Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to remember and honor Rebecca D. Lockhart, a proud Utahn and, in fact, the immediate past speaker of the House of Representatives in Utah. Unfortunately, she passed away just a few days ago at the young age of 46.

Speaker Lockhart was elected to the Utah House in 1998. She was trained as a registered nurse, and she first served on the Health and Human Services Committee but quickly threw herself into transportation issues, for which she was widely known.

After her fourth session, she was appointed to the house leadership as the vice chair of executive appropriations and stayed in leadership the remainder of her time.

In fact, in 2008, then-Representative Lockhart was elected as the assistant majority whip, and in 2010 she became the first female speaker of the Utah House in Utah history. Her tenure was epitomized by a more collaborative bottom-up approach that focused on having an open process where all members of the body could bring forward ideas for discussion.

Becky Lockhart and her husband, Stan, raised their three children in Provo, Utah. They have been stalwarts within the party, and her presence will be keenly missed. Her trailblazing legacy will live on.

May God bless Rebecca D. Lockhart and her family. We thank her for her service, and we will miss her greatly.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (S. 1691) to amend title 5, United States Code, to improve the security of the United States border and to provide for reforms and rates of pay for border patrol agents.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, we love the Border Patrol and the men and women who serve on the Border Patrol. We cannot thank them enough for the hard and tough duties that they provide. It is difficult. It is hard.

I have been out there in Arizona as they do this out on ATVs, chasing drug runners. It is amazing what they do and how they do it. We love them, and the bill before us, Mr. Speaker, is a good bill to help them and their families, provide a better service to them and their families, but actually save some money for the Federal Government. This is truly a bill, Mr. Speaker, that is a win-win situation. I am honored to have that bill before us today, and I urge my colleagues to support it.

The Border Patrol Agent Pay Reform Act of 2014 would replace Border Patrol's current pay system and create a consistent and reliable pay system, enhance border security, and save taxpayers literally hundreds of millions of dollars.

Established in 1924, today's Border Patrol relies on roughly 21,000 agents to secure some 6,000 miles of international borders between Mexico and Canada and 2,000 miles of coastal waters surrounding Florida and Puerto Rico.

Properly paying Border Patrol agents and responsibly managing a payroll system are critical to the mission of the United States Customs and Border Patrol, often referred to as CBP.

Thirteen months ago, November 20, 2013, the Subcommittee on National Security held a hearing to examine the Border Patrol's compensation policies. The hearing focused on a report by the Office of Special Counsel documenting abuse of a type of overtime within the Border Patrol.

The OSC testified to longstanding abuse of overtime within the Border Patrol, including by headquarters employees who regularly extended their day by roughly 2 hours and padding their paychecks by an additional 25 percent.

Administratively uncontrollable overtime, AUO, was established more than 40 years ago to pay employees for ``irregular, unscheduled, but necessary overtime.'' The Department of Homeland Security is one of the largest users of AUO within the Federal Government, with Border Patrol accounting for more than 75 percent of the paid AUO.

Border Patrol agents receive between 10 and 25 percent of their basic pay through AUO, depending on the average number of irregular overtime performed per week. Generally, agents themselves are responsible for recognizing without supervision the circumstances which require them to remain on duty beyond regular hours.

They are down on the border; they are pursuing somebody who is coming across illegally. You can't just say, ``Well, time to go home.'' Oftentimes, they work for hours and hours in continued pursuit of these people that had come across illegally.

Under AUO, most agents earn up to 25 percent of their base salary for time worked in excess of 80 hours in a pay period. Agents may earn additional overtime compensation that is generally paid at 50 percent above the regular rate. Total overtime costs for Border Patrol agents, including pay and benefits, was $627 million in 2013 while total compensation costs for those agents was $3.1 billion in that same year.

During the hearing, it became clear that AUO is ill-suited to be meet the needs of today's Border Patrol. In response, I joined with Senators Tester and McCain in introducing legislation to provide Border Patrol a cost-effective and flexible overtime system called the Border Patrol Agent Pay Reform Act. DHS pledged to work with the committee to find a solution at an affordable cost, and that is why we are here today.

Mr. Speaker, under current law, Border Patrol agents who work beyond 85.5 hours to meet mission requirements are generally paid time and a half.

Under the bill, agents will annually elect one of three pay options: number one, work 100 hours per biweekly pay period and increase their base salary by 25 percent; work 90 hours and receive a 12.5 percent base salary increase; or work no overtime at all.

Unscheduled overtime will be treated as comp time with no monetary compensation. The bill eliminates Fair Labor Standards Act overtime which results in significant savings to the taxpayer.

The Border Patrol Agent Pay Reform Act generally requires 90 percent of Border Patrol agents to work 100 hours each per pay period while CBP expects that most remaining agents would work 90 hours per pay period. This staffing floor will allow supervisors to more effectively plan border security operations.

To help ensure accountability, the bill requires the Border Patrol to undertake a detailed assessment of its operational requirements and staffing needs at every Border Patrol station within 1 year of enactment and submit it to Congress for review.

The GAO will examine CBP's methodology and analysis and within 90 days submit a report to Congress indicating whether GAO concurs with CBP's assessments. Border Patrol has flexibility in the staffing floor based on the results of that assessment.

The bill grants CBP management authority to unilaterally assign agents to work additional hours if the security situation along the border necessitates it. The bill reflects months of negotiation and congressional review and is supported by the National Border Patrol Council.

I personally cannot thank the National Border Patrol Council enough for their good work, tenacity on this issue, and their deep desire to make the agents' lives better. They represent some 17,000 agents. CBO estimated that implementing the Senate bill, S. 1691, would save roughly $100 million per year. Costs would decline under Senate bill S. 1691 mostly because Border Patrol agents would no longer receive compensation required under the FLSA.

This is an important bill, Mr. Speaker. There is a lot of good, bipartisan support. If I am not mistaken, it passed unanimously in the Senate. We have held hearings in the Oversight and Government Reform Committee. I want to personally thank Chairman Issa for his good work. I also want to thank Leader McCarthy and Speaker Boehner for allowing this bill to come to the floor. Homeland Security Chairman McCaul and Congresswoman Miller have been pivotal on this. Members from both sides of the aisle, like Dave Reichert, Mr. O'Rourke, and Ron Barber have worked hard on this issue and care about this as well. I, again, appreciate their bipartisan support. And bicameral support, there has been good work from Senator Tester and Senator McCain, who cares deeply about Border Patrol issues, and certainly Senator Carper for making this a reality. It is an honor to have this bill before us today.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume, and I want to continue to thank some other Members for making this possible.

Yvette Clarke has been very helpful. She worked diligently on H.R. 3107, which passed 395-8. It has been included in the Senate version, and I am glad to have her involvement in this.

I also want to thank Blake Farenthold for his good work on this. Coming from Texas, he cares deeply about these issues and was very helpful in supporting it.

I reserve the balance of my time.

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

I want to thank Mr. O'Rourke for his passion on this issue. He is a fine gentleman to work with on these types of issues and others. I am happy to serve with him on both Homeland Security and in this body. I thank him for his good work.

There has been good bipartisan work on both sides of the aisle and in both bodies to get to this point today.

I also thank Eleanor Holmes Norton for her personal commitment to these issues, and Federal workers in general.

This truly is a win-win situation. We make life better for Border Patrol agents and their families. We give more certainty to them and their families to help them with their mortgages. We also happen to save money for the American taxpayer. I appreciate the creativity and good work to get to this point.

I reserve the balance of my time.

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

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

In conclusion, I thank the gentlewoman from Washington, D.C. I look forward to working with her on a host of issues as we serve on the same committee. I can only hope that as many of them can be as bipartisan as possible. We both have a tenacious nature to fight to represent the constituencies which we represent, and do so in the spirit of making this country better.

Really, that is the reason that this bill has come here today with good, broad bipartisan support. I cannot thank enough Brandon Judd from the National Border Patrol Council. He heads that group. He has been absolutely wonderful on this issue, good leadership from him.

It is my honor to recommend to my colleagues and urge all Members to support the passage of S. 1691.

With that, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to take from the Speaker's table the bill (S. 517) to promote consumer choice and wireless competition by permitting consumers to unlock mobile wireless devices, and for other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

Madam Speaker, I thank Chairman Goodlatte for bringing this piece of legislation forward, and I appreciate the bipartisan manner in which it is done.

The Internet is working. It is working. It is one of the great things about our economy. It is one of the great things that is happening in this country. It is creating jobs, and it is creating excitement with the younger generation. It is providing for innovation. We are leading the world in what we are doing.

Access is not necessarily available to everybody. We have people from inner cities to Indian reservations to rural communities to those who are just seeking to try to be part of this community and have access and get information and be informed and be educated and allowed to engage in commerce.

Since 1998, this has been the position of the United States of America, and if you look at the Internet, it truly is interstate commerce. We can be standing side by side, right next to each other, and you can send a tweet or a Facebook message or an email, whatever sort of electronic communication, and it literally can zoom around the country--hopefully through Utah--and then back to the person standing right next to you.

But in order for all that to work, the magic of the Internet and all that to work, it needs to be unimpeded. It needs to keep those costs as low as possible to ensure the maximum amount of access so those in our communities who are still trying to get in there, from our seniors, the rural communities, again, to our inner cities.

The wisdom that happened in 1998 has been reaffirmed multiple times. Only two people in the history of this piece of legislation have ever voted against this piece of legislation. The majority of the House of Representatives are cosponsors on this piece of legislation that is before us today. So, I urge its passage.

There are some other pieces of legislation that I would like the body to look at. I think we do have to deal with the remote sales tax issues. I think there are transactions that happen remotely. I would like to see parity in that--another topic for another day, but something that needs to be addressed sooner rather than later.

The issue before us today is are we going to allow the freedom for Internet access to happen at the lowest cost possible without the government coming in and thinking, oh, this is another bucket of funds that we can just tax on. The consequence is we would have less people involved and engaged. Companies are going to take care of this, but individuals who are trying to access the Internet, we need to keep those costs as low as possible.

Think about your telephone bill. We don't want that to be lit up. You know how that is lit up with all these different taxes. We don't want the Internet to be lit up like a Christmas tree with all these different taxes. It is interstate commerce. It is the purview, I think, of the United States Congress. That is why this bill is so needed. That is why I proudly joined as a cosponsor and why I urge its passage today.

And again, I thank Chairman Goodlatte and Members on both sides of this body for bringing this bill forward. I urge its passage.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to speak about the Internet Tax Freedom Act.

Interstate commerce has blossomed with the wires and connectivity that the Internet has provided us for these last couple of decades, and since 1998, the Internet Tax Freedom Act has prohibited your Internet access bill from lighting up like a Christmas tree as it has on your telephone bill. It has aided those who want to access the Internet by allowing those costs to stay down, without burdensome taxes being added on.

If ever there were an invention that is truly interstate commerce, it is the Internet. We could be standing side by side and could send each other a tweet or a post on Facebook or even an email, and it could go through a whole host of States on its way, in order to get to the person who is standing right next to you.

Only two people have ever voted against the Internet Tax Freedom Act, which was originally enacted in 1998, and every 4 years, we have had to renew that. Now, Chairman Bob Goodlatte is bringing this up again, so as to make this permanent, to add certainty and to keep costs low.

I urge the passage of the Internet Tax Freedom Act as we address it later this week.

Mr. Speaker, I move that the House do now adjourn.

The motion was agreed to; accordingly (at 11 o'clock and 15 minutes p.m.), under its previous order, the House adjourned until tomorrow, Tuesday, June 10, 2014, at 10 a.m. for morning-hour debate.

Mr. Speaker, it was April 2009 when President Obama said that he was going to form an integrated electronic health record project to take the records between the DOD and Veterans Administration and, together, he said that it ``would represent a huge step towards modernizing the way health care is delivered and benefits are administered for our Nation's veterans. It would cut through red tape and reduce the number of administrative mistakes.''

Fast forward to February of 2013. The Department of Defense and the Veterans Administration announced that they were going to halt this program. It was a $4 billion--not $4 million, not $40 million, not $400 million--a $4 billion project. Secretary Hagel, and I quote him: ``I didn't think we knew what the hell we were doing.''

So after all these years, $4 billion later, they totally halted and abandoned this project that was going to improve the quality of health care for our veterans. It wasn't for a lack of money, but there was a lack of leadership and management and dedication.

Mr. Speaker, this cannot stand. We do need to do better for our veterans. This has got to be a national priority.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Rev. France Davis for a remarkable 40-year career building bridges, fighting racial discrimination and living the principles he teaches his flock at the historic Calvary Baptist Church in Salt Lake City, Utah.

With his wife Willene by his side, Rev. Davis has both lived and taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ, advocating for the impoverished, inspiring the young and invigorating the fight against racism. He has been a powerful mentor to young people, sponsoring scholarships as well as educational programs. His belief that everybody has worth and value, nobody is nobody and everybody is somebody has influenced a generation of youth.

Born in 1946 in Gough, Georgia, Rev. Davis graduated from the segregated Waynesboro High and Industrial School. He went on to serve as an aircraft mechanic in the U.S. Air Force. He has earned five college degrees, including a B.A. in rhetoric from Berkeley, a B.S. in religion from Westminster College and an M.A. in mass communication from University of Utah. Rev. Davis came to Salt Lake City for a one- year teaching fellowship at the University of Utah, but became an integral part of the city's religious and cultural fabric over the next four decades.

Rev. Davis was a pioneer in his own right before coming to Utah in 1972. He participated in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, meeting Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in person and marching from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama to promote voting rights. He has been a tireless advocate for minorities in Utah. His own experiences with racial discrimination only inspired him to fight harder for equality. An NAACP board member for many years, Rev. Davis was instrumental in making Martin Luther King, Jr. Day an official state-recognized holiday. It goes without saying that he has been an integral part of Utah's cultural evolution on civil rights.

In addition to his ministry, Rev. Davis is the author of several books, has taught at the University of Utah and served as a member of the Utah Higher Education Board of Regents. He is also the benefactor of a scholarship for minority students. Professionally, he has served as the secretary of the Salt Lake Ministerial Association, a member of the South Africa Preaching Team for the National Baptist Convention's Foreign Mission and as an advisor, vice-president and assistant to the Dean of the Intermountain General Baptist Convention.

Mr. Speaker, Utah is a better place because of the efforts of Rev. Davis. We honor his significant contributions, his willingness to be a voice for the voiceless, and his personal history of overcoming adversity. But most of all, we recognize his example as a teacher and follower of the teachings of Jesus Christ.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to acknowledge the Lone Peak High School basketball team, who made history in Utah this month. For the first time ever, the state basketball championship has been won by the same team for 4 consecutive years.

The Lone Peak Knights, led by a group of seniors with unprecedented success, completed their latest championship run with a decisive victory over the outstanding Pleasant Grove High School.

Congratulations to the greatest team in Utah high school basketball on making history with their 4 consecutive seasons of excellence culminating in the 2014 5A State Championship. Coach Quincy Lewis deserves recognition for producing consistent results, including last year's award for best high school basketball team in the Nation according to website Max Preps.

I recognize the contributions of each player to this historic achievement. In particular, I acknowledge the unprecedented success of the senior players who have contributed to each of the 4 state championship titles won during their career at Lone Peak High. Seniors T.J. Hawes, Zach Frampton, Jantzen Allphin, McKay Webster and Spencer Curtis have now played their last game as Knights, but they can be proud of their contributions to this team during their high school careers.

Finishing their season with a 23-3 record, the Knights scored a blistering 14 3-point shots during the championship game. Spectacular performances by Hawes and Frampton made the victory a decisive one. Hawes scored a game high 29 points, including making 8 of 14 shots from three-point range. Frampton dominated the scoreboard in the early part of the game with 21 points before halftime and ultimately ending the night with a double double.

The win must also be credited to the impressive execution of younger players who will continue to build on the success of this season.

Mr. Speaker, high school basketball is a competitive sport that places great physical demands on players. These young people have worked hard to balance the rigorous demands of their sport with impressive academic achievements. They reflect the best today's youth have to offer. I honor their commitment, dedication and achievements and look forward to the contributions each one is sure to make in the future, both on and off the basketball court.

I thank the chairman for his good work on this. Without Chairman Issa's leadership on this issue, we would not have this bill here today. I appreciate his work and dedication and passion on this issue. I appreciate Mr. Cummings. I also appreciate Mr. Connolly and the good work he does on this topic.

Mr. Speaker, I hope what people see here is a bipartisan approach to something that is a very large problem. There is a great imperative that we deal with this and deal with it right away. The Federal Government spent more than $600 billion over the past decade on information technology, and we spend, roughly, $80 billion a year just on IT. It is a critical component to making sure that we do have an effective and responsive government.

Now, of the $80 billion or so that is spent each year, about one- third is spent on new procurement projects, and about two-thirds is spent on the operation and maintenance of existing or obsolete systems. It takes so much more energy and personnel to go through obsolete systems than it does to quickly replace with software and hardware and personnel new information technology systems that will make our government more responsive and more effective. There is nothing more frustrating than trying to work with an operating system that is no longer supported by the company that even makes the operating system. We have heard horror stories of people working on DOS operating systems. They are still looking at green screens, for goodness sakes. This is an imperative, and we have to make sure it is prioritized.

Some industry experts have estimated that as much as 70 percent of new IT acquisitions fail or require re-baselining. The Technology CEO Council, made up of top industry experts, estimates that $20 billion of the $80 billion we spend is wasted every year on mismanaged and duplicative IT programs.

The GAO has estimated that the Departments of Treasury, Agriculture, Energy, and State spend well over 80 percent of their IT budgets on operations and maintenance of potentially obsolete systems.

We can do better on this. We are united in a bipartisan way. I encourage my colleagues to pass this bill.

Again, Mr. Speaker, I appreciate Chairman Issa and his leadership on this issue, and I urge a ``yes'' vote on this bill.

I thank the gentleman from Virginia, Chairman Goodlatte, for his leadership on this issue.

We woke up one day, Mr. Speaker, and the Library of Congress--the Library of Congress--decided that, if you unlocked your cell phone, that that would be a felony--a felony.

You go and buy a mobile phone. It is your phone. You own it. The current law on the books today, if you go to unlock that phone, you have committed a felony in the United States of America.

You have got to be kidding me. It is a felony to unlock your cell phone?

This bill today is short, sweet, and is simple. It is not a big, broad review of the DMCA. We are just trying to do something simple. We have an opportunity to make sure that that good person at home who wants to unlock their phone doesn't commit a felony. It is that short. It is that sweet. It is that simple.

I stand with Representatives Lofgren, Polis, and others who want to look at this bigger, broader reform. But for today, could we please just make sure that it is not a felony to unlock your own phone? My goodness. We can do that. We can do that.

I urge a ``yes'' vote on this bill. I appreciate the chairman's leadership. Let's get this done. Vote ``yes.''

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor a dedicated soldier and young patriot who survived his war injuries, but died tragically after a protracted battle with cancer. Army Staff Sergeant Landon Leo Henscheid of Alpine, Utah, was initially paralyzed from injuries he received while serving as a field medic in Afghanistan. Subsequent surgery for those injuries relieved his paralysis, but revealed cancer in his spine. For 18 months, the 24-year-old soldier fought valiantly, but ultimately lost his battle with cancer on Pearl Harbor Day.

Staff Sgt. Henscheid loved serving as a field medic and caring for those with whom he served. He had a tremendous capacity to love other people. He developed strong bonds with the men and women in his unit-- bonds which lasted long after their deployments ended. Upon their return from deployment, friends knew they were welcome at the Henscheid home, where at one point a few of them lived in an RV in the driveway that Henscheid's father called, ``The Barracks.''

Always a fan of a good adrenalin rush, Staff Sgt. Henscheid did not fear danger. According to his mother, he loved driving fast--whether he was on his motorcycle, his 4-wheeler or a boat. He loved jumping out of airplanes. Just before deploying, he even bungee jumped from the Las Vegas Stratosphere. His plans for the future included serving in Special Operations.

Staff Sgt. Henscheid is fortunate to come from a remarkable family whose sacrifices on his behalf--and on behalf of the United States of America--deserve our heartfelt gratitude. The Henscheid family cared for three Wounded Warrior sons--two of their own sons and a son-in-law. They also welcomed into their home other young men who served beside their own sons, providing both physical and emotional support as these brave young men acclimated to post-war life and dealt with their invisible injuries. All of Staff Sgt. Henscheid's immediate family went to great lengths to be with him during his battle with cancer. His mother relocated to Maryland from Utah to assist him. His oldest brother, Cody, a recipient of the Combat Action Badge, Bronze Star Medal w/V device and Purple Heart due to his 2006 injuries in Afghanistan, visited along with his wife Teera. They lived in North Dakota at the time. His sister Rheanna, whose husband Jacob Henry also sustained injuries while serving in Army Civil Affairs in Afghanistan, made the trip from Elko, Nevada. And his youngest brother Hayden and wife Lexi took multiple trips to Maryland from their home in North Dakota to help provide support and care.

In addition, Staff Sgt. Henscheid enjoyed the love and support of the men who had lived with his family upon their return home from deployments and became like brothers. In particular, Benjamin Judd, who served in Iraq with Cody; Brian Jones, who also served in Iraq with Cody and again in Afghanistan with Landon; and Jacob Henry, who served on Landon Henscheid's first tour and eventually married his sister.

We honor the tremendous personal sacrifice of Staff Sgt. Henscheid's family. He leaves behind his parents, Don and Janet Henscheid, two brothers and a sister. In addition, he leaves behind many of his military brothers who were like family to him.

The contributions of this great American family reflect the tremendous spirit of service and sacrifice that have for so long preserved our freedom. I wish to honor the Henscheid family's example of selfless service and commitment to family.

Today, I ask all Members of Congress to join me as we honor the life and legacy of Staff Sgt. Landon Henscheid, as well as the sacrifices of his and other families across this great nation. We can never repay them the debt we owe for their efforts to protect our freedom.

Mr. Speaker, one of the big questions that stands before the Nation is: Are we going to give up all of our liberties in the name of security? And I think not.

Technology is great. It is supposed to make our lives better and simpler, more efficient, more effective. It is fun, it is innovative, and it is leading the world. But at the same time, we have got to make sure that these technologies are not overused, not only by our Federal Government officials in law enforcement, but also by others who would do us harm, who have surreptitiously maybe converted that technology to do something a little bit more pervasive and a little more perverse.

It is for that reason that Senator Wyden, my colleague in the United States Senate, and I have introduced what is called H.R. 1312, the geolocation, or GPS Act, as we refer to it, to put some limits and curtail those that want to follow us without our own knowledge.

We believe that you should have to have a probable cause warrant in order to track somebody's geolocation. I want that for my own kids. I want that for me. I want to make sure that that technology is safe and secure.

So I encourage my colleagues, Mr. Speaker, to look at H.R. 1312, the GPS Act, to deal with these new inventions and technology in a reasonable way.

I thank Chairman Terry for his good leadership and work on this, and certainly Chairman Goodlatte for bringing this bill; and knowing that you, Mr. Terry, are working on a bill that I am going to wholeheartedly support.

Madam Chairman, we have received support for this approach from many business groups, including the National Retail Federation, the National Restaurant Association, the App Developers Alliance, the Direct Marketing Association, the American Association of Advertising Agencies, the Association of National Advertisers, the Food Marketing Institute, the Mobile Marketing Association, the National Association of Convenience Stores, the National Grocers Association, the American Hotel and Lodging Association, just to name a few. These represent hundreds of thousands of businesses and millions of employees across the country.

It would be my hope that the House would expeditiously take up any demand letter legislation reported out of the House Energy and Commerce Committee under your leadership. I support it.

Madam Chairwoman, I thank Chairman Goodlatte, and I thank Members on both sides of the aisle for working on this. In the 112th Congress, I worked closely with Congressman DeFazio on the SHIELD Act, but a much better bill is before us today.

I want people to understand the gravity of the problem and who is also being attacked. I find this fascinating. Fifty-five percent of troll suits involve companies with annual revenues of $10

million or less. Yes, the Microsofts and the Oracles and the really big companies out there are going to be in constant flux and in points of litigation, but it is really these small companies that are getting bombarded.

In fact, if you look since 2005, there are literally four times as many troll suits going through the patent system right now than there were in 2005. They are being extorted. This helps solve it. This is why I am so enthusiastic in supporting this bill.

I appreciate the bipartisan support on this. It does solve a very real problem. The majority of the problem is for companies with annual revenues of less than $10 million.

Madam Chair, we do this in a very bipartisan way. I appreciate Mr. Polis; Mr. Connolly; my colleague, Mr. Marino; and Chairman Goodlatte.

This is simple. If you want to help the little guy, if you want to help protect the integrity of the system, you should be for transparency in the legal system.

This amendment simply builds upon something that is already in the bill by mandating that claimants seeking to bring willful infringement claims identify the ultimate parent entity in the demand letters they send to their targets.

It is about openness. It is about transparency. You should be able to face your accuser in the courts; and that is all that this does is make sure that we strengthen the openness and transparency of the system. We think that will improve the system. We do it in a very bipartisan way. That is going to help everybody in this process, especially the little guy.

Mr. Speaker, I simply want to thank both sides of the aisle. I want to thank Mr. McClintock, the chairman of this subcommittee, for allowing us to move this forward, and I appreciate the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Grijalva), the ranking member of the committee, for allowing this to pass.

This is truly a technical change. It strikes the term ``canal'' and replaces it with ``water conveyance facility historically known as the Provo Reservoir Canal.'' The final payment to the Federal Government of $700,000 will be completed once this bill becomes law. It scores positively. It is truly a technical change.

I appreciate the indulgence of the Congress on both sides of the aisle for making this happen, and I urge its adoption.