Bill Sali

Madam Speaker, on rollcall No. 645, I was unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``nay.''

Madam Speaker, I submit the following for the Record:

Requesting Member: Bill Sali.

The bill number: H.R. 2638.

The account: Army National Guard, other Procurement, Army.

The legal name of requesting entity: Idaho National Guard.

Address of Requesting Entity: 4040 W. Guard St., Bldg. 600, Gowen Field, Boise, ID 83705.

Description: Provided an appropriation of $1 million to upgrade current AB-FIST Trainers for the Idaho National Guard. AB-FIST trainers were fielded to the Idaho National Guard during the past decade to provide crew gunnery training for M2A2 Bradley Fighting Vehicles to all units including the Idaho National Guard. Our current AB-FIST Trainers will become obsolete and not useable until they are upgraded to work with the upgraded Bradley Fighting Vehicles the Idaho National Guard will receive. Gunnery training for Bradley Crews is essential for the combat readiness of the Idaho National Guard.

Requesting Member: Congressman Bill Sali.

Bill Number: Defense Appropriations Bill, FY09 H.R. 2638.

Account: Navy, RDT&E.

Legal Name of Requesting Entity: BAE Systems.

Address of Requesting Entity: 33964 N. Main Street, Bayview, ID 83803.

Description of Request: Provide an appropriation of $480K in FY 2009 to fund the development of a shore based Large Scale Vehicle (LSV) Operations and Data Acquisition Enhancement at the Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC), Acoustic Research Detachment (ARD), Bayview, ID.

Approximately, $140K for labor and $340K for material purchases will be required. Labor breakdown is as follows:

Management: $8,000.

Engineering Design: $8,000.

Material Research & Purchasing: $4,000.

Assembly: $120,000.

This appropriation will fund a fiber optic link from the LSV radiated noise arrays in Lake Pend Oreille to the ARD shore based data acquisition laboratory and thereby replace an inefficient floating laboratory. This enhancement will greatly improve the utilization of resources during project testing at the ARD by eliminating the need for scientists and engineers to transit to the operations range on the lake for each underway and will improve the ability to monitor LSV range ambient conditions, from the ARD, reducing the number of weather terminated operations.

Requesting Member: Bill Sali.

The bill number: H.R. 2638.

The account: RTDE,N.

The legal name of requesting entity: University of Idaho, Microelectronics Research and Communications Institute located at Buchanan Engineering Laboratory, P.O. Box 441024, Moscow, ID 83844.

The single most damaging threat to the U.S. Naval Fleet is surface and subsurface mines. As noted in a letter from the Naval Surface Warfare Center at Carderock, the Navy ``is actively developing technologies to enable electric power systems to meet future mission and affordability requirements of submarine and surface ships.'' In order to be successful, the impact of electric power and propulsion systems on electromagnetic (EM) signatures must be understood so that ships with such systems can operate successfully against mines and detection. The $1,600,000 in requested funds will be used to continue research and testing work with the Navy's Acoustic Research Detachment (ARD) at Bayview to generate numerical and analytical models of ELF signals in shallow and deep water environments in order to mitigate the mine threat and to naval vessels that use electric propulsion; these models will be verified experimentally at Bayview given the unique features of Lake Pend Oreille and the experimental capability of ARD. Approximately, $488,000 is for salaries, $105,000 for materials, supplies, computers, travel, publications, etc., $290,000 is for overhead and $675,000 is for subaward costs and $42,000 for tuition and fees. This is the last year of funding for this project.

Requesting Member: Congressman Bill Sali.

Bill Number: Defense Appropriations Bill, FY09 H.R. 2638.

Account: Navy, RDT&E.

Legal Name of Requesting Entity: BAE Systems.

Address of Requesting Entity: 33964 N. Main Street, Bayview, ID 83803.

Description of Request: Provide an appropriation of $1.5 million in FY 2009 to fund the development of a Test Support Platform for the Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC), Acoustic Research Detachment (ARD), Bayview, ID.

Approximately, $500K for labor and $1.0 million for material purchases will be required. Labor breakdown is as follows:

Management: $20,000.

Engineering Design: $50,000.

Material Research & Purchasing: $30,000.

Assembly: $400,000.

This appropriation will be used to assemble a platform that will be used on Lake Pend Oreille in support of various projects working through the ARD. The existing ARD test support platforms are old and require significant configuration changes each time these barges are utilized for various projects. This request is intended to greatly improve the future project support that will be provided by the ARD by developing a modern test support platform configured with modern systems, acoustically isolated generators, and an effective laboratory space.

Madam Speaker, continuing on the line of the previous speaker on this side, the bill that was before us last month, that did provide for secure rural schools funding, I did vote for it in committee because we were promised that it would have a different pay- for by the time it got to the floor and that PILT funding would be in at 100 percent. And I did vote against it when it got to the floor here because it didn't have a pay-for. What it had was a bunch of baloney in it.

Now, the money that's supposed to come from Big Oil, as has been referred to by the other side, there's a Supreme Court case that is a 9-0 ruling that says that that money will never, ever, ever be used in Idaho.

Madam Speaker, my district is over 62 percent federally administered land. I have counties that are over 80 percent federally administered land. Imagine what that does to the tax base for your schools. And that is the real problem that we're trying to address here.

Well, the gentleman controlling time on the other side said, well, you know, we just can't include it this time and we included it last time, a month ago in the last bill and you wouldn't support it. Madam Speaker, these are real life people we're talking about. These are school kids whose teachers get laid off because the local school district can't afford to pay them.

These are local road districts who are trying to figure out how to make roads so that when you come to Idaho to enjoy those public lands we can actually get to them. These are real people trying to deal with real problems.

Madam Speaker, if this country wants to have federally administered land in the State of Idaho, I can tell you, I understand why. It is a beautiful, beautiful State. The recreation

opportunities are great. There are places in Idaho that offer world- class recreation. But when are we going to take care of the people of Idaho?

You want to blame it on a baloney pay-for that will never get money to Idaho? If we'd have voted for this and passed it last month and it had become law, you know what we would have given the people of the State of Idaho? An empty bag. They would never have gotten a penny of that money.

So how will they pay for those teachers? How will they pay for those roads that you might want to drive on to come see the beauty of the State of Idaho?

Madam Speaker, the idea that this comes down under a closed rule, that we can't even talk about it in this bill, we can't even offer another pay-for that would get real money on the ground in Idaho I think is a shame to this body.

Madam Speaker, I'm going to urge everyone to just listen closely to what I have to say here.

There are two reasons why the pay-for doesn't work that was in the bill last month. And these are a matter of court cases, and I want to remind everybody again, the one that went to the Supreme Court was a 9- 0 ruling. There are very few of those that come along.

The first reason is because the courts have said you cannot go back and change a contract that has been made. You just can't do it, except in some very, very narrow areas that were recognized by the court.

The other reason is because, in those narrow areas, you can't use that money in the State of Idaho. I don't care if you tax the oil companies to kingdom come. There is not a penny that was in that pay- for in that bill last month that would ever end up in Idaho. And that's the reason why I voted against that bill, because it would have left the State of Idaho--had we passed it, had it become law, it would have left the State of Idaho holding an empty bag.

And let me tell you something, Madam Speaker, an empty bag will not pay a teacher's salary. It will not pave a road in the State of Idaho so that you can come visit Idaho and come visit the natural beauty there, which is amazing.

Madam Speaker, this not about whether we're going to prefer Big Oil. It's not about priority. It's a matter of responsibility of the Congress of the United States. If you're going to come to my State, if you're going to come to my district and you're going to impose Federal administration on the lands that are in my district, then step up to the plate and have the responsibility so that you don't leave us holding an empty bag, so that you don't leave us without a tax base so that we can pay our teachers and pave our roads.

It is the responsibility of this Congress, and the idea that we would come here with this bill under a closed rule and shut us out is a shame on this body.