nearly seventy five percent of health care organizations indicated that there are not enough qualified applicants for these positions i would like to point out the science and technology committee has a history of developing spirit specific and specialized training and research programs for i t professionals during the hundred seven congress the committee became concerned that the lack of specialized computer security training for i t stew and professionals was a contributing factor in the lack of decent computer security practices and software as a result the committee developed and moved h r thirty three ninety four the cybersecurity research and development act which subsequently became public law one o seven dash three o five the bill under consideration today h r fourteen sixty seven consists of four components it authorizes the national science foundation or n s f to award research grants for innovative approaches to and help enhancing healthcare infor cs i want to make clear that this provision builds upon existing n s f activities it authorizes n s f to support multi disciplinary health and medical informatics research centers to perform research and to train qualified healthcare informatics personnel and professionals next it authorizes n s f to establish a grant program to improve undergraduate master's and certificate programs in healthcare informatics the goal is to increase the number of students and the quality of training in their field this program allows both four year and two year institutions to participate as well as allowing for the development of continuing egad education curricula and finally it authorizes an s an s s advanced technology education program which focuses solely on two year colleges to support improved education and technical training for healthcare informatics h r fourteen sixty seven is a bipartisan product of the science and technology committee ranking member hall and i introduced this bill in the last congress in this congress we introduced this legislation along with chairman gordon and ranking member gingrey of the technology and innovation such committee i have spoken to dr gingrey about health care i t and he knows from his firsthand experience the challenges involved in integrating i t into health care settings we all recognize the benefits that integrated health i t network could provide in terms of improve patient care safety privacy and potentially cost savings however investment in physical infrastructure and technology alone is not enough we need research and training programs health care and i t professionals in order to use and design the system well thank you very much mr speaker and i reserve the balance of my time to gel in the balance of his time the chair  clarified that the gentleman did in fact call up the bill correctly it was reported without amendment by the committee on science and technology and that is the matter now pending before the house the gentleman from texas speaker today in support of h r fourteen sixty seven the ten thousand trained by twenty ten act and in the primary goal it seeks to achieve this if implemented correctly and efficiently health information technology which we call can revolutionize our health care system however we have to have an educated workforce properly trained in health in order for it to be successful this is what h r four hundred sixty seven is all about creating health and medical and for medics research centers and making improvements to undergraduate and master's degree program for healthcare informatics also expands the advanced technological education program which i'm a strong supporter to include help t the activities supported by your four hundred sixty seven are important if we're to have a sufficiently trained help that the work force and i encourage my colleagues to adopt wit i reserve the balance from a time when the gentleman from texas reserves the balance of this time the gentleman from oregon i thank the gentleman from texas for working with me and his staff for working with our staff over a recognized you know back to my time the gentleman in texas yield back the balance of this time the john the morgan i thank the gentleman and again i thank you gentlemen for his work and his staff work and i would like to thank the staff on both sides of the aisle on the science committee for working hard to two congresses to bring this legislation to the floor and encourage all my colleagues to vote for adoption of this legislation and with that  opposed no in the opinion of the chair two thirds being in the affirmative the rules are suspended the bill is passed without objection the motion reconsider is laid upon the table for what purpose of the gentleman's illinois seek recognition christer speaker i move to suspend the rules of pass h r seven hundred sixteen the green energy education act of two thousand and seven as amended the clear forty fourth the title of the bill union calendar number one o five h r seventeen sixteen a bill to authorize higher education curriculum development of graduate training in advanced energy and green building technology for sort of the role of the gentleman from illinois mr lipinski and the with support of h r seven hundred sixteen the green energy education act of two thousand and seven i'd like to thank mr mccollum mr hill for their leadership on this important legislation this bill authorizes the department of energy to contribute funds to national science foundation successful integrative graduate education and research traineeship program known as i good i go towards repair doctoral students by integrating research in education in innovative ways that are tailored to the unique requirements of newly emerging into disciplinary fields and new career options many future green energy technologies such as then solar technologies w require interdisciplinary teams of scientists and engineers such as those trained under the i grit program this bill although authorizes the department of energy's high performance building technology programs to contribute to the national science foundation ongoing curriculum development activities with the goal of improving the ability of engineers an architect to design and construct high performance buildings innovate technologies couple with a whole building's approach that optimize interactions among building systems and components unable buildings to use considerably less energy while also helping to meet national goals for sustainable development environmental protection in energy security the high performance or green building movement is growing rapidly but it is still a very small slice of the multibillion dollar building industry and there's a real gap in university level education and training for the next generation of green building professionals this bill helps address that gap in summary this bill dresses a critical need to provide resources to universities to update the curriculum and research efforts in alternative energy and high performance buildings in approved coordination between the department of energy and the national science foundation in achieving this goal please support h r seven hundred sixteen the green energy education this bill which i introduced in the last congress and i'm pleased to see get to the house floor in this congress the national academy academies rising above the gathering storm report echoed the calls of many in the academic and business community for a greater need to recruit and develop scientific and engineering talent to work on solving problems of a national need like many members of congress i'm concerned about america's dependence on foreign sources of energy reliance on imported energy only serves to increase our vulnerability to both extra nola vents and the actions of regimes that are in many cases it's many cases openly hostile to the interest of the united states one of the ways we can reduce the need for energy imports is to use our energy more efficiently buildings consume more energy than any other sector of the economy including industry and transportation and according to the u s department of energy american buildings consume thirty nine percent of our nation's primary energy and seventy percent of electricity however energy efficient building practices are not being fully utilized in part because of a lack of awareness about energy efficient technologies and design practices among building professionals that is why i introduced the green energy education act this legislation authorizes the department of energy to partner with the national science foundation to support graduate education and curriculum development to advance the always brought energy technology development mission working through the n s f d o we will help develop the next generation of engineer years and architects to produce buildings incorporating the latest in energy efficient technologies in order to reduce the likelihood of duplicative and wasteful programs this bill also allows the department of energy and the national science foundation to combine their efforts to find workable solutions to the issues surrounding building efficiency than to be transferred to the marketplace specifically h r seventeen sixteen will authorize science and applied energy technology programs to contribute funds to the n s f successful integrative graduate education and research traineeship program which is already doing great work  this area this bill also also authorizes the d o t to contribute to an s s curriculum development activities in order to improve the ability of engineers and architects to design and construct a more efficient and durable buildings i urge my colleagues to support this important step towards increasing america's energy independence and i reserve the balance of my time to reduce our energy consumption in this country it's critical for our national security our economic security and to come back will be climate change and certainly energy efficient building the great work is being done and that's much more work needs to be done i have seen at the partment energy lab the work that is being done and and some of this i think much more needs to be done this bill will help to provide these opportunities for more students more people to learn about what it takes to make our buildings more energy efficient again i commend personal call and mr hill for this bill and i years my colleagues to  those in favor of those favoring a vote by the age of nays will rise remain standing until counted establish monetary prizes for richie minton overcoming scientific and technical barriers associated with hydrogen and energy first thought of the role of the gentleman from illinois mr le penske and the gentleman from south i rise today in support of h r six thirty two the h prize act of two thousand and seven an innovative bill i introduced along with mr inglis of south carolina and it was passed in this house last year by a vote of four sixteen the six america faces a great challenge today finding a new clean energy source that will free us from our dependence on foreign oil it will combat global climate change hydrogen has great potential to be this new source in asia project will help focus america's technological in entrepreneurial talent and making it happen hydrogen fuel cars already exist last year i had the opportunity to drive  it didn't drive much differently than a gas powered car except for the silent silence that i'm used to somewhat from driving a hybrid but that was the only real performance difference there is no performance  is only indifference i know it was a silent but there are really currently significant technical and economic barriers that must still be overcome before we can put a hydrogen car in every american garage current hydrogen powered vehicles cost about one million dollars but while several significant technological advances are necessary they are within reach just yesterday it reported in the chicago tribune that engineers at purdue university are researching methods of producing hydrogen gas by combining aluminum with another metal gallium and adding water this research could yield ways of overcoming hydrogen  allowing automobile engines to burn this gas with little modification why must continue to invest in traditional grants to fun university research when congress has a responsibility to find creative and new ways to inspire researchers business leaders in our youth to solve the problems that society faces today the age prize the hope expand the possibilities of how you can research promoting people not normally involve the federal research explore one of the greatest challenges facing us today specifically this legislation with sales competitively awarded cash prizes to spur innovations that bans the use of hydrogen as a fuel for transportation every two years for one million dollar prizes would be given for advances in the production storage distribution and use ation of hydrogen and one for million dollar prize would be awarded for advances in prototype hydrogen vehicles and at the end of ten years one grand prize of ten million dollars would be given for transformational advance in hydrogen energy technology indigenous ten million dollar grand also seeking to raise up to forty million dollars to add to that grand prize forty million dollars in private contributions when these advances are made hydrogen can still critical energy needs even beyond transportation arjen will also be used to provide heat and generate electricity the future possibilities of this energy source are enormous most importantly arjun will be a clean domestic energy source when used for energy hydrogen produces no emissions you sized water zero emissions an amazing advance over current energy resources and by utilizing how you can we can improve our national security by lessening our dependence on foreign oil that often comes from unstable countries mr speaker america has always been at the forefront of technological breakthroughs we respond to great challenges perhaps most famously president john f kennedy's challenge to land a man on the moon before the end of the one nine hundred sixty s and we have seen the prizes have been an effective way to inspire technological advances pride as a catalyst to a better cleaner more secure america and world i reserve the balance of my time job well and i reserve the balance of the time gentlemen in south carolina mr lipinski and a gentleman from south carolina mr inglis for working together so well the brain this important piece of legislation to the floor i was proud to join four hundred fifteen of my colleagues in supporting this bill last congress and i'm pleased that the a has been brought up again so that we can have an opportunity to enact this important legislation in the law i rise in strong support of h r six thirty two the h project the constitution united states provides that congress has the power to promote the progress of science and useful arts we in congress have an opportunity an obligation to promote scientific advancement today for more than a century america's industry transportation and households have been have been heavily reliant on foreign oil we must now face a few realities petroleum is a finite resource no matter how much we explore and discover we will one day run out and booming worldwide demand is burning up resources and driving up prices we must search for alternatives to win us off our addiction to foreign sources of oil the drive to produce energy economically can be advanced to american innovation and competition fossil fuel technology was the impetus for twentieth century industrial development today hydrogen holds a promise of being the driver for the economy of the future and ushering in a new generation of american energy independence hydrogen makes up ninety eight percent of the known universe and it is and it is the third most abundant element of the earth's surface it is the lightest of all gases the coldest of all liquids next to helium and as a component of water minerals and acids it makes up a fundamental part of all carbons inorganic substances hydrogen is renewable abundant efficient and clean unlike carbon based fuels it does not create fumes or other harmful emissions in fact using hydrogen in fuel cells produces only electricity and pure water transformational technologies we are not that far away from making hydrogen a functional source of energy h r six thirty two will speed development of breakthrough technologies that will make hydrogen a practical alternative to oil in our transportation sector and set our nation on a path toward energy independence i strongly urge all my colleagues to support h r six thirty two and again i just want to commend the two gentlemen mr lipinski of illinois and mr inglis of south carolina for their strong leadership in advocacy on this critical issue with that i  the generally from florida miss brown weight and a lady from florida is recognized for three minutes i think the gentleman for yielding mr speaker i rise to a very strong support of the h prize bill that we have before us six thirty ten this legislation encourage is the best of what this house can offer and that is ingenuity in the genius of the american inventor we've always known that when the american people in our free markets put our mind to a problem there is no stopping them when we face the challenges of world war two or the runaway inflation of the nine hundred seventy s american genius and the free market prevailed and delivered our solutions today's challenge is for us to reduce our dependence on foreign oil sources our goal is to create a free market diversified portfolio of energy sources so that we are never again reliant on one single source for energy needs whether with wind solar nuclear or biofuel this congress is goal should be to protect the environment with as little prejudice for or against alternative energy sources as possible one might ask why as we are already seeing with ethanol we should never forget the law of unintended consequences by forcing ethanol into our gas tanks congress has unfortunately raised the price of our guess and the price of feed for livestock listen up america our experience with ethanol should be a cautionary reminder of the burdens government regulation places on our economy and the everyday lives of american families what is so brilliant about the age prize is that unlike most of the programs coming out of congress this bill doesn't mandate a specific form of technology or a red and additional regulatory burden indeed instead the h prize encourages the inventor and the market to generate the ideas and solutions mr speaker republicans pretty much have been shut out of debate and denied amendments but this bill was one of our ideas from the last congress which i voted for than i certainly will vote for now i commend you for moving a free market thank my colleague from illinois mr lipinski for his work on a number of energy initiatives that we're collaborating on this is one of those things a very exciting bill that won't solve all of our challenges but it will get us down the road toward a brighter energy future and it's always helpful to have a picture tell us thousand words this is a picture of a gas line in a province in china on august seventeenth two thousand and five that's a line of cars waiting to buy gas exxon mobil tells us the global energy demand is expected to grow by sixty percent between now and two thousand and thirty so we've got to find something to do in order to get to a brighter energy future one that doesn't involve the restricted supply that we have when it comes to patrol and so what we've come up with is an idea of prize for being the first to make a successful transatlantic flight it worked with flight and it worked again here more recently when the the end sorry x prize was created to invent incentivize space flight on october fourth two thousand and four burt rutan's spaceship one became the first private spacecraft with commercial potential succeeding in going into space twice within two weeks and the result was they won the and sorry x prize so the concept here is to build on that kind of legacy and create  prize the good news for our colleagues is this should be a terribly controversial vote the last time we did it we got four hundred sixteen votes in favor of the h prize so it's a do over with a for sixteen to six margin last time so we're hoping this can be successful here today on the floor as my colleague from illinois just said mr lipinski was telling us that the concept is to is to incentivize breakthroughs in hydrogen technology and as he said technical breakthroughs would be rewarded with a million dollar prize and then prototypes every other year four million dollars and in the transformational technology prize the big win would be a ten million dollars prize hopefully augmented by up to forty million dollars of private money that's authorized under the bill so the concept is to basically create the most non governmental way to achieve a governmental purpose which is to break this dependence on oil so we've created the age prize it's a it's a way of incentivizing entrepreneurs and inventors to come together and to create teams that can break make this breakthrough the beauty of a prize to beauties of a prize is to point out here to our colleagues one is if nobody does it you don't pay the prize money out so they've got to win it in order for us to incur the obligation to pay the money out that's a good thing about prizes a second thing that's very important about prizes is the breakthroughs may come from way outside the normal realm that you would expect and it could be that it's not the normal people that are the normal suspects that might come forward with a breakthrough it may be somebody a field for example hydrogen breakthroughs may come from biological agents that create hydrogen as part of their metabolism that's way outside the field of where a lot of people are expecting hydrogen production to come from but if you have a prize that isn't restricted as to how you create the hydrogen then you get a lot more entrants and you get interest from a broad range of fields that maybe may come in with the out of the box thinking that can transform our energy supply so i'm very pleased that we've got it on the floor today i thank the gentleman from illinois once again for his collaboration on these topics and i'm hopeful that today will pass it with a large margin and that we'll be successful with the other body and then they use signature by the president and this will be one of the one of the ways that we can break this addiction to oil and move to a more stable energy future for america and i reserve the balance of my time mr speaker the gentleman reserves the gentleman from illinois the speaker i get t balance of my time the gentleman from illinois reserves balanced this time the gentleman from south carolina recognized mr speaker i yield back the balance right that the gentleman from south carolina carolina yield back the balance of his time the gentleman from illinois speaker i yield myself at times i'm a consumer gentleman is recognized as a speaker this legislation is another great example of what we've been able to do on the science and technology committee by working together in a bipartisan manner led by chairman gordon working with ranking member hall i hope that we can continue this cooperation other critical issues related to america's future technological competitiveness energy independence and global climate change this is the type of bipartisan work we need to continue to be doing to make progress i'd also like to thank mr inglis for all the work he has done on this we worked on this bill last year we work together on that and mr inglis is the one who came forward that that time with the original idea and this is worked very well we have continued to work to make progress i'm very hopeful that this year we have worked with the senate the administration we can get this passed not just the house but sign into law because i think this h fries act has really great potential and has the great potential to solve the great energy challenge we face today but perhaps it may be the most important in spurring the imagination are you our most valuable resource in this country  hundred seventy two great excitement about alternative energy there was an environmental movement and there was the gasoline crisis and there was great interest in helping clean up the environment investing in alternative energies and it's something that really got me excited i was caught up in it was in grade school back in the one nine hundred seventy s i remember i did my eighth grade science fair project on solar energy that was ba hundred eighty we saw unfortunately though that interest in alternative energy really dropped off after that time not only interest but then federal funding dropped all this talking the science solution this morning they talked about how critical that was when that research funding dropped off we can't afford to let that happen again but what did happen with me is it really inspired me got me interested i went i got a degree in mechanical engineering in although i did not continue down that road today i bring that background to this how you continue to work on these issues understand the importance of th understand the importance of the federal government really investing in our future and especially in alternative energy and these challenges are great we must really confront them so today maybe this age pri will inspire another child out there today he may he or she may become an engineer or scientist or an entrepreneur who plays a hand in the next great technological breakthrough so there is great hope with this prize act in today mr speaker i ask my colleagues to join me in passing this bill and today hopefully in the future we can look back at today and see it as a major change in a major move forward for america and for the world and you'll back the balance of my time the gentleman from illinois yielded back the balance of his time the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass h r six thirty two as amended those in favor  internet from unknowing transmission of their personally identifiable information through spyware programs and for other purposes pursuant to the rule the gentleman from illinois mr rush and the gentleman from florida mr stearns each will control twenty minutes recognizes the gentleman from illinois the speaker and i ask unanimous consent that all members of five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on the bill under consideration without objection t this bill is not unfamiliar to the house of representatives twice this bill has passed as this body has passed us by act with overwhelming margins and it is my hope that today will be the third time h r ninety six fo aggressively tackles the problem of spyware the insidious software that consumers unwillingly download onto their computers only to have their personal private information extracted for commercial or fraudulent purposes in the past two congresses ms bono and the town's introduced a bipartisan spy act and both times the build enjoy overwhelming support this year on may tenth two thousand and seven the inch energy and commerce committee unanimously reported h r ninety six for the spy act as amended h r ninety six boyo provide a broad regulatory framework that empowers consumer will knowledge and the ability to control what file what software is installed and is not installed on their personal computers this bill prohibits unfair or deceptive acts and practices related to spyware and creates an opt in regime whereby an entity cannot execute any program that collects a personal was a person's personal information without first given explicit notice to the consumer and second receiving his or her consent h r nice explore provided that the f t c wilentz for enforce the spying and would have the authority to impose significant civil penalties due in both the committee the full committee and the subcommittee mockups of h r ninety six for i introduce manages amendments tweaking provisions of the bill and they were the work product of deliberative bipartisan cooperation this bill has been thoroughly hoang to be fact of without being overbearing colleagues i'm pleased again you've been here a number of times to consider h r nine sixty four the spy act bill which is important to fight internet privacy in the past and as we speak on the floor today this has bipartisan support and bipartisan leadership it's been offered by my colleague from california mary bono and my colleague from new york at towns both of them have work to do to flee to try and pass this bill and unfortunately last time we passed overwhelmingly in the house it did not get through the senate so we're back at it again i also want to thank the new chairman of the committee that i was chair of last year mr rush for his commitment to maintaining a bipartisan process in this and that's why we're here on the floor today if it hadn't been for the leadership of these individuals combined with what i think is a federal trade commission commitment and the stakeholders in the community in this process  we would not have had a workable legislative solution so i think the thing today that we have to realize that even at the last that last eleventh hour we might have some people that don't totally agree but i think the bill is a strong  bill takes a firm and i think fair and balanced approach in balancing the needs to address bad actors and the need to protect the function of legitimate business tools both at the committee level and on the floor we've gone down this  are as i mentioned three times three times we've gone through the process of holding hearings receiving testimony from many witnesses listening to the horrors of spyware and how it can be a tool of  and we know how dennehy theft is prevalent today conduct negotiations and we've asked for ways to improve the bills we've been across the board in industry to see what's the best way to improve this bill so i think we worked hard on th legislation and my colleagues i think it's time we move this to the senate and if there's any further problems with this bill we certainly can handle these problems in the conference between the house and the senate now should realize that there's some in the business community who have raised the eleventh hour concerned about a specific provision that was at a full committee markup not in our subcommittee mr chairman but in the full committee i have been through seven hearings dealing with privacy  question of opt in and opt out i'm well aware of the feelings of members dealing with opt in opt out depending upon how you view this process so i share some of the concerns of the business community and their l attempt to bring this to our attention but the interest of continuing to move this process forward i think is important that's why i've decided to vote yes today to support this bill and hopefully when the senate has it they can make the changes if not we can do it in but to take a bill that is been in process and have had so many hearings for so many years and do decide that should not go forward is not the right a process and we all in congress and congress here know that sometimes the enemy of the good is a perfect so we can solve this issue i think to satisfy all interested parties it's a strong piece of legislation and i cannot think of a reason why our senate colleagues should not act on it also chairman i reserve the balance of my time gentleman for the reserves the gentleman from illinois mr speaker i'm pleased to your five minutes to the gentleman from new york my colleague my friend mr towns gentleman from new york is recognized for five minutes thank very much for yelling time mr speaker i rise in support h r ninety six for the spy act which would greatly improve the privacy of consumers online computer use the time has come for this bill to pass a lot of hard work has been put into this legislation first and foremost i would like to commend congresswoman mary bono the republican of the bill of course without her hard work inside and persistence on this issue we would not be where we are today i've been proud to work with her on this bill and i salute her for all of our efforts and of course we've been down this road a few times now would several hearings and of course we passed it before but this time i think that people realize how important this legislation is and i do feel that it should go all the way i also want to commend chairman dingell and ranking member barton for their strong commitment to this issue and leadership in getting our bill to the floor i would like to make my very good friend the chair subcommittee chair chairman rush of chicago illinois the ranking member of course stearns who has been a friend for many many years as well for their hard work on this legislation and of course they've stayed with it and gone through the process over and over again because they recognize how important this legislation is to our country finally i would like to acknowledge all of the that spyware is a serious problem spyware software which in is downloaded without a computer owner's knowledge invades one's privacy by recording and transmitting personal information monitoring the website someone visits or even stealing documents from an individual's computer other programs hijack a computer by changing homepages are forcing  person to click through months of the screen until they spyware program is downloaded in fact problems related to spyware have become so widespread that i cannot run into someone who hasn't been negatively affected by it this is a big change from when we first began this effort a few years ago there was only a few people complain it but now we have a lot of people complaining now we know this years are the problem and that we need federal legislation to safeguard consumers privacy as well as to ensure the long term integrity of e commerce today's legislation provides consumers with new tools to protect themselves from unwanted harmful software under the bill consumers would have to receive a clear and concise warning about the spyware program second consumers would have to provide the affirmative consent before the program could operate on their computers finally mr speaker consumers must have the option to easily dis have a full spyware programs to their computers while some consumers may want to share the information to receive free games other discount offers all consumers have the right to make that choice family mr speaker and this time i really mean finally in a time we legislate on highly technical matters there's always a danger of stifling innovation and making the use of legitimate software too burdensome it is a very difficult tightrope to walk but i think we have done an excellent job in walking that tightrope this bill addresses many of the concerns raised while at the same time retaining a meaningful notice they consider regime to protect consumer privacy do much hard work we have carefully crafted a strong bipartisan consumer protection bill and i would urge my colleagues to support this this is a quality piece of legislation and i hope that we are able to move it through both houses very what fire was or how problematic it could be to american citizens and since that time the online threat of spyware remains according to a recent consumer reports today spyware and viruses cost american computer users nearly eight billion dollars over a two year period historically fire legislation in this house has received strong bipartisan support our initial bill and the one hundred eighth congress passed three hundred ninety nine to one and in the one hundred are spyware bill again received overwhelming bipartisan support garnering over sixty co sponsors and passing the house three hundred ninety three to four mr speaker this congress and this congress h r nine sixty four  the securely protect yourself against cyber trust us act or spy act has again garnered wide bipartisan support with forty one co sponsors because of the internet's role interstate commerce and the need for federal fire legislation is clear we cannot expect online companies to function efficiently when they are faced with a patchwork of state anti piracy statutes there needs to be legal uniformity additionally i remain a strong proponent of anti spyware legislation because i believe consumers should have the final say about what plants itself on their computer not a third party with potentially conflicting interests the spy act accomplishes this by prohibiting commonly known unfair or deceptive acts relating to spyware h r nine sixty four also prohibits the collection of personal information from a computer without notice and consent before the first execution of any information collection program the bill also requires that the user is able to easily remove  disable the spyware i also understand there are instances where spy work can be useful h r nine sixty for example actions taken by law enforcement and national security pursuant to warrant a court order or other lawful process or actions taken in good faith with the users consent h r nine sixty four also protect the developers of anti spyware software from the threat of spurious lawsuits simply state just to work to restore privacy on the home computer which has become t control center for our business transactions as well as our personal interactions mr speaker my colleague from new york and i began this effort in two thousand and three and i thank the gentleman at town for all of his efforts and for being such a terrific partner in this process again since that time the separators has received the bipartisan support of the house it is my hope that the one hundred tenth congress will continue to act in a bipartisan way that passes legislation i ask for the support of my colleagues and hope that once again we can take back our computers to the consumer owns their computer not a third party lets pacify our h r ninety six before i yield back the balance of my time generally to yield back general from my illinois mr rush to reserve the balance of my time the gentleman from illinois reserves the gentleman from florida the speaker i have no additional speakers at this time so i think i'll yield back the balance of my time gentleman should pass out of this house at the same kind of margins that it passed out of two previous congresses and i would urge my colleagues to vote for this bill once again this bill needs to become law this bill protects the american consumer this bill protect the american economy this is a good bill it needs to become law none of the practices outl legitimate practices are exempted by the exceptions and section three b two and the limitations in section five of the spy act the committee added a new r back the balance of this time the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass h r one to explore as amended those in favor say aye i was opposed no in the opinion of the chair two thirds being in the affirmative the rules are suspended the  recognizes the gentle lady from colorado thank you mr speaker i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration without thank you mr speaker speaker i have myself such time as i may consume jim it generally is recognized speaker i rise today in strong support for h r twenty five sixty the human cloning prohibition act of two thousand and seven tomorrow the house will debate s five the stem cell research and hansen act which will expand the number of stem cell lines that are eligible for federally funded research similar to the legislation passed in the house earlier this year with overwhelming bipartisan support the goal of s five is to accelerate scientific progress towards cures and treatments for a wide range of diseases and debilitating health conditions when we debated the bill in january opponents of the bell chose to muddle the debate by offering a motion to recommit involving cloning at topic unrelated to h r three after the debate a number of my colleagues asked me if we could address the issue of human reproductive cloning because they like i were opposed to reproductive cloning so as we prepare to debate embryonic stem cell research tomorrow i've introduced h twenty five sixty with my colleague from connecticut so that we can discuss this important issue to scientists is scotland were able to create a clone she named dolly some have speculated about the possibility of one day cloning human being but we can all agree there is a universal opposition to conducting human reproductive cloning and it should be illegal human right reproductive cloning is morally and scientifically wrong unfortunately at this time though there is no nothing to present prevent irresponsible individuals from conducting research in an attempt to achieve human reproductive cloning the most effective way to prevent human reproductive cloning in the united states is to pass a federal probation on this practice and impose severe penalties for doing so this is why my colleague congressman chris smith he and i have introduced the human cloning prohibition act of two thousand and seven our bill would make it illegal to use cloning technology to initiate a pregnancy and therefore create a cloned human being the penalties for such could would include severe criminal sanctions an addition in addition to as much as ten million dollars in civil fines these strict penalties are necessary to ensure that such an act is prevent from occurring unbelievably people actually are opposing this bill because they are seeking to characterize that as a much broader bill while they make many false claims the fact of the matter is this legislation today is solely a ban on human reproductive cloning something that all members of congress as well as i think the vast majority of american public support the accusations that this bill expressly allows something new are completely fall i also find it ironic that those who oppose our bill argue that one of its flaws is that it would force all cloned embryos to be kill the bad bill than human reproductive cloning nothing more nothing less so the arguments of those who are say that they are against cloning that we should somehow defeat our bill to prevent cloned embryos from being killed it defines logic just like it defies logic why anyone would vote against a spell mr speaker i hope today we can take the rhetoric down we can focus on what this bill to which is to prevent human reproductive cloning we all agree this practice should be banned so russian opposition to h r twenty five sixty this bill is being marketed as a ban on human cloning however h r twenty five sixty does nothing to prevent human cloning in fact the bill allows for unlimited cloning of human embryos but prevents women and doctors from trying to implant one of these embryos to initiate a pregnancy in practice this means that embryos will be cloned used for experimentation harvesting research than assigned a death sentence so cloned embryos would be required by law to die not only does the bill allow the practice of cloning to move forward it also mandates the killing of those human embryos the bill before sedan is a ruse it is not a ban on cloning it is a permission to clone and i hope no one here today will be confused about what we're being asked to do the bill supporters state that this would ban reproductive cloning but this claim is highly misleading because the language does not restrict the actual act of human cloning by allowing for somatic cell nuclear transfer a confusing and technical way of defining research cloning the bill before us is called the human and human cloning prohibition ban and you might think that it does what it says instead of the opposite of what it says but dead what it said i'd vote for part of the problem we're having is a consequence of having had no committee process to determine what the bill actually does we've had no hearings we've had no markups in fact the bill was not even introduced until last night now the bill that nobody has seen is on the suspension calendar intentional or otherwise this is another duplicity the suspension is for non controversial measure like naming post office offices not for highly controversial legislation that is a wolf in dolly the sheep scl od'ing this bill is bad policy and so was the process by which it got here how many times will we have this discussion the week before memorial day we discussed a bill in medicare payments that came to the house floor the same way yesterday a resolution on how congress will handle future ethics matters was introduced on the same day that it was inserted in the spent in calendar with no committee hearings and a cynic could be forgiven for concluding that the new majority's promises of open government still are not being realized after five months the bill is opposed by the white house in their statement of administration policy which came out they said they would quote that this would prohibit human cloning for rip reproductive purposes but permit the creation of cloned embryos or development of human embryo farms for research which would require destruction of nations human life in quote and that's what exactly what r twenty five sixty does it crosses a new moral line by making it a criminal act to let cloned embryos survive to put it directly this bill would create a class of living human beings that must be killed under the law as a speaker this is not progress it is a disturbing step in the wrong direction it should be rejected on this floor and i urge my colleagues to oppose the bill bill and i reserve the balance of my time gentleman reserves and gentle lady from colorado thank you mr speaker mr speaker just briefly as the gentleman from pennsylvania now our committee the energy and commerce committee did have best hearings on cloning several years ago where we brought in several scientists as well as a cult called the rally you are actually trying to clone human beings and that's why we need this kind of limitation that i'm pleased to yield five minutes to my co sponsor of the bill the gentleman from connecticut connecticut is recognized for five minutes thank you mr speaker and i thank my colleague representative to get for being such a leader on this issue in the past and allowing me to join with her today to offer this very commonsense measure regarding the banning of human reproductive cloning i rise in support of this act today and i do so because to me the bill before us is relatively simple this is a straightforward ban on human reproductive cloning taking material through sematic cell nuclear transfer and turning that material into a living breathing human being as represented to get said nothing more nothing less under this law if someone uses cloning technology to initiate a pregnancy and create a cloned human being they would face severe criminal and civil sanctions this legislation something that the vast majority american public supports and it's something that all members of congress i think should support as well in connecticut as part of our state's historic stem cell investment act which i was very honored to have authored we recognize that human reproductive cloning is a practice that perverts the promise of science and we banned it outright in our legislation in fact i think it's pretty amazing that we're standing here having this debate today that the federal government has until today not stepped forward and said that human reproductive cloning bringing that material to the stage of a human being created from that material is illegal we should do what we did in connecticut or understand that there are some members who want to turn this ban on human reproductive cloning into a ban on sematic cell nuclear transfer called by some therapeutic cloning and i understand the discomfort many members have with this innovative line of stem cell research personally for me i join the scientific community and i believe that is this research that holds the most potential for life saving treatments and cures but i recognize that there are those that disagree however the debate surrounding this particular disagreement is not the subject of today's legislation today's legislation is simply about the line that we all can agree to draw that which clearly and cleanly prohibit for hits the manipulation of  embryos into a cloned human being the moral and ethical questions surrounding somatic cell nuclear transfer are legitimate subjects for debate but that debate will occur later this week when revisit the comprehensive stem cell authorization bill coming back to this house from the senate today mr speaker our task is simple than what we all agree is beyond the scientific and ethical pale human reproductive cloning when dealing with an issue as complicated as cloning technology the morass of scientific or con and the ease of soundbite simplification can obscure the simple facts so let's be clear today human cloning creating a replica of a person's d implanting an embryo into the womb of a woman and creating a new human being out of that material that practice is legal today in this country with exceptions such as connecticut and other states that have done the right thing and banned it false misleading bill titles twenty five sixty rushed to the floor today after all being introduced several hours ago is misnamed the human cloning prohibition act of two thousand and seven the fact is this bill doesn't ban any human cloning at all absolutely none researchers are absolutely free are given the green light to clone human life to their heart's content so long as they kill and destroy the cloned human embryo at some point perhaps weeks after its creation as a matter of fact the legislation makes it a crime to allow a cloned human being to survive past a certain point in other words this bizarre piece of legislation would make it illegal not to kill a cloned human being and the penalties are stiff of the ten years in prison and a ten million dollar fine by redefining human cloning as implantation rather than the creation of a new human being that would be then transferred into a uterus or a functional equivalent this phony ban sanctions on limited human cloning for research even more bizarre under the bill if a woman were to have a cloned human embryo implanted in her womb she could go to jail for up to ten years and or be fined up to ten million dollars is that something we want to vote for i think not my colleagues i'm sure all of us are aware of the fact that a cloned human being human embryo will be indistinguishable from creating using in vitro fertilization dolly the sheep look just like every other sheep and then how will this be enforced if a woman is found carrying a cloned baby are you willing to find her and send her to jail for ten years mr speaker the united states should join many countries including canada germany italy and france in totally banning all cloning the democratic leadership should bring the weldon stupak bill little floor instead of the de gette pro cloning measure we are not and do not support creating embryos for the purpose of research this legislation begs the question why aren't you bringing a total ban before this body i would point out when a similar bill was brought to the floor as it amendment in the nature of a substitute by congressman jim greenwood we voted it down one seventy four to two thirty one charles cross on the road and i think this is very insightful that greenwood and read that now the good is a nightmare and an abomination it sanctions license it protects the launching of the most ghoulish and dangerous enterprise in modern scientific history the creation of a c and cloned human life for the sole purpose of its exploitation and destruction i urge my colleagues let's pass a real ban on cloning not this phony ban you'll back the balance of my time gentle yells back from colorado or speaker i just make two points towards the gentleman from new jersey come as the first one is the weldon's two pac bell which he says he supports also could make it a crime for a woman to carry a cloned embryo in her and her uterus as a pregnancy and frankly we think that cloning should be a crime i'm surprised to hear the gentleman say that he does not think it should be secondly the so called greenwood to get bill from several sessions of congress ago that he's referring to is a completely different bills this bill today and people should probably read the legislation in front of them to say that all this bill is allowed is is makes reproductive cloning illegal but that i'm pleased to yield five minutes to the gentleman from rhode island a real leader on these issues mr given gentleman from rhode island is recognized for five minutes debated various means of banning human cloning in an area that can be complex and confusing please of this particular bill which is which is exceptionally simple and straightforward has come to the floor  five sixty would make it illegal to use calling technology to initiate a pregnancy and thereby create a cloned human being the bill also includes strict penalties to ensure that such an act is the vet and from taking place now unfortunately this seems to be cemented may is some misinformation circulating among my colleagues and outside groups surrounding the implications of this bill i want to be very clear this legislation in no way encourages or endorses therapeutic cloning otherwise known as somatic cell nuclear transfer or any other type of research on the contrary this legislation will simply ensure that as technology is dances ethical safeguards are in place to keep human cloning something we all agree would be a frightening development from occurring for the record there are new incentives included in this bill not even any words of encouragement for any specific types of research this bill is a simple ban on human cloning once and for all now regardless of my colleagues feelings on stem cell research or any other type of medical research i cannot imagine why any of them would would oppose a ban on human cloning mr speaker i hope that all of my colleagues will take the time to understand what this bill does what it does not do and why it's important issue gentleman from florida mr weldon five minutes gentleman from florida is recognized for five minutes i thank the gentleman for yielding this bill before us today entitled the human cloning prohibition act is better entitled the human cloning implantation prohibition act sensually what it does is make it a crime to implant a cloned human embryo in the uterus of a woman while the gentle lady from colorado has said this is a very different bill from the greenwood substitute it is true if you sit down with the two of them and read them they read differently but the net effect let's be serious is the same and it is the goal pursued by many research scientists who i assume do not ascribe to a belief in the sanctity of human life that they want to begin experimentation on human embryos produced through the process of human cloning and my position when we began debating this issue five six years ago remains the same there are a host of problems with this not the least of one it of which is that i and millions of americans like me believe that human life is sacred and we should not be wholesale producing it to be experimented with in the lab and then discarded when the imitation is done are we really trying to say to the american people we want to make the human embryo the lab rat of the twenty first century then i will additionally add this is going to create a huge demand for human eggs and it's been very surprising to me to see so many people on the left who claim to be great champions of women's issues it's going to create a lot of pressure for more human eggs and the way you get human eggs it's not a simple overnight procedure you have to give women a powerful medication that produces something called super of you lay ssion it has the potential for complications depression  some twenty five percent of women who get these drugs possible significant complications requiring hospitalization called the super observation syndrome who will be donating their eggs to all these research labs that will want it well we all know who will be it will be women who really need the money you'll probably get problems and complications suicides from depression what will end up happening is that all ends up going overseas to third world countries where they can't bring with litigation this is why many leaders in the feminist movement chose to support the stupak weldon bill over this alternative it is just downright bad policy and let me say as well the lady said previously  that that the women could under my previous bill could be criminally prosecuted i disagree wholeheartedly i thought the language of the stupak well the bill was very clear that the criminal act would be the creation of the embryo through the process of somatic cell nuclear transfer that's the way they created dolly that's the way this process begins and let me just say in closing the process by which we've undergone this when we were in the  is a profound slippery slope they will not be satisfied with doing research on human embryos the next target will be the human fetus itself creating human models of disease so that research scientists can do research on certain forms of human disease by doing research on human fetuses and human embryos that's the direction we're going patenting some of those diseased human embryos i mean i say this is a place where we should be drawing the line we should defeat this on the suspension calendar i believe if you brought it before word on regular order it would go down under regular order and i encourage all my colleagues to vote no on this piece of legislation and i yield back the gentleman yield back the gentle lady from colorado texas recognized i think mr pitts and i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend that objection misspeak or i don't normally come to the floor to talk on suspension bills because normally suspension bills have been cleared about a majority with  minority in their bills that we have is not unanimous agreement on we have general agreement on but i feel very strongly about this particular bill the way it's being done now general lighting who's the chief sponsor the bill congresswoman de gette of colorado is good friend of mine when i was chairman i helped her and mr castle bring to the floor the stem cell bill which was very controversial in which was introduced last night after seven o'clock john dingell didn't call me dianne to get didn't call me we can't find out that anybody from the majority called anybody on the minority there's been no hearings on the bill there's been no markup of the bill we just basically take gentle lady's word that it is what it is we know that cloning is controversial we know that most of his in this body are opposed to human cloning for whatever purpose there's a good chance that if we had a legislative hearing we had a markup we could probably come to a consensus on a bill that mr weldon could support and mr smith could support ms to get good support but it not this bill not this process you know a bill is introduced as seven thirty one night is on the floor on the suspension count of the next day there been no hearings have been no process and you can amend it because it's under suspension other rules and i think that's a subversion of the process it is a way to give some members to a minute gentlemen it i think the gentleman it is a why to g some members a vote for political cover because tomorrow when the main stem cell bill comes up which was noticed last week you know the last time the stem cell bill was on the floor the minority who has the right to offer a motion to recommit part of the motion to recommit dealt with cloning and some of the members of the majority voted for it so this is a way for the majority to give some members of their party a way to vote for cloning bill so they can vote against the motion to recommit tomorrow if that's what it is so i risk you know i understand the political strategy when i don't understand the process of ignoring the energy and commerce committee repeatedly and i don't understand a bill is controversial is this being brought under suspension with no spoke from the well and he said it exactly right this is this is a political ploy bringing this bill up under suspension to give and my opinion mr speaker to kim members on the other side of the  the opportunity for cover on this bill the scaffold the jet legislation that's coming up tomorrow when king solomon ordered that the baby be cut in half mr speaker who knew that someone would actually take him up on the offer and yet regrettably this bill before us today h r twenty five sixty it aims to be bigger to bully and literally cut the baby in half supporters of this legislation claim that twenty six fifty bans human cloning this have the right bill in this was reintroduced by represent a well the last night i'm a proud co sponsor of that that bans human cloning for any purpose reproductive or research and i'm not impugni the motives or represented the jet maybe it's inadvertent maybe hopefully she understands through this discussion today about the bill that inadvertently this promotes cloning for research purposes we believe those of us who are part of the pro life caucus strongly believe that when you clone a human dolly that is a human being and then you slice it and dice it to get stem cells and then it's required that you destroy it because it becomes a crime if it's implanted in a woman to become a child then we say that you are indeed creating life and destroying life not maybe for the purpose of reproduction but for the purpose of research and that is wrong and that's why we need to vote down this bill today and i strongly oppose it i yield back the balance of my time general yells back to the lady from colorado mr speaker we have thank you mr speaker mr speaker i stand before this house and say that i oppose human cloning as a physician i'm extremely concerned about the consequences of human cloning and all of its ramifications but this bill doesn't ban human cloning not as we all know it the author says read the bill i would suggest to my colleagues that's exactly what they ought to do read the bill the definition on page two of human cloning says quote the term human in human cloning means the implantation of the product of human human sematic cell nuclear transfer technology into a uterus or the functional equivalent of a uterus it confines the definition to implantation cloning means to copy human cloning means to copy a human the medical definition d'orleans medical dictionary definition of cloning human cloning is quote the transplant  ovum which then develops into an embryo unquote it doesn't confine it to implantation because implantation is the next step cloning doesn't have to do with implantation this is another mr speaker in a long list of orwellian democracy actions by this majority saying one thing and doing another this bill wouldn't ban human cloning cloning at all what a shame what a sham i urge my colleagues to read the bill ayers my colleagues to vote no cloned animal let me remind you that dolly the sheep was the two hundred seventy seventh try there were two hundred seventy six before her who were defective in the form and died  the fact the history of cloning is replete with defects deformity and death as they seek to create little human embryos for the purposes of research and their experimentation and harvesting identify what he was doing dr chua and his team obtained two thousand eggs from over one hundred women that they paid for their cloning attempts human cloning exploits women it was years in an era embraces you tyrion view of humans it involves the creation of human little human embryos for research experiments and for these reasons and all the reasons that are stated i urge my colleagues to oppose this thank you mr speaker well i've been in congress now ten years and some days i feel like i'm in alice in wonderland today happens to be one of them because when you listen to the arguments from the other side you never dreamed that the bill under consideration right now is a ban on human reproductive cloning maybe i'll start by talking about the status of the law in the united states today right now that changes that or alters it in any way we hear the other side talking about egg farms and and forcing women to donate eggs and all of that if that was going to happen it would be however is there are some unethical scientists who are trying to reproduce do reproductive cloning they are trying to take the results of that c m t implant them in women's uteruses and create clone human beings i just heard my colleague from pennsylvania talking about dolly the sheep and all of the failed attempts with animal cloning before dolly the sheep he is absolutely right there it is a terrible problem and that is why it is reprehensible and immoral to try to clone human beings that is also why we need to make it illegal in this country he also talked about the example of south korea and he's also absolutely right about south korea there was an africa researcher in south korea who with no ethical standards or controlled controls tr to to make experiments and lied about the results by the way that's why we need to pass s five tomorrow because currently in this country there are no ethical controls either over embryonic cell research or s c n to research controls which we could really use in this country and they certainly could have used in south korea but that's all sort of aside from the point the point is right now in this country it is not illegal to clone a human being for reproductive purposes and there's a national consensus that it should be i do want to apologize to my ranking member mr barton about the process perhaps there should have been noticed but the truth is there's a consensus on reproductive cloning this is a simple pail and we have tried over the years in congress to ban reproductive cloning the reason we haven't been able to do it is because the other side gets up and makes all of these false arguments which then complicate the situation and we have not been able to ban reproductive cloning we felt that under a suspension calendar with a clean vote and her simple bill it would work and for people who try to say well somehow this is going to cause more problems i can't believe that they would support reproductive cloning i can't believe that the opponents  vote against a bill that bans reproductive cloning i can't believe that they would say they think that we would encourage reproductive cloning in this country i would tell my colleagues on both sides of the aisle this vote will be a clear  today and the vote will be do you oppose human reproductive cloning and think that it should be a federal crime in this country or are you in the pocket of the special interests who will make any argument because they don't think bill goes far enough to ban other types of research which are legal right now in the country in this country and for which the results which they fear have not happened today i will say let's make that clear statement as congress let stand up for our constituents let's ban reproductive cloning today there is no member of congress who supports human reproductive cloning which is exactly what this bill for habits  fifty three resolved that in any time after the adoption of this resolution the speaker may pursuant to clause to be a relay team to clear the house resolving to the committee of the whole house on the state of the union for consideration of the bill h r twenty four forty six to reauthorize the afghanistan freedom support act of two thousand two and for other purposes the first reading of the bill shall be dispensed with all points of order against consideration of the bill are waived except those  arising under clause nine or ten of rule twenty one general debate shall be confined to the bill and shall not exceed one hour equally divided and controlled by the chairman and ranking minority member of the committee on foreign affairs after general debate the bill shall be considered for amendment under the five minute rule the bill shall be considered as read notwithstanding clause and levon of roll eighteen no amendment to the bill shall be in order except says in the report of the committee on rules accompanying this resolution each such amendment may be offered only and in the order printed in the report may be offered only by a member designated in the report shall be considered as read shall be debatable for the time specified in the report equally divided and controlled by the proponent and an op own it shall not be subject to amendment and shall not be subject to a demand for division of the question in the house or in the committee of the whole op wants of order against such amendments are waive except those  arising under clause nine or ten of rules twenty one at the conclusion of consideration of the bill for amendment the committee shall rise and report the bill to the house with such amendments as may have been adopted the previous question shall be considered as ordered on the bill and amendments there to the final passage without intervening motion except one motion to recommit with or without instruction section two during consideration in the house of h r twenty four forty six pursuant to this resolution notwithstanding the operation of the previous question the chair may postpone further consideration of the bill to such time as may be designated by the speaker the gentleman from provides for consideration of h r two four for six the afghanistan freedom and security support act of two thousand seven hundred under a structural that makes an order all the amendments that were submitted to the rules committee except for those withdrawn by this sponsors this is speaker i want to acknowledge express my respect for the work of chairman lantos and ranking member ross lightman for bringing such a fine example of bipartisan cooperation and collaboration before the house for consideration mr speaker following the ouster of the taliban regime in late two thousand and one the united states the united nations and the international community embarked on what they hoped would be a comprehensive assistance program to help the new afghan government of president karzai stablish new democracy rebuild the afghan economy and provide for the general wellbeing of the afghan people regrettably after a most promising start progress has slowed in most parts of the country remnants of the taliban continue to resist the new government and are reorganizing and strengthening their networks from neighboring countries instability has increased including the introduction of suicide bombings against u s soldiers nato troops afghan officials and civilians and international and afghan humanitarian aid workers and narcotics production threatens to overwhelm the country according to a un according to un studies a large percentage of afghans including farmers laborers traffickers warlords insurgents and officials participate in and benefit from illegal poppy trade congress first address the issue of aiding afghanistan by passing the afghanistan freedom support act of two thousand and two which established to reconstruct a reconstruction program mandated a relief coordinator provided support to the nato led international security forces and gave new security assistance authorities to our president in addition to food aid refugee relief and other forms of a murder see disaster assistance the united states implemented a wide ranging assistance program for afghanistan including aid for schools hospitals and farms and support to reestablish the participation of women and girls in society education and the workplace the legislation the house will take up today h r two four fo six reauthorizes programs created by the original afghanistan freedom support act creates a new focus on counter narcotics efforts and provides for stronger and more enhanced oversight of the us for teacher goals and performance in afghanistan overall h r two four four six provides modest increases in authorized levels for humanitarian development democracy building and security assistance mr speaker i cannot stress enough how important it is that afghanistan succeed in establishing and consolidating a representative government and rebuilding the country's economy and civil society when we overthrew the taliban regime we made promises to the afghan people with the full backing of the international community we cannot renewed gun those promises we cannot fail the people of afghanistan who came together in support of a common vision for the future mr speaker i am very very concerned that many of the difficulties confronting afghanistan today especially in the areas of security are due in large part to taking our eye off the ball in afghanistan and exhausting economic and military resources in iraq we had the chance to make afghanistan secure and we failed to do so because we chose not to invest the necessary resources and afghanistan but rather to transfer our attention and our resources to iraq we are now playing catch up in afghanistan as the situation there is deteriorating plaza chairman and members of the foreign affairs committee for this time recognize as we all know mr speaker after the defeat of the soviet army in afghanistan the brutal taliban took over the country the taliban ruled that country through terror through systematic assassination torture intimidation they denied afghans all personal freedoms and made women fifth class citizens they also provided safe harbor to all some of bin laden and al qaeda it is from that safe harbor that al qaeda was able to plan and train for the horrendous attack of september eleventh two thousand  get the united states of america following the fall of the taliban due in large part to the heroic assistance of the united states armed forces and coalition forces from many many countries throughout the world the international community worked together under the auspices of the bonn compact to make possible what was really a wonderful historic accomplishment to a democratically elected government in afghanistan in two thousand and four afghanistan adopted a new constitution and held successful presidential elections parliamentary elections followed in two thousand and five factions that once fought on the battlefield now after decades of violence debate and resolve their differences in parliament with ballots instead of bullets however the speaker there are remnants of the former taliban regime along with al qaeda that are intent on overthrowing the democratically elected government of afghanistan the taliban is using suicide bombings against u s and nato troops against afghan officials against civilians both international and afghan humanitarian workers assistance workers opium poppy cultivation and drug trafficking drug trafficking have become big become significant negative factors in afghanistan afghanistan's fragile political and economic order afghanistan currently accounts unfortunately for a majority of the world's illicit opium production as the democratically elected government challenges we must not turn our backs on that young democracy we must continue our support as that country marut moves from a brutal dictatorship to a consolidated democracy in two thousand and two this congress passed the afghanistan freedom support act that law provided both economic and military aid to the young afghan democracy this legislation will reauthorize the afghanistan freedom support act through the year two thousand and ten the programs reauthorized in this bill focus on countering narcotics production and boost security efforts to protect united states and nato forces as well as afghan officials and international assistance workers this legislation calls for the president to set out a detailed strategy for afghanistan and provide reports on progress there the afghanistan freedom and security support act of two thousand and seven this legislation that we bring to the floor today builds on congressional initiatives and acted in two thousand and two and two thousand and four and i again congratulate the leaders who in those congresses back in two thousand and two and two thousand and  four worked so hard to ensure that these initiatives that are being reauthorized today were passed and these initiatives now are as i say reauthorized in this legislation h r twenty four sixty six it will be before the house today among those initiatives passed in two thousand and two two thousand and four or the creation of a multiple programs but this legislation calls for the creation of a coordinator role for the development of a coherent consistent counter narcotics strategy and to strengthen the fight against the drug trade link to to tyler perry and islamic terrorism we also ensured in this legislation that initiatives passed in two thousand and two two in two thousand and four continued such as  commitment of the united states to support afghanistan in its transition to a stable representative democracy this bill good legislation mr speaker that we bring to the floor today authorizes the appropriation of one point seven billion dollars annually for humanitarian and economic assistance and three hundred twenty million dollars annually for military assistance during a fiscal two thousand and eight to two thousand this is important legislation it's important i just mention for the fight against the international drug trade and to tell it tearing islamists dangerous remnants of the defeated taliban the taliban who are overthrown thank god remnants of the taliban are festering and they use deadly tactics against united states and nato forces as well as afghans and humanitarian workers those people have no scruples and we only have to remember mr speaker what they did to the afghan people when they were in power so they use horrendous tactics brutal tactics tactics without limits against our troops and other international forces that are in afghanistan pursuance of the request of the democratically elected government to secure the peace and furthermore mr speaker poppy cultivation and opium production continue to directly support the insurgents militias and terrorist groups in the face of these very difficult challenges we cannot allow that pledging fledgling democracy that budding democracy striving to be a stable society to  with regard to process the our friends on the other side of the aisle again the majority had another opportunity yesterday in the rules committee to open the process and come forth with a an open rule disappointing let's not fail to see however of a speaker that this is this underlying legislation that's being brought forward is extremely important  it's a very important piece of legislation and by the way with regard again to to process precisely fits since it's such an important project that as a nation we're working on and there's great national consensus on our the need to to do everything we can to consolidate to help consolidate the representative democracy in the peace in afghanistan i think that would be the harm in allowing as this debated  debate proceeds to allow any member who's hearing the debate with an idea for an amendment to bring it forth that's wide open rule is is appropriate of our foreign policy in the legislation is being brought forth today as also the distinguished ranking member of ms ruff later who is also worked very hard on this legislation and other members of the international relations committee for i want to thank them for their hard work on this on this important issue which which constitutes as i said a a a project where the american people in consensus fashion are are moving forward and  doing everything possible so that our friends and allies in afghanistan can survive in and defeat the brutal taliban and al qaeda this is this legislation brought forth today is an important bill it is of the most importance to our national security and obviously to the region where afghanistan is and of course to the people to the noble people of afghanistan as they continue their efforts to consolidate their representative democracy and achieve peace and prosperity in their great country i reserve afghanistan and quite frankly from a national security perspective that's where our attention should be and where i tension should have been it is regrettable it is regrettable that the president of the united states and his administration and many in this chamber have chosen to take their eye off what our responsibility is is in afghanistan over these last several years and instead we find ourselves bogged down in a quagmire in iraq those who are responsible for september eleventh and those who are responsible for the murder of so many of our citizens they were in afghanistan that's where al qaeda was and instead of holding al qaeda accountable and afghanistan and stead of diverting our resources and says that of making sure that our resources go to promoting democracy and stability in afghanistan instead of focusing on this ever growing drug problem in afghanistan you know we have spent over half a trillion dollars in iraq and that is regrettable and quite frankly when history looks back on how these last few years were conducted they got to take note of the fact that we missed important opportunities to better protect our country by taking our eye off of what our responsibility was and afghanistan and let me just say about the rule  i will i will apologize to my colleague from florida for a rule that we bring to the floor today that makes every single amendment that was offered in the rules committee and not withdrawn by its author in order every republican amendment every democratic amendment and i know that that's different from the way things used to be when the republicans were in charge of the rules committee they had a tendency to just shut  out routinely but things are different now and under the democratic administration here in the in the congress we are trying to make sure that all points of view have an opportunity to be heard on the floor so i am i'm happy that we have this rule and again i apologize to the gentleman that it's not like what they used to do with that mr speaker like he'll three minutes of time to the distinguished gentleman vermont a member of the rules committee mr well gentleman from iraq is recognized for three minutes thank you thank you gentleman from massachusetts and mr speaker in april i had the opportunity to join five of my colleagues on a delegation trip  to afghanistan in our six member delegation three democrats three republicans spent two days in iraq two days in afghanistan and we had an opportunity to speak with american iraqi afghanis soldiers military leaders security forces government leaders and civil civil servants and it every turn in our trip we encounter these extraordinary men and women from our country that are doing incredible work in very dangerous and trying circumstances and i had the opportunity to meet troops from my state as my colleagues met from their states and all of us were incredibly proud at the selflessness of these troops who are performing the missions that we have assigned to them but the circumstances in each country in each war are very different iraq is in a full blown civil war the british our last remaining significant ally in iraq will soon withdraw in american forces are now viewed as occupiers situation different much different in afghanistan and i came away as did my colleagues with the clear impression that there is will on the part of afghan leaders to step up and to take control of their future in afghanistan we have thirty seven allied nations joining with us to help the afghanis drive out the taleban and to restore order in to create a future for that country and in fact the differences between these two situations in iraq and afghanistan was best summed up by three soldiers i spoke to who had completed full tours in iraq and afghanistan and i asked what's the difference in your experience in a soldier set in and in iraq it seems as though everyone is interested in fighting each other and us in afghanistan everyone is interested in fighting for their future what this legislation recognizes is that we have partners thirty seven other nations working with us in afghanistan and we have a partner the government and people of afghanistan in our effort to restore order in to create a future for that country h r twenty four forty six the afghanistan freedom and security support act reinforces the united states long term commitment to support afghanistan in its efforts to confront their challenges and to complete its transformation into a secure and prosperous future this bill inhance is the narcotics operations more importantly it provides incentives to encourage greater participation from our nadir and nato allies in the international security and assistan force if we've learned anything it is that we've got to work together not alone thank you mr speaker i yield the balance of my time jim and yells back the gentleman from florida  appreciate the general from massachusetts the kind words what what i had been referring to before with regard to the process is that i don't believe that any harm would have been done if the majority would have kept its promise of open rules or it's it's it's the majority that promised during the campaign that they were going to bring as many  of a significant amount as many as possible bills to the floor under open rules and this is a non controversial bill and yes they made the amendments in order of by the members who went to the rules committee and that's appreciated so what harm erm would it have called if this legislation would have been brought before i don't open rule as was proposed in amendment form by the ranking member rules that so my point was no harm would have been done and simply i would like to remind the majority of the promises that the majority made during the campaign of bringing forth legislation under open rules and so i don't believe that any harm would have accrued if they would have kept their promise that's all of them but with regard to the apology importance there is a national consensus in the united states that we not only have an obligation but we must do everything in our power  so that the democratically elected government in afghanistan survives and that's what this legislation is about and we will have other continuing debates on the nearby countries and what our obligations are or what is rather in our national interest with regard to the stability in neighboring countries of ghana stand as well and in trying to prevent  neighboring countries from becoming basically safe harbors for for international terrorism those are legitimate debate guard to that country that was for so long oppressed by the brutal taliban and that had given sanctuary to the terrorists that carried out the mass murder of september eleventh two thousand and one against the united states of america that we we certainly have an obligation do everything we can to make certain that the people of afghanistan have as much  ability that they have the wherewithal to proceed along a path towards a consolidated representative democracy in peace and with prosperity and that's that's why we agree that this legislation is very important and it reauthorizes critical programs and programs of critical importance with regard to our assistance of afghanistan that were that were authorized initially  order but i think that that's the way we should do business around here it's in sharp contrast to the way they used to do business when the republicans were in the majority where there was a tendency to shut everything down to close everything up to not allow  members of the minority to be able to have amendments but we're different and i'm glad we're different on the underlying legislation there should be unanimity in this house about the importance of passing  this legislation it is important that we keep our commitment to the people of afghanistan it is important that we keep our commitment to the people of the united states who after september eleventh we said in the congress and in the white house that we're go everything we can to bring to justice to hold to account those who were responsible for september eleventh unfortunately today we are not anywhere near where we should be in afghanistan the reason for that is because we have diverted our resources we have diverted shoulders and our political capital to a war and never ending war in iraq we have put our soldiers in the middle of a civil war in iraq we have spent over half a trillion dollars in irak and as a result those resources have not been sent to afghanistan and i think that is regrettable rule and i you back down to my time when i move the previous question on the resolution generally yells back without objection the previous question is ordered the question is on adoption of the resolution all in favor s pursuant to cause eight of rule twenty this is a fifteen minute vote on a house resolution four five three this will be followed by five minute votes on the motion to suspend the rules and pass h r seven hundred sixteen the motion to suspend the rules and pass h r six three two and the motion to suspend the rules and pass h r ninety six fo