Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that when the House adjourns today, it adjourn to meet on Monday, July 14, 2014, when it shall convene at noon for morning-hour debate and 2 p.m. for legislative business.

Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 337 I was unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``no.''

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the retirement of Elaine Janson, a true leader in our community who has served China Lake for over thirty years and the past ten years of her life to the students of the Sierra Sands Unified School District in California.

Receiving her Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration and a Masters in Public Administration from California State University, Bakersfield, Elaine began work as a clerk for the Naval Air Weapons Station (NAWS) China Lake, located in Ridgecrest, California. In 1974, she became an administrative officer in the School of Education and the Department of Physics at the University of Southern California, but returned to NAWS China Lake in 1978 to head the Corporate Budget Division in the Office of the Comptroller where she was responsible for formulating and executing the base's budget of $1 billion.

Through the Office of General Counsel, Elaine founded the Commercial Applications and Transfer Office, which was responsible for negotiating patent license agreements, as well as cooperative research and development agreements. She was awarded the Commander's Award in 1993 for these efforts. She negotiated landmark agreements in both the intellectual property and educational partnership areas as well for NAWS. Elaine is also a founding member of the NAWS Business Development Office, which works to expand the base's work and bring additional jobs and business to our community. During this period, she was a founding member of the China Lake Chapter of the American Society of Military Comptroller, serving as its Vice President, and has been members of multiple other organizations, including the Federal Laboratory Consortium, the Technology Transfer Society and the Association of University Technology Managers. Not only did Elaine dedicate time serving NAWS, she also plays a leadership role in the Ridgecrest community, serving on the Ridgecrest United Way of California board and the Indian Wells Valley Concert Association. She retired after 33 years in Federal service with the United States Navy, but Elaine's passion for service did not end there.

Elaine has spent the last ten years with Sierra Sands Unified School District where she began in 2003 as the Chief Financial Officer. Later, she moved on to serve as the school district's Assistant Superintendent for Business and Assistant Superintendent for Construction. Over the period of her tenure, she not only oversaw the district budget, but also supervised maintenance and operations, transportation, food service, and warehouse departments. Her work with Superintendent Joanna Rummer also helped secure significant Federal funds to replace Murray Middle School and modernize Burroughs High School to ensure our students are able to obtain a world-class education in modern buildings. Additionally, during a period in which the entire nation experienced one of the worst economic climates, Sierra Sands Unified School District remained fiscally solvent and maintained the integrity of its outstanding academic programs.

If anything personifies Elaine's service, it is her passionate advocacy for her students in the school district. I have enjoyed working with Elaine to promote Sierra Sands Unified School District, its students, and our Ridgecrest community. I will miss our frequent visits and the See's Candies that Elaine always brings with her, but I know she is looking forward to spending more time with her husband, James, and their 14 children and grandchildren. Mr. Speaker, on behalf of a grateful community, I ask my colleagues to join me in thanking Elaine for her outstanding service and wishing her a happy retirement as she begins this next chapter of her life.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the retirement of my good friend Joanna (Jody) Rummer, who has served the Sierra Sands Unified School District for 26 years.

Joining the school district as a science teacher in 1988, Jody went on to serve as assistant principal at Murray Middle School and Burroughs High School before eventually becoming Burroughs' co- Principal. In 2001, she joined the district administrative staff as the coordinator of special projects before becoming the assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction. In 2004, Jody became the school district's superintendent and embarked on a journey that would ultimately transform the Sierra Sands Unified School District.

When Jody took the wheel, her vision was to enhance and grow Sierra Sands. Today, Jody's vision is rooted in the foundation of all eleven district schools, which have been recognized statewide as institutions of academic excellence, earned the California Distinguished School award, and designated as a California Blue Ribbon school. Within the halls of those schools, you'll find students excelling in California's finest programs for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education, mastering the art of music, visual arts, and drama, and setting athletic milestones as state champions in multiple

sports. Additionally, in the face of the most challenging of fiscal environments since the Great Depression, Sierra Sands Unified School District has maintained fiscal solvency throughout the entirety of her superintendency.

A relentless advocate for her students, I was honored to work recently with her to secure almost $60 million in Federal defense funds to replace Murray Middle School and modernize Burroughs High School. Many of the parents of Sierra Sands students work at Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake in state-of-the-art facilities and laboratories while their children attend class in 1940s and 1950s era buildings. Jody was instrumental in securing these funds and worked tirelessly with the Department of Defense through a competitive process to ensure her students can learn in modern buildings in today's digital society. Jody also was key to Sierra Sands securing $7 million to build a state- of-the-art new Career Technical Education Building.

I have known Jody for years, and always sought her advice when I served in the California Assembly and now in the U.S. House of Representatives. Whether it is working to provide resources under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act so schools can better serve their disabled students, to critical reforms to the Impact Aid program to help ensure military-serving districts, like Sierra Sands, can continue to provide a world-class education to its students by cutting through bureaucratic red tape, to working on commonsense reforms to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act that focus on students, Jody has tirelessly represented her students, school district, and our Ridgecrest community's interest while providing sound, objective, and to-the-point advice. When I visit Jody in Ridgecrest and speak to students, she is always quick to laud her staff, teachers and students' achievements and hard work that have made Sierra Sands one of the best school districts in Kern County and the State of California. Those are some of the reasons why she has been twice recognized by the Association of California School Administrators as Administrator of the Year and named this year as California's Superintendent of the Year.

Mr. Speaker, on behalf of our community, I would like to wish a happy retirement to Jody Rummer, who has devoted so much of her life to the success of the students and community she holds so close to her heart. I will miss working with Jody, but I know she will still be involved in education and our Ridgecrest community and I look forward to still be able to call on her for advice to strengthen the educational needs not only of Ridgecrest, our county, or our state, but of our country.

Mr. Chair, education remains one of the greatest keys to success in our society, yet there are children across the nation without access to a good school.

There is no single cure. No child or community is the same. And often the educational solutions in one community won't fit those in another.

But there are local solutions already working across the nation.

Recently, I spoke with my friend, Barbara Grimm-Marshall, a successful businesswoman with their family company Grimmway Farms.

For years her family funded college scholarships for the children of her employees, but every year applications for that scholarship were low.

She found that when kids in Arvin, CA were old enough to go to college, most were not ready. Committed to the belief that every child should have a bright future, she took action.

That is why, in 2011, Barbara took it upon herself to offer children in the community the opportunity to achieve a successful. She opened a charter school.

She had never run a school herself, so she did what we are trying to promote today; she replicated a successful school, Rocketship Charter School in San Jose.

After only 3 years, Grimmway Academy was a California Distinguished School whose students had the highest test scores in the district. Grimmway Academy is proof that new ideas and innovation works to help our children.

Sadly, the lack of educational opportunity exists in too many towns. We have an obligation to expand educational opportunities and school choice so that every child has the chance to attend a successful school.

I applaud my colleagues John Kline and George Miller for coming together and sponsoring this legislation.

Education transcends political boundaries, and this House will continue to work toward solutions to ensure the next generation, no matter their circumstance, is afforded every opportunity for a better life.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the retirement of a man who has dedicated much of his life to the educational system in Kern County.

Superintendent Don Carter recently announced his retirement after 38 years of service, serving as Kern High School District Superintendent over the past 10 years. A graduate of West High School, Don went on to earn his master's degree from California State University, Bakersfield and an Ed.D from the University of La Verne. In 1976, Don joined the teaching staff at Bakersfield High School as a math and science teacher before eventually becoming the school's assistant principal and principal. After serving as the district associate superintendent for instruction, he was promoted to Superintendent in 2004.

Though his tenure at Kern High School District is coming to an end, his impact will be long-lasting. Serving California's largest high school district, Don was responsible for the oversight of 18 high schools and over 3,700 employees. A strong advocate of academic achievement, Kern High School District's performance index improved every year under Don's tenure, including the significant improvement in the number of graduates that met entrance requirements for the University of California and California State University systems.

As a proud former student of Superintendent Carter, I know personally of his dedication and steadfast commitment to ensure that every student he taught, and every student within our high school district, had the opportunity to achieve academic success. On behalf of a grateful community, I am honored to thank Don Carter for his dedication to our youth and I wish him a well-deserved retirement.

Mr. Chair, I rise today in support of the Path to Prosperity budget.

Every day, millions of Americans are competing in a race with an economy that asks us to accept a new normal, an anemic growth, an Obama economy.

I was recently in a high school speaking of the challenge that America had, and a student asked me a question about it. I asked him did he play a sport. He happened to be on the swim team. I said: Let me give you an analogy of America competing worldwide by a swim meet. Picture America in a swim competition with every other country. Many times at the early years, after the 1980s, we would jump into the pool and we would swim and we would win. We would hang those championship banners out. In this new Obama economy, things changed, a stimulus spending. Well, that meant we had to add a weight belt, about 20 pounds. Then the tax increases came. We had to add more weight. An onslaught of regulation, pretty soon you are up to 100 pounds.

You know what? We jump in that pool and we don't always win. And nobody says take the weight belt off. They just say you just don't swim like you used to. Think about it. Since the recession, part-time employment has increased at the expense of full-time. Over 90 million Americans are out of the workforce all together; 46 million live in poverty.

You know, the CBO, Congressional Budget Office, now says the new natural rate for unemployment is 6 percent. That means 11 million Americans not working is somehow natural in America. That is what a weight belt will do for you. It will drown you.

Today is different. Today we are going to unshackle. We are going to take that weight belt off. We have a budget that creates a Tax Code that is simpler and fairer, one that let's you keep more money in your pocket and lets you invest differently, one that balances and takes away that debt of the weight belt, one that unshackles the energy--more jobs, cheaper fuel, more manufacturing jobs to be able to grow. We strengthen Medicare and Medicaid. So we take care of the current and the future. We plan to swim for years and compete for years in the future.

I tell you, today, there are two different directions: you can stay with this anemic growth or you can jump into a pool with a future brighter than we have seen before and one that we know that will hang a new banner of championship, that America will rise once again with the prosperity of a balanced budget, one that will take us into a future of strength.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the Bakersfield Christian High School Eagles football team, who courageously fought their way to its first California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Division IV State Football Championship Bowl Game this past December.

The Eagles utilized an exceptional team effort to get through their daunting season, finishing out with a record of 12 wins and 3 losses. Over the span of the 2013 season, Bakersfield Christian set an astonishing 37 new school records. But lost in this success was the adversity they faced in the beginning of the season. The Eagles started their regular season off with two tough consecutive losses, one of them being to their biggest rival. After their second loss, Coach Jerald Pierucci sat down with his small senior class and challenged them to provide the leadership the team needed to succeed. This proved to be a critical moment for the team, the figurative fork in the road that would define their season. The path they chose speaks volumes to the team's character as a whole. In the following games, the seniors truly embodied what it meant to be leaders, and the team rallied together as one unit, going undefeated all the way to the State Championship.

When asked to define his team, Coach Pierucci without hesitation replied with one word: selfless. He elaborated that the team was just as rich in role players as it was in playmakers. There was a solid foundation of players each of whom did their job on every play-- contributing to the success of their team. These were young men who personified the mantra of ``team first'' and never gave up in the face of adversity. Even when behind 20-0 in the Valley Championship game against a heavily-favored undefeated rival on a cold December evening, they kept working together and ultimately prevailed. This winning attitude and fierce determination displayed by the Eagles this season proved they earned the right to represent Southern California in the State Championship game.

I join our community in congratulating the coaches and players for their achievement. The 2013 Bakersfield Christian High School Eagles coaching staff includes: Head Coach Jerald Pierucci, Vince Aguilar, Roger Patterson, Tyler Hough, Mike Rodriguez, Sean Lozano, Rick Sotile, Nathan Munson, Larry Whitbey, Tom McCormack, and Ryan Clanton. The 2013 BCHS Eagles football team includes: Keith Blank, Donald Harris, Brad Western, Josh Jackson, Brandon Jones, Nathan DeJager, Tyler Lozano, Feike DeBoer, Kyle Pickinpaugh, Hayden Kuchta, Brock Duffield, John Fulce, Austin Duffield, Kobe Devries, Zach Balfanz, Matt Smith, Fernando Solis, Jordan Smith, Cameron Reeves, Devin Crabtree, Jonathan Loman, Steven Figures, Cole Wymore, Grant Bouma, Hayden Mazone, Chad Wielenga, John Martineau, Tyler Sweaney, Josh Mantle, West Williams, Brett Schuler, Lane Perey, Haiden Drake, Cole Kashwer, Ben Wind, DeAngelo Bragg, Noah Sheetz, Daniel Negron, Jacob Lanuza, Anthony Rodriguez, Jacob Mullins, Titus Goodman, Jack Chance, Carson Balfanz, Morgan Farmer, Brandt Oliver, Taeber Nylander, and William Crockett. You all have made our community proud! Go Eagles!

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 2575, the Save American Workers Act.

Mr. Speaker, working on an hourly wage is tough. I know this. I worked every single job in a deli I started 25 years ago. Working an hourly wage is an opportunity to start, to work hard, to impress, and to be able to move up; but in today's world, it is a little different.

Today, because of ObamaCare, you don't have the opportunity to work the extra hours. You don't have the opportunity to expand.

Mr. Speaker, I listened to another colleague on this floor who said small businesses up to 50 employees were exempt, so now, our law is saying: you have to stay small, you can't grow, you can't have that American Dream to be something bigger.

Mr. Speaker, this affects business, but it also affects the public sector as well. In every single district across this country, this is having a great deal of effect.

In my own hometown in Kern County, the board of supervisors no longer allows seasonal workers, such as seasonal firefighters, because they can't go beyond the time allowed.

My community college in my district no longer has that extra job for the students. The students packed the boardroom and wanted to know why we could no longer do this. They pointed to one bill, ObamaCare.

Those are the stories you hear, the stories you know about, but numbers don't lie.

So what have the numbers shown since this law has gone into effect?

Last December, the Department of Labor showed low wage workers clocked the shortest workweek on record, only 27.4 hours a week. That is lower than during the recession.

Today, we have an opportunity to change that. Today, we have an opportunity to unshackle this, so an individual can work more hours. An individual that maybe owns a business can give other people opportunities; and, yes, the barrier will not be there to make sure you are only small, but you can have the American Dream. You can grow.

Mr. Speaker, I ask all to join us and make it a bipartisan bill, when individuals have cosponsored this bill, to move America forward.

Mr. Chairman, in 2008 in an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, President Obama warned us that under his policies for energy, ``electricity rates will necessarily skyrocket.'' Now it appears with high electricity costs, that this is a promise that the President chose to keep.

Today, millions of Americans are suffering from one of the coldest winters in recent memory, and in some cases, the most expensive. In New York, some homes are seeing their heating bills double, but it doesn't have to be this way. The U.S. is currently enjoying a revolution in energy production, the energy that heats our homes and keeps us warm during the cold winter nights. Americans across the country should be celebrating this breakthrough. In an economy where the Nation's income today is lower than in the year 2000, abundant energy should provide a sense of relief to strained budgets, but because of this administration's policies, Americans are simply left out in the cold with their energy bills.

First, the Democrats tried cap-and-trade, but that failed in a Democrat-led Congress. Now this administration has proposed arguably the most expensive regulation ever by the EPA, one that would render the construction of any future coal power plant impossible through the mandating of technology that isn't readily attainable.

Today, coal accounts for 37 percent of total U.S. electricity production. The EPA's regulation will cost approximately $1,200 per household per year in lost income. That is $100 more a month. Most importantly, this regulation will cause the greatest amount of harm, lost jobs, diminished incomes, and higher electricity bills in areas where incomes are modest, as are the lifestyles of those who live there. It isn't the rich on Fifth Avenue or in Beverly Hills who will be impacted; it is the American working class. Communities like Indiana's Second District, home to our good friend, Congresswoman Jackie Walorski; or Ohio's Fourth District, home to our friend Jim Jordan; or the First District, home to Chairman Ryan; or even Wisconsin's Second or Iowa's First District, both represented by my colleagues on the other side. All will be unnecessarily hurt by this regulation.

For all the talk from my colleagues on the other side of the aisle about fairness, this regulation is profoundly unfair. The Electricity Security and Affordability Act sponsored by my friend, Ed Whitfield, rejects the administration's back door attacks on America's energy bills. This legislation restores opportunity and fairness by ensuring more American paychecks do not unnecessarily go to expanding electricity and heating costs.

Mr. Chairman, at a time when energy production is booming, the cost per family should be dropping, not rising. I suppose the President actually held true to another promise: he has promised an all-the-above energy policy. I

had hoped that meant increasing energy production from all sources, not increasing prices on all consumers.

I urge my colleagues to reject the President's plan for higher energy costs and support this legislation.

Mr. Chairman, I want to thank Congressman Valadao, Congressman Nunes, and all of the delegation for their work when it comes to water.

The news from California is not bright. The current news: our drought is the worst in a century. Governor Brown has declared a state of emergency because of the drought. Our water storage is at near empty. Farmland is going fallow. Drinking water is threatened. The State actually says in its latest report that 17 communities can go dry in 4 months. In the absence of God our options are limited to ease this pain. It didn't have to be this way. But why are we here today and why are we debating this bill?

Well, without action farms are going to go fallow. So what does that mean for the rest of the Nation? A lot of people don't look at what happens throughout California and the Central Valley. Most of the produce is produced there for the Nation and the world. If you just look at a few: 94 percent of all tomatoes, 93 percent of all broccoli, 89 percent of all carrots, 78 percent of all lettuce. So that means prices will go up.

It also means you are going to buy that produce somewhere else. You are going to buy it overseas: maybe China, maybe Mexico. What about the food safety? More importantly, what about those jobs? What about those workers?

Just a few short years ago, unemployment in some of these cities were 40 percent. It is already more than 10. The worst part of all this is it didn't have to be this way. We could plan for it.

I have heard colleagues talk about this, Mr. Chairman, that back in 1994 we actually had a bipartisan agreement: the Bay-Delta Accord. It was more than just Republicans and Democrats agreeing. It was environmentalists, farmers, water users. Everybody came to an agreement. But that bond was broken.

The reason we debate this is water is so precious. Most of the snowpack comes from the north and travels down to the south. We have a State water project that--which is a little ironic--Governor Brown, when his father was Governor built more than 50 years ago. There have always been allocations to send it down south. This year they made history. In the history of the water project, the allocation is zero-- zero.

When you are growing up you study history. There are always those Aesop's Fables. Do you remember Aesop? He was that slave in ancient Greece that would tell these tales to teach about a moral lesson.

One of those fables talked about the ant and the grasshopper, where the ant during summertime, because he knew winter would come, would go out and work hard and store food for the winter. Not the grasshopper. He would be idle out there in the summer enjoying life, and hopefully nothing bad ever happened.

Well, over the years, government regulation has made it harder. Government regulation has changed the Bay-Delta Accord. It is safe to say, environmentalists have sued. Environmentalists have decided that fish are more important than those who are unemployed; that maybe they come before the individual.

What does that mean? Since 2007, the State Water Project has lost 2.6 million acre feet because of these policies. Now, what does that mean, 2.6 million acre feet? That means that is enough for the annual water needs of every resident in Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago combined.

Where did that water go? Out to the ocean. Why would we send it out to the ocean when we could store it for the drought that we knew would happen?

There is nothing that illustrates this broken system more than just 3 years ago. You have all seen those photos that people have shown down here on TV of California when it had a snowpack and California today when it is all dry. Just 3 years ago, do you know what that snowpack was? More than 170 percent. Boy, that would be a good year to be an ant, that would be a good year to send it down, that would be a good year to store for today so those communities would not go dry or that land would not go fallow. That wasn't the case. Do you know what the allocation was when we had 170 percent of snowpack? Eighty percent.

Do you know what is unjust in all of this? This year when we get zero percent, or when we got 80 percent of allocation, the bill was always the same: you paid 100 percent, regardless of what allocation you got.

What about property rights? What about responsibility? What about a broken system?

So what does this bill actually do? Well, first and foremost, it puts families before fish. It goes back to an agreement that everybody agreed upon, and it moves us in a place where we can prepare.

Standing defenselessly in the face of future droughts is not a noble gesture. It is actually insanity.

Today, this House will act again, because we would not be in the dryer place that we are today had the Senate taken up the bill we acted on in the last Congress. Why? Because this House believes and understood and learned the lessons of the fables before--that we prepare. But the Senate, in the grasshopper style, stood idly by.

Our Senators--California is pretty powerful in the Senate. Mr. Chairman, I will say California has two Senators that are chairs of committees. There was an opportunity to act.

What is unique in this form of government and what we have, the greatest in the world, we have two Houses. It doesn't mean both Houses have to agree at the very beginning. It does mean that you take action and show where you stand, just like the House did 2 years ago. The Senate took no stance, so how do we know where they stand?

Well, we will act again. The Senate needs to act, show us where they stand, go to conference, and stand up for the families of California. This has gone on too long. We do not have to be in the situation we stand in today. There are families that did not have to be unemployed had we acted in the Senate, based upon what we did. There are communities that would not have had to go dry had we acted before.

So enough of rhetoric, enough of the fights; the time is now. As the Sun sets today, a bill will be out of this House, but still nothing is even introduced in the Senate.

Mr. Chairman, I implore, don't make California hurt anymore.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the Bakersfield High School Drillers football team, who took home their seventh state football title after a triumphant win at the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Division I State Football Championship Bowl Game this past December.

Drillers football has long been synonymous with winning in California state high school football history, with 36 section championships since its first unofficial game 120 years ago. In a magical 12-year span, the Drillers won six state championships, with the sixth title win coming in 1927. That same year, the state playoff system was disbanded, resurrected 79 years later in 2006 with the establishment of the state bowl championship. With the 56-26 win against Del Oro High on December 20, 2013, a new and modern era of Driller state champions was born.

Winning this championship was a team effort on both the offensive and defensive side of the football. This historic victory, however, was also the product of months of hard work and skill, refined by grueling summer practices and an unequivocal determination from every player, coach, and support staff to not only reach the state championship bowl, but to take home the trophy. This team overcame early obstacles, but with their eyes on the prize, charged through the season to cap off an amazing 13-2 record and secured wins by an average margin of victory of several touchdowns.

I commend Drillers Head Coach Paul Golla and his coaching staff for their leadership and ability to mold their students into champions and uphold the Drillers' century-old legacy as California's winningest high school football team. Serving the Drillers for nine years, Coach Golla brought all the players together so each one not only knew his individual responsibilities to cohesively form elaborate offensive and defensive units that scored at will and stifled their opponent's offense. The same can be said for the team's senior class leaders who, through their unique ability to lead their teammates, made game-winning adjustments and executed each play to the highest level.

As a Driller myself, I join our community in congratulating the coaches and players for their achievement. The 2013 Division I State Championship Driller coaching staff includes: Head Coach Paul Golla, Darren Carr, Terry

Chapman, DeMarcus Clear, Jay Durant, Adam Levinson, Johnny Maran, Lance McCullah, Eduardo Romero, Craig Buckey, Paxton Garner, Rick Mosher, Bill Solan, Devon Pitts, Kirk Erickson, and Chris Figueroa. The 2013 CIF Division I State Championship Driller football team includes: Derrick Vickers, Lameshio Hill, Asauni Rufus, Johnathon Malone, Darias Dallas, Nate Stancil, Amone Gragg, Jeremiah Reddick, Coleman Olivas, Joseph Conley, Joshua Maran, Kevin Hayes, Ryder Dilley, Noah Holley, Desmond Stancil, Kira Burton, Keayr Gragg, Eddie Sanchez, Marcus Watkins, Deion Nobles, Anthony Mackey, Desmon McGhee, Bryson Briggs, Alex Fulmer, Ben Sanchez, Darrious Eaton, Nick Marchetti, Nigel Flores, Brian Douglas, Marcus Bruce, Patrick Liles, Jake Vasquez, Chris Sierra, Chris Agtang, Ethan Carter, Patrick Crowley, David Bonilla, Dimas Ramos, Greyson Burt, Dillon Littles, Nigel Brooks, Paulie Salazar, Brenden Hacker, Albert Salas, Joshua Nunez, Benjamin O'Bannon, Seth Valdes, Jordan Beltran, Julian Sanders, Anastacio Barrientos, Fletcher Dilley, Dyllan Guillermo, Cassidy Johnson, McKenzie McCoy, Robert Trujillo, Sergio Barriga, Daniel Schoene, Ulunder Martin, and Tyler Alvarez. You all have made our community so proud. Once a Driller, Always a Driller.

Mr. Chairman, I want to thank you for your work, and I appreciate your willingness and the opportunity to bring accountability, as many of you know, to the challenge that we have in California and the devastation of the drought, but what is wreaking havoc throughout the Valley--which is the breadbasket--we find many times much of this money is not being held accountable and the lack of water that is not being supplied throughout California. We appreciate your work on this.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the Health Exchange Security and Transparency Act. The reason why we are passing this important legislation today is that credible and documented fears have been raised that this hastily constructed ObamaCare exchange Web site could jeopardize the security of our most sensitive personal information.

One of the many reasons so many worry about ObamaCare is that it injects government and government bureaucrats into the most personal sphere of our lives, our health care, in new and alarming ways. Nothing could turn a life more upside down quickly than identity theft. It is our duty, as Members of Congress, to do everything

in our power to protect and inform Americans about these potentially devastating events.

I am confident that this concern is one of the law's most negative consequences that both sides of the aisle can come together and agree must be addressed. Absent its full repeal, instilling this type of transparency and accountability into ObamaCare is a worthy first step. I urge my Democratic friends to join with us today.

Mr. Speaker, first I want to thank our chairman of the Budget Committee for showing the leadership, finding the common ground, but actually moving this entire House.

When I first came to Congress, debate was always about more spending, always about what would the future hold. Ever since the Republicans took the majority, within our first 4 months, we produced a budget that put us on to a path of a much different approach. It was a path led by our chairman and a path that would actually grow jobs and move us in a new direction.

The challenge we had was in the Senate; there was no budget. The last time, since I have been here that the Senate produced a budget, the iPad wasn't introduced. But this House moved No Budget, No Pay, and the Senate began to move, but they came up with a different number than we had. We had a stalemate on the floor that the country was frustrated with, that we were frustrated with; and we knew that this was not the way Congress was designed.

So this agreement moves us in a much different place. Every year that Congress failed to pass a budget, it ceded its power, intended by our Founders to be held by Congress, to the executive branch.

As House Republicans continue to fight for more limited government that empowers the individual and makes smarter spending decisions, the standard set by this agreement will be critically important.

The budget agreement takes steps to reform mandatory spending that starts out slow but compounds over the years and results in real and growing spending reductions year over year. It also moves us closer to more responsible entitlement reforms that lead to a balanced budget, paying down our debt, and a sustainable economic future.

Today is a unique day. Today is a day that is a step in the right direction, and it shows the common ground that not only this body but the Senate can take as well. I thank all those involved, and I ask for a ``yes'' vote.