Date: 2011-07-27
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

There is no doubt. Mr. YOUNG. that you are the renowned expert on Alaska. So I dont rise to counter that. And in fact. I come from the other open. wild State that likes their own selfdetermination. and they just associated you with the State of Texas. I remind my colleagues that there is water in Virginia. theres water in Massachusetts. and theres water all along. But I rise to support the gentlemans amendment because frankly. the last time I talked to the very important Coast Guard. theyre short on money. Frankly. I want the Coast Guard to be in the port of Houston doing their job as it relates to protecting the coastline of America from terrorists. They are involved in that. They are not. in essence. an agency that can just expand its resources. I would just raise the question. I think the gentleman from Washington was very engaging and cooperative by saying how can we work this out. My interpretation is. in opposing the language thats in the bill and supporting Mr. DICKS. is that we have. in essence. a legislative earmark. and that means that all of us can rise up and try to solve our problems in that way. I would like to get back to regular order. And I cite for all of you just another example. Weve got a legislative earmark when one of our Republican colleagues has decided to shut down the FAA. Thats an example. And lost in the doing of that is $2.5 billion in construction projects. 87.000 American construction jobs. 3.000 FAA aviation engineers furloughed. safety analysts. career professionals in 35 States and in my own city of Houston. I want to get on the floor and put an amendment on the floor to get that Member out of the business of stopping the FAA from doing its work-$200 million per week is being lost. Nobody is saying anything because were also not doing regular order by fooling around with the debt ceiling. Nobody can come together and act like adults and say. Lets just raise the debt ceiling so the American people can go on with their business. Now weve got a Member that says .my way or the highway" and shutting down the FAA. You cant run the government like this. And I think the message of the amendment that is on the floor is not that we dont respect Members personal knowledge of their States. its just that we cant go willy nilly and change laws just for isolated incidences. And I apologize to Mr. Wild. but you can see Im pretty agitated about a situation where were quietly allowing the FAA not to work. And as a member of the Homeland Security Committee. who knows what danger is around because the FAA is not functioning? Who knows what jeopardy were putting for seniors and students and families and people trying to buy a home because were fooling around with the debt ceiling? So I just think were in a pattern here. Do what you want to do and forget the heck of the American people and forget that we live in a big country and that we should be for all of the people. And if we need safety on our waterways. we need to find a way to work through our issues. I dont like the way individuals were handled. I agree on that issue. But I certainly dont like the way were handling our business with the debt ceiling when we are literally putting ourselves under jeopardy. And I encourage the President to do anything he needs to do to save the American people and to be able to move forward so that we dont lose all of our resources and opportunities for the Medicare. Medicaid. and Social Security recipients of America. And I hope he stands up and recognizes this is a ridiculous position to be in when the FAA is not even functioning. And my Bush Intercontinental Airport cant even continue doing its construction work. and the people who need the work are thrown out on the streets because they cant work because one lone Member wants to get up and talk about the FAA and foolishness about not protecting small airports and not allowing our airport employees or our employees such as air traffic controllers and others to be able to confer about the quality of work issues. So I would just suggest that you might be able to find a solution. Mr. YOUNG. I know you know all of the issues about that. We have a lot of water from where I come from. I think Mr. DICKS has put forth a perfect question and then an answer to the idea of whether or not your amendment or language would have a farreaching impact beyond Mr. Wild and the unfortunate behavior of two individuals that I understand may not be here. Lets look at this holistically. as we need to look at this Nation. Lets come together as adults representing the American people. I thank the gentleman for the time. I ask support for Mr. DICKS amendment. I yield back the balance of my time.