Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, I rise in opposition to the motion to recommit.

Madam Speaker and Members of the House, this legislation last year had bipartisan support as it passed this House overwhelmingly. Why did it have that support? Because this legislation

enabled the Federal Government to partner with local school districts who were looking to repair and to restore and renovate their schools to make them more energy efficient so that those local school districts could save on the average $100,000 in energy bills by making these changes.

We know that the economy has made it more difficult for those local school districts to be able to repair and renovate and restore those schools that are in such bad need of that kind of work. So we offer the hand of the Federal Government as a partner with those districts based upon those local priorities, some of which have been waiting for several years. That partnership is critical to the survivability of these districts in meeting their energy needs as we go forward.

So what do we have here? We have an attempt to kill this amendment based upon a deficit from a party that gave us and left office with $1 trillion in deficits, when they entered office with $5 trillion in surplus.

They want to tell us how to manage the books and not take care of local schools, not have school construction, not have local jobs in our community because they ran up the deficit. The all-time world champions of deficits now want to suggest to you that you should put your schools at the end of the line of the deficit that they created.

Yes, we have a budget. We have a budget that takes down the deficit, that takes down the deficit to what it was in the Reagan years. You know, we've been through this before. We went through this where the Republicans run up the deficit on the theory that they starve the beast, and then none of the things that we believe in can go into effect.

We're not going to let this happen on this bill. It's most important that we understand that, that this is about this party trying to stop what is an agenda that has bipartisan support in the House, in the Senate, at the local levels to try to improve the learning opportunities for so many of our students.

I would like to yield to the gentleman from New Jersey.

This decision is simple. The American public made a decision. They want us to go in a new direction. They want us to improve our education systems, our health care systems, and our energy systems.

The party on the other side is not interested in that. They don't have those solutions on the table. They haven't presented those solutions on the table. But what they want to do is infringe on the ability of this President and this country to move forward in a new direction. We cannot let that happen. They didn't do it.

This is a party that is now holding weekend talk sessions about how they lost their way. Yeah, they lost their way on fiscal irresponsibility for 8 years, and now they want the school children of this Nation to pay the bills.

I ask for a ``no'' vote on the motion to recommit.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous material on H.R. 2187 into the Record.

Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Loebsack), who has been a driving force behind this legislation and one of the original cosponsors of this legislation.

At this time, I would like to yield 3 minutes to the subcommittee Chair, Mr. Kildee, who is the original sponsor of this legislation.

I yield 3 minutes to the original author of this legislation, who has been pushing school construction legislation for a number of years, the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Chandler).

I yield 2 minutes to the subcommittee Chair of the Education and Labor Committee, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Andrews).

(Mr. ANDREWS asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pascrell), a great supporter of this legislation.

I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Wu), a member of the committee.

Mr. Chairman, I now yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Tonko), a member of the committee.

I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Holt), a member of the committee.

I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Visclosky).

I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer).

I yield 2 minutes to Mr. Al Green of Texas.

Mr. Al GREEN of Texas. Mr. Chairman, I thank Chairman Miller for his outstanding work in Congress and thank Mr. Chandler for sponsoring this piece of legislation.

Mr. Chairman, the cost of energy is increasing. This bill will help us by saving energy. It will help us in the years to come by reducing the amount of energy that we will use. Unemployment is at 8.9 percent. This bill will put people to work in a crucial and critical area, the area of construction, because the bill is all about construction and reconstruction of some of our facilities, and more, of course.

This bill is one that we all agree is needed. The need for it is undeniable. The question becomes, then, are we going to make our children a priority. That is really the question that I ask Members to consider. Will we make our children a priority?

Yes, there are times when we cannot afford to do things, but there are also times when we cannot afford not to do things. This is one of those things that we cannot afford not to do. And there are times when you have done everything that you can, you have not done enough. When you have done all that you can do, you have not done enough. On occasions when you have done all that you can do and you haven't done enough, you have a duty to do all that you can. This bill does all that we can do at this time to help this generation compete in the global economy.

I beg, I besiege, and I implore my colleagues to make our children a priority and support this bill.

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

Mr. Chairman, and Members of the House, the 21st Century Green High- Performing Public School Facilities Act is exactly what the Federal Government should be doing.

We have seen now over the last year, and in some cases a little longer, and for the foreseeable future, that the tax resources of local school districts, cities, and counties have plummeted because of the foreclosure crisis that confronts this Nation and because of the financial scandals and the financial collapse of our institutions across this Nation. We have seen that credit is not available. The school districts that have voted for bonds have had difficulty in getting those bonds to market so that they can engage in the construction. And we see, in fact, the backlog of repairs to schools, renovations, modernizations of schools and school facilities is starting to lag.

We also know and we understand that for the foreseeable future, unemployment will continue to go up in this country, at a diminished rate, but we still know half a million people a month are losing their jobs. Auto sales are down because American families are trying to save more because of the recession, the depression we are in. They are trying to take care of their needs, so school districts are denied those resources as are States.

So what the Federal Government is doing in this time of emergency is trying to say that we will join with you in a partnership based upon the priorities of locally elected school boards, of superintendents of schools, for the repair and restoration of schools that are so necessary in so many areas of this country. If a school board or if a school district doesn't need the money, they need not take it. We hope that they wouldn't because maybe it can go to another school district that might need it more. But the fact of the matter is, these repairs and restorations, and if we use green technology and use the guidelines of the green standards, not only can repair and restore these schools, they can make them much more efficient in the use of energy and the use of water and the use of natural daylight so students will have a better learning environment and better opportunities at learning.

Yes, the data is pretty darn clear that in those kinds of facilities students do have a better opportunity in learning the material that is presented to them in that environment than they do in an old and run- down facility that is crumbling and bathrooms that are not safe and can't be used and windows that are not replaced.

Yes, that may not sound like the local school district that some of you represent, but it sounds like a lot of the local school districts that a lot of us represent, and those school districts are doing all that they can. People are voting for bond issues and paying higher taxes, but the fact of the matter is they don't have sufficient resources to do that. That does not mean that we should just sentence those kids to a second-class education, to deny them educational opportunities, because when we do that, we then spill over into the national interest of this country, and that is to make sure that every child receives a first-class education, that every child at the end of 12 years has the opportunity to choose a career or schools or schools and a career in whatever combination, but they are prepared to do that.

And we know from all of the surveys that it is far more difficult for young children to learn in dilapidated, ill-repaired, badly restored schools when they are trying to get down the basics of their education.

So this is a Federal partnership. In some cases, local government joins with private sector money to repair and restore schools and provide new technologies. We want to join in part of that. You can say this is the Federal taking over the role. It is not taking over any role. This is insignificant compared to the efforts being made by local governments. We are simply saying we think this can be catalytic in terms of getting some of these projects done at this particular time and for the foreseeable future so that we can ensure our students have an opportunity to do that.

I want to thank the foresight of Mr. Kildee, not only the subcommittee Chair, but the author of this legislation, Mr. Chandler, Mr. Loebsack, who worked with local districts, who worked with local schools, who looked at examples of what had been done to make a more efficient use of those local dollars, of Federal dollars, of education dollars, to bring that together and try to build high-performing schools.

We want to make the same decisions for these schools that so many in the private sector are making about their renovation, the renewal, the repair of commercial facilities, of facilities throughout our communities where the real estate industry is saving billions of dollars by greening those buildings, where we're saving energy, where we're saving water--in States like California, those two things are very important--and providing a safe environment for children. That's why we should pass this legislation.

H.R. 2187 requires local educational agencies to ensure a full and open competition for qualified bidders. We expect that process to maximize the number of qualified bidders to include local, small, minority-owned, women- owned, and veteran-owned contractors, and to do so without diminishing or precluding the local educational agencies' ability to seek out responsible contractors by, for example, requiring contractors to participate in bona fide apprenticeship training programs and to demonstrate other legitimate responsibility and qualification standards. Such requirements can be used to ensure high- quality work and successful project delivery as well as foster good training and employment opportunities in local communities.

I would like to yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from Nevada, a member of the committee and a strong supporter of this legislation (Ms. Titus).

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

Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. Chairman, Members of the House, as has been stated earlier in this debate, this is a very important piece of legislation that is geared to improve the condition of school buildings all across the country, and it does so while promoting energy efficiency through green buildings and creating jobs to help stimulate our economy.

I have a manager's amendment which I believe further improves the bill by providing equitable treatment of charter schools while ensuring that the school district can put all of its funds to good use; by allowing schools to give priority to projects designed to remove hazardous material like asbestos and carcinogens; by setting aside more funds for tribal and outlying areas; and finally, allowing funds to be used for water supply and building envelopes. I think these are valuable changes. I want to thank Representatives Polis, Matheson, Kirkpatrick and Pingree for their insights and leadership on these changes.

Mr. Chairman, critics of this legislation have argued that it intrudes on the traditional role and responsibility of the States. But this is not about Federal versus State and local control of school construction and repair. It is about meeting the urgent needs that will help revamp this Nation's schools, improve student learning and global competitiveness, lower the costs for schools and taxpayers, and help us create jobs. I urge support of the manager's amendment.

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

Mr. Chairman, the manager's amendment I would hope would pass. The discussion about what was the Polis amendment in the committee to make sure that charter schools got a fair share of this money in fact remains intact. The problem with that amendment in the committee was that new charter schools would have in fact been precluded from having access to that money since they weren't in existence and the amendment originally spoke to those charter schools in existence.

As with the original amendment, this will be done in consultation with the school board. If there isn't a demonstrated need among the charter schools, the money goes back into the pot for the use of the schools. That's, in fact, how it was done in the original amendment. Mr. Polis, as the author of that amendment, has agreed to this change to make sure that we include all charter schools at that time. I urge passage of the amendment.

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

Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time and I ask for an ``aye'' vote.

Madam Speaker, on Wednesday, April 29, 2009, I was unavoidably detained and missed rollcall vote No. 223 on final passage of the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act. Had I been present, I would have voted in favor of this important legislation.

Madam Speaker and Members of the House, I rise in strong support today of this conference report for the fiscal year 2010 budget resolution.

I want to commend Chairman Spratt and the members of the committee for bringing us a budget which will put America on a path toward fiscal health and a competitive future by investing in our key priorities of education, health care and energy.

This budget resolution will put us on a track to a stronger, fairer 21st century economy that can benefit all Americans. It will help us rebuild our middle class and turn our looming crises--energy, health care and education--into opportunities for prosperity, and it will create a new era of accountability, honesty and transparency for taxpayers.

This budget will allow us to make dramatic changes in two areas that could not be more critical to working families and our economy's recovery, and that is expanding access to affordable health care and coverage and leveraging a more competitive workforce by making college more affordable. For too long, our broken health care system has threatened both our fiscal and our medical health. Millions of Americans currently lack health care coverage, a figure that is growing daily as more workers lose their jobs and, therefore, their health care benefits. Millions of Americans who do not have coverage too often have to choose between quality and affordability, any health care at all or bankruptcy.

This conference report will also give us the opportunity to give much needed relief to families who are finding it harder and harder to pay for college while losing jobs and income. Some families have done everything right--saving, working hard, giving their children a good education--only to find out that their plans have changed by the economic downturn.

In this legislation, because of the reconciliation instructions, we will be able to take and recycle the money that now goes to banks for fees and commissions to the student loan program, and we will be able to use that to improve and to increase the Pell Grant scholarship program so that we'll be able to make sure that that keeps track with the cost of education. For those young people who are in the most financial need and who are fully qualified to go to college, we will be sure that they will be able to do that. That's all because of this budget resolution put together by this committee, and we should support this conference report.

I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I agree with his decision to accept this amendment.

I just want to say that it's not as easy as my colleague from California has suggested. This is a long, statewide water system that serves many different interests. You can turn on the pumps as he says. The pumps are on. You can send more water to the central valley and move the unemployment to the farmers in the delta region, to the farmworkers in the delta region. We've already unemployed thousands of fishermen, thousands of shoreside businesses. We've spent hundreds of millions of dollars in disaster relief because this system does not have enough water in it. In fact, what has happened over the last several years is more water was taken illegally from the northern areas.

He says that the Secretary announced nothing to help the people in the central valley. Finally, after years of discussion, we were able to fund the in-delta barriers that we think will release additional water, protect the fish, and allow us to use the delta more efficiently.

Finally, after years of discussion, we put the money into the removal of the dam in Mr. Herger's district that will benefit downstream users.

Finally, after many, many years of asking for water recycling, water reuse, $126 million was put in for the cities in Southern California so they can start the process of recycling, reusing water and taking the pressure off the central valley farmers, taking the pressure off of the delta areas.

That's the kind of coordinated activity that has finally begun under the Obama administration. It simply didn't happen under the previous administration. There were no new water recycling projects of any significance. There was a fooling around with the science. We've lost months during this drought of going back and trying to redo the science.

We saw what happened when Klamath decided he knew more about the science than the people on the Klamath River and the fish and wildlife agencies. We had the largest salmon kill in the history of the West Coast, and you ended up spending hundreds of millions of dollars to help out farmers, to help out fishermen, to help out small businesses all over Northern California, Oregon and Washington.

We will accept this amendment, but we won't accept the recitation of history.

Madam Speaker, I rise with my colleague Congresswoman Ellen O. Tauscher, to recognize Richard L. Talbott, Regional Manager for the Readjustment Counseling Service, Pacific Western Region within the Department of Veteran's Affairs, and congratulate him as he approaches his retirement this June and thank him for his outstanding service to our nation's military veterans.

Dick served our country with honor as a member of the US Army, 9th Infantry Division and from 1968 to 1969 fought in Vietnam. Following his release from active duty, Dick began his VA career. He first joined the San Diego VA Medical Center, Psychology Department and in 1988 he became a counselor at the Escondido Vet Center. Dick was soon promoted to the position of Team Leader, a position he held from 1990 through 1993. It was during this period that Dick also served as the Executive Director and CEO of the Vietnam Veterans of San Diego (VVSD), and co- authored a ``how to'' manual on Stand Down for homeless veterans. It was largely due to Dick's tireless efforts and his keen sense of purpose that the program was deemed a huge success, as he more than doubled the residential services capacity for homeless veterans and was the primary negotiator in securing nearly $2 million for expanded homeless veteran services related to the base closure process in San Diego. The Stand Down as developed in San Diego, has been replicated by agencies across our country and is considered by experts in the field, a stellar program for providing a wide range of services to our homeless and at risk veterans.

It was at this time that Dick also took on the responsibilities of Regional Manager for the Readjustment Counseling Service. Since assuming this position, he has been responsible for the oversight and operation of thirty-two highly successful Vet Centers throughout California, Hawaii, Oregon, and the Territory of Guam.

Madam Speaker. we invite our colleagues to join us in also thanking Dick's wife Maureen, his daughter Megan and son Michael for the sacrifices they have undoubtedly made during the span of his career. We join today with his family, colleagues, friends, and most importantly with the men and women of our veteran communities across the nation who have benefited most from his work, in recognizing, celebrating and sincerely thanking Richard L. Talbott for a remarkable career.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to commend to my colleagues an article in the Martinez News Gazette, my hometown paper, that beautifully captures the wonderful contributions that Hulet Hornbeck has made to the environment and open space in our portion of the East Bay of San Francisco.

The article is entitled, ``Life, Love and the Great Outdoors,'' dated February 28-March 1, 2009.

I have known Hulet for many, many years and I have always admired him as a great leader and an avid defender of the environment. He understood many years ago just how important it is to protect open space for generations to come. He has been a leader in our community in acquiring lands for public use and creating magnificent recreational and open space opportunities for young and old alike.

We owe a debt of gratitude to Hulet for his lifelong work and I am proud to be able to rise today to publicly thank Hulet for his vision and for his tireless efforts on behalf of our community.

[From the Martinez News-Gazette, Feb. 28-March 1, 2009]

Life, Love and the Great Outdoors

Hulet Hornbeck was instrumental in expanding East Bay Regional Parks,

the largest park agency in the Nation

(By Greta Mart)

At his serene, wooded home in Muir Oaks, Hulet Hornbeck

looks out at the horse pastures and wildflower-blanketed

hills and savors the sound of silence.

``It's the sound of wind, of birds, or simply the trees

rustling, I love it,'' Hornbeck said, standing on his wooden

deck that hugs his one-story house, in which comforting

silence permeates. Inside a fire burns quietly in a large

stone hearth; non-fiction books are stacked three feet high

and four feet deep on the grand piano, oriental rugs dot the

hardwood floor, and 50 years of treasures, travel mementos

and memories decorate the walls.

In October he will turn 90. A lifetime of adventure, good

works and good luck has kept him spry, handsome and spirited.

He is one more Martinez resident--one you might see at the

store or on Main Street--who holds in his heart an

extraordinary character, and if you enjoy the plentiful open

space and parkland around the area, you would understand how

important his efforts are to you today.

On Thursday he regaled this reporter with an abridged life

story.

Born in New Jersey in 1919, Hornbeck spent his first decade

in Detroit, until his father abandoned the family at the

start of the Great Depression. His mother moved him and his

younger sister back to New Jersey to be closer to her two

sisters, who provided ``some degree of comfort,'' said

Hornbeck.

There, in a suburb of Newark, he shared a bed with a cousin

and his sister went to a friend's house while his mother went

to work in a factory. During his teenage years, Hornbeck's

mother worked her way up the socioeconomic ladder,

segueing into sales and earning enough to move the family

into a four-story walkup in Bloomfield.

``I liked it, because we could finally live together, and I

got good exercise going up and down the stairs,'' said

Hornbeck. ``My mother was quite liberal with me, never

telling me that I couldn't do something. If I said I wanted

to sleep on the roof, she said okay, but tie a rope around

your ankle so you don't sleepwalk off.''

Falling in love with the great outdoors

He was befriended by a local Boy Scout troupe leader, and

soon was accompanying groups on camping trips in the Ramapo

Mountains. Hornbeck's mother and aunts liked to hike, and

with little money and no car, hiking was a frequent form of

entertaining excursions for the family. There was still a

great deal of open space and nature in New Jersey in the

1930s, said Hornbeck, before the freeways and

industrialization obliterated the landscape.

When his mother purchased a used car, the family took its

first vacation, down to Cape May in the southern tip of New

Jersey. There they stayed in a boardinghouse, and Hornbeck,

at age 17, was so impressed with this new environment he

asked his mother if he could stay on there for the summer.

She told him to go to the hotel across the street and ask for

a job.

``I asked the guy if I could wash dishes, and he made me a

bus boy. At that time there weren't a lot of restaurants and

such, the hotel fed three meals a day to a lot of people, it

was a big dinning hall with the girl waitresses lined up

against one wall and the boys on the other,'' Hornbeck.

``There was a separate smaller dinning room, where a big

family would sit for meals, curtained off from the main hall.

They had their own waitresses and bus boys. My boss told me

it was the Ambassador to Great Britain and his family.''

The U.S. Ambassador to England at the time was Joseph

Kennedy and the children Hornbeck watched meal after meal

were Robert, Teddy, Rosemary and the four youngest siblings

of JFK. JFK wasn't there, as he was already in his 20s at

that point and was studying at Harvard.

``I remember saying to my coworkers, you watch, those kids

are going to be something else,'' said Hornbeck.

A small inheritance from a Unitarian Universalist minister,

a suitor of his mother's, then sent Hornbeck to prep school

at the Newark Academy.

``He had asked my mother to marry him, but then he died, so

for $50 a month, I got a whole different viewpoint and

knowledge for two years,'' said Hornbeck. ``It opened my

eyes. After that I hitchhiked to Maine with a friend and we

slept in the woods. I got cleaned up in a gas station and

went to the registrar of the University of Maine and asked if

I could attend. He was impressed that we had come all that

way and he said, you're in, just like that.''

His time in Maine was spent studying Forestry and

luxuriating in the great outdoors, spending school breaks in

the White Mountains of New Hampshire.

World War II

But the looming clouds of war were gathering and Hornbeck,

after his sophomore year, told his friends and family there

would be a war in Europe, and he was going to join the

military.

``I told them I wanted to be trained by the time it

started, and that I wanted to fight in the air, not ground,''

said Hornbeck. ``I joined the Army Air Corps, and was sent to

cadet school. They saw pretty quickly that I didn't have good

eye/hand coordination, and that I liked mathematics, so they

made me a navigator.''

Pan American Airlines operated one of the few aerial

navigation schools at the time, in Coral Gables, Florida, and

Hornbeck studied there until November of 1941, when the Air

Corps shipped half of his class to Salt Lake City. There his

platoon was, introduced to the brand-new B 17 ``Flying

Fortress'' bombers they would soon be flying in the Pacific

Theater.

On December 6, Hornbeck was at Hamilton Field in San

Francisco, ready to ship out to the Philippians, with a stop

in Honolulu, the next day.

``I was still in my blue cadet's uniform, and right before

take-off we heard, `you can't go,'' something has happened,''

said Hornbeck. ``Well, we took off that night I steered us

all the way to Hawaii using the compass and drift meter,

getting a fix on the stars, and suddenly we were right off of

Diamond Head [on the island of Oahu].''

Soon he was part of the famed Reconnaissance Squadrons that

plied the South Pacific for the next three years, serving as

the eyes of General McCarthy and Fleet Admiral Nimitz, and

using his navigation skills to locate the Japanese naval

fleet in the vast ocean waters.

After the war Hornbeck returned to the States to earn a law

degree at Rutger's University courtesy of the G.I. Bill.

``While we were in the South Pacific, I asked a buddy,

where's a good Western town to go live when this is over. He

said Boise, Idaho,'' said Hornbeck. ``Sure enough, I got

myself to Boise and met Mary-Lynn.'' The two were married for

50 years until Mary-Lynn's death twelve years ago.

Moving to Martinez

The pair first lived in New York City, and soon Hornbeck

requested a transfer to San Francisco. They rented a house in

Pleasant Hill, until Mary-Lynn found their home in Muir Oaks.

``She said, you don't even have to come look at it, it was

built for you,'' said Hornbeck.

Mary-Lynn attended DVC, and then U.C. Berkeley, while

raising their two children, Jane and Lawrence, and teaching

fourth grade at John Muir Elementary for 20 years.

``It took her several years to get her degree, because she

only went to classes at night or on the weekends, she never

attended a full semester. When she was finally finished, she

said I'm too embarrassed to go get

my diploma, so I went to get it for her,'' said Hornbeck.

Meanwhile, Hornbeck was working at a large insurance firm

in San Francisco, but it was ``not what I was cut out to

do,'' and on the side he had started a group of nature

enthusiasts called the Contra Costa Park Council.

Brush with death

In 1965, a doctor's visit revealed melanoma tumor. The

doctor gave him five years to live and encouraged him to

start pursuing his dreams.

``I went to Bill Mott of the East Bay Regional Park

District, and said, I want to work for you,'' Hornbeck said.

``Timing is so significant.''

According to the East Bay Regional Parks District's history

section of its Web site, ``In 1962, William Penn Mott, Jr.

became the District's next General Manager. Mott's first

order of business at the Park District was to reorganize and

plan for the future. He brought new life to every aspect of

the District's operation by restructuring, and bringing in

talented professionals like Richard Trudeau, Chief of Public

Information and Hulet Hornbeck, Chief of Land Acquisition who

both would serve as leaders in the park and trail movement

during the next 40-years. Mott's enthusiastic vision of a

grand system of hilltop and shoreline parks would require

additional stable funding, and he moved quickly to increase

District revenues. The Forward 1964-1969 Plan was developed

by Mott and his staff in 1963 to identify the Park projects

that were needed to serve all East Bay residents, even those

outside of the District's boundary. In 1962, residents in

Contra Costa County had turned down a funding measure for

county parks; so park supporters began pushing for annexation

to the Regional Park District. In 1964, voters in West and

Central Contra Costa County approved annexation to the

District, and Kennedy Grove and Briones were soon developed

and opened as the first Regional Parks entirely within Contra

Costa County.''

Hornbeck said the District didn't have a single square acre

of parkland when he started, but by the time he retired in

1985, 64,000 acres were purchased and incorporated into the

park system, including much of Briones and the Franklin

Hills.

``Now it's over 100,000 acres, and thanks to the recent

passage of Measure WW, it will keep growing. As a special

district, we had the power of eminent domain, but we never

used it as a threat, and we always paid fair market value,''

said Hornbeck. ``We had the support of all the key developers

in the area, who knew the value of balancing people with open

space, and we always worked with justice and integrity. The

public supported us.''

Hornbeck said Senator John Nejedly was instrumental in

securing legislation that expanded the District's ability to

create a trail system.

The Hulet Hornbeck trail in the Carquinez Strait Regional

Shoreline was dedicated in 2005.

``Hulet is credited with overseeing the acquisition of

49,000 acres of parkland, expanding the District's land

holdings from eight parks (13,000 acres) to 46 parks (62,000

acres) thus securing the unique position that the East Bay

Regional Park District still enjoys today as being the

largest regional park agency in the nation,'' according to

the nonprofit American Trails organization.

I thank the gentleman from Florida and the gentleman from North Carolina for posing these questions, and I know that we will be able to work together as my committee and this Congress consider proposals to reform the Federal student loan program.

Access to Federal financing for higher education is a top priority. As you know, last year, we passed a stopgap measure to ensure that students and their families continued to have access to Federal student loans even in this economic climate. This stopgap measure was never intended to be a permanent solution, and we need to look at reforms to make sure that we have a reliable, efficient and sustainable program.

I expect that there will be a role for private lenders in the future of the student loan program. Private lenders, for example, have played a significant role in ensuring high standards for servicing, and future reforms must harness this expertise. Also, let's not forget that, no matter what reforms are enacted, there is over $500 billion outstanding in loan volume in the current FFEL program that will need to be serviced as borrowers repay their loans.

My staff and I have met with a number of private lenders, and we will continue to do so as we move forward. I look forward to continuing this dialogue with the gentleman from Florida and with the gentleman from North Carolina.

Thank you, Mr. Scott. And I want to thank you, and I want to thank the budget chairman, John Spratt, and all of the members of this committee for this budget.

This budget does what business leaders have come to Washington year after year over the last 8 years during the Bush administration and asked us to provide resources for a quality education in K-12 to provide the resources so our children will graduate from high school prepared to go on to college, prepared to go into careers, prepared to go into the job market in a globalized world; but they failed to do that for 8 years. Now we finally have a budget that gives us the resources so that we can provide that quality education, so we can invest in teachers, we can invest in the professional development of those teachers, we can provide the resources and the technology that our classrooms across this country scream out for on behalf of our children, so that they can participate in the technology advances in our society.

We also make sure that when they graduate from college, that the college will be more affordable than anytime in history because of the actions of this Congress last year and the actions of this budget.

Since last year, we increased the Pell scholarship by over $1,500. We cut the interest on need-based Federal student loans in half. We enacted loan forgiveness so people can follow their careers and their desires whether they want to be a teacher or a firefighter or a public prosecutor or a public defender or a public health nurse. They have the opportunity to be able to do that because of the loan forgiveness that has been provided.

And this year, because of the changes that the President is asking for, the direct loan program will be able to provide tens of billions of additional dollars to make sure that people can afford college at this time when it's most necessary that they receive a college education to compete in this globalized economy.

And I want to thank the Budget Committee for making this budget available so we can vote ``aye'' on this budget tomorrow.

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 296, I move to take from the Speaker's table the bill (H.R. 1388) to reauthorize the reform of the national service laws, with the Senate amendments thereto, and I have a motion at the desk.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the matter under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, we are here today to vote on a bill that proudly bears the name of a champion and true advocate of national service. The bill is aptly named the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, and will provide the most significant expansion of national service since Senator Kennedy's brother, President John F. Kennedy, issued his call to serve almost 50 years ago.

This bipartisan legislation is needed now more than ever. It will give Americans of all ages, from middle school students through retirement, the chance to be part of the solution to our greatest challenges--health care, education, and energy--and help us emerge from this crisis stronger.

It will put Americans to work in their communities--in classrooms and churches and homeless shelters, and beyond. It will help Americans engage in projects that matter--feeding the hungry, helping seniors live independently, cleaning up trails and building bridges, and providing for the infrastructure of this country and our public lands.

History has shown that in times of crisis, Americans turn to service and

volunteering for healing, for rebuilding, and for hope. The spirit of generosity in the American people is one of the greatest assets of our Nation. We see this every single day.

In the past week, North and South Dakota have been in a state of emergency, with communities facing severe flooding as the snow melts. As they have in so many other times of disaster, Americans showed up to help.

Officials estimate that there are tens of thousands of volunteers who have already been on the ground for days, lining the shores of the river with over 1.5 million sandbags to help stop the flooding. In Fargo, a city with a population of 90,000, 80,000 volunteers showed up to help.

They've driven through treacherous conditions from Minnesota, Michigan, Illinois, and beyond, ready to serve and ready to help. Today, we are acting to help them.

This bill recognizes that service is an American value. It builds upon what Americans are already doing in their communities and across the country.

We all know the urgency of this crisis--workers are losing their jobs, families are losing their income, our public infrastructure is crumbling. Communities are losing revenues and vital services.

Our public needs are growing while our resources for meeting them are disappearing. This bill will help meet some of those very urgent needs. President Obama has recognized this. He has made national service a top priority, in part because he knows it can help meet his three key priorities: Health care, energy, and education. He has asked us to usher in a new era of service, to launch a 21st century generation of volunteers and to structure a new economy for the future and sustainable growth.

He knows that volunteers play many roles. They can teach in our classrooms, they can green our communities and our schools, they can rebuild and weatherize our homes, help the uninsured find treatment in health clinics, and more. All the while, they learn valuable skills that will help them in schools and jobs throughout their lives.

Just 2 weeks ago on the steps of the Capitol I was lucky enough to meet retired Army Captain Scott Quilty, who proudly served our country in Iraq. He told us that the Service had saved his life twice--the first while in Iraq when he suffered an explosion and lost his right arm and right leg. His fellow soldiers carried him to safety and saved his life.

The second time was during his recovery at a military medical center where he relearned how to walk and how to continue on with his life. As he says, his body was shattered but his eagerness to serve remained unshaken.

Service is Captain Scott Quilty. Service is the volunteers in North Dakota and South Dakota. Service is the Americans who volunteered after 9/11, after Katrina, after Rita, and the fires and the earthquakes and the floods of California.

It is the church groups, the retired, the college students, and displaced workers all coming together to respond to the need in this country, no matter what their personal plight is. Service is giving without looking back. It's the American community. It dots our entire landscape. The Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act is just what this country needs at this pivotal moment in our history.

Just like any volunteer who can't do it alone, this bill could not have happened without the tireless efforts of our staff. With that, I would like to thank Denise Forte, Alex Ceja, Sarah Dyson, Stephanie Moore, Kim Zarish-Becknell, Margaret Young, Adrienne Dunbar, Fred Jones, Rachel Racuhson, Melissa Salmanowitz, and Jessica Kahawneck, and all the people from Mr. McKeon's staff. I want to thank Amy Jones, Susan Ross, Rob Borden, and James Berjeron.

I also want to thank Mr. McKeon for all of his support as the senior Republican on this committee. This has been an effort that we've worked on over the last couple of years in a bipartisan fashion.

I would also like to thank Frank Trinity, the General Counsel at the Corporation for National Service, and the staff of Senator Kennedy, Senator Hatch, and Senator Enzi.

I am so proud that this bill has already received overwhelming bipartisan support in this Chamber and in the Senate. It's because we all recognize that it isn't a Republican or Democratic issue, it's not a black or white or gray or blue or red issue. It's an American issue. I urge my colleagues to stand with me on the right side of history and support this legislation.

The Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act establishes four new corps, including the Clean Energy Corps, to address key needs in low-income communities. The goal of the Clean Energy Corps is to encourage energy efficiency and conservation through activities such as building energy- efficient housing units in low-income communities; providing clean energy-related services designed to meet the needs of rural communities; and working with schools and youth programs to educate students and youth about ways to reduce home energy use and improve the environment.

The Clean Energy Corps also builds upon Congress' commitment to supporting America's National Parks. The bill allows for projects carried out in partnership with the National Park Service and supports projects to renew and rehabilitate national parks, like the Presidio Trust in San Francisco. Presidio is a former military base that is now a national park and has long been a site for public and community service. The Serve America Act recognizes that national parks, like the Presidio Trust, provide opportunities to not only inspire individuals through community service, but also to preserve natural treasures.

I reserve the balance of my time.

I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Loebsack), a member of the committee.

I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee).

I yield the gentlewoman an additional 30 seconds.

I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Andrews).

(Mr. ANDREWS asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

I yield myself the remainder of my time.

I want to again thank all of those who participated in the drafting, the support, the writing and the negotiations for this act.

As my colleagues have said on both sides of the aisle, this is a very important piece of legislation. It is about American values. It is about the spirit of this country. It is about our communities. And it is going to provide, with the expansion that is provided for in this legislation and supported by this administration, it is going to provide a continuum of opportunities to volunteer, to participate in community activities, to support our communities and to help those in need in so many different situations. It is going to provide them that opportunity from middle school all the way to retirement and after retirement where we are encouraging the alumni, people who participated in AmeriCorps in the past and now have picked up a lifetime of skills, talents and experience that they can, once again, turn back into service for America.

It is going to provide an opportunity for young people to not only help those in our communities but to be able to explore the career opportunities in clean energy, in green jobs, in health care, in teaching, in mentoring and social services and all of the various occupations that are available in our community where additional assistance and volunteerism has been a tradition but also needs to be expanded.

So we think this is a very rich expansion of the American values, of the volunteer system in the country. It is as old as the country, and it is as new as the future, as occupations change and opportunities change within our economy. I want to thank Carolyn McCarthy for her leadership in offering this legislation and to all of those who have supported it.

Finally, I just once again would like to say how proud I am that this legislation is named for Edward Kennedy, Senator Kennedy, not only Senator Kennedy but a family name that screams out ``service'' across this country, across generations, for the benefit, so many times over and over again, of the citizens of America.

I'm very proud to have participated in the legislative shepherding of this legislation. And I hope that all of our colleagues will join us on both sides of the aisle in support of this legislation.

I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Mr. Speaker, I move to lay the resolution on the table.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 146, the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009. This legislation is the culmination of years of hard work, negotiation, and consensus-building, and I commend Chairman Rahall and his subcommittee chairs, including Raul Grijalva and Grace Napolitano, and the Natural Resources Committee staff, for all of their efforts to bring this bill before us today.

The Omnibus Public Land Management Act is a compilation of many of the most important conservation measures that the Congress has considered in years, and it is supported by a diverse coalition that includes the outdoor industry, sportsmen's associations, parks and wilderness advocates, faith groups, and literally dozens of individual conservation and wildlife protection organizations from across the country.

In California, for example, this bill will protect significant stretches of federal land for future generations by enacting the California Desert and Mountain Heritage Act, the Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Park Wilderness Act, and the Eastern Sierra and Northern San Gabriel Wild Heritage Act.

But this bill is not just about protecting national treasures for future generations. It's also about taking very significant steps to resolve water conflicts. All of us who represent California and the arid West are very concerned about drought, and this bill provides solutions: the legislation before us today resolves conflicts that have dragged on for decades, and it will bring substantial clean water supplies online. We owe it to our constituents to support this bill.

Some previous speakers have erroneously claimed that the Omnibus Public Land Management Act would harm our water supplies.

Nothing could be further from the truth. The fact of the matter is that this bill increases the clean water supply available to the American West, and it settles years of costly litigation over water. California, for example, will see seven Title XVI water recycling projects authorized by this package, in addition to two groundwater recharge projects. These projects will allow local communities across our state to produce almost half a million acre-feet of reclaimed reuse water and added storage capacity. These water provisions are environmentally sustainable and they are cost-effective, and should be supported by our state's entire congressional delegation.

Because of the widespread benefits of these Title XVI and groundwater water supply authorizations, this bill is supported by a broad coalition that includes the Association of California Water Agencies, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, the National Water Resources Association, and the Western Urban Water Coalition. I ask unanimous consent to include in the Record a letter of support sent by this coalition earlier this month to Speaker Pelosi and Minority Leader Boehner. These agencies and associations are supporting the Omnibus Public Land Management Act because they know that this bill represents a historic chance to meet our water challenges head-on. I strongly support continued investment in these and other alternative water supplies, and encourage the Bureau of Reclamation to move expeditiously on these projects.

The bill before us today also provides us with the remarkable opportunity to resolve nearly two decades of litigation over the restoration of the San Joaquin River in California. The San Joaquin Restoration Settlement Act is supported by the local affected water districts and the Friant Water Users Authority, the environmental and fishing group plaintiffs who brought the lawsuit, and by the state and federal government. By approving H.R. 146, we are voting to restore water and salmon to the once-mighty San Joaquin River, as well as to authorize programs to help local farmers avoid potential negative impacts from the restoration program.

Without this legislation, the parties to the lawsuit would have no choice but to return to court, meaning wasted time and energy, a lack of certainty for both sides, and the loss of significant nonfederal funding. By passing this legislation today, we provide the funding and legal authority the Department of the Interior needs to ensure a timely and robust restoration program, which is so essential to the success of this settlement.

As many of my colleagues know, the continued shutdown of the sport and commercial salmon fisheries in our state has resulted in significant economic losses. While California must do more to restore the health of the Bay-Delta and the Sacramento River, restoring 30,000 spring run Chinook salmon to the San Joaquin River each year, as this legislation intends, will help ensure that California's salmon, and the considerable statewide economic activity that depends on healthy salmon runs, are restored and sustained for future generations.

Approving the San Joaquin River Settlement will help bring the State's second largest river back to life, improving water quality for the Bay-Delta, and it will achieve some of the goals of the 1992 Central Valley Project Improvement Act. Perhaps most importantly, Congress's approval of this settlement will demonstrate that environmentalists and farmers can work together with federal and state agencies to resolve California's water challenges in a way that all parties can live with. While passage of this legislation is not the final step in the restoration of the river, and although we will need to watch the agencies' implementation of the settlement carefully, this vote today is a critical step in a very long process.

For those of us who represent California and the West, it's very clear that this bill offers a significant opportunity to protect our natural resources, address serious economic problems, and resolve conflicts over water. We can't afford to miss this chance.

For all these reasons and more, I strongly urge my colleagues to support H.R. 146--the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009.

March 10, 2009.

Re S. 22 Omnibus Public Lands Act.

Hon. Nancy Pelosi,

House of Representatives, Capitol Building, Washington, DC

Hon. John A. Boehner,

House of Representtives, Capitol Building, Washington, DC.

Dear Speaker Pelosi and Representative Boehner: The

undersigned organizations urge your support for key

provisions of S. 22, the Omnibus Public Land Management Act

of 2009 and ask that you oppose any parliamentary or

procedural efforts to delay or disrupt S. 22.

This legislation includes many key water provisions and

authorizations for critically important water projects and

water resource management programs that would help increase

local water supplies. The bill could not come at a more

important time as California and the southwest grapple with a

multi-year drought--one of the most severe we have

experienced in the last hundred years.

Additionally, S. 22 authorizes the terms of two historic

environmental settlement agreements, the Lower Colorado River

Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan, and the San

Joaquin River Restoration settlement agreement. The Secure

Water Act, as detailed in S. 2156, is also included in the

Omnibus Public Land Management Act.

Your support of S. 22 is imperative and we ask that you

move expeditiously to help ensure that the key water

provisions of S. 22 including the San Joaquin River

Restoration Settlement Agreement, the Lower Colorado River

Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan can be enacted as

soon as possible. Thank you for your consideration of our

request which would greatly benefit all Californians.

Very truly yours,

Tim Quinn Executive Director, Association of California

Water Agencies; Donald R. Kendall, General Manager,

Calleguas Municipal Water District. Art Aguilar,

General Manager, Central Basin Municipal, Water

District; Tony Pack, General Manager, Eastern Municipal

Water District; Ronald E. Young, General Manager,

Elsinore Valley Municpal Water District; Richard

Atwater, General Manager, Inland Empire Utilities

Agency; John R. Mundy, General Manager, Las Virgenes

Municipal Water District; Jeffrey Kightlinger, General

Manager, Metropolitan Water District of Southern

California.

Tom Donnelly, Executive Director, National Water

Resources Association; Michael R. Markus, General

Manager, Orange County Water District; Matt Stone,

General Manager, Rancho California Water District;

Leroy Goodson, General Manager, Texas Water

Conservation Association; G. Wade Miller, Executive

Director, Watereuse Association; Richard Nagal, General

Manager, West Basin Municipal Water District; Charles

L. Nylander, President, Wester Coalition of Arid

States; Guy Martin, National Counsel, Western Urban

Water Coalition.

Mr. Speaker, I move to lay the resolution on the table.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous material on H.R. 1388.

I yield myself 4 minutes.

Mr. Chairman, today we consider legislation that is vital to the spirit of America and to our future. A few weeks ago, President Obama called on Congress to quickly deliver legislation that will launch a new era of American service.

Today the House will answer that call. The GIVE Act will help our country get through these crises and recognize that service is a deeply ingrained and deeply valued American trait.

I want to thank all my colleagues on the committee on both sides of the aisle for their support of this legislation.

We consider this bill at a time when our Nation faces enormous challenges. Families are losing jobs, health care, child care and other key services. Schools and colleges are seeing their budgets evaporate. Our public needs are growing while the resources to meet them are disappearing.

This legislation will make Americans part of the solution in getting our country back on track. Service is the lifeblood of this country. We have seen this throughout our history. In times of crisis, Americans stand up. Americans give back.

We saw it during World Wars I and II, when the Red Cross helped soldiers and their families and returning veterans, and later relief efforts during the Great Depression. We saw this after 9/11 when our citizens, young and old, sprung into action to help their fellow neighbors.

We saw it in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita when volunteers on the ground were there before the Federal Government. They were beacons of hope amidst serious despair. Today volunteers continue to play a huge role in gulf coast relief efforts. We have seen it in my State of California when communities were ravaged by floods, by earthquakes and wildfires.

We saw it this last June in the floods that devastated homes and businesses in southeast Iowa. Even before the storms came, volunteers were there. To date, AmeriCorps has coordinated over 800,000 volunteer hours in Iowa.

Volunteers play many roles. They teach in our classrooms. They clean up our trails and our public lands. They build and weatherize homes. They shelter the homeless and feed the hungry. That's what Americans do for one another. That's what Americans do in the name of service.

They learn skills. They teach others those skills so they can not only participate with Habitat for Humanity but they can develop a career ladder in the construction trades. They pass on those skills to others in communities so communities can help build, help build stronger communities and better homes to be weatherized and to be energy-efficient.

They tutor our children. They mentor students in school. They help our community. They build our communities. They strengthen our communities. We have seen them come from all walks of life, from young students who want to give to their community, who want to participate, to senior citizens who continue to take their skills and their talents from their working life and repatriate them back to the community and helping others, the next generation after them.

Our generation was called by President Kennedy to do this. This generation is being called by President Obama to do this, and millions of Americans are answering the call and preparing others to answer that call. This is what strengthens our communities. This is what builds our communities. This is what makes America, America.

People do it, some for a small stipend, some for an educational benefit, some for free. They come from all different places on the compass to help Americans in our communities.

There is a huge focus in this legislation, from middle school to senior citizens, to tying this to a benefit for education. Young students in middle schools can earn a small educational benefit that they can redeem when they go to community college or to the university.

For students, for young people who work full time in AmeriCorps, they can earn a stipend of almost $4,700, $4,800 that they can redeem to help pay for their college education. Senior citizens too can get a stipend and get help for education if they want to continue their education.

It's a very important piece, and it's about American values. It's about the value of education, it's about the value of Americans helping one another, it's about how we treat our communities. That's what AmeriCorps has done.

We have an organization that has been building homes in Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina in St. Bernard Parish, and today they will welcome their 200th family back to a home, a gift from the community, from volunteers in America, to those families that were ravaged, that lost everything.

That's what this bill will enable more Americans to do. That's what this bill will do for our communities.

I reserve the balance of my time.

I yield myself 15 seconds.

I want to thank Congressman Platts and Congressman McKeon for all their cooperation, and for the staff on the minority side, because without their cooperation, I don't think we would be here today. I want to thank them.

At this time I want to recognize for 3 minutes subcommittee Chair Carolyn McCarthy from New York who has been an absolute driving force on this issue of national service and thank her for all of her work.

I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to a gentleman who's been key in this legislation, given his background and history in energy conservation and efficiencies and weatherization, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Tonko).

Mr. Chairman, I yield myself 30 seconds.

Mr. Chairman, one of the very exciting parts of this legislation, as pointed out by Mr. McKeon, is the full integration of our veterans into national service.

Today, earlier, we heard from Captain Scott Quilty, who is a decorated infantry captain and Army major retired who lost both his legs and one of his arms in Iraq. Scott has come back to assume the management responsibilities for Survivor Corps, a U.S.-based program that serves the needs of servicemembers and veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. And Survivor Corps spoke in strong support of this legislation, recognizing that we now are extending full partnership to the veterans of this country, thanking them for their services, and providing services to them as they return home.

I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to a leader in service, the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Lewis).

I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to a member of the committee, a strong supporter of the bill, the gentleman from the Northern Mariana Islands (Mr. Sablan).

I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Sarbanes).

Mr. Chairman, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes for the purpose of entering into a colloquy with the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Grayson.)

I yield myself 15 seconds to respond to the gentleman and say that I agree that many of our communities' needs, especially in times of natural disaster, are being met through the hard work of the NCCC members, and I look forward to working with you in exploring this issue and certainly recognizing the needs of those States that are hit repeatedly by natural disasters, representing one of those States, but knowing what has taken place in Florida and others with hurricanes and storms that we are now experiencing. And I look forward to working with him as this bill progresses.

I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Connecticut (Ms. DeLauro).

I yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Al Green) for 1\1/2\ minutes.

I yield the gentleman 10 additional seconds, and I want to thank the gentleman for bringing the housing language that is based upon his expertise in this field, and along with Maxine Waters, thank you so very much. We are happy to include it.

I thank the gentleman for yielding and for raising this issue. Thank you so much for bringing this to our attention.

I am proud to be a long-time supporter of Teach for America, and I am pleased to say that they will continue to be eligible to participate in AmeriCorps through the newly-created National Service Corps exactly as you have described.

Teach for America has demonstrated measurable effectiveness in the classroom and is exactly the type of measurable success that we are looking to scale up. Thank you again, Mr. Cassidy, for your support of this program and for raising this issue and for the support of the GIVE Act.

I yield to the gentlewoman from Pennsylvania (Mrs. Dahlkemper) for 1\1/2\ minutes.

I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Driehaus).

I yield now 1 minute to the gentleman from Maryland, the leader, Mr. Hoyer.

Mr. Chairman, I yield myself 1 minute.

Questions have been raised about the intent of section 1705 giving the Chief Executive Officer authority to delegate specific programmatic authority to the States. In particular, strong concerns have been raised that corporation officials would use this authority to eliminate the State offices of the corporation and adversely impact the operation of VISTA and the Senior Corps.

The committee intends that the Chief Executive Officer will use this authority judiciously to improve the operation of all of the corporation's programs by using a consultative process that includes all of the stakeholders in the affected programs. The committee expects the corporation to continue the staff from State offices at an operational level that is at least equal to the current one.

I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Cuellar).