Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 500, I call up the concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 94) directing the Clerk of the House of Representatives to make corrections in the enrollment of H.R. 3672, and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 2 minutes.

I rise to present H. Con. Res. 94. This bill contains a legislative provision to offset the $8.1 billion in disaster funding provided by H.R. 3672, which we will consider shortly.

This offset is funded by a 1.83 percent across-the-board cut to all of fiscal 2012 base discretionary spending, except the Department of Defense, Military Construction and Veterans Affairs.

Such an offset ensures that we are living within our means while still providing for the hundreds of thousands of Americans affected by recent natural disasters with the help that they need.

I ask my colleagues to join me in supporting this resolution, which, in effect, pays for the disaster funding which will come later.

I reserve the balance of my time.

I yield back the balance of my time, urging support.

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

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 500, I call up the bill (H.R. 3672) making appropriations for disaster relief requirements for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2012, and for other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration.

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

I rise to present H.R. 3672, the Disaster Relief Appropriations Act, which is the third bill in our final appropriations package for fiscal year 2012.

This bill provides a total of $8.1 billion in funding for critical aid and recovery assistance for disaster emergencies. Of this total, $6.4 billion will go to FEMA's Disaster Relief Fund. This includes funding for fire assistance, emergency declarations, major disasters, surge operations, and disaster readiness support.

In addition, these funds will help cover costs from large-scale previous disasters such as the summer 2011 tornadoes and Hurricane Irene.

We've had a historic chain of disasters in this country over the last year or so.

The legislation also provides $1.7 billion in funding for disaster recovery assistance through the Army Corps of Engineers. This funding will help repair damage to critical infrastructure caused by recent storms and floods and will help prepare for future disaster events. This total adheres to the total disaster funding level agreed to under the Budget Control Act this past summer.

I urge my colleagues to support this legislation, to provide our communities and families with the support they need as they recover from these devastating natural disasters.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the distinguished chairman of the Financial Services Subcommittee on Appropriations, the gentlelady from Missouri (Mrs. Emerson).

Mr. Speaker, I am prepared to yield back if the gentleman is.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time and urge an ``aye'' vote.

Mr. Speaker, I send to the desk a joint resolution (H.J. Res. 94) making further continuing appropriations for fiscal year 2012, and for other purposes, and ask unanimous consent for its immediate consideration.

I thank the gentleman for yielding.

This continuing resolution extends funding for government operations by 1 day to give the other body an extra day to consider and pass the consolidated appropriations bill.

Mr. Speaker, I send to the desk a joint resolution (H.J. Res. 95) making further continuing appropriations for fiscal year 2012, and for other purposes, and ask unanimous consent for its immediate consideration.

I thank the gentleman for yielding.

This continuing resolution ensures that government operations will continue to be funded through December 23. The resolution is a simple date extension that gives Congress time to prepare the consolidated appropriations bill for presentation to the President. This is a noncontroversial measure that has signoff from both sides of the aisle, and I urge its adoption.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that when the House adjourns today, it adjourn to meet at 10 a.m. on Monday next.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Ryan) be authorized to insert extraneous material in the Record.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to the 2011 Hazard High School Football Team, who captured the Kentucky High School Athletic Association Class 1-A State Championship Title for the first time in history. This group of student-athletes should be proud of this remarkable achievement and I am honored to recognize them as champions.

The State Championship title has been a highly coveted achievement for the Hazard

Bulldogs. After their third appearance in a Class 1-A title game in four years, the Bulldogs tenaciously took the field with experience, heart and determination, earning every yard to lead them to a well- deserved victory and their first-ever State Championship.

The Hazard Bulldogs defeated a tough team from Mayfield, winning 24- 6. More than five thousand fans filled the Houchens Smith Stadium in Bowling Green, Kentucky to witness these focused young men put their athletic ability and knowledge of the game to the highest test. Redeeming themselves from last year's 47-6 loss to Mayfield, the Bulldogs dominated the majority of the game and put an end to Mayfield's state-best 29-game winning streak. Holding the Cardinals to just 237 yards offensively, the Hazard Bulldogs forced five Mayfield turnovers and sealed their victory with an interception returned for a touchdown in the last two minutes of the game.

This season, Coach Mark Dixon led the Bulldogs to a near perfect 12-2 season. Despite defeat in last year's title game, the Bulldogs persevered and came back this season with unwavering determination to bring the state title home to the mountains of eastern Kentucky. These experiences and life lessons learned on the field will be carried on after the game and continue to shape these football players into men of promise and outstanding character.

Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring Coach Dixon and the Hazard High School 2011 Football Team as the KHSAA Class 1-A State Champions. This team has successfully carried on a sports tradition of pride in the mountains and I wish them all the best in the years to come.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to take from the Speaker's table the bill (H.R. 2055) making appropriations for military construction, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2012, and for other purposes, with a Senate amendment thereto, disagree to the Senate amendment, and agree to the conference requested by the Senate.

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

This motion to instruct is well-intentioned but unnecessary. The motion would urge adoption of the Senate-passed level for VA medical research, which is $50 million above the House-passed level.

We all support our veterans and honor their service and sacrifice. We, of course, support the important research work the VA is doing for our veterans in fields such as traumatic brain injury and posttraumatic stress disorder. We provided a robust level of funding for this research in the House-passed version of the bill at a time when our overall funding targets were constrained. In fact, the House bill provided a total of $531 million for VA medical research, an increase of $22 million above what the White House and the VA requested. In addition, the VA still has $71 million in unobligated research funding left over from previous years that could be put to use. So even without the increase, the program level would still be well above the 2011 level.

We all agree that medical research at the VA is undeniably important and we want to do the best that we can for our veterans, particularly those in need of medical assistance. On that, there's no difference between the ranking minority member and myself and between the members of the subcommittee.

I can reassure the Members that we will work with our House and Senate colleagues to determine the appropriate level for VA research to continue to support and honor the service of our veterans.

While this motion is not necessary, I understand and agree with its intent; and I will work with the ranking member. And with reservations, I will accept the motion at this time.

Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to a great leader, professor and advisor, Dr. Scott Alexander Marshall. His passing is a great loss to his family and the education community.

Although he isn't a native Kentuckian, Dr. Marshall immediately offered his expertise to enhance the field of education in our rural region of southern and eastern Kentucky. He made a difference in the lives of hundreds of college students and took great pride in their success. In fact, he was a strong advocate and supporter of Phi Theta Kappa, the official national honor society for two-year colleges.

Scott received his M.S., M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Alabama. He retired after 33 years of teaching Business and Economics at Jefferson State Community College in Birmingham, Alabama. After moving to Somerset, Kentucky in 2000, he continued as an Adjunct Professor of Economics at Eastern Kentucky University.

He was involved in numerous civic and political activities, serving as a member of the Adanta Board of Directors and Co-Chair of the Finance Committee. He also was a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Somerset where he served as an Elder and Co-Chair of the Worship Committee.

Dr. Marshall leaves behind a devoted family: his loving wife, Dr. Jo Grimes Marshall; their children, Kristin Marshall Henderson and Dr. Scott Alexander Marshall, Jr., along with four grandsons. On behalf of my wife Cynthia and myself, I want to extend our deepest heartfelt sympathies to the Marshall family.

Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring a dear friend and champion for community colleges, the late Dr. Scott Alexander Marshall.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include tabular and extraneous material on the conference report to accompany H.R. 2112.

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 467, agreed to earlier today, I call up the conference report on the bill (H.R. 2112) making appropriations for Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies programs for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2012, and for other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 5 minutes.

I rise today to present the conference report on H.R. 2112, the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act of 2012. The House passed H.R. 2112, the bill making appropriations for the Department of Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration and Related Agencies, on June 16. The bill has since been amended to include the Commerce-Justice-Science and the Transportation-HUD appropriations bills as well as a continuing resolution to keep the rest of the government operating until December 16.

With the help of our ranking member, the gentleman from Washington, Norm Dicks, we successfully negotiated with our Senate counterparts to craft this agreement, which is the first appropriations conference report to hit this floor since 2009. This report is the next step in meeting the spending targets set by the Budget Control Act, which will save the taxpayers billions and help continue the effort to bring the Nation's deficit under control. In fact, this bill keeps us on track to cut regular discretionary spending by $98 billion compared to the President's fiscal year 2012 request and some $47 billion below the fiscal year 2010 level.

When all appropriations work this year is completed, it will be the second year in a row that we have reduced total discretionary spending, a remarkable and historic achievement. Yet while we've made significant cuts, we were also able to fund important priorities, such as food and drug safety, Federal law enforcement, agricultural and scientific research, trade, infrastructure, and economic growth. Additionally, we're helping communities, States, businesses, and families deeply affected by a record-breaking year of destructive natural disasters and catastrophes.

We scrubbed the information from the agencies and were able to reduce the disaster spending in this bill by $850 million compared to the Senate-passed bill. These funds are only for disaster assistance and do not grow the baseline budgets or the scope of the Federal agencies.

This bill, Mr. Speaker, is the next step in breaking the status quo of excess Federal spending that's throwing our budgets out of whack.

Our House conferees thoroughly examined each and every program and agency to ensure that we are reducing spending wherever possible. In this bill, this includes terminating wasteful, poorly planned and controversial programs such as high-speed rail, NOAA's Climate Change Office, and the Livable Communities program. In fact, Mr. Speaker, we have terminated 20 programs for a savings of $456 million.

This legislation also reins in executive branch overreach by including several important policy items. These provisions kill job- killing regulations that create economic uncertainty and limit government involvement in issues of life and liberty, including several provisions protecting human life and the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.

Finally, this legislation includes a continuing resolution that will keep the remainder of the government operating until December 16, allowing us an appropriate amount of time, I think, to finish negotiations on the remaining nine appropriations bills so that we will have all 12 out of the way, leaving the Appropriations Committee clear sailing in January to bring to the floor of the House 12 separate appropriations bills.

I'm very pleased that we were able to reach agreement on this bill. It has become all too rare a thing in this Congress to come to an agreement such as this, and I'm proud to say that this conference report was approved by all but one of the 38 House and Senate conferees from both parties, which goes to show us we work best when we work together. While there are no doubt items where Members might disagree in the bill, there are many achievements in this bill of which we can be justly proud.

However, we could not have done this without the tremendous help from our ranking member, Norm Dicks, as well as the dedicated conferees on both sides of the aisle from both Chambers. Chairman Wolf, Chairman Kingston, Chairman Latham, Ranking Members Farr, Fattah, and Olver, as well as our dedicated staff, have worked tirelessly over the last few weeks to bring this bill to completion, and they have all of our sincere thanks and appreciation for a job well done.

I yield myself an additional 1 minute.

I am proud, Mr. Speaker, that your Appropriations Committee is presenting to you the first Appropriations Conference Report since 2009 and the first conference report of this Congress. Your Appropriations Committee is working.

In closing, I strongly urge my colleagues to support this bill. It's vital we pass this bill to prevent a government shutdown, rein in overzealous regulations, and help put our budgets and our economy on track.

[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH17NO11.001

[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH17NO11.002

[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH17NO11.003

[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH17NO11.004

[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH17NO11.005

[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH17NO11.006

[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH17NO11.007

[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH17NO11.008

[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH17NO11.009

[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH17NO11.010

[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH17NO11.011

[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH17NO11.012

[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH17NO11.013

[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH17NO11.014

[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH17NO11.015

[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH17NO11.016

[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH17NO11.017

[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH17NO11.018

[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH17NO11.019

[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH17NO11.020

[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH17NO11.021

[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH17NO11.022

[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH17NO11.023

I reserve the balance of my time.

Will the gentleman yield?

And in that H.R. 1, the fiscal year '11 omnibus bill, as you recollect, we had some 500 amendments.

Everybody.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the chairman of the Commerce, Justice, Science Subcommittee, a very hardworking chairman who also happens to be a colleague of mine in the class of 1980, the so-called Reaganauts, Chairman Frank Wolf.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Iowa, chairman of the Transportation and HUD portion of this bill, a very vital part of the bill--the chairman has handled it very, very well--Chairman Tom Latham.

I yield the gentleman an additional minute.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia, the chairman of the Agriculture Subcommittee, a very important part of this bill, Mr. Kingston.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to a very distinguished member of our committee, Oklahoma's Mr. Cole.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas, a member of the conference committee, Mr. Carter.

Mr. Speaker, could I ask the remaining time?

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio, a member of the conference committee, Mr. LaTourette.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to a member of the conference committee, the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Bonner).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Florida, a member of our committee, Mr. Diaz-Balart.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Mississippi, a member of our committee and a very valued member, Mr. Nunnelee.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New Hampshire (Mr. Bass).

May I inquire of the time remaining.

Mr. Speaker, I am the last remaining speaker on my side, so I will yield to the gentleman.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

I want to say a special thanks to my friend from Washington, Norm Dicks, for being a hardworking, cooperative ranking member. We worked together on this bill, and we will continue to do that. And I also want to thank the staff. You know, they don't get enough thanks. These are the people that do practically all the work, day and night, weekends included, holidays included. So thank you to all of the staff, majority and minority, for producing this work.

Let me close, Mr. Speaker, by emphasizing that this conference report is only the first step toward finishing fiscal '12, and I urge my colleagues to support this conference report.

Let me also remind our colleagues that there are no earmarks in this bill. A lot of people said, you cannot pass a bill without earmarks. Well, this bill has no earmarks, not one, not a single one. It also reduces dramatically Federal spending. And when we finish--and I want my colleagues to hear this plainly and clearly--when we finish all 12 bills, we will be at $1.043 trillion, not a penny more. We will be at $1.043 trillion, as provided by the cap under the Budget Control Act. I guarantee that number. I guarantee that number, hear me. So I urge an ``aye'' vote on this first step towards fiscal sanity.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the managers on the part of the House have until midnight tonight, November 14, to file the conference report to accompany H.R. 2112.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to take from the Speaker's table the bill (H.R. 2112) making appropriations for Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies programs for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2012, and for other purposes, with the Senate amendments thereto, disagree to the Senate amendments, and request a conference with the Senate on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses.

Mr. Speaker, I have no other speakers other than myself at this point; so I reserve the balance of my time.

I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, does the gentleman have further speakers?

Is the gentleman from Washington prepared to close?

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

The motion to instruct conferees on the fiscal year 2012 bill will encourage the conferees to consider and support several funding items as they negotiate the final agreement on this three-pack of bills. While I believe that this motion is unnecessary, I am willing to accept the gentleman's motion as it does address some important issues that will be considered by the conferees. As we move forward, I expect the ranking member and myself to work together to negotiate these issues, and therefore, today, I can accept this motion.

First, if approved, this motion would express the House's support for funding for the COPS program within the Department of Justice.

While local law enforcement is primarily a State and local responsibility, there is strong bipartisan support for a variety of Federal programs that help

first responders, including the COPS program for State and local police.

The Commerce/Justice/Science bill has historically included a range of programs to strengthen local law enforcement, including Byrne grants, State Criminal Alien Assistance, Juvenile Accountability, programs to combat violence against women, and COPS programs. COPS has not only supported the hiring and rehiring of new officers, but it has also allowed local police departments to modernize their technology and to address the enforcement and cleanup challenges of the meth epidemic.

However, we must make these funding decisions very carefully to avoid adverse impacts. State and local budgets are often incapable of sustaining new first responder positions when Federal money runs out, and this risk is especially high given the current economic challenges in our local communities.

Second, this motion encourages the conferees to support funding for the Highway Emergency Relief Program, commonly referred to as the ``ER Program.''

This program is authorized, and provides States with funds to repair eligible roads damaged by disasters and catastrophic events. This program was created to rebuild after disasters and get businesses and everyday life back up and running. Unfortunately, in 2011, the total amount of eligible disaster-stricken roads exceeded the level of available ER funds. It's important that we now provide the appropriate level of funding to ensure that States and communities receive the legitimate assistance that they are relying upon.

Mr. Speaker, again, while I don't think this motion is necessary, I will accept it, and I look forward to working with both sides on these important issues in order to come up with a satisfactory solution.

I yield to the gentleman from Washington.

I thank the gentleman for those words.

He is exactly right. He and I started out this year both new to our jobs on the committee; but determined, we agreed with each other and committed to each other that we would work together to try to restore the regular order that used to prevail on these appropriations bills, where we had heated debate but collegial debate, realizing that we have to finally come to some agreement on these bills that keep the government going. We don't have the luxury of failing. The gentleman has been a great partner in this work all year long, and I look forward to the rest of the work.

Now, on this year's bills, the 2012 bills that we're working on now, it is my hope and ambition--I know you share this with me--that we finish these bills before the end of this calendar year.

That would take some doing.

Nevertheless, I agree with you. I'm tickled to death to see the Senate is finally acting. They only passed one bill, up until 2 days ago, of the 12. We've passed six through the House, and have sent them over there without a response until now.

I want to finish the 2012 bills right away so that we can begin work in January on the 2013 bills and so that we'll have plenty of time to do them one by one, which is the regular order and what we all want to see happen. I know that's my goal and ambition, and I know the gentleman shares that.

We were sidelined a good part of this year from our regular business with H.R. 1. We inherited a House that had not passed an appropriations bill for fiscal '11, so we spent the first 5 months or so of the year trying to pass a bill to fund that current year, fiscal '11.

Exactly.

Nevertheless, it held us up for 5 months and kept us from doing our chores for fiscal '12. Then came along the debt ceiling increase debate, which took weeks and sucked all of the air out of everything else, so we were prevented on the committee from doing our regular chores.

As the gentleman says, we want to finish these bills for fiscal '12 so that finally, in fiscal '13, we can have a real clean year, taking each bill one by one.

By the way, in closing, we're going to conference with the Senate on these three bills this afternoon--as a matter of fact, at 5 o'clock. That's the first time that there has been a House-Senate appropriations conference in years. So, between us and the Senate, we are achieving something almost historic here, and that is going to conference with the Senate, which used to be a routine thing, and we hope to restore that idea.

With that, Mr. Speaker, 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 include extraneous material on H.R. 2608.

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to the unanimous consent agreement of yesterday, I call

up the bill (H.R. 2608) to provide for an additional temporary extension of programs under the Small Business Act and the Small Business Investment Act of 1958, and for other purposes, with a Senate amendment to the House amendment to the Senate amendment thereto, and have a motion at the desk.

I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to bring to the floor the continuing appropriations resolutions to keep the Federal Government operating until November 18, 2011, and to continue support for disaster relief projects.

This version of the bill--which is virtually identical to the one the House voted on last week--funds the government at a rate of $1.043 trillion and provides $2.65 billion in fiscal year 2012 funding for the Federal Emergency Management Agency and other disaster aid programs. However, this bill no longer includes $1 billion in emergency fiscal year 2011 funding for FEMA and the Corps of Engineers nor the offset for those funds. The Senate dropped these provisions after the White House and FEMA suddenly--and, I might add, mysteriously--announced that these funds were no longer necessary. While in the short term FEMA says it can get by without the additional emergency funding, it's clear that the agency will soon need additional money to continue ongoing relief and recovery efforts from recent devastating natural disasters.

I'm disappointed, Mr. Speaker, that the agency has apparently been playing games with the numbers, and my committee is closely examining why FEMA's estimates changed at the 11th hour. The committee also remains committed to providing the proper amount of emergency assistance that families and communities across the country rely upon.

Mr. Speaker, we have now entered into the new fiscal year, and we need to keep the doors of the government open to the American people who rely on its programs and its services. We simply must not leave our citizens in the lurch, particularly as thousands of American families and communities continue to rebuild following devastating natural disasters across the country.

Furthermore, our economy can't handle the instability that comes from the threat of a government shutdown. This bill supports vital government operations but still saves the American taxpayers billions of dollars by maintaining the overall funding level agreed to in the recently enacted Budget Control Act. We are committed to reining in spending at every step, and this reduced funding rate will help our Nation return to more sound fiscal footing.

In addition, this legislation gives both the House and the Senate more time to finish our work on the fiscal year 2012 appropriations bills, legislation that will continue the trend of reducing Federal spending to more responsible and sustainable levels.

The House has made great progress on this year's appropriations bills, and I intend to wrap up this work as quickly as possible to provide for the economic and fiscal security of our Nation and the needs of the American public.

I urge my colleagues to support the bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Mr. Speaker, I send to the desk a concurrent resolution and ask unanimous consent for its immediate consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in order to honor Sergeant Dakota Meyer of the United States Marine Corps and the recipient of the highest military honor our Nation can bestow, the Congressional Medal of Honor.

Born in Columbia, Sgt. Meyer's upbringing in rural southern Kentucky was quintessentially American. In high school, he distinguished himself--as an all-star on the football field and as a tutor volunteering his time to special-needs students in the classroom. Sgt. Meyer aspired to be a college football player until a chance encounter with a USMC recruiter awakened in his heart the challenge to serve his country. His eighteenth birthday found him at boot camp on Parris Island.

Sgt. Meyer served nobly in Iraq and at the conclusion of his tour there volunteered for another deployment, this time to Afghanistan. He has described the events of September 8, 2009, in the Kunar Province of northeastern Afghanistan as the ``worst'' day of his life. With that in mind, and the details of his heroism contained in the Medal Citation, I will not recount the terrible events of that day. Because of his actions, thirteen Marines and Army soldiers, as well as twenty-three Afghan soldiers made it out of an ambush to live and serve another day. And the bodies of four fallen American servicemen and a mortally wounded Army soldier--Marines 1st Lt. Michael Johnson, Gunnery Sgt. Edwin Johnson and Staff Sgt. Aaron Kenefick; Navy Corpsman 3rd Class James Layton; and Army Sgt. 1st Class Kenneth W. Westbrook--made it home to their loved ones and a grateful country.

As he received the Congressional Medal of Honor at a White House ceremony on September 16, with his usual modesty Sgt. Meyer dedicated the award to those brave men: ``The main thing that we need to get from that day is that those guys died heroes, and they are greatly missed.'' Having recently marked the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks that drew us into war, as Sgt. Meyer reminds us, our Nation must commit to memory the service men and women who have sacrificed their utmost since in order to ensure the security and sovereignty of our blessed Republic.

It is impossible to convey how proud I am to join the American people as we honor Sgt. Dakota Meyer. Like him, I believe that in commemorating the events of that day in the far-off mountains of Afghanistan, we may honor those we lost while finding the strength and courage to ensure that the American dream of freedom and liberty will never dim.