Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, for roughly 200 years, this government has functioned on behalf of the American people. It has functioned through the art of compromise. Conservatives, liberals, Democrats, and Republicans have gotten together and decided what was in the best interest of this Nation.

Mr. Speaker, this appropriations bill is in the best interest of this Nation. It does reflect a compromise, but I would say to my colleagues on the Democratic side: this is a good bill, this reflects our priorities. It is our last chance to have those priorities reflected in an appropriations bill.

One of our staff told me that for 2\1/2\ weeks, she hasn't seen her children before they had to go to bed. The reason is that she has been working night after night, fighting for our priorities to be included in this bill, and she was successful. All of our staff was successful.

I want to give a shout-out to Dave Pomerantz, Lesley Turner, Will Smith, Jim Kulikowski, Rick Healy, Shalanda Young, and of all the people who made this a good bill on both sides of the aisle.

This is why our government functions: because we are willing to compromise and we are willing to look at what is in the best interest of all of our constituents, putting partisanship aside.

This is a bill we should vote for. This bill needs to pass. I thank the President and this body for supporting this bill because I trust we will, in the long run, do the right thing after we have exhausted all the other alternatives.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to acknowledge the Association for Talent Development (ATD) as the largest association dedicated to the talent development profession and recognize them for their annual Employee Learning Week, held from December 1st through the 5th, 2014.

Members of ATD come from more than 100 countries and connect locally with 125 U.S. chapters, international strategic partners, and global networks. They work in thousands of organizations of all sizes, in government, as independent consultants, and as suppliers.

Established in 1943 as the American Society for Training Directors, ATD is now a global leader in the talent development field. As businesses seek competitive advantages and growth, talent development professionals make sure an organization's best asset, its employees, have the skills they need to help achieve business growth. ATD serves this important community of professionals with research and resources.

To further these goals, ATD has declared December 1st through December 5th, 2014, as ``Employee Learning Week'' and designated time for organizations to recognize the strategic value of employee learning. I applaud ATD and its members for their dedication to developing knowledgeable and skilled employees during Employee Learning Week.

I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting policies that commit to maintaining a highly skilled workforce.

Mr. Speaker, it is my honor to introduce and welcome Reverend Aaron McEmrys from the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington, which is in the heart of my congressional district.

Reverend McEmrys is an accomplished religious leader who thrives on collaboration and draws his energy from working with people. He has led a life of service and generosity, caring for his neighbors and working to protect his flock.

I am proud to share his views as a passionate supporter of marriage equality, of addressing the disparity in wealth and income throughout the country, of workers' rights, and addressing the growing problems caused by global climate change.

He has spent years fighting to improve the daily lives of the neediest among us, spending years with the Hopi and Navajo Indian populations.

Reverend McEmrys holds a master's of divinity from the Meadville Lombard Theological School and a bachelor's of science in labor studies from the National Labor College, so he is well prepared to lead a highly informed and politically engaged congregation.

I am proud to consider him a constituent, a valued constituent, and thank him for opening our day with such a meaningful prayer.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today on behalf of the Crohn's and Colitis patient community in observance of National Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) Awareness Week. As the Co-Chair of the Crohn's and Colitis Caucus, I have enjoyed working with my colleague Ander Crenshaw to raise awareness of and improve access to treatments for IBD.

Our caucus has worked to champion funding for IBD research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). This has led to accomplishments like the identification of the first gene linked to Crohn's Disease (NOD/CARD15), which will lead to better treatments and a cure for IBD, and the discovery of Remicade, the only biologic drug for treatment of both Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.

We have also been strong advocates for the IBD Epidemiology program at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This program yields invaluable information about the prevalence of IBD in the US and expands our knowledge about the demographic characteristics of this vulnerable population. The data derived from this study will not only provide an analysis of the etiology of the disease, but could also explain why the course of illness varies among individuals and what environmental or treatment factors improve patient outcomes.

While there is currently no known cure for IBD, we can already see the importance of Congress's continued support of IBD research. National IBD Awareness Week offers the opportunity to build upon our efforts for the Crohn's and Colitis patient community.

I have been honored by the opportunity to lead the Crohn's and Colitis Caucus, and I urge my colleagues to speak out in support of IBD research efforts and to raise awareness for IBD.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to celebrate the birthday of a great Virginian, an 8th District constituent and my dear friend, Shaista Mahmood.

It's been decades since Shaista first came to our country from Pakistan with her new husband Rafat (Ray), her commitment to her adopted home is matched by none. All througout Northern Virginia, life is improving thanks to the work of the Mahmoods. From their humble beginnings starting at the age of 23 with their first business in the Del Ray neighborhood of Alexandria, they've been important members of the small business community in the 8th District.

But it has been Shaista's charitable work for causes around the world that is most profound. In fact, the organizations to which she has devoted her time are too numerous to list. Whether it's supporting children recovering from life in war-torn regions of our globe at Seeds of Peace or securing positive change for women as worldwide economic drivers at Vital Voices, Shaista's commitment to making a difference in the lives of women and children is unmatched.

I've been honored to share this commitment to so many of these causes, but none more so than her devotion to improving women's and children's rights around the globe. Hers has been a silent hand at the wheel driving forces for change all around the globe, demanding equal rights for the many who are treated unjustly as a matter of course and tradition every day.

These are the very issues that have inspired so many of us to devote decades of our life to public service. But while we are welcomed and honored in DC and throughout the country as public servants, Shaista asks for no such recognition. She is proud to let her good work stand as testament alone to the countless hours of commitment she has spent advancing these global issues.

Since we first met years ago, thanks in small part to her delicious Pakistani cooking, the roots she has planted in Northern Virginia are deep and wide. Along with Ray, Shaista has opened her home to countless organizations, including elected officials at every level from across the political spectrum. We are all fortunate to call Shaista our friend, and for many, our inspiration.

Mr. Speaker, please join with me today in celebrating Shaista's commitment to making this world a better place all within it. I'm honored to call her a constitutent and even more honored to call her a friend.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to ask for a Presidential pardon for John Kiriakou. Mr. Kiriakou is an American hero. A 15 year CIA veteran, he was decorated and recognized more than a dozen times for his outstanding work in the always-demanding intelligence world, served in dangerous Middle East posts and helped lead the team in Pakistan that captured our first high value Al Qaeda target during the biggest coordinated operation in Agency counter-terrorism history.

John Kiriakou is also a devoted family man to his wife and five children, a church-going member of the Greek-American community, a best-selling author and a serious-minded former Congressional foreign policy aide.

John Kiriakou is a whistleblower, as well. The first American intelligence officer to officially and on-record reveal that the U.S. was in the torture business as a matter of White House policy under President Bush. In confirming what the American media and policymakers were hearing whispered--that waterboarding and other enhanced interrogation techniques were a matter of standard military and intelligence procedures--he helped begin an intense and overdue debate over whether torture violated international law, tarnished our higher American principles and undermined the critical need for reliable, actionable information.

And John Kiriakou is a convicted felon, serving a 2\1/2\ year plea bargained sentence in a Pennsylvania federal prison. The charge against him is violating the Intelligence Identities Protection Act, whereby John answered a question from a U.S. reporter who was duplicitously fronting for lawyers defending Al Qaeda prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay and in the process unintentionally confirmed the classified identity of a CIA colleague. A colleague who, by the way, was being erroneously labeled as an enhanced interrogation techniques torturer.

All four of these realities about John are intertwined. He is not a spy nor a turncoat, he did not sell secrets to an enemy or act to hurt U.S. national security. But John did shine a critical spotlight on a CIA practice that many wanted kept in the shadows and he did challenge the authority of those who authorized, oversaw, and encouraged the use of waterboarding and other acts of torture. And he did this with the moral authority of someone who served inside the intelligence world, refused an invitation to be trained in waterboarding and other like methods, knew and loved the rank-and-file men and women who sacrifice family life, safety, and prosperity for the mission of gathering and assessing secrets that might threaten American interests and lives.

The real issue here is the extremely selective prosecution of John and the ongoing efforts to intimidate him from talking about our intelligence community's misfires. Even former CIA Director Leon Panetta now concedes he accidentally revealed classified information to the writer of Zero Dark Thirty, but faces no legal ramifications. Jose Rodriguez, the CIA's former head of the Clandestine Service, admits to deciding without any legal authorization to erase videotapes of torture sessions so they could never be used in U.S. courts, but has never been forced to answer for this destruction of evidence.

Whatever John's misdeeds--and he admits that answering that reporter's questions was ill-advised and naive--he has more than paid for them. After fifteen years of service to his country, the personal risks and costs of a life in the intelligence world, the legal double- standard applied, and now two years in prison John Kiriakou deserves a Presidential pardon so his record can be cleared, just as this country is trying to heal from a dark chapter in its history.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate Kenneth Naser upon his retirement as Executive Director of ALIVE! (ALexandrians InVolved Ecumenically). ALIVE! is a nonprofit organization of 42 faith communities working together for 45 years to help Alexandrians facing emergency situations or long-term needs become capable of assuming self-reliant roles in the community. Many people talk about getting faith communities involved in helping those in need, but, through his work with ALIVE!, Ken has lived and led that effort in Alexandria.

Prior to becoming the first Executive Director of ALIVE! 10 years ago, Ken volunteered for ALIVE! for close to 30 years, served as chair of two of its programs and as President in 1982-83. During Ken's term as Executive Director, ALIVE! increased its reach and its assistance to families in need. This growth now allows ALIVE! to help over 14,000 individuals in need each year with food, financial assistance, early childhood education, transitional housing, furniture and house wares.

ALIVE!'s largest programs--the monthly Last Saturday Food Distribution and the Family Emergency Program daily delivery of food-- have grown from assisting approximately 1200 individuals each month in 2003 to serving over 3000 individuals each month in 2014. Financial assistance provided to families who cannot make rent, utility or medical payments has grown from $130,000 annually to over $310,000 this year. Ken has worked closely with City social workers and other non- profits in the City to assure that families who need food, financial aid, furniture or house wares receive assistance.

Ken also has helped ALIVE!'s Child Development Center grow and improve, both as a volunteer chair of the committee overseeing its operation and in the Executive Director role, where he exercises a key, day-to-day oversight function. Ken has been instrumental as the Center has received national accreditation and also was highly rated by the Commonwealth of Virginia. The Center assists working families who pay sliding scale fees based on their income level, and fundraising efforts, under Ken's direction, make up the difference in cost.

During Ken's term as Executive Director, ALIVE! House, which is a transitional housing program for four women and their children, has expanded its program and undergone a major renovation. The women at ALIVE! House are provided the support they need to secure a job, improve parenting skills, and develop other life skills that will allow them to live on their own. Over the past five years alone, Ken has been involved in helping 21 families change their lives and live independently.

Ken has been active in other non-profit activities as well. He was recognized for his efforts in 2010 when Volunteer Alexandria awarded him the Nonprofit Leader of the Year award. Most recently, he has been a leader in the effort to bring faith communities, non-profits, local businesses and the City together in support of ``A Hunger Free Alexandria.'' Lending his skills to this initiative, Ken has worked to assure that families and individuals in Alexandria have access to affordable, healthy food and that no one in Alexandria goes hungry.

Mr. Speaker, once again, let me congratulate Ken Naser on his outstanding career at ALIVE! and his many contributions toward making Alexandria a better place to live for all citizens, but particularly those most in need. After close to 40 years as a volunteer and then Executive Director at ALIVE!, we wish Ken a long and happy retirement and know that, even in retirement, he will continue to find ways to help the less fortunate in our community.

Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 517, I was detained en route from National Airport. Had I been present, I would have voted ``no.''

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor my good friend and fellow Holy Cross alumnus, Mr. John P. Sindoni, Esq., class of 1967. John has served with distinction as a highly effective class chair and co-chair of the Holy Cross Alumni Association since graduation.

Through his dedicated efforts, he has kept his classmates informed, energized and supportive of the Holy Cross mission. He has maintained a strong bond with the College for 47 years since graduation. Since 1967, his engaging and informative class letters to his fellow Crusaders has added to the cohesiveness of our class.

The esprit de corps John has sustained among his classmates and the strong ties he has helped them to maintain with their Alma Mater have led to record levels of participation in annual giving to the Holy Cross Fund from the Class of 1967. Thanks to his work, a majority of our classmates have donated generously for the past thirty years. During reunion years, that number hovers closer to 70 percent.

John has also been a driving force in the Holy Cross Club of Central New York and a leader among a core group of dedicated alumni in the Syracuse area. A frequent organizer, sponsor and host of alumni activities in his hometown, John is a prominent alumnus whose dedication to the College is widely known. John has mentored many young Holy Cross graduates over the years and has fostered interest in Holy Cross among students at the Christian Brothers Academy in Syracuse, where his decades of work has earned him recognition for distinguished service.

After college, John graduated from Cornell University Law School and is now a partner in the law firm Hiscock & Barclay, LLP He and his lovely wife, Cecilia, live in Cicero, NY, and have six children, including Laura, Holy Cross Class of 2005.

Mr. Speaker, John deserves the recognition of this body for a job well done. His years of service have made our class, college, and our country ever more deserving of our respect and our pride.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor my friend Dr. Talmadge Williams. He was a man of consequence who forever strived to restore balance to the scales of justice, whether it was ensuring that our government committed to telling the full story, or making sure someone he knew had a fair shot at success. And he was my friend.

I am not exactly sure when our paths first crossed, but Talmadge had a way of growing on you. As a local elected official, particularly in my early years of service, I was out almost every night at a different event, connecting with communities and constituents I represented, first at City Hall in Alexandria and subsequently in Congress.

Somewhere among the meetings and events I saw Talmadge as a familiar face and in a short while we would seek each other out and discuss local issues of concern. His quiet demeanor and keen insight made him an indispensable ally and a trusted friend.

He always seemed to know more about a local issue than what was common knowledge, and in sharing it with me, he opened my eyes to a narrative and a perspective that was largely unknown.

It was more than just folklore; it was history that was still unwritten but needed to be. And, there was often a reason it went unrecorded and remained unwritten. It was part of a painful truth that too many, particularly those in power, found inconvenient or uncomfortable to acknowledge.

Well, Talmadge's sense of justice wouldn't let it stand and a great deal of his life was devoted to finding ways to tell the full story.

One monumental way he found to tell the full story was when he conceived the idea of building in Arlington The Black Heritage Museum. It was a vision I am pleased to be associated with through congressional legislation I helped pass that reserved a segment of the Navy Annex site for the future museum.

But, Talmadge was not one to pass up on other opportunities and I was proud to join with him in restoring the surviving slave quarters at Robert E. Lee's Arlington House. You

see, before Talmadge made it an issue, the Park Service was using the two surviving slave quarters as a storage facility, erasing the significance of these two buildings and the story of slavery at Arlington House.

It is not uncommon to find some of Virginia's historic plantations beautifully restored, but with all traces of its slave history removed, as if that peculiar institution never existed. We could not undo what these owners did to erase the vestiges of slavery from their grounds, but we were not going to let the National Park Service get away with it.

I made sure the Park Service had the funds and the instructions from Congress to restore the slave quarters.

Today, Talmadge's work is now on display at Arlington House. When Talmadge made his point, it had a lasting effect.

While I was on the Legislative Branch Appropriations Subcommittee I made sure the history of the U.S. Capitol acknowledged the sweat and blood of the slaves who built it. Today, in the Capitol's new visitor center there is a memorial dedicated to the slaves who built the nation's house of democracy. For me, this memorial also honors my friend Talmadge Williams.

While we have faced some setbacks on acquiring the land for the Black Heritage Museum, I have no doubt it will be built.

You see, Talmadge is recruiting new allies in heaven to aid the cause. Though I am saddened by his death, I rejoice in knowing that Talmadge has transformed those around him directing us to a better, more just tomorrow.

He is a man who dared to make a difference, and I am so ever grateful I am among those he touched.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Commander Aundrea E. Taplin who is retiring after 21 years of faithful service to our nation in the United States Navy.

Commander Taplin began her dedicated career in public service after graduating from the United States Naval Academy in 1993. Already a distinguished Officer, over the course of the next 21 years, Commander Taplin served the Navy in a wide variety of roles, travelling throughout the country and overseas.

Her assignments included Naval Air Station Sigonella; Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron Light 47; Naval Legal Service Office Southwest; Commander, Naval Surface Forces, Submarine Group Nine, USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74); the Office of the Judge Advocate General and the Navy Office of Legislative Affairs.

Throughout her career, Commander Taplin has demonstrated a commitment to self-improvement, re-dedicating herself to her education at various points. In 1999, she earned her Juris Doctor from the University of San Diego and in 2009 she earned her LLM in Environmental Law from George Washington University.

Commander Taplin has also earned a variety of awards for her outstanding service to our country. Her personal awards include four Meritorious Service Medals, three Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medals, and two Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medals.

I commend Commander Taplin for her commitment to our country and the sacrifices she has made on our behalf. On the occasion of her retirement, I thank her and her family for over two decades' honorable service to our nation and wish her fair winds and following seas as she concludes a distinguished career.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my very good friend and our leader from California for yielding me the time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to this bill.

So this is the last day we are in session until after the elections. But rather than consider substantive legislation today--or really at any point in this session--that would have extended long-term unemployment benefits, or simplify the Tax Code, or reform our immigration system, or extend expiring tax provisions, or lower foreign trade barriers with new trade authority, or invest in our Nation's deteriorating public infrastructure, we are going home.

Mr. Speaker, the list goes on and on of what we could and should be doing. But we are wasting what limited floor time remains debating a compilation of bad anti-environmental legislative proposals that this Chamber has already passed.

These bills will not be considered by the Senate, and they are bills that the President has already expressed his intention of vetoing if they were to get through the Senate.

It is disappointing, but it is not surprising.

With the vote on this bill, this Chamber will have voted 218 times just this session to weaken existing laws that protect our health and our environment; 58 times this session we voted to block action on climate change; 43 times to weaken the Clean Air Act; and 75 times to weaken the Clean Water Act.

Mr. Speaker, more oil is being produced now during the Obama administration than at any point in the previous 25 years. Our dependence on foreign sources of oil is at a record low. Gasoline prices are actually stabilizing or in decline in many parts of the country.

But with this bill, we will be waiving environmental reviews and advancing more drilling in areas that pose potential harm to the environment and to other American jobs and industries, such as the tourist industry, the fishing industry, and many other industries that don't seem to be given equal weight but are certainly equally or more important than the industries that we are trying against all odds to protect.

Mr. Speaker, the climate is warming. The only place where a majority of the American people are in denial is here in this Chamber.

I have seen a poll that shows that 53 percent of all self-identified Republicans under the age of 34 think politicians who deny climate change are either--and I am quoting here; obviously, these would not be my words, but I am quoting--either ``ignorant,'' ``out of touch,'' or ``crazy.''

So I will let the majority of young Republicans have the last word, Mr. Speaker. But the point is, I oppose this measure, and I urge my colleagues to do so as well by voting ``no.''

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my support of the United States Patent and Trademark Office's (USPTO) National Trademark Expo, an important educational event that advances the USPTO's mission to deliver intellectual property information and education to the public. In a time of ongoing challenges for the American and global economy, I want to join the USPTO in its efforts to recognize the vital role that trademarks play in the economy.

The USPTO disseminates trademark information at the Expo to educate the public about the important role that trademarks play in our society and the global marketplace. This year's two-day event will be held on Friday, October 17th, from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and Saturday, October 18th, from 10:00 a.m. to 4 p.m., at the USPTO headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia. Attendees learn about trademarks from exhibitors, displays, seminars, children's workshops and activities. Seminars cover topics such as intellectual property for business, the trademark registration process, and the importance of buying authentic goods.

A broad cross-section of America's large corporations, small businesses, governmental agencies, and non-profit organizations will highlight valuable information about trademarks, from the various types of trademarks available to their benefits. Exhibitors at the National Trademark Expo will include: 5-hour ENERGY; 1000 Cranes, LLC; American Bar Association; American Girl, LLC; American Intellectual Property Law Association; BERG USA; Canon U.S.A., Inc.; Caterpillar Inc.; City of Falls Church (Virginia) Economic Development Authority; Girl Scouts of the USA; Hershey Chocolate & Confectionery Corporation (the Hershey Company); Hooray for Books!; Idaho Potato Commission; Indian Arts and Crafts Board, U.S. Department of the Interior; International AntiCounterfeiting Coalition (IACC); International Trademark Association--Unreal Campaign; Looshes Labs LLC; Microsoft; NASA Goddard Space Flight Center's Innovative Technology Partnerships Office; National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center (IPR Center); NumbersAlive!; Rita's Ice, Custard, Happiness; Smithsonian Institution; Sweet Frog Premium Frozen Yogurt; The LEGO Group; The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communications Disorders; The Pepsom Group, Inc.; The United States Foundation for Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST); The University of Notre Dame du Lac; Uber Technologies; United Parcel Service Inc.; United States Air Force; U.S. Chamber of Commerce; Valvoline; Volcom, Inc.; YMCA of Metropolitan Washington; and Zoomph. Anson Williams, who starred in the television show Happy Days and now is an entrepreneur and director, will speak about the importance of trademarks to business at the opening ceremony.

On average, people encounter 1,500 trademarks each day. In a time of globalization, counterfeit goods pose an increasing threat to American businesses and jobs, and trademarks assist the public in discerning between authentic and counterfeit merchandise Counterfeit goods cost the United States billions of dollars and countless jobs annually, as well as undermine consumer confidence in brand integrity when purchasers encounter knock-off goods of inferior quality.

The first National Trademark Expo took place over 25 years ago in Washington, DC. Since then, the Expo has educated thousands of people on the importance of trademarks. I applaud the USPTO for its continued efforts to educate the public on the important role of trademarks and the benefits of federal registration through the Expo. I urge my colleagues to join me in recognizing the USPTO, at this time when trademark protection and intellectual property rights play an increasingly important role in our global economy. And, I encourage the public and my fellow Members of Congress and staff to bring their family and friends to this free, family-friendly event.

Mr. Speaker, we are about to begin a very important and difficult debate. Both sides have strong, credible arguments. But I would urge those who are opposed to what the President has suggested to offer their own alternative. Because it does seem as though, while the President has chosen a bad option, it is the best of all the alternatives, and that is the difficulty.

ISIS is expanding exponentially in terms of the size of its force, its financial and military wherewithal. If ISIS was, for example, to be able to lay siege to Baghdad, where we have a substantial presence of American personnel, what do we do then? Clearly we would have to be militarily engaged.

This is a difficult debate, but I would urge those who chose any of the credible reasons for voting against it to tell us what they would do instead.

I thank my very good friend, the ranking member of our committee.

I want to join with Chairman Rogers and Chairman Frelinghuysen in the shout-out to Tom McLemore. I trust, as Chairman Rogers said, that he is going on to greener pastures. He deserves to.

Mr. Speaker, the Congress is an imperfect body. Our constituents remind us of that on an almost daily basis. We certainly know that this is an imperfect process within which we have to operate, and the bill before us is an imperfect bill from our perspective and, I suspect, from the majority's perspective, but that is the world we live in. We have to choose the best option oftentimes among a host of difficult options, so this is the best option--to vote ``yes'' on this continuing resolution. It is the most responsible thing to do. To vote ``no'' would say that we are willing to let the government be shut down, unfunded. So we don't have a responsible option but to vote ``yes'' on this continuing resolution.

I appreciate the work that Chairman Rogers, Ranking Member Lowey, and the chairs of the committees and of the subcommittees have put in to making it as good as we could under the circumstances.

We also have an imperfect option with regard to the Ex-Im Bank. It ought to be extended for an additional 5 more years. It generates a lot of money for the United States, and we offer fewer subsidies than our allies do to multinational corporations, but to not extend it at least until June 30 is irresponsible. Again, it is the best option we have before us.

Similarly, Mr. Speaker, with regard to the McKeon amendment, which would provide $500 million to train and equip Syrian soldiers to fight ISIS, I don't think we have a better option. I find it difficult to disagree with my colleagues, particularly with colleagues who I am so fond of, such as the gentleman from Indiana, but if we are going to vote ``no,'' we ought to have an alternative.

What would we do under the circumstances? I don't know what better alternative there is.

Are we going to ignore what ISIS is doing in Iraq? Are we going to ignore the fact that the death toll over the last year has been almost 10,000 people--9,826--excluding deaths from the Syrian civil war? 17,000 have been executed in Tikrit, and 650 were executed in Mosul just because they were non-Arabs or non-Sunni Muslims. It was ethnic cleansing on an historic scale. Now 20 journalists are missing in Syria. Many of them are held by the Islamic State. The U.N. estimates that more than a million people have been displaced by violence in Iraq in this year alone.

It is serious given what they have done and particularly given the fact that ISIS is growing exponentially. I remember we got a figure of about 12,000, and then, last week, it was about 20,000. This week, it is estimated that there are over 30,000. They are recruited from all over the world--15,000 foreign fighters, 2,000 of whom are westerners who hold passports where there is a visa waiver and they might be able to get into the United States. Some of them are Americans. They are making millions of dollars a day in revenue from oil and kidnapping and so on. Their assets are estimated at about $2 billion. This is the wealthiest, most lethal, extremist terrorist group that has yet to present itself on the planet.

Can we turn around and do nothing?

The reality is, since the United States has the largest, most capable military--larger and more capable than all of the other militaries in the world combined--the responsibility falls on our shoulders to lead. What we are doing is leading by training, by seeing to it that, while there will be boots on the ground, there won't be primarily Americans in those boots. It will be people who know the territory, who know the language, who know the culture, and who have been vetted. We will provide intelligence and air support. This is the best of a long list of bad options.

Mr. Speaker, I think we need to vote ``aye'' and allow the President to proceed on this policy.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend from Washington State, and

I want to associate myself with his remarks, as well as the remarks of the chairman of our Armed Services Committee and the chairman of our Appropriations Committee.

All three leaders have played a consequential role over the last many years in establishing the United States military as the largest, most capable, and best-funded military in the world, in fact, larger than all the other militaries combined; so it is no wonder that the rest of the world turns to us for leadership.

That is not the major reason they turn to us for leadership, Mr. Speaker. They turn to us because they understand our profound belief and respect for human rights, democratic governance, and inclusive society.

Now, ISIS violates everything we believe in. They are opposed to respect for human rights. They are opposed to democratic governance and, certainly, to an inclusive society. That is not the reason why we support this amendment--because there are other people like that--but, in the judgment of our military, ISIS is expanding at a rate that cannot be ignored, and that has to be stopped.

ISIS is expanding in numbers exponentially. They are worth $2 billion. They are, now, the best-funded, most lethal terrorist organization that we have ever seen in modern history; so we cannot turn our backs on this. We know that we have substantial assets and, particularly, personnel in Baghdad. They will be targeting Baghdad as soon as they are capable of it.

We have to protect the capital of Iraq. We need to contribute to stability in that region because it is not going to stay static. It is only going to get worse, or it is going to get better.

The proposal before us is not to put American boots on the ground, but to use American intelligence, to use American trainers, to use American equipment, and to prepare Syrians, particularly, to do the job that needs to be done in their region of the world.

They know the geography, they know the language, and they understand the cultures. We are going to prepare them to be the best equipped and best trained to carry out a mission that they must share with us.

ISIS, if it is not confronted, will grow. It will become a greater threat. That is what we hear from our military. It seems to me, Mr. Speaker, that our military has earned respect for their judgment. They know how to provide the kind of security that so many Americans are able to take for granted.

If they say this is the right thing to do at this point in time, it seems to me the Congress needs to show support for them; so I stand in support of the McKeon amendment.