Condemning the persecution of Baha'is in Iran.

Mr. Speaker, I co-authored this resolution with Rob Andrews as a call to action for the safety of the Baha'i faithful.

Never have followers of a more peaceful or gentle creed faced a more cruel and unjust tormenter. Founded in the mid-19th century in Persia, the Baha'i faith now extends to every country, including our own, but its faithful are most numerous in the place of its origin, now the modern day Iran.

The European Parliament has spoken out on this issue, and so we now add our voice as supporters of international human rights and the home of many Baha'i faithful here in America.

We have looked at a terrible situation unfolding in Iran. While Iranian Baha'is have suffered for many decades, their repression has grown significantly in the past few years. In 2006, Iran's Armed Forces Command headquarters ordered their Ministry of Information and the Revolutionary Guard and the police to identify all members of the Baha'i faith in Iran and to begin to monitor their activities.

In that same year, we saw the largest round-up of Baha'is. The Iranian Interior Ministry ordered provincial officials to cautiously and carefully monitor and then begin to manage all Baha'i activities. The Central Security Office of Iran's Ministry of Science, Research and Technology ordered 81 Iranian universities to expel any student discovered of being a Baha'i.

In 2007, the situation worsened. More than two-thirds of Baha'is enrolled in universities were expelled once they were identified. Police entered Baha'i homes and businesses to collect details on family members. Twenty-five industries were ordered to deny licenses to Baha'is, employers were pressured to fire Baha'i employees, and banks were told to refuse loans to Baha'i-owned businesses. As we heard before, Baha'i cemeteries were also destroyed.

In November of 2007, three Baha'i youths, Ms. Raha Sabet, Mr. Sasan Taqva and Ms. Haleh Roohi, were all detained for educating underprivileged children. They were later sentenced to 4 years in prison for this offense. The following month, the Iranian Parliament published a draft Islamic penal code requiring the death penalty for all apostates, a term that strictly applies to Baha'is and anyone who converts away from rigid Islam.

On May 14, 2008, seven members of the National Baha'i Coordinating Group were arrested. This is reminiscent of a mass disappearance and assumed murder of all members of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is in Iran back in August of 1980. The seven arrested in May are still being held without any charge or access to attorneys. And in just the last 2 weeks, a number of Baha'i families were targeted with acts of arson.

This is government-sponsored persecution. And we in the Congress should not be silent as Iran sets up the mechanism to ethnically cleanse its Baha'i minority, totaling over 250,000 human beings.

This bipartisan resolution, which I introduced with Congressman Andrews, condemns the Government of Iran for its persistent repression of Baha'is and lack of due process afforded to this minority. Our resolution calls upon Iran to immediately release three Baha'i youths and to reject the draft Islamic penal code requiring the death penalty for all apostates.

Mr. Speaker, my district is also home to the headquarters of the North American Assembly of Baha'is. The son of the faith's founder laid the cornerstone on the Baha'i Temple in Wilmette, Illinois--now basically a de facto symbol of the North Shore and our commitment to diversity and tolerance. Would that this view be shared by the Iranian Government.

For the life of me, I do not understand why they attack Baha'is. The Baha'i faith teaches that Moses and Jesus and Mohammed are all respected teachers who added to the faith of our times. The Baha'is embody acceptance and tolerance and accommodation. They have a faith which renders them incapable of being a threat to a government, so it is up to us to speak for them. It's up to us to hold up a mirror to the Iranian Government to show it as a vicious and cruel state.

We have seen this movie before, but they have worn other uniforms in other countries. It is my hope that we can make this call to action to join with the European Parliament. We can help change the ending of this flick so that hundreds of thousands of Baha'is may one day be able to sleep well in future days knowing that the great democracies from across the seas in Europe and America watch over them.

I urge the adoption of this Kirk-Andrews resolution and mightily thank the chairman of the committee, Mr. Berman, Ranking Member Ms. Ros-Lehtinen, and the ranking member of the subcommittee, Mr. Chabot, for helping to bring this before America's Parliament and calling real attention to help avert what could be a new crime of the century.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. Chairman, I move that the Committee do now rise and report the bill back to the House with sundry amendments, with the recommendation that the amendments be agreed to and that the bill, as amended, do pass.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve a point of order on the gentleman's motion.

Yes, I do.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to rise in opposition first.

Mr. Speaker, we believe attaching nongermane amendments to this critical veterans' bill could jeopardize its passage by unnecessarily delaying it or even grinding debate completely to a halt. This is unacceptable. My colleagues, those aren't my words. Those are the words of the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

Let me agree with my distinguished colleague. And let me say, last night at about midnight I told this chamber that Mr. Lewis has been one of the champions throughout his public service career on behalf of our veterans and our troops. I meant it when I said it then, and I mean it when I say it again now.

But let me say, having said that, no one is perfect. And on this motion, I think Mr. Lewis is wrong. Seriously wrong.

I do agree with this point he made just a moment ago; there may be confusion on this bill. There may be, so let me clear up the confusion.

This is the 2009 fiscal year Military Construction and Veterans Affairs appropriations bill. If there is any confusion as to whether this is the 2009 fiscal year energy bill, get that out of your minds right now.

This is a bill designed for the deadly serious purpose of honoring our veterans. Millions of them have put on our Nation's uniform and gone into harm's way in defense of your family and my family and the American family. This bill is deadly serious, because it provides training facilities and barracks for young men and women who are willing to go to Iraq and Afghanistan to answer their Nation's call of duty.

By making this motion, the gentleman knows, were it to pass, even though he knows also that it is nongermane, it would complicate this bill, it would slow down this bill, it could well kill this bill because of the honest differences on the energy issue.

Announcement By the Speaker Pro Tempore

Mr. Speaker, if my colleagues don't want to listen to my words, let me offer them some other people's words.

``It is imperative this bill is not delayed by unrelated and unnecessary amendments.'' That came from AMVETS.

How about what the Disabled American Veterans said about this kind of measure. They said, ``This bill provides the means to serve and care for sick and disabled veterans, provide housing facilities for military families, and to fund the activities of several other agencies that affect veterans, a most generous and necessary act.'' They have gone on to say they do not want delay on this important bill.

I would like to finish my remarks. I respected the gentleman's right to his remarks.

Let me go to another statement made by the Disabled American Veterans. They say, ``It is our strongest recommendation that this bill be unfettered with nongermane amendments.''

My colleagues, we have a very simple choice at this moment. We can choose to stand with the Republican leadership that chose to add this partisan motion at the end of a long bipartisan process; or we can stand with millions of American veterans, as represented by the statements against this very kind of motion, by the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the Disabled American Veterans, and the AMVETS.

I don't know about some of my colleagues on the Republican side of the aisle, but as for me, that's an easy choice. I'm going to stand with America's veterans. I'm going to stand with our troops in harm's way who deserve the funding in this bill as soon as possible.

Out of respect to the gentleman, I will yield.

Reclaiming my time, Mr. Speaker, I think the views of the Disabled American Veterans, the VFW and the AMVETS are very clear. They didn't say they strongly oppose this kind of a motion; they vehemently oppose it, because it could harm millions of America's veterans.

So make your choice. You can choose to stick with the Republican leadership on a clearly partisan nongermane motion, or you can stand up for America's veterans.

Mr. Speaker, I make a point of order against the motion to recommit with instructions, because it includes legislation and is not in order under clause 2 of rule XXI.

Mr. Speaker, the gentleman's motion to instruct proposes legislation in an appropriations bill and would not be in order in the Committee of the Whole pursuant to clause 2 of rule XXI. I ask for a ruling from the Chair.

Mr. Speaker, I move to table the appeal of the ruling of the Chair.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of this bill.

I'm pleased that for the second year in a row, the 110th Congress is providing the funding necessary to meet the housing requirements of our servicemembers and their families, as well as the money needed to care for our veterans.

Let me begin by thanking Chairman Edwards for including report language directing the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs to develop a plan to care for the veterans and military retirees in my district who would need health care services if Fort Monmouth's Patterson Army Health Clinic were to close in 2011. While I continue to oppose the decision to close Fort Monmouth and will continue to look for ways to reverse it, that decision is, for now, the law of the land. Accordingly, it is necessary to plan for meeting the medical needs of the many veterans and TRICARE beneficiaries in Central New Jersey in the event Fort Monmouth's medical facilities are closed. I'm pleased that the Committee is requiring that a report on how their needs will be met be delivered to Congress no later than January 30, 2009.

Overall, this bill would provide $40.7 billion for VA health programs, which is $3.1 billion over the current level. In addition to continuing to focus on providing adequate funding to treat veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, PTSD, and traumatic brain injury, TBI, this bill would provide $400 million that was not requested by the President to start enrolling 10 percent of Priority 8 veterans in the VA medical system. The Priority 8 category is reserved for veterans whose injuries currently are not rated as service related and whose incomes are more than $24,644 if single or $29,576 for a veteran with a dependent. An estimated one half of all uninsured veterans are Priority 8, and Priority 8 veterans have not been enrolled since 2003 as part of an Administration effort to cut costs.

The bill also includes $200 million, which was not requested by the President, to improve access to care where Veterans Health Administration, VHA, services are not available. I am hopeful that this will assist both rural veterans seeking care and those living in urban or ex-urban communities that currently lack ready access to a VA community-based outpatient clinic.

The bill would provide $1.6 billion, $250 million more than last year, to provide veterans with more technologically advanced prostheses. The VA has a long and generally commendable track record in this area. However, I am pleased the committee recognizes the need for the VA to apply a greater emphasis on harnessing the latest technological breakthroughs to help give our wounded veterans the maximum possible personal mobility.

I am also grateful to the committee for providing $165 million for grants to States for the construction and renovation of extended care facilities. The President's proposed $80 million

cut to this account was, frankly, unconscionable. The VA grant program that serves the State-run extended care facilities is critical. Many New Jersey veterans have visited with me over the past several years and described in detail the kinds of air conditioning, heating, and other upgrades that are vital to facilities such as the one in Paramus, New Jersey. I consistently have supported proper funding for this account, and I thank the committee for meeting this important need.

Finally, for our active duty community, this bill would provide $336 million that President Bush failed to request to continue a quality of life initiative for troops and their families started in the Fiscal Year 2008 Supplemental Appropriations Act, H.R. 2642. The bill includes nearly $200 million for the Army and Marine Corps to improve the barracks that soldiers and Marines live in when they train. It also includes $136 million for medical military construction and planning activities to upgrade substandard medical treatment facilities. We have all seen the pictures and heard the stories about substandard living conditions for troops. I am pleased that the committee remains focused on fixing this problem as quickly as possible.

Mr. Chairman, this is a good bill that will help our active duty families and our veterans. I will vote for it and I urge my colleagues to do likewise.

Mr. Speaker, I have a motion to recommit at the desk.

I am in its present form.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today with a motion to recommit. But I want to say first to my colleagues that one of the reasons for my rising with this motion is because there seems to be a good deal of confusion on the part of at least my constituency, and my colleagues' families and constituents at home may have the same kind of confusion.

It seems that my people believe that this President does want to lead to a comprehensive energy independence policy that would include the availability to States to drill off their continental shelf, et cetera, to give us an adequate supply of oil to assure our energy independence. And yet those same people believe that it is the President's Congress that is holding up such action. That is, many of them believe that the Congress, the House and the Senate, are controlled by his party. But that is not the case, and our people are confused. The Congress is controlled by the other party who are resisting those proposals that involve the ability to drill off the Outer Continental Shelf, to tap into shale, to develop a comprehensive policy that will lead to energy independence. My people are absolutely dying at the gas pump. Our small businesses are doing the same.

So I have a motion to recommit, Mr. Speaker, with the term, I might add, ``promptly'' in it to allow us to act immediately--I misread it. It is not promptly, it is ``forthwith.'' So it would be implemented immediately. I did that because my colleagues on the other side have been complaining about the word ``promptly.'' We want you to be able to act very quickly, not just strike this on a point of order, but allow the people's voices to be heard. Because I can tell you, when you go home, you are going to hear them if you strike this on a point of order. So back to the point, Mr. Speaker.

This motion would enact the American Energy Act, a comprehensive solution to the energy crisis that is causing families to pay $4 per gallon for gasoline. Adoption of this motion will increase the supply of American-made energy and will relieve those families, those businesses, and my constituents at the gas pump. It will improve conservation efficiency, it will promote new and expanded technologies. Most of all, it will reduce America's increasingly costly and dangerous dependence on foreign sources of energy.

The minute we send them a message that we are serious about home supply, prices will crash. I can guarantee you that.

We need to consider all solutions to achieve energy independence. I hope that as we prepare to head back to our districts for the month of August, we can go back to our constituents with the good news: We did something; rather than what this Congress has been doing in the past-- nothing.

I urge support for this motion to recommit.

I yield time to my leader from Ohio, Mr. John Boehner, the Republican leader.

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

Would the gentleman yield?

I consider that to be a great courtesy for your yielding.

I know that you know that I am the Member who carried the amendment that increased the mileage reimbursement for the veterans that is in this bill. I do know they had that problem, because all those veterans who you mentioned in those quotes are the same ones that are also paying $4 a gallon. They would love to have this bill reduce that burden.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of H.R. 6599, Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Act, 2009. This legislation builds upon last year's needed increases in military construction and veterans affairs funding, and continues to make our veterans a top priority.

As a veteran, I am pleased that H.R. 6599 provides more support for our veterans. H.R. 6599 includes a total of $47.7 billion for the Department of Veterans Affairs. $40.8 billion supports the Veterans Health Administration, VHA, and Veterans Medical Services, which expects to serve over 5.8 million patients next year. To improve access to care for our veterans, H.R. 6599 provides $200 million for fee-based providers where VHA services are not available. The bill also raises the travel reimbursement rate from 28.5 cents per mile to 41.5 cents per mile to help thousands of rural veterans get care. A continuing backlog at the VA forces our veterans to wait far too long to receive the benefits that they have earned. This bill will enable the VA to hire 1,400 new casework processors. Our veterans are men and women who have answered the call of duty to serve our country, and we have a duty to provide them with the best possible care when they return.

This bill addresses the specific issues that we see affecting our soldiers returning today from Iraq and Afghanistan. H.R. 6599 provides a $250 million increase to support prosthetics and new prosthetic technology, as well as $3.8 billion for specialty mental health services and $584 million for substance abuse programs. This is funding that can help address the growing incidence of post traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury cases among our returning soldiers.

As the Representative of Fort Bragg, one of the largest United States Army bases in the country, I am pleased that this bill addresses the needs of our military installations. This bill includes $24 billion for military construction, including an increase of $300 million for replacing inadequate military housing. Fort Bragg is expanding rapidly, and there are crucial funds in this bill to meet new demands. H.R. 6559 includes over $21 million for road construction and $78 million for on- base school constructions, to meet the needs of the influx of people at Fort Bragg. In addition, this bill includes $1,300,000 that I requested to construct a new mass casualty facility at Womack Army Medical Center for triage and decontamination purposes for the surrounding area. H.R. 6599 provides $5.6 billion for new military construction and family housing, in line with the ``Growing the Force'' initiative to increase the size of the Army, Marine Corps and National Guard and Reserve. Finally, I am pleased that there is an increase of $1.8 billion for the Base Realignment and Closure Act, BRAC, to continue these efforts.

I support H.R. 6599, Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Act, 2009, and I urge my colleagues to join me in voting for its passage.