Supporting the goals and ideals of American Heart Month and National Wear Red Day.

Madam Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I call up House Resolution 1083 and ask for its immediate consideration.

For the purpose of debate only, I yield the customary 30 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Diaz-Balart). All time yielded during consideration of the rule is for debate only. I yield myself such time as I may consume.

General Leave

I also ask unanimous consent that all Members be given 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks on House Resolution 1083.

Madam Speaker, House Resolution 1083 provides for consideration of H.R. 2314, the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act of 2009, under a structured rule. The rule provides for 1 hour of debate in the House, controlled by the Committee on Natural Resources. The rule waives all points of order against consideration of the bill, except for clauses 9 and 10 of rule XXI. The rule makes in order an amendment in the nature of a substitute by Representative Abercrombie, which is debatable for 30 minutes. The rule also makes in order two second-degree amendments to the substitute. The amendments are to be offered by Representative Hastings of Washington and by Representative Flake of Arizona. The amendments are each debatable for 10 minutes. Finally, the rule provides one motion to recommit, with or without instructions.

Madam Speaker, I want to thank Chairman Rahall and the hardworking staff of the Natural Resources Committee for their dedication to the health and welfare of the many native peoples of this country and particularly for their work on this important legislation.

I also want to thank my colleagues from Hawaii, Congressman Abercrombie and Congresswoman Hirono, for bringing this legislation forward in the House, as well as the bill's original author, Senator Akaka, for his tireless work on behalf of the people of Hawaii in the Senate.

Our diversity is not only what makes us great but also what makes us American. My home State of Colorado is a beautiful land with awe- inspiring mountains and rugged landscapes, but the people are who make it truly beautiful. Colorado's rich history and diverse culture is interwoven with the Apache, Arapaho, Cheyenne, Pueblo, Shoshone, and Ute peoples, who helped found our State and who continue to play such an important role in our vibrant diversity today.

While Hawaiians celebrate the sun and while Coloradans treasure the snow, the same connection between land and people can be found in the unique beauty of Hawaii.

As we have seen in Colorado, with the Southern Ute and Ute Mountain Ute and across the country, the U.S. has a longstanding policy of providing its indigenous people--those who exercised sovereignty until the United States expanded its borders into their homeland--with an opportunity to organize, to protect and to perpetuate their cultures and traditions and to look out for their interests. It is only right that all indigenous people should have a right to determine how they should interact with our government. This bill merely brings about parity in the U.S. treatment of its indigenous people--American Indians, Alaska natives and Native Hawaiians.

H.R. 2314 would establish a Native Hawaiian interim governing council to develop elements of the organic governing documents and other criteria for the Native Hawaiian governing entity. These documents would detail the powers and authorities of the governing entity, but they would also include membership criteria as well as requirements for the election of government officials.

The Secretary of the Interior would be required to certify that the organic documents meet specified criteria and are consistent with applicable Federal law and our Constitution. After this certification, the government-to-government relationship with the Native Hawaiians should be reaffirmed.

It is also worth mentioning that these were the conditions set forward by the United States and that Hawaii agreed to in Statehood. These conditions of Statehood were set forth in the Admissions Act, signed August 21, 1959, which posed that the State of Hawaii would assume administration of the congressionally established Hawaiian Homes Commission Act trust, as well as ensure that former Hawaiian Government public lands held in trust would be utilized for one of five purposes, including the betterment of the conditions of Native Hawaiians.

Like American Indians, Native Hawaiians have no other homeland to keep their culture alive. Like American Indians, disenfranchisement has left Native Hawaiians at the bottom of national health, education and economic rankings. Through all of this, however, Native Hawaiians continue to maintain their cultural identity and dignity as a distinct native community.

This bill would reaffirm the Federal delegation of authority to the State of Hawaii, found in the State's Admissions Act, and would provide Native Hawaiians with the tools and status needed to preserve their vibrant culture and unique heritage for future generations.

Last year, Madam Speaker, Hawaii celebrated the 50th anniversary of its Statehood. It is long past time that Congress grants the same opportunity for self-determination to Native Hawaiians.

In 2000, the Hawaii Congressional Delegation offered the first Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act. Since then, Congress has held six joint hearings of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs and of the House Natural Resources Committee, five of which were in Hawaii, with a total of 12 congressional hearings within the last 9 years on the issue. The House has passed this legislation twice, in the 106th and 110th Congresses.

While the bill has evolved over the years and has received input from many stakeholders, it has maintained true to its intent to extend the Federal policy of self-governance and self-determination to Native Hawaiians for the purposes of a federally recognized government-to- government relationship. This has received broad support from organizations and people across the ideological spectrum and the State of Hawaii.

As a Representative of Native Americans who live in Colorado's Second Congressional District, I urge my colleagues in Congress to join me in passing this rule to honor and respect, not just this generation, but future generations of Native Hawaiians and to promote the diversity of cultures everywhere that make our country so great. I ask you to end half a century of neglect and to provide the Native Hawaiians with the same representation provided to other native peoples across the country.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, again, I would like to establish that there were exactly two amendments proposed to this piece of legislation, both by members of the Republican Party, and both will be allowed for floor consideration under this rule.

With that, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Hawaii (Ms. Hirono).

Madam Speaker, for more than 200 years, Congress, the executive branch, and the Supreme Court have recognized certain legal rights and protections for America's indigenous people. It's the moral and legal responsibility of Congress to reaffirm a political relationship with the native peoples of Hawaii, and H.R. 2314 will achieve this purpose.

Madam Speaker, I ask my colleagues to pass this very fair rule that includes both Republican amendments that were filed and to allow for the further consideration of this bill on the floor of the House of Representatives.

I yield back the balance of my time, and I move the previous question on the resolution.

The previous question was ordered.

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

I would like to thank my friend, the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Polis) for the time, and I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Last week, the Department of Labor, Madam Speaker, reported that Americans filed 473,000 jobless claims in the week ending February 13. That is an increase of 31,000 more claims than the previous week. It is truly unfortunate that the number of jobless claims continues to rise 1 year after the passage of the massive so-called ``stimulus bill.'' Take, for example, the district that I am honored to represent. According to Recovery.gov, the administration's stimulus Web site, the stimulus bill spent $185 million to create 310 jobs. That was at a cost of $600,000 per job.

Now, Madam Speaker, what worries me even more than the $1 trillion so-called ``stimulus bill'' is the fact that it continues the process of adding to our national debt at a time when we can least afford it. It is expected that the deficit, in large part due to the waste of money in the stimulus bill, is set to hit a record $1.6 trillion. The U.S. economy is dangerously close to the catastrophic precipice of uncontrollable debt. We must urgently alter Washington's fiscal course before the American middle class, as we know it, is relegated to the history books.

Why do I mention the stimulus and the state of our economy? To point out that, while our economy continues to stumble and to stutter and as jobless claims rise, the majority has decided to pass legislation that would recognize Native Hawaiians as a sovereign governing entity. Now, just 2 months ago, the distinguished Speaker declared that her party should be judged on the issue of ``jobs, jobs, jobs.''

How does the bill before us today have anything to do with job creation?

I understand that this is the last week in Congress for my good friend, one of the most respected Members of this House, Representative Abercrombie. I know I join all Members of the House in thanking him for his great work as a Member of this House and also for his friendship. As I say, I have great respect for him.

Last night, he testified before the Rules Committee about his work on the underlying legislation. He told us that he first began working on this issue when he was in the Hawaii legislature in 1974. It was very clear from his testimony that this is a very important issue for him, and I congratulate him for his hard work.

Yet there is an undeniable issue here that I have made reference to that was pointed out in terms of its importance to the American people by a recent opinion research poll which found that 84 percent of Americans think that Congress has not done enough for the creation of jobs. I think what the majority is doing today will simply reinforce that belief by the American people.

Madam Speaker, I thank the majority for their uncharacteristic generosity in allowing the House to debate both of the Republican amendments submitted to the Rules Committee for consideration. Unfortunately, over a year into this Congress, the purportedly most open and bipartisan Congress in history, the majority has yet to allow even one open rule. That's quite unfortunate, but yet it is business as usual for the majority to continue to claim bipartisanship while working to block full and open debate.

I reserve the balance of my time.

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

Thank you very much.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of the rule for H.R. 2314, the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act.

I appreciate the leadership of Chairwoman Slaughter, of Congressman Polis and of the work of the Rules Committee in crafting a fair rule. All amendments submitted to the Rules Committee were made in order, including two amendments from the minority.

As coauthor of this bill, I am concerned about the impact and intent of the Hastings and Flake amendments. However, the openness and fairness of the rule is consistent with a bill that has been more than 10 years in the making.

There have been 12 congressional hearings on this bill, five of which were held in Hawaii. It has been marked up by committees in both Chambers. The House passed the bill twice--first in 2000 and again in 2007.

The rule also makes in order the Abercrombie substitute amendment, which reflects a compromise between the Hawaii Congressional Delegation, the State of Hawaii, the Obama administration, Indian Country, and the Native Hawaiian community.

There have been many falsehoods and inaccurate statements made about this bill over the years. One of the many misrepresentations is that this bill is race-based legislation. Native Hawaiians are the native indigenous people of Hawaii. They were in Hawaii as long ago as 300 B.C., long before Captain Cook's so-called ``discovery'' of the Sandwich Isles, as he named this chain of islands.

The U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly held that legislation enacted to address the special needs and conditions of the native people of the United States does not constitute discrimination on the basis of race or ethnicity.

The sovereign status of Indian tribes recognized by the Constitution was later extended to Alaska natives as indigenous people. On this same basis, Congress has enacted legislation for the aboriginal, indigenous people of Hawaii. The Constitution, including the Indian affairs powers, extends to the original and all subsequently acquired territory of the United States.

For example, in the Louisiana Purchase Treaty of 1803, President Thomas Jefferson bound the United States to honor the treaties between Spain, which held Louisiana prior to France, and Indian tribes until such time as the United States entered into its own treaties with the tribes.

In 1867, in the Treaty of Cession with Russia for what is now the State of Alaska, the United States agreed to pass laws for the benefit of Alaska natives just as it does for natives in the lower 48 States. The Supreme Court ruled in Sandoval v. United States that the Indian affairs power extends to all distinctly native communities within the borders of the United States.

While Congress' authority is not without limit, it clearly can act on behalf of ``distinctly Indian''--which means ``native''--communities. Congress, so long as it is not arbitrary, may rationally act to benefit the native people. Native Hawaiians are distinctly native. They have their own sovereign nation. They have their own language, culture, religion, traditional economy. They are the aboriginal, indigenous people of Hawaii.

I urge my colleagues to support the passage of this rule.

Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 1039) supporting the goals and ideals of American Heart Month and National Wear Red Day.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and to add any extraneous material.

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

Madam Speaker, on behalf of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, I present House Resolution 1039 for consideration. This legislation expresses our support for the goals and ideals of American Heart Month and National Wear Red Day.

Introduced by my colleague Representative Christopher Lee of New York on January 26, 2010, House Resolution 1039 enjoys the support of over 50 Members of Congress. In addition, today's floor consideration allows Members of this body an added opportunity

to express their support for this thoughtful commemorative resolution.

Madam Speaker, House Resolution 1039 expresses our support for the goals of American Heart Month, which is annually commemorated during the month of February as a way of highlighting the devastating impact of cardiovascular disease on our Nation. As noted by the American Heart Association, heart disease, including stroke, continues to serve as the number one cause of death in the United States. In addition, an estimated 81.1 million adult Americans currently suffer from one or more types of heart disease. Accordingly, since 1963, Congress and the American Heart Association have partnered to draw attention to the cause and effects of heart disease, an effort that is reflected in the resolution authored by the gentleman from New York (Mr. Lee).

In addition, House Resolution 1039 also expresses our support for the goals and ideals of National Wear Red Day, which this year was held on Friday, February 5. Notably, National Wear Red Day is designed to support the fight against heart disease in women by encouraging all Americans to wear red at their workplaces, places of worship, out in their communities, and at home. Through the simple act of wearing red, all Americans can ensure that National Wear Red Day continues to serve as a powerful tool by which to raise our national awareness of heart disease and stroke, especially among women.

Madam Speaker, American Heart Month and National Wear Red Day are both valuable efforts in the fight against heart disease. For this reason, I urge my colleagues to join Mr. Lee, myself, and others in supporting House Resolution 1039.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I want to thank the gentlewoman from North Carolina for her eloquent words and for her support.

I simply ask all Members to support Mr. Lee of New York in this resolution, House Resolution 1039.

Madam Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not present.

Madam Speaker, unfortunately, I missed the following recorded votes on the House floor the week of Monday, February 22, 2010-Friday, February 26, 2010.

For Monday, February 22, 2010, I ask that the Record reflect that had I been present I would have voted ``aye'' on rollcall vote #49 (on motion to suspend the rules and agree to H.R. 4425), ``aye'' on rollcall vote #50 (on motion to suspend the rules and agree to H.R. 4238).

For Tuesday, February 23, 2010, I ask that the Record reflect that had I been present I would have voted ``no'' on rollcall vote #51 (on agreeing to H. Res. 1083, which provides for consideration of H.R. 2314), ``aye'' on rollcall vote #52 (on motion to suspend the rules and agree to H. Res. 1066), ``aye'' on rollcall vote #53 (on motion to suspend the rules and agree to H. Res. 1059), ``aye'' on rollcall vote #54 (on motion to suspend the rules and agree to H. Res. 1039), ``aye'' on rollcall vote #55 (on motion to suspend the rules and agree to H. Res. 1046), ``aye'' on rollcall vote #56 (on agreeing to the Hastings (WA) amendment to H.R. 2314), ``aye'' on rollcall vote #57 (on agreeing to the Flake amendment to H.R. 2314), ``no'' on rollcall vote #58 (on agreeing to the Abercrombie amendment to H.R. 2314), ``no'' on rollcall vote #59 (on passage of H.R. 2314).

For Wednesday, February 24, 2010, I ask that the Record reflect that had I been present I would have voted ``no'' on rollcall vote #60 (on agreeing to H. Res. 1098, which provides for consideration of H.R. 4626), ``aye'' on rollcall vote #61 (on motion to suspend the rules and agree to H. Res. 1074), ``aye'' on rollcall vote #62 (on motion to suspend the rules and agree to H. Res. 944), ``aye'' on rollcall vote #63 (on motion to recommit H.R. 4626 with instructions), ``aye'' on rollcall vote #64 (on passage of H.R. 4626), ``aye'' on rollcall vote #65 (on motion to suspend the rules and agree to H. Res. 1085).

For Thursday, February 25, 2010, I ask that the Record reflect that had I been present I would have voted ``no'' on rollcall vote #66 (on agreeing to H. Res. 1105, which provides for consideration of H.R. 2701), ``aye'' on rollcall vote #67 (on motion to concur in Senate amendments to H.R. 3961), ``aye'' on rollcall vote #68 (on motion to suspend the rules and agree to H. Con. Res. 227).

For Friday, February 26, 2010, I ask that the Record reflect that had I been present I would have voted ``no'' on rollcall vote #69 (on agreeing to the Reyes (TX) amendment to H.R. 2701), ``aye'' on rollcall vote #70 (on agreeing to the Hastings (FL) amendment to H.R. 2701), ``aye'' on rollcall vote #71 (on agreeing to the Schauer amendment to H.R. 2701), ``aye'' on rollcall vote #72 (on motion to recommit H.R. 2701 with instructions), ``no'' on rollcall vote #73 (on passage of H.R. 2701), ``aye'' on rollcall vote #74 (on motion to suspend the rules and agree to H. Con. Res. 238).