Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

I rise in support of this very reasonable legislation, which really simply requires that our present immigration

laws be fully enforced, or at least not be violated. I commend the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Yoho) for bringing this legislation to the floor.

The President has said he has been forced to act because the Congress has not done so. That is not correct, as Chairman Goodlatte pointed out a few minutes ago. Congress can act in any one of three ways: writing a new law, changing an old law, or leaving present law in effect.

The administration is glossing over--or is ignoring--the fact that we have very detailed immigration laws on the books now. They may not like present law, but no one has the right or the power or the authority to pick and choose and enforce some laws but not others.

Presidential executive orders have traditionally been used almost entirely for noncontroversial, administrative-type actions. They were not meant to be a way for a President to bypass the Congress. We do not live or are not supposed to live under a system where all the power is vested in the Executive. We have a Constitution, and it should be followed.

Mr. Speaker, all of us admire those who have immigrated here legally and have contributed so much to this Nation. We have allowed many millions here legally since the Simpson-Mazzoli law of 1986, far more than any other country. But with 58 percent of the people in the world having to get by on $4 or less a day, that means that almost 4 billion people are hoping to get one good meal today and probably aren't.

We are blessed beyond belief to live in this Nation, but our entire infrastructure--our schools, our hospitals, our jails, our roads, our sewers--simply cannot handle the rapid influx of megamillions who would come in a relatively short time if we simply opened our borders. We have to have a legal, orderly system of immigration, and it must be enforced.

I urge my colleagues to support this very commonsense legislation.

Mr. Speaker, columnist Roger Simon wrote the following in one of the Capitol Hill newspapers several weeks ago:

If you spent 13 years pounding money down a rathole with little to show for it, you might wake up one morning and say, ``Hey, I am going to stop pounding money down this rathole.''

Unfortunately, the U.S. Government does not think that way. The U.S. Government wakes up every morning and says, ``The rathole is looking a little bit empty today, let's pound a few more billion dollars down there.'' And when that rathole is Afghanistan, the billions are essentially without end.

He added that we have spent several billions trying to stop opium production there but that during U.S. occupation, drug production in Afghanistan has actually increased.

By one very conservative estimate, we have spent $753 billion on the war in Afghanistan since 2001. The defense bill today contains $63.7 billion for the overseas contingency account, meaning many billions more for the rathole in Afghanistan.

Mr. Speaker, when will we come to our senses?

Mr. Speaker, my chief of staff, Bob Griffitts, received an email from a constituent, Mr. Joe Steuer, regarding Rev. Al Sharpton and his tax debt. I would like for my colleagues and other readers of the Record to read this email and one of the news stories about Mr. Sharpton, published in the November 19, 2014, edition of the Long Island, New York, newspaper Newsday, that explains his tax situation in more detail.

Mr. Sharpton has a national television program, which gives him more respect than many people feel he deserves. Most people with tax debt would not be given as much leniency as the IRS is giving Sharpton.

From: Joe Steuer

Sent: Friday, November 21, 2014 11:47 AM

To: Griffitts, Bob

Subject: Al the Elite Sharpton & Taxes

Bob, the tax issue regarding Rev. Al Sharpton strikes a

nerve with me personally as a few years ago I was contacted

by the IRS. I had not filed or paid taxes for 1 year, an

oversight on my part none-the-less I was wrong, admitted my

mistake and paid the back taxes, interest and penalties. I

did ask the IRS employee at the start of the investigation

for consideration as I have never had any issue with the IRS

ever. The request for consideration fell on deaf ears.

Thusly, my reaction to high profile individuals like Rev.

Sharpton is one of disdain which appears to me to be class

warfare, the elites vs. the people.

What efforts are being made to represent the people as well

as holding the ``elites'' to the same standards that the rest

of live by?

For your information, I am going to write to MSNBC and ask

how they condone this blatant disregard of the law? If I do

happen to receive a response I will pass it along to your

office.

I do look forward to receiving a response from Congressman

Duncan.

Joe Steuer.

Mr. Speaker, I wish today to congratulate a celebrated institution in my District on the occasion of its 120th anniversary.

First Baptist Church of Lenoir City was founded in 1894 with just 16 members in one-room log cabin. Today, it has grown to more than 3,000 worshippers and a 34-acre campus.

I have represented Lenoir City in Congress for 26 years, and I have visited this church many times. It is a special and welcoming place with a history older than the city in which it is housed.

Lenoir City is one of the most beautiful places on this Earth, tucked in the mountains and surrounded by lakes and rivers. It is easy to see why this area has become one of the most popular places to move in the entire Country.

The congregation of First Baptist Church of Lenoir City has helped build the community since its inception. I know many people who worship there, and they are some of the kindest and most generous people I know.

First Baptist Church of Lenoir City operates under a philosophy of community involvement. Its congregation does not just worship from afar; it gets involved at every level of the community and serves as an example of Christian values to all.

The church is involved in more than 100 separate ministries with focuses ranging from young children to senior adults.

The church also owns and operates the Lenoir City Christian Academy, serving students from kindergarten, to fourth grade, and runs after- school and day care programs. The church also operates the Lenoir City Arts Center, designed to teach students music and the performing arts.

Mr. Speaker, it is hard to imagine an institution having a bigger impact on a community than First Baptist Church of Lenoir City. I call on my Colleagues and other readers of the Record to join me in congratulating this church and its congregation on 120 years of Christian service.

Mr. Speaker, several years ago, they sent us to a civility conference because they didn't think that Democrats and Republicans were getting along well enough in the Congress, and I have never forgotten something our first speaker said.

David McCullough, the great historian, told a story about a Russian visitor who came up into the House gallery in 1948 and watched for a while, and then he went out and shook his head and he said, ``The House is a strange place.'' He said, ``A man stands up and says absolutely nothing, no one pays any attention, and then everyone disagrees.''

They say there is a little bit of truth in the best humor, and I guess there is some truth in that humor. But David McCullough was kind enough to go on from there and say, but if he had a chance to live his life over again and he could choose what he wanted to do, he would choose to be a member of that wild and raucous bunch known as the United States House of Representatives.

I think today, because of some of the television talk shows, that many people around the country think that we all dislike each other or that we hate each other at times, or that Democrats and Republicans just don't get along at all. But that is not true at all, and I think for the great, great majority of Members, all of us get along really well with everyone, regardless of party, and all of us consider it a great privilege and honor to serve in the United States House of Representatives.

We are losing many, many good Members from both sides of the aisle this year because of retirements, running for other offices, or for all sorts of reasons, and there are many other Members, both Democrat and Republican, who are good friends of mine who are leaving to whom I should pay tribute. But I rise tonight to pay special tribute to a very special man, and that is Congressman Jim Oberstar from Minnesota.

In my entire 22 years in this Congress, I have served on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. I had a couple of chances in my early years to move to other committees, and I think people were surprised that I didn't take either one of those offers. But I enjoyed serving on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, originally called the Public Works and Transportation Committee, in part because it was considered to be the most bipartisan, or nonpartisan, committee probably in the Congress. It was often said that there is no such thing as a Republican highway or a Democratic highway; and on many, many things people on both sides of the aisle on that committee worked together to help build America.

Certainly, Congressman Oberstar was one of the great leaders of that committee through his entire time in the Congress. Jim Oberstar served for 11 years on the committee staff, rising to the position of staff director. He then began his service in the House and continued to serve for the past 36 years.

It is an astounding figure to think that a man worked on this one committee for 47 years of his life, but he has done so with great honor and distinction. In fact, I think almost everybody knows that there is no one in the Congress and probably never has been anyone in the history of the Congress who has known transportation issues and understood them and worked on them longer and harder and with more effectiveness than Jim Oberstar has.

At one point, he was chairman of the Aviation Subcommittee. In 1994, after the election, the Republicans took control and I had the honor of becoming the chairman of the Aviation Subcommittee, and I served for 6 years in that position, which was the maximum allowable on our side.

When I took over as chairman of the Aviation Subcommittee, I had frequently heard Jim Oberstar referred to as ``Mr. Aviation.'' So I went to him and asked for his help, and he helped me and guided me and gave me advice that to this day I appreciate very much, and he did that in a very kind and humble way.

Then, of course, in the last 4 years, he reached the pinnacle and became chairman of that committee, a committee that he loves. He has been a great chairman, and I think he has tried to help everyone on both sides of the aisle.

So I just wanted to rise and pay tribute to a man that I consider to be a great American and a great Member of Congress, Congressman James Oberstar.

Madam Speaker, many years ago, I voted for the first gulf war after attending classified briefings about the great threats we faced from Saddam Hussein's elite troops; then I watched them surrender to CNN camera crews and empty tanks. I realized then that the threat had been greatly exaggerated.

A few years later, we rushed to war in Iraq against weapons of mass destruction that were not there. The threat at the time of the second gulf war was greatly exaggerated, and I am glad that I voted against going to war that time.

After the horrible beheadings of two American citizens, I felt we should respond, and I have publicly supported limited air strikes. I hope we can at some point, if we are not doing so already, send in a special operations team, or teams, to get those who have committed these beheadings just as we got Osama bin Laden; however, I do not support sending thousands of young Americans as combat troops on the ground into Middle Eastern civil and religious wars.

The primary responsibility for fighting over there should be up to the countries in that region, and I do not believe we should have some fake coalition where most of the fighting and most of the funding comes from the U.S. military as in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

While ISIS--or ISIL, as it has also been referred to--is a threat, we have faced far greater threats at other times in our history.

Some of our leaders clamor for war to prove how tough they are. Some want to be little Churchills. Many may believe, if they don't support the strongest possible action, they are afraid they will be blamed if something bad happens; however, both our President and the Secretary of Homeland Security have said our intelligence and military officials have no evidence of any credible threat against the U.S. at this point.

In addition, we have spent $716 billion on homeland security since 9/ 11, just at the Federal level, not counting the billions spent by State and local governments and private companies. Just one company, FedEx, told me a couple of years after 9/11 that they had spent $200 million on security that they would not have spent had 9/11 not happened.

On top of that, we spend much more on defense than the next top 10 nations combined and almost more than all nations combined since the poor nations spend very little on defense. If we devoted our entire Federal budget to the Middle East, we could not stop all the fighting or solve all the problems of that region. If we spent our entire Federal budget on homeland security, we could not make our country 100 percent perfectly safe.

Some radical Islamic fanatic may do something bad in the U.S. but we are already spending all we can and doing all we can if we are going to meet the needs of our own people. The first obligation of the U.S. Congress should be to the American people, and the people of the Middle East are going to have to solve most of their own problems on their own.

We do not have the money or the authority to try to run the whole world, and we certainly shouldn't panic or overreact to this threat from ISIS. Just a few weeks ago, their numbers were supposedly between 5,000 and 10,000. Now, we suddenly have them up to 20,000 to 31,000, but we have over 1 million in our military, and, supposedly, other nations are going to help against ISIS.

The leaders of ISIS have proven themselves to be cowards by beheading unarmed, defenseless men in front of cameras in undisclosed locations. We fought against al Qaeda in Iraq and Afghanistan and then with al Qaeda in Libya. A year ago, our hawks wanted to take out Assad in Syria. Now, we want to have him with us against ISIS.

I agree with what Judge Andrew Napolitano wrote a few days ago:

What should Congress do? It should declare once and for all

that we will stay out of this ancient Muslim civil war of

Shia versus Sunni. We have been on both sides of it. Each

side is barbarous. In the 1980s, we helped the Sunnis. Now,

we are helping the Shias.

Last year, Mr. Obama offered to help the Islamic state by

degrading its adversaries; now, he wants to degrade the

Islamic state. We have slaughtered innocents and squandered

fortunes in an effort to achieve temporary military victories

that neither enhance our freedom nor fortify our safety.

We will only have peace when we come home, when we cease

military intervention in an area of the world not suited for

democracy and in which we are essentially despised.

I agree with Judge Napolitano.

Finally, Madam Speaker, I say again that we cannot take care of our own people and our country if we are permanently at war in the Middle East.

Mr. Speaker, Loudon County Commissioner Roy H. Bledsoe is a long-time friend of my family, and one of the most honorable men I have ever known.

He recently retired from 55 years of public service to Tennessee. During that time, he impacted the lives of thousands of people in many positive ways. Our Nation would be a much better place if there were more people like Roy Bledsoe.

Roy's public service began in 1959 as a member of the Soil Conservation District in Sweetwater Creek. He then went on to be elected to the Loudon County Commission in 1966 and become the first mayor of the county in 1968.

His remarkable 48 years of service on the Loudon County Commission is unmatched.

Recently, the state of Tennessee honored Roy's service with a Joint House Resolution, which stated that he ``distinguished himself as a public-spirited citizen of the highest order and as an exceptional asset to his community,'' and that his ``remarkable success as a public servant and civic leader is directly attributable to his reliance on the time-honored values of hard work and common sense and his uncommon ability to work well with people from all walks of life.''

Roy was a friend and supporter of my father, and I have been blessed to have his friendship and support over the years as well. I know even in retirement he will continue to impact the lives of many.

Mr. Speaker, Commissioner Roy H. Bledsoe is a patriotic and great American known for his work ethic and generosity. I bring his service to the attention of my Colleagues and other readers of the Record and wish my friend well on the occasion of his well-earned retirement.

Mr. Speaker, I voted for the supplemental appropriations bill to provide additional funding for the Iron Dome for Israel.

Hamas should not have been shooting rockets into Israel, and Israel certainly has a right to defend itself.

However, it is heartbreaking to me to read and hear about all the little children in Gaza who have been killed or injured. And it is very sad to see pictures and news reports of frightened little children laying in the hospital with serious injuries.

As I did on the floor a few days ago, I once again plead with officials in Israel, Gaza, the U.N. and the U.S. to work together to get small children away from the bombs and out of harm's way.

Even if the fighting for some unfortunate reason has to continue, I hope we can at least save some of the little children.

Mr. Speaker, one of my constituents, Lee R. Johnson, a man for whom I have great, great respect, is very concerned about the type of education young people are receiving today.

Mr. Johnson spent a long and distinguished career in the U.S. Army. Since leaving the U.S. Military, he has become a leader in East Tennessee.

I bring to the attention of my Colleagues and other readers of the Record the wise words of Mr. Johnson.

My Life From Zero to 101

(By Lee R. Johnson)

Mr. Speaker, President Obama told the San Francisco Chronicle editorial board in 2008, under his environmental policies ``electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket.''

To be even more specific, he said:

If somebody wants to build a coal-fired power plant, they

can. It is just that it will bankrupt them. Under my plan,

electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket.

Now listen to this story from The Washington Post just last week:

Pueblo, Colorado. Sharon Garcia is stumbling around her

dining room in the dark, trying to find Post-it notes.

As she has for years, Garcia wants to affix the notes,

marked with dollar signs, to light switches all around her

house. The message to her five kids: light is expensive.

``Why do you need to turn the lights off?'' she asks her

son, Mariano.

``Because otherwise there's no money,'' he answers,

dutifully.

``And when there's no money?''

``You can't feed us or take us anywhere.''

Bingo, again.

I am still quoting from the Post story:

It's not just the light switches, though. Ever since her

power was shut off in 2010, Garcia has adopted a Depression-

era obsessiveness: she doesn't use the oven in the summer,

because it heats up the house, and uses only one small air-

conditioner. Even the aquarium goes dark when someone's not

in the room.

And yet, no matter how much she rations and cuts, Garcia

cannot keep ahead of the fast rise in rates. In Pueblo, the

residential rate per kilowatt hour has risen 26 percent since

2010, and on a per-household basis, is now among the highest

in the State.

But in Pueblo, it happened in a way that has left poor

consumers gasping for relief.

To a wealthy community, skyrocketing electricity rates

might not have much of an impact. When you have a decent-

paying job, what's a few more dollars a month on your utility

bill?

Pueblo is not that kind of place. With a poverty rate of

18.1 percent, incomes far below the State average, and a

third of the population on some sort of public assistance,

those few dollars can make a big difference here.

Now, I realize that almost all environmental radicals come from wealthy or upper-income families. Perhaps they just do not realize how harmful all these environmental rules and regulations and red tape are to poor and lower income people.

As Charles Lane, The Washington Post columnist, said, climate change is ``a rich man's issue.''

Perhaps it doesn't matter to wealthy environmentalists that all this environmental overkill has sent millions of good jobs to other countries over the last 40 or 50 years.

Now we have ended up with the best-educated waiters and waitresses in the world as millions of college graduates or very intelligent non- college graduates are having to work at jobs far below the levels of their education or below the level of their skills, talents, and abilities.

Perhaps it doesn't matter to rich or upper-income environmentalists if utility bills or prices for everything go way up, but it sure does matter to millions of people like Sharon Garcia.

Perhaps it doesn't matter to wealthy environmentalists that their policies over the years have driven very small- and medium-sized companies out of business.

Perhaps they are pleased that their policies have helped give job security to bureaucrats and have helped extremely big businesses and foreign energy producers.

This administration even had a Secretary of Energy until a few months ago who said we need to be paying the same price for gas as they do in Europe--$8 or $9 a gallon.

Then, of course, all the wealthy environmentalists would have to fight a

whole lot less traffic because they would be about the only ones who could afford to drive.

We have made tremendous progress over the past many years in cleaning our air and water. I have voted for many of these laws and voted many years ago for the toughest clean air law in the world.

But as Charles Krauthammer said: If we shut our whole country down, it would make almost no difference on carbon emissions because China and India together are opening coal-fired plants at rate of almost one per week, and Indonesia is the third-largest emitter.

Some environmental groups hate to admit how much progress we have made--how much cleaner our air and water are--because it would reduce their contributions. They have to keep telling people how bad everything is so their contributors will keep sending them money, especially money and contributions from foreign energy producers.

But we need to make people realize that only a prosperous country that allows free enterprise can generate the excess funds to do good things for the environment that everybody wants done.

Communist and socialist countries have been some of the biggest polluters in the world because their economies have been barely able to feed, clothe, and house their people. And certainly they have been unable to spend the kinds of money that it costs to help the environment.

We must not allow big government environmental regulators at both the Federal and State levels to cause our country to move so far to the left that it destroys our economy.

Madam Speaker, last night, on the national news I saw the terrible agony and tears of a man whose children had been, according to the report, blown to pieces when a school was hit in Gaza.

Hamas started this war. Israel certainly has a right to defend its people.

In today's Washington Post, Michael Oren, the former Israeli Ambassador to the U.S., said it is ``indeed agonizing'' to watch the images of the dead and wounded and, I might add, especially the children.

Israel agreed to an Egyptian-sponsored cease-fire. Hamas did not. I rise today to plead for both sides in this war to at least let the little children get out of the war zone.

The United Nations has never been very effective, but it should at least attempt to lead in an effort to get children out of harm's way.

If this fighting, unfortunately, has to continue, our President and State Department should at least do everything possible to get little children out of Gaza and to some safe place away from the bombs and the rockets.

Madam Speaker, Tom Brokaw said the targeting of 298 conservative groups by the IRS was ``outrageous'' and called for a ``complete investigation and thorough housecleaning.'' He said:

This is not a conservative or liberal issue. It really is

about trusting your government.

Chris Matthews said there was obvious ``profiling'' of conservative groups, and said about Lois Lerner pleading the Fifth:

Why, if you have nothing to hide, why doesn't she sit in

that witness stand and answer truthfully?

Tom Brokaw and Chris Matthews are certainly not political conservatives.

One of the leading Capitol Hill newspapers today asks, ``What about the hard drive?'' and says the IRS in Federal court this past Friday said Lois Lerner's hard drive was wiped clean by the IRS and sent to an outside disposal company to be shredded. There are thousands of missing emails which just happen to include those going from the IRS to the White House.

All over this Nation, people have seen that there is one standard for ordinary citizens and another for employees of the Internal Revenue Service and friends of those in the White House. We need a much simpler, fairer tax law, Madam Speaker, that would allow us to do away with the politicized IRS altogether.

Mr. Speaker, Marvin Hammond, a friend of mine for more than 50 years, passed away this past Saturday in Knoxville, Tennessee. Marvin was one of the finest men I have ever known.

Marvin was 71 and had a long and successful career as an executive for the Knoxville Utilities Board and as the top official of the Hallsdale-Powell Utility District.

I first got to know Marvin when he was the manager of Holston High School athletic teams. I played a lot of sports and sold programs, popcorn, and soft drinks at many games for the University of Tennessee and Knoxville professional teams. Marvin was at many of these games.

When I was 15, I got my first hourly-pay job working as a groundskeeper at the Holston-Chilhowee ball park. Marvin was 19 and was my first boss. I made $1.00 an hour, and he always joked that I was overpaid.

After high school he became a trainer in the Cincinnati Reds minor league system. I was batboy for the Knoxville Smokies and would see him when his team would come to town. He was always proud of his association with several players who later made it to the big leagues. He especially treasured his longtime friendship with manager Dave Bristol.

The Knoxville News-Sentinel relates a story about how Marvin helped a Cub Scout troop that I led. He spent a full day and went to great lengths to help me and the Cub Scouts, none of which he knew other than my son, John.

He campaigned for me in my first race for Congress. I will never forget a campaign trip one Saturday to Polk County, Tennessee. Lance Cavett was with us and he kept fussing at Marvin about his ridiculously high KUB bill and how he just couldn't believe it.

Marvin became very concerned and then asked Lance how high this terrible utility bill was. When Lance replied that it was $36, Marvin, who was driving, nearly ran off the road.

I was pleased that on the Monday before he died, I had about a 30- minute visit with Marvin at his Hospice room. He held my hand for almost the entire visit.

He seemed so alert and pleasant that I left thinking and hoping that he would recover. Unfortunately, that was not to be.

That day, we talked over old stories and old friends. He assured me that he was not in any pain and that God had greatly blessed him in many ways.

He told me of what he considered to be a miracle during his final illness. He said he had become addicted to pain pills and told his doctor he wanted to stop taking them.

He said his doctor told him that would not be possible--that no one could stand the pain he would experience. Marvin insisted, saying he was turning it over to the Lord. He said from that moment, he became miraculously pain-free.

Marvin had accepted that his death was near and told me he was thankful that he had been given time to say good-bye to his family and friends. He faced his death in a courageous, loving way, showing great Christian faith, and setting a wonderful example for everyone.

Marvin Hammond was a good and kind man. I was told that over 300 friends visited him in his last days and hundreds more attended his receiving of friends and funeral.

This Nation would be a better place if we had more men like Marvin Hammond. To me, he was a great man.

I commend to my colleagues and other readers of the Record the stories about Marvin Hammond that ran in the Knoxville News-Sentinel on July 14, 2014, and the Shopper News on July 16, 2014.

[From knoxnews.com, July 14, 2014.]

Former Hallsdale Powell CEO Marvin Hammond dies at 71

(By Josh Flory)

A prominent former leader of a North Knox County utility

district died on Saturday.

Marvin Hammond, 71, was the former president and CEO of the

Hallsdale Powell Utility District, and previously a longtime

executive with the Knoxville Utilities Board.

Darren Cardwell, Hammond's son-in-law and the current

general manager of HPUD, said Monday that Hammond had been in

worsening health for several months, and had been receiving

hospice care.

Cardwell described Hammond as a mentor, coach and boss,

saying that even when they disagreed, they could still ``have

a family life, too, and not carry the two together.''

``That taught me a lot over the years in how to grow and be

more of not only a husband and father but how to be a leader

in the business,'' Cardwell said.

Knoxville attorney John Valliant said that in the last days

of his life, many people would ask Hammond how they could

help, and he would respond by telling them about other people

with needs. ``He was giving people instructions as to how he

wanted them to help other people, and he was dying,''

Valliant said.

Hammond's leadership at Hallsdale Powell wasn't without

controversy. His tenure coincided with a significant growth

phase for the utility, which also drew sharp criticism from

some customers over rising utility rates.

In 2012, Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett criticized a $125-

an-hour consulting contract approved for Hammond after he

stepped down from the HPUD post. That contract was later

terminated.

Valliant said Hammond was a selfless person. ``You know

people gave him a lot of grief over the rate increases at

Hallsdale Powell, but they didn't realize that the EPA was

breathing down his throat,'' he said.

Hammond was well-connected in local political circles, and

counted U.S. Rep. John J. Duncan, Jr. among his friends. In a

written tribute in 2008, Duncan recalled his first hourly-pay

job as a 15-year-old groundskeeper at Holston-Chilhowee Ball

Park, saying that Hammond was his 19-year-old boss.

``I remember another time when I was a judge, Marvin found

that I was Cubmaster of a Cub Scout troop,'' Duncan wrote.

``He told me he could get several canoes from another church

and he knew some people who owned a dairy farm 45 miles away

with a big lake on it. He spent his whole day getting the

canoes, helping the boys tour the farm, do the canoe rides,

cook out, and then load everything back up for the return.''

Receiving of friends will take place on Tuesday, July 15,

from 4:30 to 8 p.m., at Salem Baptist Church, with funeral

services to follow.

Mr. Speaker, we have a very sad human tragedy going on at our border, with many thousands of children coming to the U.S. from Central America.

Americans are the most generous, compassionate people in the world, but if we don't secure our borders, we will destroy America as we have known it. There are probably several hundred million people who would come here in a short time, if we simply opened our borders.

We must have a legal, orderly system of immigration, and it must be enforced. Our entire infrastructure--our schools, our hospitals, our jails, our sewers, and so forth--just cannot take in hundreds of millions more people in a short time.

We need to immediately deploy our National Guard to secure our border, and we need to immediately change the laws, so that every unaccompanied child does not require a court hearing.

This is an emergency situation, Mr. Speaker. It does not require more money. It requires immediate action with funds that are already available.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Dr. John C. Wagner of Knoxville, TN, who this week received special recognition from the Department of Energy for exceptional research in nuclear energy.

The Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award has recognized esteemed scientists for the past fifty-four years, celebrating notable achievements and discoveries within the scientific community. Administered by the Department of Energy, the Lawrence Award is given to mid-career scientists and engineers for their exceptional contributions in research and development supporting the DOE and its mission to advance the national, economic, and energy security of the United States. The 2014 winner of the E.O. Lawrence Award in Computer, Information, and Knowledge Sciences is Oak Ridge National Laboratory's John C. Wagner.

Dr. Wagner is the Manager for Used Fuel Systems at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and serves as National Technical Director for the Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy's Nuclear Fuels Storage and Transportation Planning project. He joined Oak Ridge in 1999 as an R&D Staff Member to pursue his research in the area of hybrid radiation transport methods. His research interests include a wide range of issues associated with spent nuclear fuel storage, transportation, and disposal. Wagner was the original developer of computer codes that led to advanced hybrid transport methods. In 2012, he was elected a Fellow of the American Nuclear Society.

Dr. Wagner is being honored with this prestigious award for his contributions to computationally-based studies of radiation transport in real-world complex systems, including safety, radiation shielding, and nuclear reactor analysis. Wagner's research significantly advances the methodology used to obtain accurate predictive solutions to challenging problems ranging from civilian nuclear energy to the Nation's nuclear security. Mr. Wagner is a great asset to the scientific community and to the nation.

I want to thank Mr. Wagner for his years of dedicated service and his contributions to the safe and efficient use of nuclear energy and I wish him many more years of success.