Floor Statements

Mr. Chairman, on rollcall No. 201, had I been present, I would have voted ``aye.''

Stated against:

Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize and commend Conny B. McCormack, an outstanding Californian, who has recently retired from 30 years of public service, the last 12 as Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk.

Mrs. McCormack is the epitome of the competent, capable, dedicated public servant. Her career accomplished many noteworthy positions before she came to Los Angeles County. As the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, Mrs. McCormack has met with great success. Her Registrar of Voters duties saw her conduct elections in 88 cities, 100 school districts, and 149 special districts for roughly 4 million voters across 5,000

precincts. Her duties as Recorder/County Clerk included maintaining birth, death and marriage records for a county of nearly 10 million people and recording and filing countless property documents and statutory oaths. Her office maintained over 200 million documents, a volume exceeded only by the Social Security Administration and the Pentagon. Mrs. McCormack, a great innovator, implemented the InkaVote Plus voting system, to guide voters through casting their ballots correctly and make voting easier for the disabled, and launched a new Enterprise Recording Archive system that eliminated manual processes to increase efficiency and cut down the use of paper.

Mrs. McCormack embodies the characteristics of a highly respected public servant, humble, lovable, spirited, renowned for her skills in the kitchen, a lover of outdoors gardening, hiking, and playing with her adopted canines from the L.A. County animal shelter. Mrs. McCormack is a great role model for our young women and a workers' advocate who helped support numerous student and clerical training programs. She has participated in many charities, from the Christmas Angel Tree Program for local low income children to Aids Walk Los Angeles to victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Conny has been an exemplary public servant known throughout her field for her dedication to her position, for her honesty, and for her integrity in her zeal to protect voters. A lifetime workaholic, an avid recycler, a true bargain hunter, a continual multi-tasker.

Madam Speaker. I proudly ask you to join me, her family, friends, and community in honoring Conny McCormack for her service in, and contributions to, the County of Los Angeles and other communities across the country.

Madam Speaker, on Wednesday, January 23, 2008, I was absent during rollcall vote No. 21. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea'' on ordering the previous question to H.R. 3963--to amend title XXI of the Social Security Act to extend and improve the Children's Health Insurance Program.

Madam Speaker, on Wednesday, January 23, 2008, I was absent during rollcall vote No. 22. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea'' on passage, the objections of the President to the contrary notwithstanding, of H.R. 3963--to amend title XXI of the Social Security Act to extend and improve the Children's Health Insurance Program.

Mr. Speaker, on Tuesday, January 22, 2008, I was absent during rollcall vote No. 19. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea'' on H.R. 4211--To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 725 Roanoke Avenue in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina, as the ``Judge Richard B. Allsbrook Post Office''.

Mr. Speaker, on Tuesday, January 22, 2008, I was absent during rollcall vote No. 20. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea'' on H. Res. 866--Honoring the brave men and women of the United States Coast Guard whose tireless work, dedication, and commitment to protecting the United States have led to the Coast Guard seizing over 350,000 pounds of cocaine at sea during 2007, far surpassing all of our previous records.

Madam Speaker, our country has been witnessing and suffering the pain and anguish when a distressed individual takes to shooting at random or killing in revenge, be it a student or a former employee. More and more we hear of stories relating to our returning war heroes' mental health plight and inability to cope with what they have gone through in Afghanistan and/or Iraq. While most older veterans will quickly tell you they had periods of rest and relaxation between tours, that is no longer the case.

For far too long we have shunned speaking of or dealing with brain functions misfiring, or in stigmatized words, ``mental health.'' We do not see it, hear it, or speak of it, as it connotes ``crazy'' and ``institutions.'' However we cannot ignore that mental illness does not discriminate. It touches all regardless of race, gender, class, or religion.

Look at rising suicide statistics for jailed or homeless individuals and unattended veterans who attempt such drastic measures. It is a national crisis and our great shame. Enough of words, action should have begun yesterday. Early prevention must be implemented in schools to allow for early identification by teachers of children who exhibit behavioral problems. And the government must pay attention at every level as this is an issue that affects not only quality of life, but also the community's well-being and economic stability.

We have tests and screenings for breast cancer, heart attacks, strokes, and a myriad of other diseases and conditions, but we have not yet woken up to the fact that the brain's functions are vital to our body's health and survival. It is critical that we destigmatize mental illness so that our children, our families, and our wounded warrior veterans receive the necessary help they need to lead productive lives with supportive families and communities.

Madam Speaker, we have had an erosion of our family values and have neglected to help families whose children have dysfunctional lives at home and become prey to gangs and drugs. Our lifestyles have changed so dramatically that now when you pick up a newspaper, you only find details of shootings, homicides, murders, scandals and such. What happened to people doing good deeds? We have come to glorify gangsters on television and in music, and crime has become the new religion to be followed as a lifestyle.

Gone are the dreams of becoming a fireman, a doctor, or of finding a decent job to earn sufficient money to take care of oneself and one's family. Instead our cities' poorest areas attract those who recruit youngsters with dreams of quick and easy money. We must work together to reverse this dangerous trend. Our education system is so overloaded, and overcrowded classrooms do not allow teachers to assist needy students. Businesses need to become part of the solution by mentoring or sponsoring youngsters who need to be trained in the world of work and earning honest dollars. Local elected officials must work with school districts to establish after school programs for latchkey kids and solicit volunteers to help tutor those in need of help.

Sometimes the word is ``we need more money.'' If you believe this is the only solution, we have a problem. Millions upon millions have been infused in programs to deal with solving the gang and drug issue. We have not gained much ground. Yes, we do need funding. But what we need more is to awaken to the realization that we are all responsible for finding a solution, and start working on what that solution is.

Drugs have permeated our society for decades. We have a war on drugs where again we have spent great quantities of money. We have also had red ribbon week. While it reminded us of some of the dangers of using illegal drugs, it went by the wayside in many areas. And to this day we find addiction to be a major problem, not only to prescription drugs, but to what are known as recreational drugs. Cost to society is immeasurable, when you quantify all that involves one human being's life: work, family, economy, hospitalization, and law enforcement, just to name a few possibilities.

So we are left asking, ``what do we do?'' We must all reckon with our own view and again determine that we are all a part of this solution. We must work together to find commonsense solutions to get our youth back on track and help them become productive members of our society.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 123) to authorize appropriations for the San Gabriel Basin Restoration Fund, as amended.

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

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

H.R. 123 was introduced by our colleague and good friend, Congressman David Dreier of California, to provide additional funds for the San Gabriel Basin Restoration Fund. This bill, which is a very important bill for my whole area, has worked to clean up a contamination, a Superfund site, that has cleaned up much of the contamination in an area that comprises probably around 30 cities, and as amended will raise the appropriation ceiling by an additional $61.2 million.

We need this to further continue to provide the cleanup on this water to millions of people in dozens of cities. This bill has been worked on in a bipartisan basis. Both my colleague, Mr. Dreier, myself, our staffs have worked diligently for a long time to carry this bill to where it is.

When H.R. 123 was introduced earlier this year, it only included funds for cleanup in the San Gabriel Basin. Since then, my staff, committee staff and Congressman Dreier's staff have worked together to amend the bill to include additional funds for cleanup in the central basin as well. While this legislation provides a central basin with access to much-needed additional funds, all funds left under the original authorization should remain dedicated to the Water Quality Authority, the entity which is responsible for coordinating cleanup efforts in the San Gabriel Basin.

Mr. Speaker, we have no objection to this noncontroversial, bipartisan bill and I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 123, as amended.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I have no speakers waiting. I still remain committed to reserving my time.

Mr. Speaker, my colleague has very well outlined the background of the bill. Due to his vision, this started over a decade over ago, brought all the parties together, had many hurdles that were accomplished only when people were brought to the table and were able to seek the solution to be more expediently cleaning up that area. And I can tell you that this has been, as he has outlined, a very hard- worked, joint effort, not only at the local level with the State, the locals, the Fed, the EPA, all the water districts, but also our staffs who have run into difficulties and had been able to work to iron them out. So kudos also, Mr. Speaker, to Chairman Dreier's staff in being willing to work with our staff in bringing this to the solution where we are now.

I have no further speakers, Mr. Speaker, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the comments about my dress and demeanor. I only feel that we are hoping to wrap it up this week and not be here through Christmas.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3739) to amend the Arizona Water Settlements Act to modify the requirements for the statement of findings.

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

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

H.R. 3739, as introduced by our friend and colleague, Congressman Raul Grijalva of Arizona, our colleague on the Natural Resources Committee and chairman of the subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands, amends the 2004 Arizona Water Settlements Act to modify one technical, enforceability condition necessary to implement the water settlement for the Tohono O'odham Nation.

Mr. Speaker, we support this bill. It was passed through our committee on a bipartisan basis, and we look forward to working with other tribes who have similar concerns in the future; and I urge my colleagues to support the bill.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, having no further speakers, I will only mention that it was a pleasure working with my ranking member, Cathy McMorris Rodgers, and some of my colleagues on the other side to get this very important piece of legislation for the tribe.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I certainly want to thank Representative Richardson for introducing House Resolution 822, and I join my colleagues in their accolades on the Port of Long Beach's reaching their 100th anniversary and on their accomplishments, as they are a tremendous asset to California. Their leadership has been, as you've heard, exemplary. It has provided hundreds of thousands of jobs over the 100 years. Many of the longshoremen and stevedores are immigrants and live in our districts in Los Angeles.

The fact is these ports and their workers are vital to all of our U.S. economy. As you have heard, they provide movement of 8.5 million containers, and 1 million jobs throughout the United States, not just in Los Angeles and in California. And my district is home to many factories and companies and distribution centers that import and export their products through these ports. The $8 billion in trade from imports impact my district tremendously, and it is expected to triple by the year 2030, undertaking, you've heard, the $2 billion Clean Air Action Plan to reduce emissions by 50 percent in 5 years, replacing dirty diesel trucks from the ports, and requiring low sulfur gas to be used by the incoming ships.

We congratulate and are joined by many other members of the Los Angeles delegation, including David Dreier, who just stopped by and said that he too joins us on congratulating the Port of Los Angeles on the great strides to improve our environment and in strong support of this bill.

I also request my colleagues to join us in passing this resolution honoring the Port of Los Angeles on their 100th anniversary.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 236) to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to create a Bureau of Reclamation partnership with the North Bay Water Reuse Authority and other regional partners to achieve objectives relating to water supply, water quality, and environmental restoration, as amended.

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

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

This legislation, introduced by our colleague from California, Representative Mike Thompson, authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to provide limited financial assistance for planning, design, and construction of the North Bay Water Reuse Program in Northern California. This is an innovative regional water recycling project that will allow North Bay Water Reuse Authority and many of the other regional partners to improve water supplies and water quality and to implement environmental restoration work.

Similar legislation was introduced by Congressman Thompson in the 109th Congress, and I certainly want to thank Representative Thompson for his hard work on this important legislation, and my co-chair, Mrs. McMorris Rodgers.

Mr. Speaker, this measure receives strong bipartisan support, and we strongly support this noncontroversial bill. I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 236, as amended.

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

Mr. Speaker, I have no requests for time, so I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 1662) to amend the Reclamation Safety of Dams Act of 1978 to authorize improvements for the security of dams and other facilities, as amended.

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

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

I introduced H.R. 1662 to address the question of how we, the Federal Government, should pay for increased security mandated and required by the Bureau of Reclamation facilities after the attacks of September 11, 2001. As amended by the Committee on Natural Resources, H.R. 1662 sets a firm cap, $18.9 million annually, indexed to inflation, on costs that can be passed on to water and power customers to pay for guards, patrol expenses and other things like that.

The bill, as amended, also includes reporting requirements that are reasonable and appropriate to keep the Congress and project beneficiaries advised of Bureau of Reclamation site security activities.

I commend our ranking member, Cathy McMorris Rodgers, for her bipartisan support of this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I strongly support enactment of this noncontroversial bill. I ask my colleagues to support H.R. 1662, as amended.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I certainly want to thank Ranking Member Cathy McMorris Rodgers for her role in this. She described the bill very aptly. We are asking our colleagues to support H.R. 1662, as amended.

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

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 2085) to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to convey to the McGee Creek Authority certain facilities of the McGee Creek Project, Oklahoma, and for other purposes.

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

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

H.R. 2085, as introduced by our colleague, Congresswoman Mary Fallin of Oklahoma, authorizes the transfer of certain facilities of McGee Creek Project, currently held by the United States through the Bureau of Reclamation. Ownership of these facilities will be transferred to the McGee Creek Authority, which has repaid the costs of building this water supply project. The Bureau of Reclamation testified in support of this bill at a Water and Power Subcommittee hearing on September 18, 2007, moved out of subcommittee, and received bipartisan support.

We have no objection to passage of H.R. 2085.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, Ms. Fallin has made a very good point of her bill, and it does merit support from both sides. So I do request the consideration by our colleagues on this very, very worthwhile project.

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

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

Madam Speaker, since 1886 immigrants to the United States have passed the Statue of Liberty, which has inscribed, ``Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses.'' Why is it that now, when those huddled masses happen to be brown, the golden door of freedom is being slammed shut?

Immigrants contribute to the economy. They are free thinkers. They are hard-driven workers who strive for success, not only for themselves and their community but for their families. They come to this country because America is a beacon of hope for them. They are looking for a better life, just like every immigrant since the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock.

So why do some amongst us feel it necessary to place every obstacle possible in their path, to launch bigoted assaults on them, to wrongly blame those who work the hardest at the worst jobs for the ills of all of our society?

Immigrants are the history of the United States. They are our past, they are our present, and I must not rest until we recognize they are part of the future of this great country.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong support of H.R. 2095. I congratulate all my colleagues for this strong bipartisan railroad safety bill, and I associate myself with the remarks of the gentleman who just spoke.

It is of utmost importance to my district because over 160 trains travel through my district daily carrying over 14,000 containers, many containing hazardous material, carrying $400 billion worth of trade, most of it for the eastern part of the United States. It is expected to triple by the year 2020.

We have experienced many derailments in my area. That has caused great distress not only to my families, to the businesses, the damage, the economic impact it has had, the threat to the public safety, and the anxiety caused along that railroad corridor.

This Railroad Safety Improvement Act helps prevent future derailments by improving track safety, improving grade crossing safety, improving whistleblower protections, addressing concerns over railroad fatigue, and ensures enforcement by clarifying the U.S. Attorney General's authority to bring civil action against the railroads, increasing penalties, increasing reporting of enforcement actions, and many other areas that are very, very important.

This bill includes two of my amendments to section 605, creating strict training standards for railroad inspectors, tough training for all rail employees who expressed to us their lack of training curriculum and additional training requirements for railroad inspectors who have expressed that they need that training.

My amendment creates strong training, testing and skills evaluation measures, ensures that the train inspectors are able to address critical safety defects that contribute to derailments and accidents in a timely basis. I couldn't agree more with the gentleman. We need to look at new technology that is going to help us get there. But we also need the support of the railroads.

My second amendment in section 407 authorizes $1.5 million for operation life safety for a total of $6 million. I certainly want to show that we all cooperate in this and look forward to having this vote pass with great success.

Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

Mr. Chairman, my amendment ensures that trains entering or reentering this country from Mexico are certified and inspected. Over 10,000 trains enter the United States from Mexico through Calexico, San Ysidro, Brownsville, El Paso, Laredo, Eagle Pass and Arizona at Nogales. Currently, all trains crossing the border are inspected by our own U.S. inspectors who are highly trained, must follow stringent FRA requirements, fully understand rail safety laws, earn a good salary with strong benefits, and the rail companies they work for are fully liable in case of an accident.

U.S. railroad companies have been trying to outsource inspections to Mexico. Union Pacific has been twice denied by FRA in 2004 and 2007. We must set up a process for the Department of Transportation to ensure continued protection with legitimate inspections.

Mexican inspectors have much lower standards for safety than our U.S. inspectors, are not versed in U.S. laws and regulations, and are poorly compensated compared to U.S. inspectors.

My amendment ensures that all trains coming into the United States from Mexico continue to be safe for rail travel in our country and prohibits Mexican inspectors from performing safety inspections unless the U.S. Secretary of Transportation certifies that inspections are performed under U.S. regulation and U.S. standards, that the Mexican Government is effectively enforcing such safety standards, that inspectors are receiving comparable classroom and on-the-job training as in the U.S., inspection records are maintained in both English and Spanish, records are available to the FRA for review, and the FRA is permitted to perform on-site inspections in Mexico.

My amendment also forbids inspections of any hazardous material railcars from taking place in Mexico. FRA must have the ability to grant waivers only if strict safety precautions are in place and adhered to. My amendment protects against future attempts by railroads to apply for inspections in Mexico unless they follow restrictions. My amendment ensures safety and security of all trains entering the United States through the southern border.

Mr. Chairman, I ask my colleagues to support this important safety amendment.

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

Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Mr. Baca).

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

Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentleman from Texas (Mr. Gonzalez).

Mr. Chairman, I thank Chairman Oberstar and Ranking Member Mica and all my colleagues.

This is a very important bill to continue making the FRA the safety agency it's supposed to be. We need to be able to ensure that any railcar traveling in the U.S. carries the same safety inspection standards as any other railcar.

So, with that, I ask for an ``aye'' vote and support for the amendment and the full bill.

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