Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, it's been said this is a simple bill. In a way it is simple, but it solves a great problem.

As mentioned by the chairman and the ranking member, this bill probably wouldn't necessarily be passed if it wasn't because of the conflict we had between the State when we passed statehood, the Native Land Claims Act and, of course, the BLM. There is no one that objects to this bill. It solves a very important problem for the local people and the subsistence-style living. It also takes care of the recreational areas that they can be utilizing. And it's the right bill to do for the State of Alaska and Alaska natives.

Mr. Speaker, I'd like to speak on another subject for a short moment which I believe relates to this. For the people listening to this great display of legislative action on the House floor, we'd like to remind them, you know, Little Red Riding Hood, do not go to sleep.

Just because the prices of gas have been dropping at the pumps, do not be lured into the idea that everything's going to be okay, because I've watched this now in my 40 years here go up and down, up and down; and every time we start to do something, start moving forward for self- dependency on our fossil fuels, those that are providing us the fuel from overseas at cost of great bloodshed and a flood of dollars, they take and drop their prices. When doing so, we start getting lulled back to sleep, and we don't do anything. And then they'll jack the prices up again, and the whole economy will not recover.

So I'm asking the public to understand one thing: do not go to sleep. Just because you go up to the pump station now and put that nozzle in and say, oh, my, gas is only $3.60 when it was $4.15, headed to $5. Watch it very closely, ladies and gentlemen. Watch this, everybody on the floor of this House, because you are going to sleep.

Oh, everything's fine and dandy. We do not have to worry about this anymore. Our good friends in the Middle East will take care of us. Yes, the good friend in Venezuela, Hugo Chavez.

Think about this a moment, ladies and gentlemen. We're just where we were back in 1972 when we passed the

Trans Alaska pipeline. We had an embargo. People were lined up to buy the gasoline; lined up and actually shooting at one another because it was, at that time, 36 cents a gallon. And we built the Trans Alaska pipeline, and we lowered that price very rapidly.

As it went down, and the economy came back and people weren't shooting at anyone anymore, they were doing, in fact, one thing that we need to do today. That is the reality that we must start producing our own fossil fuels. Yes, fossil fuels, not wind power, not solar power. Yes, they're good. But fossil fuels that move objects.

Everybody listening to this show today, keep in mind every time you get in that car you're moving weight. Every truck that delivers a product to the grocery store and to anyplace you buy is moved by fossil fuels, not just made by fossil fuels, moved by fossil fuels, the trains, the planes, the ships, and, yes, the automobile.

We will spend this year close to $300 billion buying fossil fuels from people that do not like us, do not even tolerate us most of the time, would like to kill us every time.

And why this Congress and why the administration, yes, the previous administrations--no one's innocent in this project--will not set forth an energy policy that doesn't involve just wind power and sun power, but involves all the powers that we have to produce energy for the people of America. The coal, yes, we're going to burn cheap coal. It can be burned and should be burned. But most of all, the oil which we're still importing from abroad. That's what we have to do.

So I ask you, don't go to sleep, ladies and gentlemen, because the persons that raise the price of oil are there, and they will do it again. And this Congress will say, oh, we've got to do something. We'll have to do something. And by the time that prices go so high that it affects our economy, it will start going back down when we try to do something.

I'm saying that the leadership on this side of the aisle, we have an energy package. It's been sent over to the other body. I know I'm not supposed to mention that other body. In fact, I'm not. It's the other body. And it has not passed any energy legislation. We've done it on the House side numerous times, not just this year and last year, even some of the years before. We have passed energy legislation.

But it's time for this Congress, a reflection of the American people, to rise up and say we are going to do something so those people that have been hurting us all these years--$4 trillion worth of oil has been spent in the last 14 years overseas. Trillion, ladies and gentlemen. That was equal to the national debt.

But take $4 trillion off the existing debt, see where we would be today. We wouldn't have the unemployment rate. The President wouldn't have to say, well, it's getting a little better. The economy is better than it was, they say. But it all relates back to the cheap energy, energy that could be afforded by the working class people of America, the working class people of America, not the rich that can afford it, the working class that provide the economy to this machine that we have called a democracy.

So I'm asking the American public and this body to wake up. Wake up and let's do what's right. Wake up the other body and do what is right for the future of this Nation.

Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment on behalf of the gentleman from California (Mr. Denham).

This amendment has been adopted by the House twice unanimously, and so I urge the passage of the amendment.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of an incredible person. I do so, on behalf of myself, former Senators Ted Stevens and Frank Murkowski, the Community of Ketchikan, and the State of Alaska. It is my privilege to recognize Sherrie Slick of Ketchikan, Alaska, for her 25 years of dedicated service as staff to the Alaska Congressional Delegation.

Sherrie is a true community leader and has worked hard to represent the Alaska Congressional Delegation in our Ketchikan office. While we are sad to see her go, we wish her the best during her retirement and future endeavors.

The first thing that comes to mind when I think of Sherrie is her unfailing energy. She has been tireless in her dedication to constituents and her service to the Delegation. She is deeply tied to Ketchikan, and residents value her civic leadership. I am impressed at how Sherrie manages to take on so many projects--from charitable events to Delegation visits, and I always say that Sherrie is so involved that she seems to be in several places at once.

The Alaskans who visited Sherrie over the years, in need of assistance or to voice their opinion on legislation, found her to be both knowledgeable and welcoming. In fact, Sherrie was a staunch advocate for her fellow citizens.

Sherrie is also a great story-teller. I always looked forward to hearing from her about local

happenings when I visited Ketchikan. There was no better guide than Sherrie when members of the Delegation were in town.

To me, Sherrie is a friend, close advisor, and one of the best staffers I have had the pleasure of working with. I know Sherrie is looking forward to a lively retirement, particularly as a grandmother. I'm sure that she will continue to work hard, just as she has during her time serving the Delegation. Today, we remember Sherrie's accomplishments and know that she will achieve many more in the years to come.

Mr. Speaker, I commend our Leaders and Chairman Ryan for the bold budget which we are going to approve today. Many of the programs targeted for cuts in the Reconciliation Package are worthwhile initiatives that I have and will continue to support such as childhood nutrition programs and family support services. However, the future of this nation and that of our children and grandchildren depends on our resolve to address the debt crisis while making certain that our national security is protected. This is not an easy vote, but it is a necessary one.

Despite my willingness to support our Leadership in making these tough choices, I rise to express some concern over one particular provision which would eliminate the Medicaid expansion in the U.S. territories. While on this side we have all voted for the full repeal of Obamacare, this provision had very little to do with that measure. The territories provision was instead intended to close the gap between healthcare funding on the mainland and in the U.S. territories. Puerto Rico, for example, had previously funded 80% of its Medicaid, while states with similar demographics funded only 20%. The provision I am concerned about helped to close that gap.

While we will continue to pursue the full repeal of Obamacare, I will continue to stand for the closing of that gap and for fully funding healthcare in the U.S. territories. The citizens of those jurisdictions are Americans and deserve to be treated with equality.

Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word.

I yield to the gentleman from Minnesota.

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

Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word.

Mr. Chairman, in lieu of an amendment, I would like to take this time to engage the subcommittee chairman in a colloquy about the importance of our Nation's fisheries management commissions.

Mr. Chairman, I rise today to express my support for funding our Nation's fisheries management commissions and the good work they do to help keep more fish in our waters. NOAA's Inter-Jurisdictional Fisheries Act, IJFA, program supports the conservation and management of fish species which occur in both Federal and State waters. Funding for this program is used to support conservation and management tasks not currently being undertaken by NOAA or the Regional Fishery Management Councils. Similarly, fisheries commissions on the Atlantic, Pacific, and gulf coast represent an important bottom-up stakeholder approach to managing our Nation's many fisheries and often develop innovative programs to enhance America's fisheries resources.

I yield to the gentleman from Virginia.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

In these tight budgetary times, hard choices must be made, and we should ensure that we do our utmost to put funds back into productive programs that increase the sustainability of fisheries and benefit the States, and the IJFA and councils and commissions accounts are areas where current programs are producing proven results for fisheries' sustainability.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Amendment Offered by Mr. Garamendi

I move to strike the last word.

I yield to the gentleman from California.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in memory of a dedicated wife, proud supporter of our military and veterans, and most importantly, a great Alaskan. On April 26, 2012, Alaska lost one of its hardest working and most dedicated daughters, Mrs. June Burkart.

Mrs. Burkhart was a loving wife and mother whose life was defined by service to her family and community. For decades she served on the boards of countless organizations that supported Alaskans, most recently raising significant funds for the Wounded Warriors Program. As an avid outdoor lover, she worked to ensure that any wounded warrior who wished to hunt or fish had the opportunity to do so through the Safari Club International Alaska Chapter.

For days, I can continue praising her many accomplishments and the many ways that she improved my life and the lives of anyone who knew her. Her memory will continue to live on in our hearts and souls. I hope that June's family, and especially her husband Roy, can take comfort in the bond they had with June as it will be with them always. I hope the precious memories the family has of her will bring them comfort, and that they will come to find, in the lovely words of Hugh Robert Orr:

``They are not dead who live in lives they leave behind. In those whom they have blessed, they live a life again, and shall live through the years eternal life, and shall grow each day more beautiful, as time declares their good, forgets the rest, and proves their immortality.''

I rise in opposition to the amendment.

Mr. Chairman, I strongly oppose this amendment.

I am deeply surprised the gentleman from Michigan would, in fact, propose the amendment. He has one of these bears from his State, and a lot of hunters are not wealthy. This is a legal activity in Canada. They hunted these bears prior to 2008 and even prior to 2007. These are dead bears, and they are sitting in Canada. When the hunters hunted legally, the Canadian Government gave them the proper authority to do so, and it helped the native villages. Right now, there are more bears in Canada than there ever has been in history.

Hunting is a vital process of the management of game, and these people included two wounded veterans. They were in Iraq, in that heated area, and the one dream they had when they got back was to be able to go and hunt a polar bear. I can understand that. They shot their trophies legally and with the blessing of the Canadian Government and the local province, and then they expected to be able to return those bears, those hides--and yes, even sometimes the bodies--back home for the proper display of their hunts. To say now you can't import something when a bear was declared threatened by, yes, the Bush administration--and wrongfully so--the bears are not threatened. There are more bears now than there were in 1964. I'm probably the only individual on this floor who had ever shot a polar bear in '64, and I'm certainly not rich.

I am suggesting that this amendment is ill-placed, poorly thought out, and improper. I want those people who did things legally by the nation of our neighbors and blessed by the province to be able to bring those trophies back home, as they have the right to do. Yet the act of a Secretary of the Interior took that away from them arbitrarily.

I reserve the balance of my time.

I am surprised by my good friend from California. He has a lot of polar bears in California. It's really amazing to me. He doesn't know squat about the population of polar bears. Then to imply that these are rich people who are going to hunt, now isn't that class warfare? It's exactly a Democrat position, the idea that now this is wrong when they did it legally. These bears weren't all killed in 2008, and they weren't all warned in 2008. I want to see the documentation of that. You know there's no documentation. That's the same propaganda you get out of the same groups of people that are anti-gun and anti-hunting.

Yes, step up to the plate. That's what you are. I know that. Yet to take that right away from an American citizen, especially from a wounded veteran--two of them--is wrong. It is wrong when this is legally taking species arbitrarily by a Secretary of the Interior who is saying now they're threatened. By the way, the administration does not oppose this bill. That's amazing. The Fish and Wildlife Service actually supports this bill now because we made some changes that they wanted, and we gave them, specifically recognizing that it does not encourage hunting.

I reserve the balance of my time.

The gentleman from Virginia has lots of polar bears in Virginia. I know it's springtime, but I don't think there's many polar bears in Virginia.

It's strange that all three of them have said endangered species. This has nothing to do with endangered species. This is about marine mammals. Endangered species, in fact, are still imported to the United States. Hartmann's mountain zebras, yes; the African elephants, yes. We can still import those. This has to do with marine mammals.

I really can't understand because the government warns you--it's not against the law, but they warn you and you better follow it because we're warning you. That's not law. These people may have been notified there's a possibility, but they hunted under existing law, under existing permits and paid for. To take that away from them--I don't care if it's one person or 500 people or 41 people. When the law is followed and we don't follow through with it, then shame on us. These people did what was right, and legally. Now you're trying to take that right away from them.

I urge a strong resounding ``no'' on this amendment and vote for the people of America to have a right under the Constitution as long as they follow the law to do something that's correct and they've done that. They did everything by the law and to say now to have an amendment and say you don't have a right when they followed it correctly is shame on you.

Mr. Speaker, I do thank the gentleman for yielding.

S. 1710, this legislation, as has been mentioned by both speakers, will name the Federal courthouse in Anchorage after the late Judge James Martin Fitzgerald. James Fitzgerald served Alaska from 1959 to 2006 on the first Alaska Superior Court bench, on the Alaska Supreme Court, and on the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska.

Judge Fitzgerald was an honorable man and represents the best of Alaska in its earliest years as a State. As was mentioned, from his service to his country in the South Pacific during World War II to the time he served on the State of Alaska's highest court, Judge Fitzgerald always put his country and State first. From 1959 until his retirement in 2006, he served with distinction as a State and Federal judge unanimously praised for his brilliance, his modest nature, and his sense of justice.

In addition to serving as a judge, Judge Fitzgerald was a decorated World War II Marine veteran, a prosecutor, Alaska's first commissioner of public safety, and the initiator of what would become the Alaska State Troopers and the Alaska Village Public Safety Officer Program.

I am proud to have helped championed this legislation to designate the United States courthouse in Anchorage as the James M. Fitzgerald United States Courthouse. He was a great man, and this will ensure his life and accomplishments are properly memorialized in my State. Again, I urge all of my colleagues to support this legislation.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong support of H.R. 3408.

I'm really here to talk about ANWR. You know, I just wrote a little poem. It's not too good:

Old Mother Hubbard went to the cupboard to fetch a barrel of

oil.

Lo and behold, none was there.

Lack of action by this Congress, beware.

ANWR still lays bare.

Time to drill for the people of America.

We have argued this battle over and over again. The gentleman from Massachusetts says no use for atomic power, no use for ANWR, we're in good shape. But look at the prices of gas, Mr. and

Mrs. America. It will go to $5. You say this won't solve the problem. I've heard this before.

If you want to have money for transportation, think for a moment. I passed this bill out, got it to the Senate side, this is the 12th time. One time it got to the President, and President Clinton vetoed it. We would have saved $4 trillion if we had had ANWR open at that time. Think of the highway bill we would have had then. That's something I think the American people should recognize.

We do have the fossil fuels in America. We do have the oil, we do have the gas. But we haven't had the will to develop them because we brought them from overseas. We got them in here, and now we're dependent upon the Mideast, and, yes, Venezuela, our good neighbor Venezuela, Chavez.

It's time for America to wake up. We need this supply of fossil fuels, and it's going to stay here. Not wind, not solar, because fossil fuels are still the cheapest way to move an object. It is the commerce of this Nation. It moves our trains, our planes, our automobiles, our trucks, and our ships, and it will continue to do that. That's what keeps us moving in this country. It keeps our economy strong. As long as we will have that fossil fuel within the United States, it is criminal to continue to rely upon the foreign countries.

We talk about Big Oil. Pick on Big Oil. Big Oil this, Big Oil that, Big Oil this. The truth of the matter is Big Oil does help the United States of America. Little oil helps the United of America. It keeps our trucks and our planes flying. It keeps our economy strong.

So I'm urging you to vote on this aspect of ANWR. Open ANWR. Let's vote on it. Let's provide for this Nation. Let's do what's right for the people in this Nation. It only covers an area as big as Dulles airport. Out of 19 million acres, less than 3,000 acres will be developed. Less than 3,000 acres will be developed to divide us from probably 39 billion barrels of oil, 74 miles away from the pipeline, a pipeline that can deliver 2 million barrels of oil a day to the United States of America, as we have done in the past.

We've had one shipment of oil go overseas, heavy oil. All of the rest has gone to the United States of America. It's gone to the refineries. It's time for us as a Congress to act responsibly.

With all due respect to my friend from Massachusetts, he's against nuclear power. He's against oil. In fact, I question the wind power because one time he was against that. I'm saying, wait a minute. What are we doing to run this country for power? How do we get our economy going again? That is the key to our economy: energy, good cheap energy.

Mr. Chairman, fellow colleagues, when you first took this office, you held up your hand and swore to uphold the Constitution of America. I hope you read the Constitution. You say it's not relevant. It is. What we're doing here is transferring the power-- and I've watched this for 40 years slowly creep into this body-- transferring the power to the President's regulatory law. Now we're going to give him the power to line-item veto. Shame on you. Shame on you. This is a Congress of the people. It's up to us to do the job, and the chairman has done the job this time.

I'm looking down the road. The idea that we're going to let this House give this power to this President or any other President in the future, you've lost the Constitution in America as we have today. Let's think about this, ladies and gentlemen. That's what you're doing. You're transferring it to a monarchy to control it by executive orders, and now control the purse strings of this great Nation to the Congress, saying you can't do it when we're the representative of the people.

You talk about the debt. The debt is terrible; it's awful. But it would be worse to have our body, in fact, transfer the power of this House, under the

Constitution, to the President of the United States.

I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I want to congratulate you.

For those who condemn this bill, remember, we have not had a reauthorization FAA for many, many years. And I think this has been well thought out. This bill will do the job, and we should get it done for the American people.

This is a process of compromise. And we've done this with the Senate side, which is really the problem with most of these debates we have as far as conferences go. But it would be a sad day if we didn't pass this legislation, because the work has gone into it and it does solve lots of problems. It gives assurity for the FAA: they can plan ahead, make our airports safer, make our flyers safer, and have the navigations necessary.

So I congratulate the chairman and the ranking member getting this bill done. The negotiating part was very difficult, but they've done a good job.

I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I want to thank Chairman Hastings and the ranking member for their cooperation in moving this bill.

As you said in your explanation, this is a noncontroversial bill. It solves the problem for the health providers of that area in Kotzebue.

I urge the House to pass the bill.

Mr, Speaker, I rise today to honor one of Alaska's most distinguished, faithful, and respected public servants, John Katz.

Fresh out of Berkley Law, he boldly moved to Alaska and made a decision to embark upon a life of selfless public service to the people of Alaska. Among his first few jobs in public service were being Alaska Commissioner of Natural Resources and special counsel on land-use issues, before being appointed the Governor's man in Washington D.C. in 1983.

His departure can only be described as an enormous loss for our great state. For more than 40 years, and spanning eight governors, he has served Alaska with unwavering commitment, integrity, and with the utmost level of professionalism. Having worked with him for almost 30 of those years, I have little doubt that his loyalty to and knowledge of Alaska is second to none.

Through thick and thin, his dedication to Alaska was evident to everyone who worked with him. Over the years he has always put the needs of Alaska first, no more so than when he delayed his retirement at the request of Governor Frank Murkowski.

His reputation of being calm and cool under pressure is well known and his ability to work well with Republicans and Democrats alike should be emulated by others here in Washington. He once said his greatest disappointment was being unable to open up ANWR and I share that disappointment with him.

But despite ANWR, he was an integral part of every positive development to happen to Alaska in the last three decades including Alaska Native rights, fisheries management, protecting Alaska's sovereignty, and natural resource development. After all the work we've done together, I will do my utmost to continue this legacy for the good of Alaska.

He is exactly the kind of public servant who gives public service a good name. My staff and I will miss working with him, but I hope that our paths will continue to cross.

Thank you for your service to Alaska, John, and I wish you all the best in the future.

I thank the gentleman for yielding.

I have listened to this debate. This is a reciprocity vote that allows me to carry my weapon, as I have carried it for the last 50 years, from one State to another as long as I have a permit and they do also.

But more than that, I am a little bit resentful when I hear on the floor that this is ``the will of the NRA.'' Now, I am proud to have been a lifetime member of the NRA--since I could vote. I am a member today. I participate in their board meetings, and I am proud of that organization. It is probably one of the leading organizations. But to cast that in the form of ``they are not the people of America'' is wrong. The greatest strength the NRA has is its members. There is talk about how strong they are as a lobbying group. The lobbying group is the citizen, the citizen that wants to carry his arm, as permitted, across State lines, as they do with a driver's license.

This is a good piece of legislation. I'm glad we are having this discussion. There can be differences of opinion. But don't take it away from myself to go from Alaska with my permit and go into the other 48 States, I believe it is, that have permits and I can't use my permit. That's wrong. Let's vote for this legislation.

Madam Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

Madam Chairman, this is well explained in the unanimous consent by the gentleman from New Jersey.

I just urge the passage of the conveyance of the decommissioned Coast Guard Cutter STORIS to the nonprofit organization in Juneau, Alaska, for use as an historic memorial.

I reserve the balance of my time.

I yield back the balance of my time.