Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise along with my colleagues, Rep. Frank Wolf and Rep. Jim Moran, to recognize and commend Terrence D. ``Terry'' Jones on the occasion of his retirement after 17 years of distinguished service as President and CEO of the Wolf Trap Foundation. Terry's career in the performing arts spans more than 40 years, and he leaves a rich legacy both on and off the stage that will benefit the arts community and Northern Virginia for years to come.

During his tenure, Terry helped fulfill and then expand Wolf Trap's mission of providing a world-class platform for aspiring and accomplished artists alike at the majestic Filene Center and the 18th century Barns at Wolf Trap. Thanks to his innovative spirit, the Foundation continues to set new attendance and fund-raising records. As the guiding force behind America's only National Park for the performing arts, Terry has positioned Wolf Trap as a leader not only in the arts, but also in connecting education, technology and environmental stewardship through the arts and inspiring passion for those pursuits in a new generation. And though its artistic scope is on the national and global stages, Terry has made sure that Wolf Trap also is a resource for our local communities.

In 2003, Terry helped lead the fund-raising effort to establish a National Center for Education on the Wolf Trap campus. The nonprofit focuses on early childhood arts education but serves as a resource for the entire community, particularly local school children. More recently, Wolf Trap partnered with the U.S. Department of Education on a project to integrate STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) education into the arts.

Terry also has strengthened Wolf Trap's connection to its environmental roots. In 2007, he launched the Foundation's ``Go Green'' program with the stretch goal of making Wolf Trap carbon neutral. To date, the program has decreased the park's carbon footprint by 20% and cut landfill waste in half. Wolf Trap has been designated as a Climate Friendly Park by the EPA and National Park Service. Terry also led the effort to establish the National Council on the Arts and Environment and a partnership with the Aspen Institute on a nationwide Summit on the Arts and the Environment.

Prior to taking the helm at Wolf Trap, Terry served as CEO and artistic Director of the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. He previously served as General Manager of Clowes Memorial Hall in Indianapolis, Assistant Dean of the College of Fine Arts at Butler University, and he also founded the Bradford Repertory Theater in Vermont.

Throughout his distinguished career, Terry has received local and national recognition. He received the Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award from his alma mater, the University of Kansas, was named Washingtonian of the Year in 2006 by Washingtonian Magazine, and was recognized by his peers with the Fan Taylor Distinguished Service Award from the Association of Performing Arts Presenters. During his tenure as Foundation president, Wolf Trap also has received numerous awards and accolades.

Beyond these accomplishments, we want to recognize Terry's exemplary role not just as an arts advocate and executive, but also as an individual. When asked in an interview what he loves most about his job, he said: ``People--I don't think you could do this job if you didn't enjoy people and didn't like being around people.'' We can all recognize and appreciate Terry's unequivocal commitment to his craft and our community.

Mr. Speaker, Terry Jones has left a tangible, lasting imprint on the rich history of our National Park for the Performing Arts, and his legacy will continue to inspire a new generation of artists. We wish Terry, his wife, Polly, and their family the continued success as he enters this next act of his life, and we ask our colleagues to join us in expressing our appreciation for his tremendous contributions to the arts, our nation and the Northern Virginia community.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to thank and commend Master Chief Petty Officer (Ret.) John Robert Brinkheide, of Dale City, Virginia, for his more than 20 years of honorable and courageous service to the United States Navy, his subsequent 17 years of service supporting the Department of Defense in the private sector, and his continued service to our community. We are fortunate to have among us veterans with MCPO Brinkheide's sense of duty and continued commitment to public service.

MCPO Brinkheide enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1962 and completed electronics school the same year. From 1962 to 1964 he served aboard the USS Semmes, a ship he describes as truly unique, tied together by a crew committed to its mission and one another. His service aboard the USS Semmes instilled in him his sense of professionalism and ethics that guided him throughout the entirety of his military and professional career. He attended advanced electronics school in 1965 and then served for three years in Vietnam aboard an in-river LST. After completing his tour in Vietnam, MCPO Brinkheide served aboard the USS America from 1969 to 1976 and was promoted to Master Chief Petty Officer. MCPO Brinkheide's last few years at sea were served aboard the USS Nashville as the Electronics Material Officer from 1976 to 1980. MCPO Brinkheide spent his last year with the Navy working on strategic communications for the Naval Electronic Systems Command performing oversight of electronic equipment acquisitions.

After retiring from the Navy in 1981, he began a long career working for a contractor supporting the Department of Defense, specializing in systems acquisitions. Since retiring from the Navy, Mr. Brinkheide has actively worked to better his community through the Knights of Columbus and served as the Grand Knight of the John Paul I Council of Dale City, Virginia, from 2006 to 2007. MCPO Brinkheide also worked tirelessly for 24 years to help organize and implement the Prince William County Tree Trimming Day of Remembrance, a ceremony held to honor those who died in alcohol and drug-related vehicle crashes.

Mr. Speaker, I ask that my colleagues rise to join me in recognizing and thanking John R. Brinkheide for his steadfast and selfless service to our country and for his ongoing contributions to the betterment of our community.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to thank and commend Captain (Ret.) Thomas Boyce of Alexandria, Virginia for his 28 years of honorable service to the United States Navy and for his subsequent 30 of support to the Navy in the private sector. Captain Boyce's long career both in the Navy and in business speaks to his deep patriotism and commitment to protecting our nation. He is a veteran of the wars in both Korea and Vietnam, and his tremendous sacrifice and dedicated service to this country truly merit our highest praise.

CAPT Boyce graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1951. After receiving his commission, he served in Korea aboard several minesweeping ships. From 1962 to 1964 he served aboard the USS Semmes, a ship for which he served on the commissioning team and helped oversee the construction. He credits the ship's command with instilling the esprit de corps needed for the USS Semmes to become one of the most successful missile firing ships in the Navy. From 1964 to 1970, CAPT Boyce served under the Naval Surface Missile System Office while assigned shore duty. During the early 1970s, he served aboard the USS Niagara Falls, a fast combat logistics ship that replenished ports in Vietnam. CAPT Boyce finished his naval career in 1979 at the Naval Air Systems Command.

After retiring, CAPT Boyce began an equally long career working for a naval contractor applying his unique skill set to managing the building of twenty LMSR ships. Used extensively by the Navy, LMSRs have significantly expanded the Navy's sealift capabilities and have been integral to the missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. CAPT Boyce recently retired for a second time and is looking forward to spending time with his wife, Barbara, and continuing his work on the board of the USS Semmes DDG-18 Association.

Mr. Speaker, I ask that my colleagues rise to join me in recognizing and thanking Thomas Boyce for his committed and selfless service to our country.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate Paul Robert Chenevey and Sandra Jean Chenevey on their 50th wedding anniversary on August 11th. Paul and Sandra are both professional musicians. Paul was an orchestra conductor and a Professor of Music for more than 40 years at Westminster College in New Wilmington, Pennsylvania. Sandra was a piano instructor at Grove City College, Slippery Rock University, and at Westminster College.

In addition to their shared love of music, Paul and Sandra share a passion for travelling the globe, and recently journeyed to Antarctica, fulfilling their goal of visiting all seven continents. It is fitting, therefore, that Paul and Sandra celebrate their momentous anniversary with another trip, this time to the Washington, D.C. region, to spend time with their children, Stephen Michael Chenevey of Alexandria, Virginia, and my constituent, Catherine Anne Chenevey of Gainesville, Virginia.

I ask my colleagues to join me in congratulating Paul and Sandra on their 50th anniversary, and in wishing them many more, wherever their travels may take them.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize the 50th Anniversary of the Mosby Woods neighborhood in Fairfax, Virginia.

The mid-20th century was a time of rapid change in the Washington, DC suburbs. The booming post war economy brought many thousands of new residents to the area. As a result of this growth, the population of the Town of Fairfax grew from 1,946 in 1950 to 13,385 by 1960.

During the summer of 1961, the Yeonas Development Corporation began construction of Mosby Woods. The name of the neighborhood was inspired by the 100th anniversary of the Civil War and commemorates Colonel John S. Mosby, who was active throughout Northern Virginia. In February of 1962, the first residents moved into their new homes.

The Mosby Woods Community Association was incorporated in the summer of 1963. Over the years it has represented the community before the City of Fairfax and Fairfax County Governments. The Association also has provided social opportunities and sponsored community events, such as the annual neighborhood picnic, the Halloween parade and the holiday house-decorating contest.

In 1981, after twenty years of being divided by the City/County boundary, the neighborhood was finally united in the City of Fairfax. The boundary change effort, led by the Mosby Woods Community Association, is an example of successful civic activism benefiting the entire community.

Many residents have lived in the neighborhood twenty, thirty, or even forty years, and a number of original owners are still in the homes they bought in the 1960s.

In recent years, second-generation residents have been returning to the neighborhood where they grew up to raise their own families. When asked why they made this decision, the answer is typically ``it's a great place to live.'' Much of that ``greatness'' is attributed to the quality of the home construction, the Fairfax County Public School system, the benefits of living in Fairfax City and the ``small town'' feel of the neighborhood. Mosby Woods is a village in a small city in a huge metropolis.

Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Mosby Woods neighborhood in Fairfax, Virginia, and in congratulating the Mosby Woods Community Association for its long history of civic leadership and community involvement. I wish the residents of Mosby Woods the best as they celebrate the history of their community.

Madam Speaker, Republicans have pursued an obstructionist agenda since taking control of this body, cynically willing, seemingly, to risk even harm to our economy for political gain. The refusal of House Republicans to even consider compromise has resulted in the 112th Congress becoming among the least productive Congresses ever. The 112th Congress looks like a Potemkin Congress when it comes to measured productivity.

Consider the most simple, straightforward metric: the number of laws passed per Congress. The legislative output of this Congress, a mere 173 public laws passed, is a pittance when compared to the 900 public laws passed by what was called the do-nothing Congress of the Truman era, or the 333 public laws passed in an era of divided government in the 104th Congress.

Or consider one of our most fundamental constitutional responsibilities, funding the government. Once again, the 112th Congress distinguishes itself for sheer incompetence, having managed to pass zero appropriations bills. The 112th Congress looks even worse when directly compared to the Democratic-led 111th Congress, which boasted a productivity level on par with the legislative records during the era of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Lyndon Baines Johnson in the thirties and sixties, respectively.

The landmark legislation enacted in the 2-year period between 2009 and 2010, from the Recovery Act, the health reform bill, financial regulation, put the meager output of this current Congress to shame.

Further, beyond these big three, at least a dozen other important bills were passed during that time period, including legislation addressing fair pay, student loans, consumer protection, national service, stem cell research, and food safety.

The American people are tired of business as usual. They are tired of Congress waiting until the last possible moment to avert yet another disaster. They are certainly tired of this House returning from a 37- day summer vacation only to hold a couple of show votes this week before rushing Members out of town again next week, leaving in their wake a sea of critical work that remains undone.

Our country faces serious, daunting challenges that demand action now, which is why I advocated canceling the August recess.

The House now has an opportunity to take decisive action in the coming days on at least two major deadline issues facing Congress: passing a 5-year farm bill and enacting comprehensive postal reform.

Despite the 112th Congress being among the least productive and the most dysfunctional in history, the Senate, not known for its speed, has managed to engage in constructive cooperation and addresses both of these issues in an overwhelmingly bipartisan manner.

On two of the most urgent matters facing this Congress, the Senate has exposed the extreme intransigence of this House Republican majority. Two Republicans, a Democrat, and an Independent, developed the 21st Century Postal Service Act of 2012 which passed the Senate with overwhelming bipartisan support.

On the vital 5-year reauthorization of the farm bill, the Senate again developed a reform bill, the Agriculture Reform, Food, and Jobs Act of 2012, and also passed it with a bipartisan supermajority.

Compromise is at the heart of these bipartisan measures, which are far from perfect and contain provisions I would oppose. However, both bills contain provisions vital to saving the postal service, safeguarding the health of Americans and the American agricultural industry, and providing a critical safety net for American families.

In my perfect world, we would pass my Reform the Postal Service for the 21st Century Act. And I'm sure in the House Republicans' perfect world, we'd pass their House Postal Reform Act of 2011. But in the real world, I do not believe either of our constituents sent us here to stubbornly fight for the partisan perfect at the expense of the American good.

If Republican leadership are willing to compromise on behalf of the American people, they will take up and pass the bipartisan bills, S. 1679 and S. 3240, this week or next. I realize I risk appearing naive for even proposing compromise by taking up and passing Senate bills. But my own experience with my predecessor in the 11th District of Virginia gives me hope.

As many of my colleagues are aware, even though former Congressman Tom Davis is a Republican and I'm a Democrat, we get together and we like to say that we belong to the same political party--the party of getting things done. We have roots in local government and that's the ethos of local government, and I appreciate his generosity in working with me in the transition to the 111th Congress.

I recall one extended transition meeting at a local Denny's. We were talking. There was a waitress that was going back and forth. We kind of thought she would recognize us, maybe want to say ``hello.'' In fact, she said, ``You need to move on. I need that table.''

That's where the American people are. They want us to move on and get our business done so they can get on with theirs.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate and honor Barry Hutchinson on his retirement from the Department of Defense after more than 40 years of dedicated and distinguished service to our country and to our men and women in uniform.

Mr. Hutchinson began his career as a stock handler at the Andrews Air Force Base Commissary in Camp Springs, Maryland, in 1972. Throughout his years of service, he developed expertise in a wide variety of areas, including supply management, logistics, program management, and information operations. For the past 34 years, Mr. Hutchinson worked for the Defense Logistics Agency at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, where he provided exemplary leadership serving the Information Operations Directorate and retires as the Staff Director for IT Business, Licensing, and Performance Management.

Mr. Hutchinson certainly embodies the commitment and caliber of our federal employees. While he will be missed in the Defense Logistics Agency we will continue to benefit from the expertise and work ethic he has imparted in his coworkers.

Throughout his distinguished career, Mr. Hutchinson relied upon the support of his family. He will enjoy his well-deserved retirement with his wife, Joanne, daughters Krista and Kerri, grandchildren, Ashley, Jonathon, and Hannah, and grand dog, Cutter. He will continue serving his community, relying on his degree in Theology while teaching Christianity 101 at his local church. I ask my colleagues to join me in congratulating Barry Hutchinson for 40 years of honorable and valuable service to our nation, thanking him for his many contributions and the sacrifices he and his family have made, and wishing them well in all of their future endeavors.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize Ed Wenzel for his passion, effort, and success in preserving our nation's historic Civil War battlegrounds. Mr. Wenzel recently received an honor from the national Civil War Trust on behalf of his preservation efforts for a Civil War battlefield site in Chantilly, Virginia. The Ox Hill Battlefield Park was dedicated in 2008 thanks in large part to the tireless efforts of Mr. Wenzel.

Mr. Wenzel spent 22 years working to preserve the grounds on which the Battle of Chantilly--referred to as the Battle of Ox Hill by the Confederacy--occurred on September 1, 1862. It was during this battle that the Union army lost commanders Major General Philip Kearny and Major General Isaac I. Stevens, but it ultimately succeeded in slowing General Stonewall Jackson and the Confederacy's advancements and ended the Second Manassas campaign. In 1915, monuments were built in commemoration of both Major Generals Kearny and Stevens on the site.

During my tenure on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, I was proud to work with Mr. Wenzel and members of the Civil War Roundtable to raise awareness of the County's Civil War heritage, to erect new historic markers, and create a new five-acre public park highlighting the monuments and the battle significance in the history of our County and our Country.

Additionally, Mr. Wenzel played a major role in the Save the Battlefield Coalition, which successfully opposed construction of a shopping mall at Manassas battlegrounds in 1988, and he was a founding board member of the Association for the Preservation of Civil War Sites.

Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in recognizing Ed Wenzel for his most recent accolade and in thanking him for his tireless pursuits to protect such important aspects of our Nation's rich history.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commend Master Chief Petty Officer (Ret.) John Robert Brinkheide for his more than 20 years of honorable and courageous service to the United States Navy, his subsequent 17 years of service as a contractor supporting the Department of Defense, and his continued service to our community. We are fortunate to have among us veterans with MCPO Brinkheide's sense of duty and continued commitment to public service.

MCPO Brinkheide enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1962 and completed electronics school the same year. From 1962 to 1964 he served aboard the USS Semmes, a ship he describes as truly unique, tied together by a crew committed to doing good. His service aboard the USS Semmes instilled in him his sense of professionalism and ethics that guided him throughout the entirety of his military and professional career. He attended advanced electronics school in 1965 upon leaving the USS Semmes and then served for three years in Vietnam aboard an in-river LST. After completing his tour in Vietnam, MCPO Brinkheide served aboard the USS America from 1969 to 1976 and was promoted to Master Chief Petty Officer. MCPO Brinkheide's last few years at sea were served aboard the USS Nashville as the Electronics Material Officer from 1976 to 1980. MCPO Brinkheide spent his last year with the Navy working on strategic communications for the Naval Electronic Systems Command performing oversight of electronic equipment acquisitions.

After retiring from the Navy in 1981, he began a long career as a contractor supporting the Department of Defense, specializing in systems acquisitions. Since retiring from the Navy, Mr. Brinkheide has actively worked to better his community through the Knights of Columbus and served as the Grand Knight of the John Paul I Council of Dale City, Virginia, from 2006 to 2007. MCPO Brinkheide also worked tirelessly for 24 years to help organize and implement the Prince William County Tree Trimming Day of Remembrance, a ceremony held to honor those who died in alcohol- and drug-related vehicle crashes.

Mr. Speaker, I ask that my colleagues rise to join me in recognizing and thanking John R. Brinkheide for his steadfast and selfless service to our country and our community.

Mr. Speaker, it is my honor to recognize the recipients of the 2012 Best of Braddock Awards. The awards are given annually to deserving individuals, organizations and companies in the Braddock Magisterial District of Fairfax County, Virginia, who have demonstrated an outstanding commitment to the community.

Residents of the 11th Congressional District enjoy an exceptional quality of life. Fairfax County schools are ranked as some of the best in the country, our communities are safe, and our employment rate is one of the highest in the nation. However, much of what defines a community cannot be found in statistics; it lies in the commitment and contributions of all who strive for the betterment of the community as a whole. It is my pleasure to recognize the following individuals for their service to our community, and to congratulate each of them on being named a Best of Braddock honoree:

Citizen of the Year: Kathy Augustine, Braddock District and Fairfax County Communities.

Young Person of the Year: Dawson Taylor, Frost Middle School.

Most Outstanding Business Person: Patrick Gloyd, Burke Centre Conservancy.

Most Can-Do State Public Employee: Katherine Stramel, Northern Virginia Community College.

Most Can-Do Local Public Employee: Gaela Hime, Laurel Ridge Elementary School Crossing Guard.

Club or Organization Making a Difference: Shepherd's Center of Fairfax-Burke.

Neighborhood Enhancement or Beautification, Community Association: The Burke Centre Conservancy.

Special Recognition Award: Marian Hardy (Annandale Christian Community for Action).

Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in congratulating these outstanding residents and companies and also in thanking them for their service to our community. Their efforts and leadership have been a great benefit to our community and truly merit our highest praise.

Madam Speaker, sequestration--that's the bogeyman Republicans created last year when they refused, for the first time in American history, to allow a clean debt ceiling vote. So they formed a supercommittee which they doomed to failure when they refused to consider a balanced approach that included revenue and spending cuts. And now they decry the impending $1.2 trillion cuts they fashioned and voted for as a crisis for national defense. This gives chutzpah a bad name.

If Senators McCain, Graham, and Ayotte want to resolve this crisis in their town hall meetings--that they helped create--join me in calling our House Republican leadership to cancel the 5-week August recess and solve this solvable problem.

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

Whether serving as a staff member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee years ago or as chairman of the Board of Supervisors in Fairfax County or now, as a Member of Congress, a constant principle of my own public service career has been a deep suspicion of political legislation that employs arbitrary across-the-board mechanisms that make for good talking points but terrible policy. Such messaging bills make a mockery of the legislative process, and, unfortunately, H.R. 4078 is just such a bill.

To understand the absurdity of this bill, consider the proposal to ban any new regulations based on the Nation's unemployment rate. Actually with the typo in the bill, it's the ``employment'' rate. But for starters, there is little or no evidence correlating regulation to private sector hiring. However, there is considerable evidence showing that blocking important health and safety regulations will have a negative effect on all seniors, children, veterans, consumers--not to mention the private sector itself.

As written, the legislation prohibits any new regulatory actions until the ``employment'' rate falls to 6 percent, meaning unemployment would have to reach 94 percent before agencies could issue new regulations. The effect of that language, coming from a crowd that was just a few years ago talking about ``read the bill,'' means we would never update Medicare payment rates for doctors, bank lending protections for families, or food safety protections for consumers. No doubt, our Republican colleagues intended for this moratorium to apply until ``unemployment'' falls to 6 percent, which would still block regulation for the foreseeable future.

What is absurd about their premise is that the Department of Labor, for example, would be able to update the exposure safety standards to adequately protect the health of workers exposed to beryllium, a toxic substance linked to lung cancer and other chronic and fatal diseases, based on a 0.1 percent swing in the unemployment rate.

The same would be true for implementation of the Veterans' Benefits Act, bipartisan legislation that passed in the last Congress with no opposition. Under this bill, when the unemployment rate is 6 percent, the Department of Veterans Affairs would be able to take ``significant regulatory action,'' meaning implementation of the enhanced disability compensation benefits provisions for veterans experiencing difficulty using prostheses, for example, after the loss of limbs, or veterans in need of extensive care because of post-traumatic stress syndrome. However, if the unemployment rate is 0.1 percent higher, just 6.1 percent instead of 6 percent, H.R. 4078--the bill we're debating right now--would prohibit the Veterans Administration from improving care for those veterans.

Think about that: in voting for this bill, Members are endorsing a world view that a 0.1 percent swing in unemployment ought to determine whether the Federal Government can issue rules that benefit veterans with catastrophic injuries, updating Medicare payments for doctors, assisting students with loan debt, or providing families peace of mind that the peanut butter in their pantry will not poison their children. Any law that results in such absurd outcomes is deeply flawed and misguided far beyond the typo. In fact, the bill, as written, would even prevent those rules that would save money from being implemented.

Whether one advocates for smart regulation or passionately hates all regulations, surely we can all agree that the bizarre, capricious, and unjust outcomes that H.R. 4078--this bill--would lead to are the hallmarks of careless policy based on ideology, not on good public policy, not on good governance. Indeed, as former Republican Congressman Sherwood Boehlert of New York stated in a recent op-ed piece in The New York Times, I believe, on H.R. 4078, he said, it is ``difficult to exaggerate the sweep and destructiveness of the House bill.'' That was from a Republican former colleague in this body.

I would remind my Republican colleagues that one of the first executive orders issued by President Obama requires agencies to ensure that their regulations are, indeed, cost-effective. Of course that doesn't fit their narrative. Neither does it fit the fact that the Obama administration has actually issued fewer final rule regulations than the Bush administration did in its first term.

I urge my colleagues to join me in restoring sanity to the policymaking process in this House by opposing this extreme measure.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Is the gentleman yielding to me for an answer?

Madam Chairman, this Member will reserve the right to object at the appropriate time.

Madam Chairman, matter of personal privilege.

Did this Member hear the chairman, the distinguished chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, characterize a Member as insincere?

I'm not asking for interpretation, Madam Chairman. I'm asking whether he in fact said it.

I would ask the Chair to caution all Members about personal characterizations of Members on the floor of the House.

Madam Chairman, I wish my friend's characterization of the bill were accurate; but, sadly, I think what this bill does is cripple the ability of the government to protect the American public across a broad swath of policy areas that certainly matter to the average American.

I am now pleased to yield 2 minutes to the gentlelady from New York (Mrs. Maloney).

Madam Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Missouri, my friend, Mr. Clay.

Madam Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.

Madam Chairman, my simple amendment would clarify the congressional procedure for acting on the President's written congressional waiver request as provided for in the bill.

Based on their remarks today, it appears my friends on the other side of the aisle view the availability of congressional waivers as sufficient to ensure commonsense, popular safeguards such as rules benefiting veterans with catastrophic injuries, assisting students with loan debt, or providing families with peace of mind that the peanut butter their children eat will not poison them.

So they are not blocked by this bill's arbitrary across-the-board moratorium action on significant rulemaking actions because there is a waiver provision.

Yet for all of the emphasis on the importance of these congressional waivers, this bill, H.R. 4078, only provides vague, unclear guidance concerning how such actions would proceed on the President's waiver requests. H.R. 4078 only specifies that Congress shall give each submission by the President ``expeditious consideration'' and take ``appropriate legislative action'' without defining these terms in statute. Anyone who has watched this 112th Congress here in the House knows that they shouldn't put undue faith in terms like ``expeditious consideration.''

Republican claims to the contrary notwithstanding, as currently written, the congressional waiver provisions seem designed to spur effective talking points, not exactly an efficient process for considering Presidential submissions.

My simple amendment ensures that if the President requests a necessary and urgent waiver, such as the flexibility for the Department of Labor to issue a rule protecting coal miners from black lung disease, expeditious consideration shall not take longer than 1 week. This simple amendment takes no position on the wisdom of the given waiver request. It simply requires the Congress, whether it decides to approve or disapprove a President's request, to do so within 7 days.

As the numerous amendments filed by my colleagues demonstrate, the majority of the President's waiver requests will address noncontroversial, yet critically important, rules that protect our Nation's veterans, families, workers, environment, and economy. By supporting this perfecting amendment, Members will ensure that no American is endangered because of congressional inaction.

I reserve the balance of my time.

May I inquire of the Chair how much time is left on this side.

I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Cummings), the distinguished ranking member of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

Of course I know my friend from Arkansas knows his history. That was the whole battle of Federalist versus anti- Federalist. The Federalists won out. That's how the Constitution of the United States got adopted, a more powerful government to help the union of the States.

Madam Chairman, I will close by simply noting the irony of opposing any kind of finite time limit. The very organization cited by my friend from Arkansas, NFIB, screams the loudest about uncertainty. Yet here we are, going to have expeditious consideration that could take weeks or months here in this body, and we're not going to put a finite time limit to give them the predictability and the certainty that they say they want. I think it's the minimum required in this legislation if we really mean to effectuate change.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. Speaker, some claim the solution to America's energy concerns is ``Drill, Baby, drill.'' Under President Obama, domestic oil and natural gas production increased every year, with the largest increase in the number of drilling rigs in American history. Domestic oil production last year was the highest in a decade, and natural gas production the highest ever in our history.

Under President Obama, we've reduced foreign oil imports by 1 million barrels of oil per day. Foreign oil dependence was 60 percent of U.S. consumption in 2005 under Bush. It's dropped to 49 percent in 2010 under Obama, and is now on pace to fall to 36 percent, reversing trends since the Nixon Presidency. By 2020, U.S. oil production will be up 11 percent, rivaling the largest producer in the world, Saudi Arabia.

Under this President, U.S. oil production and exploration are booming, while foreign oil imports are plummeting.

The U.S. consumes 21 percent of the world's energy but contains 2 percent of proven oil reserves. That's why it's so imperative we follow President Obama's lead and pursue multiple sources of energy to meet our ever-expanding needs.

So to those who say, ``Drill more,'' President Obama can respond, ``We have, Baby, we have.''

I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I am pleased to join my colleague from New York (Ms. Buerkle) in supporting H.R. 5837, a bill to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 26 East Genesee Street in Baldwinsville, New York, as the Corporal Kyle Schneider Post Office Building.

The dedication to his country, his sacrifice, his bravery are certainly worthy of this honor, and I urge all of my colleagues to support this bill.

I yield back the balance of my time.