Floor Statements

Mr. Chairman, I move that the Committee do now rise and report the bill back to the House with sundry amendments, with the recommendation that the amendments be agreed to and that the bill, as amended, do pass.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on H.R. 2055 and that I may include tabular material on the same.

I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Chairman, it's my privilege to lay out tonight for the House for consideration the appropriations bill for Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and my good friend, Mr. Sanford Bishop of Georgia, we have worked together arm in arm in this committee to make sure that our men and women in uniform have everything they need to do their job. We on this committee think of our job as sort of we are the peace of mind committee for the United States military and for our veterans.

We have an obligation--this Congress, this government--has an obligation, first and foremost, to provide for national security, to make sure that our men and women in uniform, not only here at home, but overseas have everything they need to do their job.

The scope of our appropriations bill today includes construction, of course, of all the military bases here and overseas. We have fully funded in this bill all the requests of the branches of the military for our men and women in uniform on active duty. We've made sure that all the retired men and women who have served this Nation have everything they need when it comes to the veterans hospitals, the Department of Veterans Affairs.

We are laying before the House tonight this funding bill as a part of our Nation's--I like to also think of it as part of our Nation's mortgage payment. This is one of those fundamental obligations that we have as a government to ensure that our military is fully funded, that they've got the equipment, the logistical support that they need, that their housing is the best it can be, that the facilities are the very best they can be, and this is one of those fundamental obligations we've absolutely got to take care of.

In this bill and in all the appropriations bills, Mr. Chairman, brought to the House for the first time, this new Republican majority, this conservative majority is for the first time--money that has been left in the Treasury unspent in previous years was just spent in other areas. For the first time under the leadership of Chairman Hal Rogers of Kentucky, our committee, the other subcommittees of Appropriations, are returning that unspent money back to taxpayers to reduce the deficit.

Chairman Rogers and the leadership of the House, Speaker Boehner, our Republican leadership, all of us are committed to bringing the Nation-- doing everything in our power to get back to a balanced budget, to reduce Federal spending, to bring the size, scope, and cost of the Federal Government back under control.

While we recognize our responsibility to fully fund and take care of our troops in military construction, of our veterans in the Veterans Affairs, the hospitals, through the VA, we also have an obligation to manage the money in a way that's fiscally sound. So we've identified rescissions, or returned money, unspent money, to taxpayers in the amount of $388 million, again, the first time that's ever be done.

Again, these savings don't impact in any way the level of services provided to our veterans. This in no way impacts or diminishes the quality of housing or the level of service necessary on bases here in the United States or overseas.

But we have found savings. For example, $100 million in planning and design money that was left over from previous years. We found $100 million in unspent funds from the BRAC, the Base Realignment and Closure Commission in 1990, money that was unspent and left over. We found money in a variety of accounts, Mr. Chairman, that in previous years would have been respent elsewhere.

And under the leadership of Chairman Rogers and Speaker Boehner, our

subcommittee, every subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee is committed to return that money to taxpayers and to find savings everywhere we can that will not diminish, again, the level of service provided to our military because we want to make sure they have absolutely no worries as they stand on the wall defending our freedom every night, every day, 24/7.

We have also incrementally funded, Mr. Chairman, five projects and found savings of $304 million that we have been able to return to taxpayers. In three cases, we found there's three projects which we did not fund for the F-35 aircraft facility at the Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada because that aircraft is not ready to be fully deployed. There is a central distribution facility in Germany, a commissary building, a variety of savings that we've looked for, not just unspent money but looking for ways we can save money for taxpayers while maintaining that very high level of service for our men and women in uniform while being good stewards of the public's precious tax dollars.

In the areas of Veterans Affairs, Mr. Chairman, we were able to find savings of $25 million in the general administration of the VA. We also found savings of $136 million in information technology. And in a whole separate category of accounts for minor construction, we saved about $75 million there. All of this money has been returned to taxpayers to reduce the deficit, to do everything we can within our power to reduce the level of obligation that our children and grandchildren are going to inherit.

Finally, I want to point out we also found savings--the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims had asked for a new courthouse. And in light of the unprecedented size of the debt and the deficit, we did not recommend to the House that that new courthouse be built. That resulted in a $25 million savings. The Court of Appeals for Veteran Claims does a great job. They're working in a leased facility right now, and we recommend that that be continued.

Mr. Chairman, the situation the Nation faces today is truly unprecedented. We calculated that about $2.2 trillion in revenue comes into the Treasury every year, yet the existing obligations of the Federal Government to pay the current liability of Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, interest on the national debt, and our veterans benefits are all programs that have to be funded upfront. That is sort of our national mortgage payment. And those programs alone consume $2.3 trillion.

So if you just look at the math, right out of the gate, the Nation begins the year, at the stroke of midnight on the first day of the year, American taxpayers are already $105 billion in debt.

So every dollar the Appropriations Committee spends all year is borrowed. This is why you see fiscal conservatives, all of us, constitutional conservatives in this new majority are so passionate, so determined to get us back on path to a balanced budget, to do everything we can within each one of these subcommittees to find savings. I am so grateful to Chairman Rogers and Speaker Boehner for the first time returning unspent money to reduce the deficit.

We have had to reduce the overall amount of money available to every sector of the government dramatically. And it is tough. We have a lot of tough savings. But in the area of supporting our military, when it comes to making sure that they have got the best equipment, that they have got the absolute best in their housing and their hospital care, whether you are active duty military or if you are retired and in the care of the Veterans Administration, you can be sure that the United States Congress stands behind you. We are immensely proud of you. We have made sure that we have fully funded every need that you have got, and we have made sure that you are given the absolute best medical care.

All of the family members out there who have sons or daughters or fathers or mothers serving in the U.S. military need to know that, despite this tough budget environment, this Congress stands behind your father, your mother, your brother, your sister who serves in the military, and we are absolutely committed to ensuring that they have the very best equipment possible on the face of the Earth, that they have got everything they need to do their job, to stand on the wall defending this great Nation 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, as they do so beautifully.

We are very fortunate on this subcommittee, Mr. Chairman. We have an extraordinary group of people working behind the scenes--we have had for years--to make sure that this subcommittee has produced a bill that this House can support in a bipartisan way with great pride.

I want to make sure to thank our extraordinary staff: Tim Peterson who is our chief clerk of the subcommittee and has served with the Appropriations Committee for 22 years and served on the staff of the Secretary of the Navy for 9 years. Tim has done an extraordinary job, and I am very grateful to him for the time and effort he has put into this bill. I want to thank Sue Quantius for her work on the committee and her expertise when it comes to veterans affairs. To Sarah Young who has done such an extraordinary job as well and has been such a great asset. They have all done a magnificent job, and we are lucky to have them.

On the minority side, Matt Washington has just done an extraordinary job, as has Danny Cromer. All of us have worked together, arm in arm. My good friend, Mr. Bishop from Georgia.

This is one bill, Mr. Chairman, that I know that Members of the House will be able to support in a bipartisan way with great pride because our subcommittee has produced this bill in a bipartisan way without regard to party label. Our entire focus has been: How can we make sure that our men and women in uniform, active duty and retired, have got everything they need? How can we be better stewards of the taxpayers' precious dollars?

We identified things, for example, we share a concern for money that was unspent. Veterans hospitals and the giant facilities like the new one in Denver that I understand had $978 million unspent for years, and we put language in this bill telling them they are going to lose that money after 5 years unless they make sure that they get it obligated and get these hospitals built.

We had great support from Mr. Bishop on ensuring that our veterans who have valid claims for disabilities get those disability claims handled in an expeditious way.

We worked together arm in arm not just to find savings, but to make sure we identify efficiencies. How can we make sure that our men and women in uniform not only have the best housing, but veterans who are retired are given the best possible service?

We have, on every occasion throughout the year working on this bill, found that we have areas of agreement in this bill, and we produce it in a way that is really unanimous. It is a real privilege for me to work with Mr. Bishop and with our ranking member from Washington State, Mr. Dicks. It has been a real privilege to work with him.

But above all, I am extraordinarily proud to serve as the subcommittee chairman under my chairman, Hal Rogers of Kentucky, who I count as a role model and as a mentor to me. Mr. Rogers has been a very good friend and a great leader for this committee and is a stalwart fiscal conservative, committed to making sure that our men and women in uniform continue to be the very best military in the world.

It is my privilege to be here tonight to present this bipartisan bill to the House.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chairman, it is my privilege to yield such time as he may consume to the distinguished chairman of the full committee, the gentleman from Kentucky, Congressman Hal Rogers.

I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Chairman, I want to say very briefly, again, truly how much I appreciate working with all the members of this committee, including the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Dicks) and the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Bishop). All of us have worked with one goal in mind, and that is to ensure the peace of mind of our men and women in uniform and our retired military members, to ensure that no matter where they go, no matter what they're doing, they don't have a worry in the world. We want to make sure they are taken care of. And we've done so in a way that is fiscally responsible. We've done so in a way ever mindful of the record debt, the record deficit, of the inability of many of the projects the VA has worked on before getting done on time or, frankly, even getting started, making sure that disability claims are paid on time.

We are also presenting the bill tonight, Mr. Chairman, giving any Member of the House an opportunity to come down and file an amendment and be heard in an open and transparent way, something that we in the new majority committed to do, that every American would have an opportunity to read the bill online at least 72 hours in advance. It is vitally important that we, doing the Nation's business, do so in a way that's absolutely transparent and open and straightforward, especially when it comes to supporting our men and women in uniform. When it comes to making sure they are taken care of and have no worries, there are no party labels. It's really been a privilege to work with each and every one of you on this committee.

I see my good friend Mr. Farr of California is here. He's been a particularly valuable member of the subcommittee. He has brought great expertise to the committee. I look forward to hearing from him tonight as well.

I reserve the balance of my time.

I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Chairman, I want to say very briefly that one of the reasons we're trying to move expeditiously on this is we want to make sure our men and women in uniform have everything they need as soon as possible. We're trying to get this bill through to ensure that we not only get it, but that we get it done in an expeditious fashion.

We are waiting for an amendment to be completed drafting, but it's important, I think, to reemphasize, if I could, in the time I have remaining, the scale of the problem the Nation faces. This is not just a record deficit and record debt we face. It's actually a whole lot bigger than that.

As we make sure that our men and women in uniform are taken care of with their housing, we've made sure that, for example, all the BEQs, the bachelor enlisted quarters, are fully funded; that the Army, the Navy, the Air Force is fully funded; our veterans are fully funded. We've had to do this in a way that is fiscally responsible because we are ever mindful of the scale of the problem the Nation faces financially.

It is difficult to even begin to comprehend how huge the problem is that has been created by so many years of previous Congresses, of previous administrations, too many promises to too many people on too many occasions on money that was borrowed from future generations. The result has been that today, the unfunded liabilities facing the taxpayers of the Nation are about $49.6 trillion. Those are liabilities at present value.

For example, the publicly held debt, military and civilian pensions, retiree health benefits and other explicit, direct liabilities of about $16.9 trillion. The entire U.S. economy is about $13 trillion. Our gross domestic product is, I think, right at about $13 trillion. So just the explicit liabilities that we have to pay already exceed the size of the entire U.S. economy.

We've got long-term contingencies and implicit liabilities. For example, the future cost of Social Security benefits is $31 trillion.

Future Medicare benefits under part A, part B, and part D all added together create--and this is unfunded liability for which there is no source or revenue lined up to pay for this--about $50 trillion, $49.6 trillion. And to give you an idea of how big that number is, in order to pay that liability off, every living American would have to write a check tonight for $159,000 to pay off that future unfunded liability. I've had constituents ask me if they just write that check, can they be done? Is that it? They're done? I wish it were that simple. But we, on the Appropriations Committee, this vast amount of money that we spend every year, this extraordinary responsibility with which we have been entrusted by our constituents, the amount of money we spend every year pales in significance to the size of the unfunded liabilities in the future.

The amount of money that we spend every year on the Appropriations Committee--a little over $1 trillion, an extraordinary amount of money, $1,000 billion--is dwarfed by the size of the unfunded liability that we face in the future.

And it's important for everyone, Mr. Speaker, listening to this debate tonight to remember that the money we spend here tonight in support of our troops, the money we spend on Homeland Security, to build highways, to pay for all the things the Federal Government does, it's all borrowed. The hole is so deep that's been dug by our predecessors, and again, too many promises to too many people on too many occasions, too many Big Government promises--I'm still wondering about Lyndon Johnson's war on poverty, that is, how many trillions of dollars later and that still hasn't worked out.

We, in the new constitutional conservative majority, are absolutely committed to getting us back on track to a balanced budget because we recognize the scale of the problem, the urgency of these impending unfunded liabilities, this massive bill that's going to come due to our children and grandchildren. In fact, the Joint Chiefs of Staff do an analysis about every 5 years on the strategic threats facing the United States. And analyzing all the threats facing our Nation, the Joint Chiefs concluded that one of the greatest strategic threats America faces is our national debt, this unfunded liability, these crushing obligations that our kids are going to inherit if we as a Congress don't work--as we have on this subcommittee in a way without regard to party for the benefit of the Nation--to find ways to make sure that Social Security and Medicare are solvent, that we get the entitlement programs under control because they're going right off a cliff unless we make sure we rescue them and make sure they're solvent and there for our kids. But we've got to make sure that we are doing everything within our power in the annual appropriations process to save every single dollar that we can.

There has been some debate, Mr. Chairman, some Members of Congress in the past have said, well, we just need to raise taxes. My predecessor, Bill Archer, who was chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, had an analysis done that showed that even if you were to confiscate all of the corporate income--100 percent of the corporate income in America-- that would generate about $1.3 trillion. If the government were to confiscate 100 percent of all individual income, over $200,000, that would generate about $2.1 trillion. So you can see that it isn't possible to solve this problem by raising taxes. And that is something that we also understand instinctively as conservatives; if you just simply get the government out of our lives, out of our pocket, out of our way, and leave us alone to raise our kids, to run our businesses, to run our lives--let Texans run Texas, let Georgians run Georgia. If you unleash the entrepreneurial creativity of the American people, the economy will grow, people will invest and save their own money far wiser than the government will, and we will begin to dig out of this hole that we're in.

We're committed not just to saving money year to year through the appropriations process, we're committed to ensuring that Medicare, Social Security, that these social safety net programs that are so essential to our Nation are there for the future, for our children and our grandchildren. We're going to do everything in our power to make sure that we have done our job in a fiscally responsible way this year. When it comes to Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, or Homeland Security, or Transportation, or Labor, Health and Human Services, all the various subcommittees of appropriations, that's year- to-year dollars that we have direct control over right now, but we're also thinking long term.

We also want to eliminate that threat that the Joint Chiefs of Staff

identified, the greatest threat to our long-term national security they identified as the national debt--much of which is held by nations hostile to the United States. Deeply, deeply disturbing, Mr. Chairman, that the Communist Chinese Government buys so much of our debt. They're the largest purchaser today of gold. The Chinese economy is thundering. They have a very aggressive campaign underway to acquire as much intellectual property as they can through espionage and acquisition. We have, as a Nation, in allowing this debt to be created and allowing so many nations that are hostile to the United States to buy our debt, have placed too much power in the hands of the Chinese, of sovereign wealth funds.

And we here tonight, when it comes to supporting our military, through this construction bill, through the Veterans Affairs, we've made sure our men and women in uniform have everything they need in a fiscally responsible way. And this is just a first step of many that we will take on this committee to get America back on track to a balanced budget.

Mr. Chairman, the Members of the minority and our staff have been working to put together an en bloc amendment so we can attempt to continue to expedite this process and ensure that this bill is done as quickly as possible in order that, again, our men and women in uniform can have the peace of mind of knowing they're taken care of--there is no bubble in the logistical supply chain. And they are not going to have to worry about disability claims if they go to a veterans hospital, or make sure their housing needs are taken care of on bases.

We have an en bloc amendment, Mr. Chairman, that should be on the brink of being ready for consideration so that we can move very rapidly to passage of this bill and get it over to the Senate--because we know how long it sometimes takes the Senate to get things done.

I yield to my good friend from Georgia.

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

Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent that debate on this amendment, and any amendments thereto, be limited to 10 minutes, to be equally divided and controlled by myself and the ranking member.

This is an amendment which we've worked hard again to come up with arm in arm in a cooperative, bipartisan way to increase, for example--we're making sure we've got $20 million set aside for suicide prevention outreach. A terrible, terrible problem among veterans and a high priority for us to do everything we can to help prevent suicide, that amendment offered by Congressmen Holt and Runyan.

Also, this is another amendment we are submitting to attempt to reduce wait times for mental health services, also to increase research funding by $22 million offset by a reduction in general administration. And also, Mr. Chairman, to set aside $100,000 for the purpose of a study of Veterans Affairs, VA historic properties.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chairman, I am pleased at this time to yield such time as he may consume to my colleague from New Jersey (Mr. Runyan).

Mr. Chairman, I would note we're pleased to support this amendment. As the gentlewoman has just pointed out, this Veterans Hospital was created, I think she said March 30 of 1865. That would have been one of the last acts on Earth of President Abraham Lincoln. So we're pleased to accept her amendment to ensure the preservation of this very historic and important piece of American history.

Mr. Chairman, I do support Mr. Altmire's amendment.

Obviously, we are all committed to supporting prosthetics research. Our military doctors have done an extraordinary job of saving the lives of these young men and women who are wounded in combat, and we want to make sure we are giving them all the support they need.

I am glad Mr. Altmire has brought this amendment to us. I understand he is on the way to the floor because he would like to speak on his amendment.

I reserve the balance of my time.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Chairman, in an effort to expedite consideration of this bill and ensure our men and women in uniform get all the help they need as soon as possible, I move that the Committee do now rise.

Mr. Speaker, I want to take 1 minute to address, tonight, an important bill the House passed on Homeland Security, funding all the agencies of Homeland Security.

In addition to funding our military, the Military Construction bill which we have just done, for Veterans Affairs, we also have a fundamental obligation to secure our borders. And the Homeland Security bill that we just passed does that in a number of important ways, most importantly, for the people of Texas.

I want to reassure everyone listening tonight that the Texas delegation and this Congress, this majority, will not rest until the southern border is secure, until we, with the full support of the people that live along the border, secure the border with zero tolerance, using existing law, which means 6 months in jail for crossing the border illegally, as we are doing in Del Rio with the full support of the local community, arresting everybody that crosses the border and throwing them in jail for up to 6 months, with the obvious exception of women and children. But we are enforcing the law in Texas, in Del Rio and in Laredo.

With the help of my friend Henry Cuellar and the local community, we are working in this majority to expand that zero tolerance program from Brownsville to San Diego. And I want to thank the Homeland Security Committee, Mr. Aderholt, for allowing us, through language in the bill, to expand rapidly the use of available empty bed space for illegal aliens so there are no more police officers like we just lost, another police officer in Houston, Texas, to an illegal alien. And we are not going to rest until that border is secured, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong support of this amendment.

I thank the chairman of the subcommittee and their very capable staff in putting strong language in the bill and encouraging the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office to fill as many beds as possible. We have given the agency an unprecedented amount of money and leeway and guidance in this bill to fill every available bed, public, private, county, State bed with individuals who cross the border illegally, with individuals who are released from county and State prisons that are supposed to be deported criminally.

The solution to the problem of illegals crossing the border, the guns, the gangs, the drugs, the crime, is not complicated. It is called law enforcement. We want to enforce existing law with the support of the local community. We have very strong support from the communities on the border and, in fact, we are enforcing existing law, which is 6 months in jail if you cross the border illegally, with great success in the Del Rio sector, and it is being rolled out in the Laredo sector.

We are working together with my good friend, my colleague, Henry Cuellar, Ted Poe, and I with the support of the local community, the local prosecutors, the Border Patrol, the prosecutors, with great success.

If I could, I would like to yield briefly to my friend from Texas (Mr. Cuellar).

Madam Speaker, the Federal Government's highest obligation is to provide for the physical and financial security of the people of the United States. Physical security begins with border security. And the people of Houston have just suffered the loss and tragic death of another Houston police officer, Officer Kevin Will, the sixth Houston police officer to lose his life at the hands of an illegal alien.

I will not rest, the Texas delegation will not rest until the southern border is secure to protect the people of Texas, the people of this Nation, from the drugs, the violence, the gangs, the guns. The criminal element coming across the border has got to be stopped. This is not complicated. It begins with enforcing existing law, with using the resources we have at our disposal to open up sufficient beds to lock up every illegal alien that crosses the border. With the full support of the people that live along the border, with zero tolerance, we can do this. It's being done in Del Rio. It needs to be done up and down the river.

This Congress, this Appropriations Committee, and the new Republican conservative majority in the House is staying focused on this vital mission of national security, beginning with border security, to ensure that no more law officers like Officer Will, no more Americans lose their lives at the hands of illegal aliens.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Madam Speaker, the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs portions of this bill vividly illustrate the importance of passing our appropriations bill as soon as possible. Our war fighters in the field cannot afford to have any air bubbles in the logistical pipeline that supports their operations. Their families, their loved ones cannot afford to have the barracks, the living quarters in which they are housed, be delayed any longer. The Marine Corps urgently needs the Bachelor Enlisted Quarters to get done as fast as possible. The Marines have already had several billion dollars' worth of projects already delayed.

As a fiscal conservative, of course I want to see more cuts. I'm committed, as our chairman is, as our Speaker is, to balancing the budget as fast as humanly possible. But this is simply the first step in a long war to get us back onto a balanced budget, to restrain Federal spending.

We've dramatically reduced, with the chairman's leadership and the Speaker's leadership, the national credit card limit by $38 billion, the largest non-wartime cut in the history of the United States after the drawdown after World War II. We've actually seen reductions for the first time, Madam Speaker, in this bill.

I asked the staff, when I came in brand new to this job in January, to find savings that would not impact the quality of health care for our veterans or reduce the quality of the housing provided to our men and women in uniform, and we've done that with construction bid savings. We've done it by taking money that was not yet used for information technology. We've done it by reducing money that was already there and unspent both at the Veterans' Affairs Committee and in construction accounts. But above all, we have preserved the quality of life for our veterans and the quality of their health care while saving money.

It's an important bill and we need to pass it today.

Madam Speaker, I first would like to yield to my colleague from Georgia (Mr. Graves).

Reclaiming my time, Madam Speaker, I think it's important to remember that the people of America spoke decisively in the November election. It was as clear a referendum on the direction that President Obama and Speaker Pelosi were taking the Nation as we could have, and the Nation decisively rejected the agenda that Speaker Pelosi and President Obama were promoting.

The spending that Chairman Rogers spoke about was out of control over these last several years. I know in the time I served under President Bush I voted against about $2.6 trillion of new spending under President Bush. And in just the last 2 years, under President Obama and Speaker Pelosi, my staff calculates I've had to vote against about $7.6 trillion in spending under President Obama. I know that the level of spending under President Bush was higher than it should have been, but it has absolutely gone vertical under President Obama.

The country decisively rejected the direction that President Obama was taking the Nation. The country elected this new majority to cut spending, to repeal ObamaCare, and to put the Nation back on track towards a balanced budget, and that's what this appropriations bill does. In this 2-week period, we're doing our best at every opportunity, on every occasion. Chairman Rogers and all of us are working to cut spending and to get the Federal Government out of our pockets, off our backs, and out of our lives.

I am happy to yield to the distinguished gentleman from Washington.

Reclaiming my time, there are a few core functions the government has to do, and I'll tell you that national defense, for example, we've protected the Pentagon and national security. We've protected the investments in medical and scientific research and in law enforcement. And you will find on every bill that we present we're going to work to cut spending in every possible way.

I move to strike the last word.

Mr. Chair, in an effort to help my constituents understand, the country understand, and even almost understand the scale of the problem we face, it's important I think to think of the expenses, the obligations of the Federal Government in terms of our own budget, that if we in our own lives take our income, you've got to calculate your income and your expenses. And the things you have got to pay first are the mortgage; you have got to pay the light bill. You have to make sure that, above all, the expenses of your home are paid first. And in the same way, the Federal Government must pay the expenses of the mandatory programs, like Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, the interest on the national debt, our obligation to our veterans. Those programs must be paid first.

We bring in about $2.2 trillion in revenue every year from all sources. When you take into account what the Federal Government must pay to our veterans, to the mandatory spending programs, those programs cost about $2.3 trillion. Therefore, the way to think about the scale of the problem we face is to analyze it in terms of, when do we, as a Nation, run out of cash and have to start borrowing? When is national credit card day? And in analyzing that, I discovered that we actually don't have a national credit card day.

At the stroke of midnight on the first day of the fiscal year, the United States Government has already borrowed $105 million. Now, tax freedom day occurs in May, far too late in the year when we begin to work for ourselves and no longer are working to pay taxes. But as a Nation, we begin to borrow money. We have already borrowed $105 million at the stroke of midnight that must be paid off by our kids. And the scale of the problem, therefore, is far larger than the appropriations bill we face here today.

We, in this new majority, were elected by the Nation to begin to deal with the terrible burden of the debt, the terrible burden of these unfunded liabilities that our children and our grandchildren are going to pay. For the first time in history, our predecessors in this Congress, our predecessors in the White House, and this President have loaded our children up with an unparalleled, unprecedented level of debt that we today in this debate on this appropriations bill are beginning to deal with. The $100 billion cuts that we are making here today will allow us to stop borrowing for about 5 days. We'll get out to, say, Friday before we have to start borrowing money.

The scale of the problem is so huge that if we think of it in terms of when, as a Nation, we have to start borrowing money, when is national credit card moment, then we, I think, can help explain to the public the urgency of getting spending under control, of cutting back everywhere we can, of focusing the Nation on its core functions under the Constitution.

We, in this new majority, are committed to restoring the constitutional limits on our Federal Government, restoring the 10th Amendment, restoring individual liberty wherever we can. And in so doing, as Thomas Jefferson liked to say, if you apply the Constitution, the knot will untie itself. No matter what the problem is, Mr. Jefferson liked to point out, that if we simply apply the Constitution, the knot will untie itself.

What lies ahead of us if we do not deal with this problem, not only of the spending year to year, but we've got to really dramatically deal with the fraud, the waste, and the abuse in our social welfare problems to begin to deal with them realistically--both parties, Republicans and Democrats--and controlling the explosive growth of the entitlement programs.

In looking at the history of the Roman Empire, Mr. Chair, we see that at the end of the Roman Empire one writer of the period went so far as to suggest that those who lived off the Treasury in the Roman Empire were more numerous than those paying into it. At the end of the empire, under Diocletian and Constantine, when it really began to decline, the Roman Empire taxed its citizens more heavily, conscripted their labor, and regulated their lives and their occupations in every detail. The Roman Empire became a coercive, omnipresent, all-powerful organization that subdued individual interests and levied all resources towards one overarching goal, the survival of the state.

We, as a Nation, have got to deal with the scale of the spending, the debt, these unfunded liabilities that are being passed on to our kids or, if we're not careful, the United States will follow the Roman Empire in devaluing our currency, in the level of debt at a scale that can't be repaid. And you saw it towards the end of the Roman Empire where taxation became so heavy that it consumed all the resources of the state.

In conclusion, Mr. Chair, I would point out that at the end of the Roman Empire, the one writer of the period pointed out that it was actually very common for Romans who were taxed so heavily, who were crushed and so overwhelmed with bureaucracy, that they actually welcomed the invaders who were taking over the Roman Empire.

It's a decisive moment in American history, Mr. Chair. We in the new majority, this constitutional conservative majority, are bringing these amendments. I thank Mr. Rogers for bringing this bill to the floor, the largest cuts we've ever seen in annual spending. We as a nation are at a turning point, and I am convinced that we finally are beginning to deal with this problem and we'll get spending under control.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Amendment No. 208 Offered by Mr. Cole

I move to strike the last word.

Madam Chairman, I rise in strong support of the Pence amendment. It's important to note that the Hyde amendment has been in place for decades. There's overwhelming support among the American people that we don't want our tax dollars used to subsidize or support abortion in any way. And people listening to the debate tonight, those on the floor, pro-life Democrats, no matter who you are, shouldn't be distracted by the discussion of the family, the health care services provided by the organization Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood could solve this public policy problem they've got by simply refusing to perform abortions. If they stop performing abortions this is not an issue. If Planned Parenthood would stop turning a blind eye or, at best, stop being indifferent to the criminal conduct that's been exposed at their facilities and lead the charge to see that criminal complaints are sworn out against people associated with Planned Parenthood or their employees engaged in criminal conduct, a lot of this problem would go away. All Planned Parenthood has to do is say they're going to stop performing abortions. And yet they won't do it.

This is not about the health care services that they provide in other areas. This is about the fact that the overwhelming majority of Americans do not want our tax dollars used to subsidize or pay for abortions. This is a very straightforward vote tonight for all of the Members of the House, whether or not you will vote to permit your constituents' tax dollars to be used to fund or subsidize abortion. That's the question before the House tonight. It's not complicated. And Planned Parenthood is not entitled to these dollars, these tax dollars. There's no punishment being given here. Planned Parenthood, we, as a Congress will make the public policy decision here tonight in this debate, in this vote, whether or not Planned Parenthood should continue to receive tax dollars. That's been decided for decades. No tax dollars should be used to subsidize or fund abortion. That's been the position of the Congress through the Hyde amendment for many, many decades, and we're continuing that tradition tonight by ensuring that no tax dollars flow through Obamacare, which, by the way, does allow our tax dollars to be used for abortion because what is not excluded is included, and the Obamacare bill allows for our tax dollars to be used for abortion by subsidizing exchange plans that provide coverage for abortion. Therefore, this vote is truly very simple. Will we, the Congress of the United States, permit our tax dollars to be used to subsidize or fund abortion? It's an up-or-down vote.

I yield to the gentleman from Georgia.

Mr. Speaker, on February 14, 2011, I was unable to be present for all rollcall votes due to illness. If present, I would have voted accordingly on the following rollcall votes: rollcall No. 35-- nay; rollcall No. 36--aye.

Madam Speaker, on December 21, 2010, I was unable to be present for all rollcall votes due to a medical necessity.

If present, I would have voted accordingly on the following rollcall votes: roll No. 657--``nay''; roll No. 658--``aye''; roll No. 659-- ``nay''; roll No. 660--``nay''; roll No. 661--``nay''; roll No. 662-- ``nay''; roll No. 663--``aye''.

Mr. Speaker, I think it is appropriate here in late September that we are discussing the future of America's manned space program, because it was in late September that America's first explorers, Lewis and Clark, returned from their incredible expedition to have seen the Pacific Ocean to find that overland route. And when they returned from that totally unknown country, they lit up the country, and something that America has always been built on, dreams and thinking big. It has always been a part of our spirit, our nature to explore the unknown. And NASA, more than any other function of the Federal Government, has the ability to inspire people, to encourage young people to go become scientists and engineers and astronauts.

In fact, today, Mr. Speaker, it was just reported by scientists at the University of California that they have discovered what appears to be an Earth-like planet with water in the habitable zone of a star only 20 light years away. But if we do not act, if we do not pass this NASA authorization bill tonight, the Obama administration will succeed in shutting down America's manned space program by the end of the year. And let me make it clear: that is what is really going on here, why all of us are working together, arm in arm, to save America's manned space program from being shut down by the Obama administration and the bureaucrats at NASA.

I asked Administrator Bolden in our subcommittee, Isn't what you are proposing, to totally privatize NASA? And we are all for partial privatization to supply fuel, food, et cetera. But to totally privatize NASA, Mr. Bolden, isn't that like privatizing the Navy?

Imagine if we were to allow the contractor that built a nuclear submarine or an aircraft carrier: Excuse me, may we please rent the aircraft carrier so that we can go to the Persian Gulf and defend America's interests?

What the Obama administration has proposed, and why Congress is passing this bill tonight, is to stop the administration from shutting down America's civilian space program, to ensure that we will always maintain the ability to build rockets in the civilian workforce, which keeps the cost of rockets for the military considerably less; to preserve our leadership role in outer space, to maintain that technological and, frankly, spiritual edge

America has always had to make dreams come true, to think about the exploration of the unknown.

NASA is the one entity that can combine the best of Americans, what makes us great as a Nation, inspiring young people, allowing, making dreams come true, exploring the unknown with very tangible technological spinoffs.

If we don't pass this bill tonight, by the end of this year there will be no more manned space program because the Obama administration is systematically and aggressively shutting it down.

We all have some disagreement with this bill; we would like to see a little different bill.

I thank Chairman Gordon and Mr. Hall, for bringing it to the floor. All of us working together to get it passed tonight will ensure that America preserves our manned space flight capability, the ability to build rockets with a tremendous civilian workforce of engineers and scientists who will all be gone. They will just lose their job, and we will lose that tremendous edge we have had as a Nation to build rockets and explore outer space.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all Members to support this vital legislation.

Mr. Speaker, if I could just very briefly point out to remind the Members and the people here that if we don't pass this bill tonight, there is no more manned space program.

The administration is pursuing a policy of aggressively and rapidly shutting down America's manned space program by bureaucratic order, by Executive order. It is all being done right now as we speak. If we don't pass this bill, there will not be another one by the end of the year, and by the end of the year there will be no more manned space program.

So any differences or concerns we have with this bill--and we all have concerns with it--can be fixed next year in the process. But it is essential to supersede by Federal statute, which we will pass tonight, and we will stop the Obama administration cold. We will stop them from shutting down America's manned space program so we have a program for our kids in the future.

I yield to the gentlewoman from Texas.

Absolutely. All the concerns that have been raised can all be solved through the legislative process and appropriations. We will take care of them.

Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.

The Congressional Budget Office just released a report this week which shows we are on the brink of an unprecedented debt crisis in this Nation which could, in and of itself, trigger a new financial crisis because, if the credit markets become concerned that we, as a Nation, may be overstretched and unable to repay in full the unprecedented national debt that's out there owned by the public, owned by sovereign wealth funds, the credit markets will turn on us very quickly as they did in Greece, as they did in Argentina and in others nations.

Moody's has even warned because of the excessive spending by this President and by this Congress, Moody's has estimated we might, as a Nation, lose our AAA bond rating by 2018, perhaps as early as 2013. Constitutional conservatives such as myself have been working hard to find ways to save money, to bring the spending levels under control to avoid crushing our children under the load of debt, the deficits. The burden that these levels of debt and deficit will impose on our kids will undoubtedly result in massive tax increases, dramatic cuts in social programs. And every chance we get, Mr. Chairman, on every bill, we want to try to do what we can to save money.

And so my amendment today would cut the total spending level in this bill by 18 percent. Remember that this legislation, the transportation appropriations bill, received a 23 percent increase in fiscal year 2010; that the stimulus bill--which I voted against as all borrowed money--the stimulus bill puts $62 billion into transportation. Of that $62 billion, there's still $10 billion unspent. I understand, Mr. Chairman, that the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Neugebauer) has got an amendment later to take that $10 billion of unspent transportation money from the stimulus bill and return that to the taxpayers to reduce the deficit.

My amendment is offered today to cut $12 billion out of this transportation bill. I would prefer to send it back to subcommittee, Mr. Chairman, and let Chairman Olver and my distinguished ranking member have a chance to decide where to cut it; but this is an 18 percent across-the-board cut, an important step moving back towards a balanced budget.

A constitutional conservative majority if elected to this Congress in November will, beginning in January, get this Nation back on track to a balanced budget by imposing strict spending discipline everywhere we can. This amendment is designed to begin that process. The current level of debt out there today owned by the public, by sovereign wealth funds, exceeds $13 trillion. It's unprecedented, it's dangerous, and it's unacceptable to burden our children with this level of debt. And since our transportation programs just got a $62 billion increase in the stimulus, since our transportation programs just got a 23 percent increase in fiscal year 2010, surely we can cut $12 billion out of this bill and save our kids and prevent our children and grandchildren from paying that off. Because every dollar we spend here today is borrowed money. One hundred percent of the money brought into the Treasury in revenue goes right out the door for Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and interest on the national debt. This is borrowed money, Mr. Chairman. I would move passage of the amendment.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chairman, listening to the way the Democrats approach this issue and every issue on spending, I am reminded of Winston Churchill's comment that trying to tax and spend yourself into prosperity is like a man trying to raise himself up while standing in a bucket. It is illogical, it is disproven by history, that you can raise taxes and expect the economy to improve. It is illogical. It defies historical fact to say you're going to take money away from one group of people and spend it somewhere else and increase prosperity.

This amendment is a modest 18 percent cut in a bill that has seen a 23 percent increase in fiscal year '10 in programs that got $62 billion additional funding through the stimulus, of which $10 billion is still sitting there unspent. How much is enough? I am still waiting to meet the first Democrat that says, ``That's enough money. Don't spend any more.'' I'm still waiting. I've not met him yet. There is never enough money. There is always some need out there that needs to be filled, but no better way to meet that need than to increase prosperity by letting average Americans keep more of their own hard-earned money to invest and spend and save as they wish, to let business owners hire people by giving them the certainty that their taxes aren't going to go up and they're not going to be torn apart by trial lawyers and they're not going to be buried by the cost of unions.

We need as a Nation to lift up the whole economy by spending less money in Washington. We need to cut taxes and cut spending. And if we can't cut 18 percent here in a bill that's got a 23 percent increase and got a 90 percent increase last year, where can we cut?

Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

Thank you, Mr. Brady. Thank you for the invitation, for putting together the roundtable with industries in the Houston area who are part of the oil and gas industry.

We, in Houston, know that our city is to the energy industry what Silicon Valley is to the computer industry, and there are jobs, not just throughout southeast Texas and Louisiana but throughout the Nation, that are dependent on the oil and gas industry. We, as a Nation, are dependent upon the oil and gas produced in the Gulf of Mexico for--I've seen numbers as high as 80 percent of the oil that the United States--where does that 80 percent number come from, Kevin, of the oil and gas produced in the Gulf of Mexico? What percentage of the oil and gas consumed by the United States comes out of the Gulf of Mexico?

That's what I remember. The jet fuel is particularly vital.

And, Kevin, we found out in the roundtable you held in Houston last week, as you said, jobs are being lost as we speak. We, as a Nation, are going to lose those jobs permanently. The infrastructure, the rigs themselves, particularly the semisubmersible floating rigs, are tremendously expensive to operate and maintain, and they are already leaving.

Kevin, what did we learn? What did you hear about what's happening to these offshore rigs? Where are they going if we don't reverse this moratorium and stop it?

Once they're gone, those rigs will be almost impossible to bring back to the United States. The world's appetite for oil is going to continue for some time. All of us are committed to an all-of-the-above energy policy that encourages development in the intermediate term of alternative energy sources and the longer term, developing innovative new technologies like the quantum wire project, the extraordinary promise that carbon nano-tubes hold for transmitting electricity ballistically. There are so many new technologies that we have as a Nation great opportunity, great promise to invest in, but that's down the road.

Right now, it is vitally important for our Nation's strategic security that we continue to find and develop every natural resource we can here in the United States. The Gulf of Mexico, our offshore waters has produced so much of this Nation's oil and gas.

We're joined by our good friend Mr. Scalise from Louisiana; and since as the one controlling the time, if I could call on Mr. Scalise to verify, as I've heard it, 99.99 percent of the oil produced in the offshore waters of the United States has been produced cleanly, safely, without an incident, and this is the very first incident of its kind. Tragic and catastrophic as it is, it is the very first. It like an airplane falling out of a clear blue sky, and you would no more ground all aircraft if a plane fell out of the sky for no good reason than you would shut down all drilling

And I would like to ask Mr. Scalise to join us and talk about the safety record of producing oil and gas safely and cleanly in offshore waters of the United States.

If I could, I want to visit with you because you are so knowledgeable about this. The States of Louisiana and Texas, as you know, have played such a vital role in producing oil and gas offshore.

You serve on the Energy and Commerce Committee, and I wanted to ask, isn't it true that the committee, your committee, other committees of Congress, have come to no conclusion as to the cause of this accident, and even though we don't know what caused it yet, the President's imposed a blanket moratorium, shutting down all drilling; is that correct?

Which his own commissioned opposed and which flies in the face of the record, tremendous record of safety and cleanliness of producing oil and gas offshore in the gulf. Again 99.99 percent of all the oil and gas produced in offshore waters of the United States have been produced cleanly, safely, even during giant hurricanes, when there were underwater landslides in the gulf. In particular, I remember Hurricane Ivan, which caused underwater landslides and severed oil pipelines underneath the Gulf of Mexico. There were no leaks. They have got a tremendous record of safety because they follow guidelines. All of these rigs as a rule follow the guidelines of the IPAA. The Independent Petroleum Association of America has safety guidelines that are followed by offshore drilling rigs.

They have got a tremendous record of safety. I am not sure of any other energy industry that has got a better safety record than the oil and gas industry, other than perhaps the nuclear industry. This catastrophic tragic accident is one we need to obviously make sure doesn't happen again, but not in such a blanket, destructive way.

That is a key point.

Congressman Brady, I know you have seen, as I have, these countries where these rigs are going overseas. The companies themselves also have got high standards. They are going to maintain a safe, clean environment for their workers and produce oil as safely and cleanly as they can.

But common sense tells you, where are they going to have better, cleaner standards for producing oil and gas: In Indonesia, or off the coast of Louisiana and Texas? Where are the standards going to be better to protect the environment: Here in the United States or in a Third World nation where they are not as concerned with protecting the environment as we are here in America?

I had a chance to work on offshore rigs in the summers in college as what is called a mudlogger, sort of a well-side geologist. It was great work. These are great jobs. I had a chance to experience it firsthand and see the level of commitment of these men and now women that work on the rigs and in the offshore industry that know better than anybody how to make sure a well doesn't blow out.

No one has a greater stake in protecting the safety of their workers, in

protecting the environment, in producing oil and gas safely and cleanly, than the companies themselves. The liability that they are exposed to is immense. They care deeply about the safety of their workers.

The rigs that I worked on offshore were both jack-up rigs and semisubmersible rigs. And this was in the late 1970s and 1980s, right before the bottom dropped out and oil got so cheap and a lot of the service companies disappeared because of the price of oil declining so rapidly. But the technology today is so amazing that we are enabled to drill at the depths that the Deepwater Horizon was drilling in, Congressman Brady.

I have to wonder as a conservative, as a Texan, watching this administration not let any crisis go to waste, and remembering, as I do, Congressman Brady, when last summer or the summer before the last election, that Speaker Pelosi and this liberal majority had shut down all offshore drilling in the United States.

And you remember when the Congress adjourned in the summer of 2008, Kevin, I remember you coming on to the House floor with your suitcase. Remember we stayed down here and kept talking to force the Speaker and this liberal majority to lift the moratorium on offshore drilling. We stayed down here and talked to the gallery. We used our social media devices to talk to the country on Twitter and Facebook and Quick.

The country responded. The Nation supports, the Nation understands the importance of producing American oil and gas. The country supports drilling in offshore waters, continues to support drilling in the offshore waters of its United States. Despite this catastrophic, terrible accident, the Nation understands that this is an anomaly, that this is something that does not happen, it has not happened in all the many years that we have been producing oil and gas in the offshore waters of the United States.

And that last summer, that August of 2008, Congressman Brady, when the House had adjourned and we stayed down here and kept talking, ultimately we forced the leadership of the House to reverse its position and withdraw temporarily their ban on offshore drilling. Yet as soon as this administration actually gets back in place and the first chance they get when they have a catastrophic accident offshore, what do they do, in opposition to the recommendation of their own commission? Without knowing the exact cause of the accident, they impose a blanket moratorium, stopping all drilling.

It literally is as though you stop all airplane flights when a DC-10 falls out of the air in the clear blue sky, a catastrophic, terrible accident. But it is a particular type of aircraft, and you would want to find out what caused that particular type of aircraft to fall out of the sky.

Instead, this administration's knee-jerk reaction, taking advantage of this crisis I believe to achieve their bigger, their long-term goal as liberals to shut off as much domestic oil and gas production and exploration as they can, they have imposed this moratorium, so destructive, so shortsighted, so damaging, not only to the economy of the Gulf Coast States, Congressman Brady, but to the Nation, driving up the price of oil and gas, driving up the price of gasoline, driving American jobs overseas, driving these rigs overseas where the wells will be drilled in areas of the world where they do not have the concern, they do not have the restrictions on protecting the environment that we do here in the United States.

The liberals are so obsessed with stopping all drilling in the United States I believe, that's where this moratorium comes from, and we, the American people, understand how shortsighted and how destructive it is.

In fact, one other aspect that we need to be sure to educate people about, Madam Speaker, as a part of the overall policy of this Congress, this liberal majority in Congress, that we talked about earlier today, Congressman Brady, is the effort of this Congress to prohibit fracturing of formations. There is this general direction of the Obama administration, under the Obama-Pelosi regime, to shut down as much domestic oil and gas production and exploration as they can. They even want to make it illegal to fracture formations, which would devastate the production of natural gas in the United States.

In fact, Congressman Brady, I see here on the USGS Web site, when you look up how much recoverable oil is available in North Dakota and Montana's Bakken Formation, the U.S. Geological Survey estimates that the Bakken Formation has an estimated 3 to 4 billion barrels, quoting, of undiscovered technically recoverable oil in an area known as the Bakken Formation. Yet if this majority has its way, they would prohibit fracturing thousands of feet deep, far below any fresh drinking water, fracturing those formations and allowing us to get access to that recoverable oil and gas.

This moratorium on offshore drilling is devastating to the gulf, damaging to the Nation, but part of what I see, a larger pattern of behavior by this administration, by this Congress, until we can replace them come January, to shut down all domestic oil and gas exploration.

Is that consistent with what you are seeing and hearing?

Where are they located?

Congressman Brady, I couldn't agree with you more. That is so well said. But I wanted to also make the point, Madam Speaker, make sure all Americans listening understand, Congressman Brady, that this moratorium is not just shutting down deepwater drilling. All of the companies that we have visited with, all of the industries that are involved with drilling and producing, finding, drilling, producing oil and gas in the offshore waters of the United States are telling us that this moratorium has had the effect of shutting down and stopping all permitting in shallow as well as deep water.

Isn't that correct, Congressman Brady? Talk a little bit about that.

The Obama administration has therefore shut down, Congressman Brady, all offshore permitting, all offshore drilling in all the continental waters of the United States. That's essentially where we are.

Imagine if you are, Mr. Speaker, a business owner, a banker, someone who wants and needs and is prepared to make a significant investment because these are tremendously expensive operations to drill in either shallow--or in the deep water they're even more expensive--imagine you want to make that investment but you're, A, not sure is the permit deep or shallow. Well, it has now been rewritten by the Obama administration, attempting to circumvent the Federal court's order stopping the moratorium. The administration has simply rewritten their moratorium to bypass the court order.

So if you as a company are trying to make this significant investment, significant amount of money, you have no way of knowing when or if permits are ever going to be issued, what type of permits are possibly ever going to be issued. They're just going to leave. The money, as Congressman Brady has said so eloquently, will go overseas. The rigs, the equipment, the jobs, the talent, the skilled American jobs that have worked; people in families generation after generation that have worked in the offshore oil industry in the United States will just leave. They're gone.

Again, I know this firsthand. I've met these men and women. I know how committed they are to finding and producing oil and gas cleanly and safely. And no one has got a bigger stake than they do.

Congressman Brady, I also want to say that we have extended an invitation to the President to come to Houston to meet the workers of the Johnson Space Center, where the President's administration has attempted to shut down America's manned space program, similar, as the administrator even admitted in my subcommittee, I asked him, Isn't what the administration is proposing on NASA like privatizing the Navy so that we would have to rent an aircraft carrier, we'd have to rent spacecraft?

It looks to me, Congressman Brady, that map you've got down there that you're showing us, I see a striking parallel there, Congressman Poe, that jobs affected by the President's attempt to shut down the manned space program--which, thankfully, Congress has rejected. And I want to thank the chairmen of the committees because we are going to get legislation to build a heavy-lift vehicle and manned capsule. Congress rejected the President's unwise strategy. We need to reject this unwise moratorium.

But looks like the attempt to shut down the manned space program affected jobs in those same areas. To shut down the oil and gas industry affects jobs in those same areas. The attempt to cap and tax energy production in the United States devastating the American energy industry affects jobs in those same areas. I think all those areas are Republican. Aren't all those States in those areas pretty strongly Republicans? Certainly there's no correlation there, is there? Looks to me like there might be a pattern.

As Congressman Brady correctly points out, this administration's quick to bail out their buddies in the unions, but slow to protect American jobs that enhance this Nation's security, that enhance our prosperity. This moratorium is an outrage and we need to stop it. I thank you, Congressman Brady, for giving us this time on the floor to talk about it.

Mr. Brady, I just want to join you and Congressman Poe in inviting the President to come to Houston. Come meet, firsthand, these people, these fine men and women who are so committed to finding and producing American oil and gas cleanly and safely. These are our neighbors and friends, Congressman Brady and Congressman Poe, who we live with, alongside, have picnics with. These are good people. We all know how committed they are to this Nation and to finding American oil and gas cleanly and safely.

Come to Houston, President Obama. Meet them firsthand. See how much pride they take in their work, how much pride they take in their country, and how valuable and important their role is in this Nation's economy.

I yield back.