Date: 2008-04-10
Speaker: LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Florida

Mr. Speaker. first of all I would like to thank my good friend. the gentlewoman from California for the time. and I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. Florida is the number one travel destination in the world. with over 80 million visitors last year. They contributed over $60 billion to the economy of the State. Part of the reason so many people come to Florida is because of the over 1.200 miles of beautiful beaches throughout the State. Floridas great beaches provide an endless wealth of recreational opportunities. But in order for everyone to enjoy those great beaches we have to make sure that the waters are safe and that they are clean. In 2000. Congress passed the Beaches Environmental Assessment and Coastal Health Act. That legislation was passed to limit and prevent human exposure to polluted coastal recreation waters by assisting States and local governments to implement beach monitoring assessment and public notification programs. In addition. that act required States and tribes with coastal recreation waters to adopt minimum water quality standards for pathogens and pathogen indicators. The legislation being brought to the floor today with this rule would reauthorize the BEACH Act through 2012 and increase the annual authorized appropriation from $30 million to $40 million. Again. Mr. Speaker. the majority likes to proclaim that they have offered yet another bill under what they call an open rule. but this is not an open rule. this is a restrictive rule. According to a Survey of Activities of bhe House Committee on Rules "from the 104th Congress. an open rule is defined as "one under which any Member may offer an amendment that complies with the standing rules of the House and the Budget Act." A modified open rule. requiringpreprinting in the CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. is defined as a type of rule that permits the offering only of those amendments printed in the CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. Because Members under this rule must submit their amendments prior to floor consideration. they are prohibited from offering amendments on the floor as the debate progresses. So if a Member is watching the debate and has an idea to improve the bill. this rule prevents that Member from offering their amendment. So by its very nature. this rule is restrictive. It is not an open rule and the majority should stop calling it that. I also would like to point out that once again the majority offers even this modified open rule. or modified restrictive rule on noncontroversial bills. bills with obvious bipartisan support. For example. the underlying legislation passed the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee by a unanimous vote. If the majority really wants to live up to their campaign promise of a more open abd bipartisan Congress. then they should offer a truly open rule on this bill. and on bills where there is some controversy as well. On Tuesday. a distinguished member of the Rules Committee. the gentleman from Washington . offered an amendment to the rule which would have allowed the House to consider this noncontroversial bill under a truly open rule. However. that amendment was defeated. So instead. here we are 16 months into the new majority under another restrictive rule. Other than on appropriations bills. the new majority has allowed only one open rule. Today they had the chance to double the number of open rules. but instead. they decided to use a restrictive process for a noncontroversial bill. I dont know what they are afraid of.. The original BEACH Act was considered under a true open rule. We should have considered this bill under suspension of the rules which doesnt even require a rule. it just goes automatically to the floor because it is noncontroversial. and we should have instead finished our work on bipartisan legislation .to protect Americans from international terrorism. the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act known as FISA. Or we could have considered legislation to postponed the scheduled 10.1 percent cut in Medicare payments for physicians and other health care professionals. Instead. what we are doing today. Mr. Speaker. what the majority leadership has decided to do today is to make this a day of legislative action that will live in infamy. Ever since 1974. legislation has existed. Mr. Speaker. to permit agreements that are negotiated with foreign governments by the Uited States. trade agreements. to come to this floor under the Trade Act of 1974 that established trade promotion authority. certainty in the rules process for when an agreement is negotiated so that our negotiating partners. countries we are negotiating with. know that there are certain rules. That if the United States makes a deal. enters into an agreement. that that agreement will be brought to the floor. And so what the majority leadership in this Congress has done today is to say yes. yes. yes. but for and except Colombia. Colombia. that happens to be our best ally and friend in this hemisphere. under the measure today being brought to the floor by the majority leadershipof this House. they are being insulted. And so our trade rules apply. yes. but for Colombia. Mr. Speaker. That is what the majority leadership has decided to do today. What they have told Colombia. in the midst of a war against narcotraffickers. financed by narcotrafficking. the enemies of Colombia. what the Democratic leadership of this House is telling the democratically elected government of Colombia today is: We dont care. we dont care. The trade rules apply to the world. but not to you. Well. fortunately. there is an administration. an executive branch that isstanding with the people of Colombia and their democratically elected government and . President. President Alvaro Uribe. And there are a lot of Members in this House. Mr. Speaker. who also stand with the people of Colombia as they fight the terrorists. as they bravely confront the terrorists. There are a lot of us in this House who. stand with the people of Colombia. and a lot of us in the Senate who do also. But unfortunately. the majority leadership has said to Colombia today: No. youre on your own. Well. I want the people of Colombia to know that they are not alone. We will continue to stand with the people of Colombia and their democratically elected government despite this day of legislative action that will live in infamy because that is what the majority leadership has scheduled today. The exception. the legislative exception for. in this instance. the best ally that the United States has in this hemisphere. Colombia. Arid thats more than unfortunate. Now. with regard to the legislation on beaches that is absolutely noncontroversial. it should have been brought to the floor automatically. Obviously we are all in support of that legislation. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.