To authorize salary adjustments for Justices and judges of the United States for fiscal year 2007.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to control the remainder of the legislation under suspension.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I rise in support of the legislation. It is a collection of a number of bills, a majority of which have passed favorably through the Subcommittee on Courts with little or no controversy.

There are five titles: the Pay Adjustment for Federal Judges; the Courts and Intellectual Property Legislation; the Jurisdiction of Federal Circuit over Patent Cases; the Diversity Jurisdiction of Federal Courts; and, finally, the Multidistrict Litigation in the Lexecon case before the Supreme Court.

The most important is the pay adjustment for Federal judges, because we provide a cost-of-living pay adjustment for 2007. The Federal judges do not receive such COLAs unless Congress provides specific statutory authorization each year. It is my hope that some day we will make it automatic. Members of the Federal judiciary deserve this raise. We have a number of Federal judges who are forced to turn back their appointment because the salary is inadequate to their basic needs.

We appreciate the hardworking men and women who serve; and to me, this is an important part of the constitutional democracy that we have formed here, and we must do everything to ensure that we attract and retain the highest quality of judges.

Now, these members of the judiciary are called to duty by a sense of honor, and the judges already make far less than most of them could earn in private firms. And while this pay disparity will exist, Congress should at least ensure that judicial pay does not effectively shrink. And so the failure to give judges a COLA would constitute in effect such a reduction in pay.

Title II contains a number of measures. We respond in part to the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina by permitting the Patent and Trademark Office director to extend deadlines during emergencies.

Section 202 is a resolution honoring the 25th anniversary of the Bayh-Dole Act, and that is Senator Bayh, Sr., who formerly served from the great State of Indiana. And this measure enhanced public and private partnerships for the commercialization of inventions.

Section 203 of the bill requires that each Federal or State court recognize out-of-state notarial acts that meet the following two conditions that are indicated in the measure.

Title III of the bill clarifies the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals has exclusive jurisdiction to hear patent appeals, and that I think is extremely important. The goal of title III is to maintain the integrity of the patent system.

Title IV amends the laws governing diversity jurisdiction. And this is an important and critical area.

And then finally we have the Multidistrict Litigation, which has been passed several times, but never acted on by the other body.

This title would overturn the Supreme Court case called the Lexecon decision. While I have supported this legislation in the past, I have consistently noted several concerns that I hope will be able to be addressed in our discussions that I anticipate with the Senate. I urge my colleagues to support this measure before the House on the suspension calendar.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 5454) to authorize salary adjustments for Justices and judges of the United States for fiscal year 2007.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous materials on H.R. 5454 currently under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 5454, to provide a cost-of- living adjustment for Federal judges in fiscal year 2007.

In 1975, Congress enacted the Executive Salary Cost of Living Adjustment Act to give judges and Members of Congress and high-ranking executive branch officials automatic COLAs accorded other Federal employees unless rejected by Congress. In 1981, Congress amended the statute by enacting section 140 of Public Law 97-92, which requires specific congressional authorization to grant judges a COLA. The legislation we consider today is substantially similar to other cost- of-living increases for Federal judges approved in previous fiscal years.

Mr. Speaker, I believe in fairness, which is why I introduced this bill to ensure that Federal judges receive a COLA when other civil servants, including Members of Congress, receive theirs. I urge Members to support this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

I want to clarify the record. The only thing that is in H.R. 5454 is the judges' COLA. I think it is relatively noncontroversial, but it is a housekeeping thing that we have to do before the session adjourns.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.