Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor Bernard ``Ben'' Sacco, a longtime Bakersfield entrepreneur, community leader, and friend who passed away on Tuesday, June 23, 2009, at the age of 87.

Ben Sacco was born in a small town outside Salerno, Italy, and immigrated to the United States in 1935. Sacco moved to California after serving his country in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II, and worked in agriculture in Hanford. In 1947, he and Morris Rosenberg founded Sierra Bag Company in Bakersfield to produce containers for local growers.

A devoted recycling advocate, Ben also founded Sierra Iron and Metal Company to recycle salvaged metals in 1959. Eventually, it became Sierra Recycling and Demolition, which cleans up land for redevelopment. On a visit to Italy, Sacco visited a scrap yard near Venice and discovered a unique machine--a mobile baler that could process twice as much scrap metal in a day as its U.S. counterparts. He promptly bought one, and at an age when many are considering retirement, Sacco embarked on a new career equipment vendor. He introduced the combination shear/baler in the United States in 1987, and soon Sierra International Machinery expanded into a major industry. Earlier this year, the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries honored Ben Sacco with a lifetime achievement award for his dedication to Sierra International Machinery, LLC. Adding to his list of accomplishments, Sacco founded the Italian Heritage Dante organization in 1996.

Ben Sacco is survived by his wife, Eunice Sacco; sons John, Anthony, and Phillip; daughters Angela, Aragon, and Laura; and six grandchildren. Devoted to serving his community in a variety of ways, Ben's death is a great loss for the Bakersfield community, but his legacy of dedication to his family, friends, and businesses will always be remembered.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor Dr. Larry E. Reider, a resident and community leader from Bakersfield, California, on his retirement as Kern County Superintendent of Schools and to recognize his remarkable and distinguished leadership while serving the students of Kern county. Over the last 44 years, Larry has been instrumental in advancing Kern County's public education system.

Larry was born in the State of Washington and was raised on his family's farm. In 1965, he earned his bachelor's degree from Central Washington State University and made the move to Kern County to teach in the Arvin Union School District. A dedicated math teacher, Larry spent 19 years in Arvin schools' classrooms and later as a school administrator. He also earned advanced degrees from the California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo and the University of Southern California.

In 1984, Larry joined the Office of the Kern County Superintendent of Schools as a district advisory consultant. Recognizing his dedication and commitment to the schools, students, and parents of the community, the Kern County Board of Education tapped him to be the Kern County Superintendent of Schools in 1999.

Since becoming Kern County Superintendent of Schools, Larry has been integral to a plethora of local initiatives and projects designed to enhance the reading, writing, and mathematical skills of elementary school students in the county. For instance, he partnered with the Bakersfield Californian to develop the Community Reading Project, which places volunteer reading tutors throughout various classrooms in the county to aid second graders in becoming more proficient readers. Additionally, he developed the Kern Reading Collaborative, an association that analyzes which reading programs are productive and investigates ways those programs can reach more students. Larry also established the Do The Math program, a bi-weekly television homework help channel where teachers assist students in both English and Spanish with their math problems both on and off the air, as well as Ready to Start, a summer pilot program that prepares pre-kindergartners to learn more efficiently as they begin their academic career.

As a former teacher, Larry was always cognizant that highly qualified and effective teachers in the classroom are the best recipe for successful students. To that end, he co-chaired a task force which formulated various approaches to recruit and retain highly qualified teachers in Kern County schools and get them in the classroom. This initiative has been highly successful, and our schools have some of the best and brightest teachers in the region. He also recognized that new generations of students are exceedingly technology savvy, and so opened a learning center that helps teachers integrate technology into the classroom to better teach and engage their students. This not only helps teachers be more effective, it also helps ensure their students continue to develop the skills necessary to be successful in the technology-driven workplace of today.

Not only has Larry harnessed cutting-edge technology in the classroom, he has also been an advocate to use technology to help keep our environment clean. Under Larry's leadership, Kern County schools are in the process of converting their current diesel school bus fleet to clean burning Compressed Natural Gas (CNG). More than half of the diesel buses have already been replaced. As part of this initiative, in 2006, the Superintendent of Schools opened a CNG fueling station, which serves Kern County school buses and is open to the public. As Kern County unfortunately has some of the dirtiest air in the United States, this initiative is extremely important to helping clean the air in the Central Valley.

Larry is also active in several community organizations, including the Bakersfield Chamber of Commerce, Kern County Network for Children, United Way, Rotary Club of Bakersfield, and Vision 2020. He has also been honored by several local and state organizations over the years for his leadership by organizations such as the Community Action Partnership of Kern, California State University-Bakersfield School of Education, Association of California School Administrators, California Teachers Association, Kern Council of Governments, and Kern Reading Association.

Larry exemplifies how one can serve their community with great enthusiasm, fortitude, and dedication. Over the years, I have enjoyed working with Larry and always found his perpetual optimism infectious. There was never an obstacle he did not challenge head-on in his amiable, but no-nonsense style, and fight for the best interests of the students of Kern County. After 44 years in public service, I know that Larry looks forward to spending more time with his wife, Sandy, a retired junior high language arts and drama teacher, and his daughter Mikhail. I know that Larry will be missed in the Kern County public education system, and I salute his lifetime of service and wish him the best as he begins this new chapter in his life.

Madam Speaker, pursuant to the Republican Leadership guidelines on earmarks, I am submitting the following information regarding earmarks I requested that were included as part of H.R. 2996, the Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010.

Requesting Member: Congressman Kevin McCarthy

Bill Number: H.R. 2996

Account: Environmental Protection Agency, STAG Water and Wastewater Infrastructure

Legal Name of Requesting Entity: City of Ridgecrest, California

Address of Requesting Entity: 100 West California Avenue, Ridgecrest, California 93555

Description of Request: $400,000 is included for the City of Ridgecrest, California, to help fund Phase I (planning, environmental studies, engineering design and construction monitoring, and legal and administrative issues) of the city's new wastewater treatment facility. Ridgecrest, located in northeast Kern County, serves as a support community to the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division at China Lake (NAWCWD), and receives and treats all of the base's wastewater, which accounts for more than one-third of the water treated at the existing facility. As the existing plant has limited capacity and with additional personnel expected on the naval base in the future, the current wastewater treatment facility will reach and exceed its capacity requiring another treatment plant in the next few years. The city recognizes the challenges it faces on this front and is proactively working to address this issue before acceptable discharge limitations are exceeded at the current plant.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of legislation I introduced, along with my colleagues Congressman Wally Herger, Congressman Dan Lungren, Congressman Tom McClintock, Congressman Buck McKeon, Congressman Devin Nunes, and Congressman George Radanovich, which would create four new permanent district court judgeships and one temporary district court judgeship in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, as well as designate Bakersfield, California, as a place of holding court for the Eastern District of California.

For the year ending September 30, 2008, according to the most recent data available from the Administrative Office of the United States Courts, the Eastern District of California had 1,305 pending cases per judge, a 50.2% increase since 2003, and weighted filings of 970 per judge, a 26.5% increase since 2003, which is substantially above the weighted filing standard used by the Judicial Conference of the United States to determine when additional judgeships are needed. Moreover, in 2008, the Eastern District of California had the highest number of pending cases and weighted filings per judge of all other district courts in the Ninth Judicial Circuit, including the district courts that serve Los Angeles and San Francisco.

In the 2005 Biennial Judgeship Survey, the Judicial Conference of the United States recommended four additional permanent judgeships for the Eastern District of California. Specifically, the report states:

``The Court is requesting three permanent judgeships and conversion of the temporary judgeship to a permanent position based on a steadily increasing and consistently high weighted caseload. The Judicial Conference has recommended conversion of the temporary position since 1997, and also recommended one permanent judgeship and one temporary judgeship in 1997 and 1999, two permanent judgeships since 2001, and three permanent judgeships in the 2003 survey.''

More recently, during the March 2009 biannual meeting, the Judicial Conference voted to ask Congress to create sixty-three new federal judgeships, fifty-one of which would be for district courts. Within this proposal, the Judicial Conference recommended the Eastern District of California receive four additional permanent judgeships and one temporary judgeship. My bill seeks to implement the Judicial Conference's recommendations for the Eastern District of California, which includes at its southern-most point, Kern County, which I represent.

My bill would also designate Bakersfield, California, as a place of holding court for the Eastern District of California. Such a designation does not require or imply a district court be located in Bakersfield. This designation would simply make Bakersfield eligible to have the Eastern District of California locate a district court judge there should caseload require. Under current law, the City of Fresno, the City of Redding, and the City of Sacramento are all currently designated as a place of holding court for the Eastern District of California.

The current population of Bakersfield is 315,837, which is similar in size to Fresno (pop. 470,508) and Sacramento (pop. 460,242), and significantly larger than Redding (pop. 89,780). That said, Bakersfield is a fast growing city in California and, due to affordable housing and its proximity to Los Angeles, is expected to continue to grow in the future. To that end, the City's population is projected to grow by more than 14 percent to over 557,000 by 2015 and Kern County is projected to grow by more than 24 percent to nearly one million over the next decade, growth well above the 8.7 percent national population growth rate projected by the U.S. Census Bureau for 2010 to 2020.

Furthermore, Kern and Inyo Counties currently account for almost 23% of the Fresno division civil filings and 9% of Eastern District civil filings. As these counties continue to grow, it is reasonable to assume that filings will increase, and this designation provides the Eastern District of California the flexibility to locate a district judge in Bakersfield in the future.

In terms of geography, the Eastern District of California is the largest judicial district of the four federal district court districts in California, encompassing over 87,000 square miles (34 of California's 58 counties) and almost 600 miles long. According to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of California, this judicial district is the eighth most populous and physically the tenth largest of all 94 U.S. District Court judicial districts in the United States. Thus, travel within the sprawling Eastern District is time- consuming, not to mention expensive.

Furthermore, there is no major metropolitan area designated as a place of holding court in the southern region of the Eastern District of California. Redding is located in the north of the judicial district, Sacramento is located in the north central area of the district, and Fresno is located in the south central area of the district. A designation for Bakersfield would make the largest city in the southern part of this judicial district at minimum eligible to have a district court judge in the future.

The Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees ``the right to a speedy and public trial.'' In order to preserve this constitutional right in the Eastern District of California, I fully support the Judicial Conference's judgeship recommendations, as well as making Bakersfield, California, eligible as a place of holding court. My bill would ensure the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California has the requisite number of judges to execute its duties in a timely manner for the citizens the Court serves, ensure the Court has the resources to adjudicate current and future cases, which are only expected to increase, and ensure the equitable administration of justice in California.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Maryland, the majority leader, for the purpose of announcing next week's schedule.

I thank the gentleman.

And I would just like to ask: he noticed two appropriations bills for next week, the Homeland Security and the

Interior. I was just wondering if the gentleman could tell us what he believes next week's process will be in terms of amendments.

And I yield.

I thank my friend for expressing the desire to get the work done in this House, and I will tell you from this side of the aisle, that is our desire as well.

Knowing when we talk about time, we believe we can get our work done on time as well. But having only been in this House 2\1/2\ years and seeing bills come to the floor and knowing, even when we brought the stimulus, the whole idea about time, that soon we found out, because somebody rushed the bill to the floor, that there were AIG bonuses in the bill at the time. I always think the American people believe it's okay to have some checks and balances; it's okay to have debate on the floor; it's okay to have some amendments asked upon the bill process.

And I ask my good friend who brought up the number of amendments, the thing that I would recall, though, this is in a world of preprinting, and when you deal with preprinting of amendments, that you have to submit them earlier, there are numerous ones you submit but they will not come to the floor. Much like when we started the debate this week, we did not enter the first Republican one until six of them had already been denied. So even though a quote will be named of a hundred and some amendments, that's not the number that we'll take up.

And when we talked about the ability of having an agreement on time, that came to pass after the bill had started. And I would think in the idea of making sure that the best products come out of this floor that a time idea would not be until you start the bill. Look to where the process is, and how would it be wrong to have a debate?

When I just watched the legislative branch today, we only had one amendment that we all agreed to. We had one chance of a motion to recommit, which we were able to save the taxpayers $100,000, where 374 people came together and said, yes, we could do better, that we don't have to settle for good; we could settle for great. But how much more money could we have saved had we had that opportunity to offer it?

And one thing I would say to the gentleman is if we did have an open rule, as it was before, and we talked about maybe taking away the preprinting, maybe we could be a little faster in the process. And I think looking at the history of what happened this week, we could have gotten it through faster in an open rule.

So I ask the gentleman, as he talks about having a closed structure in the process, is there any assurance that we know you're going to agree to that plan or maybe even have an open rule as we progress?

You had said earlier that you were looking to----

Well, the assurance, will you stay with that, or is there any ability to open it up, to have an open rule?

Just to clarify to my good friend that on the other side of the aisle in the other house, they had passed an amendment to deny the right for those AIG bonuses. And if I recall when I was sitting on this floor, those lights were all green saying ``yes'' to the resolution, that they would have 48 hours, the American people, to see that bill. But in the short timeframe, within the next day, that was not to be true. That was not the agreement that transpired on this floor that, yes, it was handed out after midnight and, yes, we voted on it the next day.

I will gladly yield to my friend.

It was the motion to instruct. And one thing I would say----

If I may just finish, the one thing I was asking for was really for the American people to be able to see it, be able to read it and be able to understand it.

Gladly, to my friend.

I thank the gentleman.

One thing I would say as we continue forward, if I could just finish with this discussion, if it is your intention to close down and continue to have a preprinting, is there a number in the gentleman's mind that he could tell this side of the aisle that the Republicans would be able to have a number of amendments just to have a check and balance for the American people when we talk about the billions of dollars that will be spent in these appropriation bills, even though we're being denied the amount of time that we can debate it?

I yield to my friend.

Do you have a number in mind?

I do appreciate the decades of service you have provided, and, again, I say I have only been here 2\1/2\ years. But as I always studied and watched Congress and understood the idea of a filibuster, never did I think a filibuster was 20 minutes. Never did I think when you came to the floor, on the very first amendment a Republican took up, that in 20 minutes somehow it got called a filibuster.

And from one perspective on this side of the aisle, please understand, you set the rules. Nowhere did we not abide by the rules. You asked for preprinting; we provided our amendments preprinted. You said to go along with the debate; we got into the debate. We were into 20 minutes. And I think the American people like the idea of debating on this floor.

But if I may move on, there is just one final question on this. The reason I asked you about the number of amendments on the Republican side, you've got to understand the questioning of why I would. We just took up a legislative branch, and you said you weren't sure about how many Republican amendments there could be in the future, but to my good friend, there were none. There wasn't one Republican amendment. So our ability within the rules as they're constructed, we have one motion to recommit, and you know what happened? 374 people in this Chamber joined hands together. That doesn't come around very often to save the taxpayers $100,000.

So think for one moment what the American people would save in a time of crisis, and you look in my district where it's 15.9 percent unemployment, if they see a few more dollars saved, it helps them a great deal.

But if I may move on, to my good friend from Maryland, I would like to ask him about cap-and-trade. The Speaker has announced and I have read a lot of what she has said about if you don't finish this bill in Agriculture and Ways and Means by a certain date, you lose the right of authority. And the Speaker had a goal of considering the cap-and-trade bill on the floor prior to the July 4th process. Does my friend believe that time will still be the case, that we will see the bill before July the 4th?

If I just may follow up on that, should I believe what I read in the paper, that even though this bill has three different committees of jurisdiction with the Agriculture and the Ways and Means bill, if it was not taken up by a certain date, would they lose the jurisdiction right to take up the bill before it came to the floor, or will we expect it to come out of those committees before the floor?

I thank the gentleman.

And if I may move on to another subject. During the debate of the war supplemental, one major issue was dropped from the bill. The bipartisan provision to prevent release of detainee photos was removed from the final version, knowing the release of these photos could create greater tension in the very region that our troops are now fighting. As the gentleman knows, the Senate unanimously passed the Lieberman bill yesterday, preventing the release of detainee photos. I am just wondering why the bill didn't come to the floor today to protect our troops.

Would you consider that to be brought up next week?

I thank the gentleman. And knowing that and with the Senators knowing that as well, they still passed it yesterday unanimously.

Do you believe we could take it up next week?

I look forward to that. I appreciate that.

Well, I would never bet against you. I appreciate the opportunity to bring that up.

And to my good friend from Maryland, knowing that this is the last colloquy before the Fourth of July break, as we look forward to when we come back, there are a lot of big topics coming before this House. I will tell you from a personal level, it was a little disturbing on some of the items I'm reading about. Because in this House on this side of the aisle, I participated really for the first time coming back this year of inviting our President to our conference, inviting President Obama to the conference because we wanted to work in a bipartisan manner. We worked on the idea of the stimulus bill where we got together and we created ideas that he asked for, and we gave it to him. We could create twice as many jobs with half as much money, scored by his own administration. And when I look forward, one thing that we did early on was, this leadership on this side of the House signed a letter to the President, talking about, we want to work together on health care. We want to find common ground. We want to make sure that all Americans have access to health care. We want to make sure that we solve this problem. And in doing that, we even put together our own working group. We set out our principles, and we continue to put them forward. And one of the concerns I had when I tried to find information from the other side of the aisle--I would go to the President's Web page. First there were eight items; and as we got closer, it would get down to three items. They were actually taking things off the Web site. But then when I read in the newspaper Politico where people are being directed on your side of the aisle not to talk to Republicans on the health care issue--I don't know if you read that quote, but I can provide it to you. And then when I hear of other people that are outside of these Chambers working on it, being told not to talk to Republicans or they would not be put in the room, I'm just wondering if there's a chance that that behavior will change and that we will have the opportunity to work together, that we will have the opportunity for our ideas to be presented. That is something the American people would want, that we could work in a bipartisan--much like earlier when a Republican produced the motion to recommit, and 374 people came together to save the taxpayers $100,000.

I yield to my friend from Maryland.

Yes, we have.

Well, I thank the gentleman. The only thing I would say, having been in that caucus, the President came to the caucus that we had invited him to prior to our retreat because we wanted to speak to this President before. And I will tell you, knowing that these are closed-door sessions, but this is probably one of the best caucuses I had been to. I thought it was very honest, open, talked about the issue, discussed the issue. There were times when the President disagreed with us. He said, I philosophically disagree. But other times he said, You know what, that's a good idea. Let's work on that. But as the President left that caucus, the other side introduced the bill, so in essence in part we felt crushed with the opportunity to even work in a bipartisan manner. But we continued along the trail where we put the working group together, and we didn't go out and score the bill our way. We took the President's scoring, which will tell you how many jobs and how much money it would cost; and our focus was on small business and job creation. It created twice as many jobs with half the amount of money. Our whip, Mr. Eric Cantor, personally handed it to the President; and the President said, This isn't crazy at all.

So we, on this side of the aisle, really look forward to working in a bipartisan manner and especially after seeing the scoring on the latest health care bill from the Democratic side, where it would only help 15 million of those uninsured but costs more than $1 trillion, knowing that that does not solve the problem, but continues to cost taxpayers tremendous amounts of money. I appreciate your assurance that maybe the attitude has changed, that the quote from Congressman Jim Cooper to the Politico where he was told not to work with Republicans, that that will change. I appreciate your work on that and the words you have said today.

Gladly.

Well, I appreciate the gentleman because when I was sitting here on the floor, and I saw 17 of your Members join with everyone voting ``no,'' the bipartisan support, that there was a better way, that there was an opportunity. That kind of goes back to the whole debate about amendments. I always thought, coming to this floor, that maybe the power of the idea should win, and no one should be afraid of an idea or an amendment, that we would actually be better. But I think the opportunity to spend time with the gentleman--and I appreciate it if some Members on your side thought differently in the past, that we can get the message out. I appreciate the work that you have done.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to support S. 614, a bill to award a Congressional Gold Medal to the Women Airforce Service Pilots, and to honor all the Women Airforce Service Pilots, or WASP, especially three who live in Lancaster, California in my district. Flora Belle Reece, Irma ``Babe'' Story, and Marguerite ``Ty'' Killen are perfect examples of why this intrepid group of women deserve the honor they are receiving today.

I was privileged to join the Mojave Chamber of Commerce in honoring these three women at a special May 11th luncheon. It was a pleasure to recognize these three amazing pilots who dedicated themselves to a dangerous mission when their country needed them.

Flora Belle Reece learned to fly before she could drive so she could join the WASP. Reece primarily flew the AT-6, but also the PT-19, PT- 17, BT-13, and B-26, and she often tested aircraft that had been repaired. She was assigned to Foster Field, Texas, and there she discovered an affinity for the P-38 Lightning, often visiting with the aircraft's crew chief; she was able to fly in one in 2004 during a commemorative flight.

Irma ``Babe'' Story grew up in the Antelope Valley with her brother, Tom, hanging out at the local airport running errands, and eventually learning to fly at Antelope Valley College. Story received her pilot's license at the age of 19 in June 1941, and worked at Lockheed's Vega aircraft factory in Burbank until joining the WASP program in 1943. She flew the AT-6 and Cessna UC-78, and later the B-26.

Marguerite ``Ty'' Killen learned to fly as a 15-year-old in high school and received her commercial and flight instructor ratings when she was 19. Killen was a student at the University of Arizona when she found out that the WASP age requirement was dropped to 19, and so she signed up for WASP training and graduated in August 1944. She flew a variety of aircraft, including the Stearman PT-17, AT-6 advanced trainer, Beechcraft AT-11, the Vultee BT-13, and was a copilot in a B- 24.

These women, and all those who stepped up to serve when their country needed them, are deserving of our thanks and admiration. I am pleased to support this legislation to recognize their efforts with a Congressional Gold Medal.

Offered By: Mr. McCarthy of California

Amendment No. 33: Page 68, line 19, insert ``(increased

by $50,000,000)'' after ``$3,293,200,000''.

Page 78, line 17, insert ``(reduced by $50,000,000)''

after ``$440,000,000''.

Page 78, line 17, insert ``(reduced by $50,000,000)''

after ``$414,400,000''.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of House Resolution 411, a resolution I introduced that honors the goals and ideals of the Intermediate Space Challenge at the Mojave Air and Space Port located in my district in Mojave, California.

Mojave Air and Space Port has a long history of firsts, from Burt and Dick Rutan's collaboration on the Voyager around-the-world flight in 1986 to 2004's flight of SpaceShipOne, the first privately funded manned spacecraft.

Nearby are Edwards Air Force Base and China Lake Naval Weapons Center, which are cutting-edge research and testing facilities that are continuing to push the envelope. In fact, when I visit the National Air and Space Museum here in Washington, D.C., I feel at home. There are so many aircraft from my district, like SpaceShipOne, Voyager, Chuck Yeager's Glamorous Glennis that broke the sound barrier, and the X-15, which, incidentally, we celebrated the 50th anniversary of the X-15's first flight yesterday.

The Intermediate Space Challenge started in 2005 under the direction of Marie Walker. Marie is the CEO of Fiberset, a Mojave company that manufactures composite products and components. She saw an opportunity in and around Mojave to bring together fourth, fifth and sixth-grade students with aerospace leaders to educate them and inspire them to become the next generation of aerospace pioneers. I am proud to recognize their hard work on this fifth anniversary year of the program, and I appreciate being able to participate.

Marie Walker and all those who have been instrumental in organizing and executing the Intermediate Space Challenge recognized the opportunities to grab the attention of our students through the Intermediate Space Challenge and get them interested in science and engineering.

Students work in teams to write an essay, create a banner, and then build and design a rocket. They get assistance from high school students as mentors, so the program engages students from multiple age groups. The teams of fourth, fifth and sixth-graders then compete both on rocket performance and on a team spirit. Paralleling the X-Prize's requirement for a privately funded manned spacecraft to go up into space twice in two weeks, students' rockets make two flights.

During the course of the events, the students hear from special guest speakers. Students have heard from aviation pioneers Burt and Dick Rutan and the SpaceShipOne astronauts in past years. Through the words and actions of these real, live aerospace heroes, students can see that the opportunities are limitless.

I appreciate the support of Chairman Miller and Ranking Member McKeon, who are also original cosponsors, and my colleague Jim Costa, who has always been supportive of the activities at the Mojave Air and Space Port.

Congratulations to all the students who have participated in this event. I look forward to many more years of successful student rocket launches, and with that, I am proud to support and bring this resolution to the floor.

Mr. Speaker, during final consideration of H.R. 31, I inadvertently voted ``yea'' on rollcall 297. I intended to vote ``nay.''

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor a leading small business in our community, Dewar's Family Candy and Ice Cream Parlor, which is celebrating 100 years of operation in Bakersfield, California this weekend.

James H. Dewar started this family business in 1909 with a belief in quality ingredients no matter the cost. He felt that his customers should get the same quality every time they tasted a Dewar's chew, and they have been for the past 100 years. Dewar's is original from the bottom up; they still grind their own nuts, and make their own ice cream, ice milk, and peanut butter. The same recipes are being used by the current keepers of the legacy, Michael Dewar and Heather Dewar Cook, grandchildren of James Dewar.

I have been going to Dewar's my whole life, and particularly enjoyed a quick trip to Dewar's after school when I attended Bakersfield High School down the street. My children, Connor and Meghan, join my wife Judy and me in enjoying Dewar's on a regular basis in the same old- fashioned ice cream parlor we enjoyed in our youth. I always order a George's Special--that combination of homemade vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce and banana in a milkshake that cannot be

beat. Dewar's chews are popular snacks in my office, and a wonderful way to share a little piece of Bakersfield.

Dewar's is a keystone of our small business community that measures success in its loyalty from generations of local customers. I thank Dewar's for its 100 years of tasty service to the people of Bakersfield and wish them the very best in its next 100 years.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to my good friend and gentleman from Atlanta, Georgia, for the purpose of announcing next week's schedule.

Reclaiming my time, if I may ask my colleague, knowing that Congress is in session only for 3 more weeks before we break for Memorial Day and having just heard next week's schedule, I wondered if my colleague might elaborate on the last 2 weeks in May what we would be expecting in the House.

I yield to the gentleman.

Reclaiming my time, if I may elaborate with the gentleman from Georgia.

You said a war supplemental. I would wonder, would there be any benchmarks in this bill, and would there be any non-war-related spending in this bill as well?

Reclaiming my time, if I may further ask, is it your intention to put any non-war spending in this supplemental bill?

And I yield.

So it is your intention, the majority's, not to have any non-war funding in the supplemental?

Reclaiming my time, if I could just clarify one last time, do you envision having benchmarks in this supplemental bill knowing in the past term the desire of the majority to have benchmarks?

I yield.

I thank the gentleman.

Knowing the debate that we had a week ago with all of the hearings in Energy and Commerce and knowing what the schedule said that this week would be the markup of the cap-and-trade bill but this week being canceled in the markup, does the gentleman see Energy and Commerce bringing up cap-and-trade or that coming to the floor within the next 3 weeks before we go on recess?

I yield to the gentleman from Georgia.

So in the next 3 weeks do you not see Energy and Commerce bringing up or bringing to the floor a cap-and- trade bill?

I yield.

If I might just further ask another question of inquiry to my friend from Atlanta.

The Card Check bill has been out there for quite some time. Knowing the number of cosponsors on the majority side, do you envision that coming up in the near future?

And I yield.

Does the gentleman believe that the Card Check bill would come to the House before it moves in the Senate?

I yield.

I appreciate you bringing up bipartisanship.

Yesterday was the hundredth day of our new President, and one of our big goals together was to work in a bipartisan way and forge that effort, and as everybody knows in this House, unfortunately that did not take place. And it is regrettable. But Republicans on this side want to make sure that we do forge in a bipartisan matter, and I would like to bring up a few items that we could work together on.

I will tell you--and I was very proud at the very beginning of this session when we, the minority, the Republicans, invited the President to our conference, and we actually had a very good discussion about the stimulus bill. It was unfortunate that a bill was introduced while he was talking to us and was not able to be bipartisan in that nature. But I was wondering about a couple of items that we could work closely together.

Recently, the President came forward and asked his Cabinet to find $100 million in waste and abuse and duplication, and this is a place that I know we can all work together. I know our leadership, Mr. Boehner and Mr. Cantor, personally talked to the President. The President asked us to produce a list.

I would ask our good friend from Georgia if the House Democrats would be willing to work with the Republicans to bring something to the floor before this May recess where we could eliminate waste, fraud and duplication and actually save the taxpayers and America. And I yield back.

Reclaiming my time, I appreciate that. And when I look at bipartisanship, I look at the biggest bills that have transferred through this House in such a short amount of time. Just yesterday, on the 100-day anniversary, on the budget that would double the debt in less than 5 years and triple it in 10, the bipartisan vote, unfortunately, was a number of Democrats--17--joining with all the Republicans and saying there was a better way, and no.

I think the American people would like to see another version, such as when you saw the stimulus bill. Unfortunately, the bipartisanship was a direction that we wanted to have another way to go. It is unfortunate that you would find only one party voting ``yes'' when you had both parties saying ``no.''

So in areas that I think we can really come together, where the President has laid out that he wants to find ways that we can eliminate waste and duplication, we have our hand out, we want to work with you.

And so I just ask you one more time, is there an opportunity--and I know you've talked about bipartisanship. We will provide a list to the President. We will provide a list to you as well. Could we bring that to the floor within the next 3 weeks before we go on the Memorial Day recess and show the American people that we are very serious about eliminating waste, fraud, and duplication?

I yield to the gentleman.

Well, reclaiming my time, I thank the gentleman. And I will tell you, $100 million, when I look at the budget being passed, in a few short years I think of my children and America paying $1 billion in interest a day. I know the American people care as much about their children as I care about mine, and we do not want that to continue.

So I take your hand being out to us in bipartisanship, and I look forward to working with you that we can eliminate waste. I look forward that we can come together with this President and bring it to the floor before Memorial Day. I think there is a way we can reach for greatness; there is a way that we can come together.

Another area that I think we can work well together on is trade. House Republicans stand ready to work with this President. This President has signaled his desire to have a vote on the Panama trade agreement and to begin moving forward with the Colombia free trade. I even know the leadership on the majority side, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, during the last recess he traveled to Panama, he traveled to Colombia.

So my question to the House Democrats, would there be an opportunity to have a vote before the July 4 recess on the Panama trade agreement that the President asked to have? I yield.

Reclaiming my time, I thank the gentleman. Because when I sit back and I think of the time of the President going to Peoria, going to Caterpillar, and I listened to those individuals that work there and I listened to their Representative, Congressman Aaron Schock, when he sat there and talked to them and they said the number of tractors they would sell, that the actual tariffs would be brought down automatically as soon as these trade agreements go forward.

But when you think of America, where we continue to lose jobs and we are thinking about job creation and small business, these trade agreements are nothing but a benefit to America, we want to work with you. And I just ask the gentleman, I appreciate his willingness to work with us, but could we do this by July 4? The President has signaled that he would like that done. Does the gentleman believe we can have it done by July 4?

I yield to the gentleman.

Reclaiming my time, I was very hopeful in the last term that we could have gotten these done, knowing that the recession that we moved into and the number of jobs that are being laid off, even in my own State, knowing the double-digit unemployment, that anything we can do, especially when it has been sitting on the table, been negotiating, and it is a positive agreement for America, the job creation, that we should come together. The President has signaled. The Republicans are saying, we are there. We want to help him. We want to pass this. We are asking the majority party to join with us.

I will yield for a final comment from the gentleman.

Reclaiming my time, we just wrapped up 100 days, and I think America is going to look to, what does America look like 100 days from now, 200 more days, 300 more days?

Today we talked about numerous different bills, from trade agreements that create jobs, from eliminating waste, lowering the deficit. Those are areas that we stand ready to work with this President and work with this majority party. So I thank you for the time that you spent, and I thank you for your answers.

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

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

I am pleased to support H.R. 749, which will permit each Federal candidate to designate an individual who, in the event of the candidate's death, will be authorized to make arrangements for the disbursement of campaign funds.

Every private citizen who decides to become a candidate for public office is driven by issues that inspire and motivate them to want to serve. Often, those issues outlive the individuals who campaign for their ideals.

This bill will ensure that every Federal candidate will have the opportunity to appoint a trusted individual to distribute campaign funds after they have passed. I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 749.

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield as much time as he may consume to the author, the distinguished gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Jones).

I have no other speakers. I would just like to thank the gentleman for his work. I yield back the balance of my time.

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

As a member of the House Administration Committee, I am pleased to support H.R. 1679, the House Reservists Pay Adjustment Act of 2009.

I congratulate Chairman Brady for his leadership in introducing this bill, and I am pleased to support any measure that will alleviate some of the financial burden placed upon our military families.

The men and women of the United States Armed Forces, both Active Duty

and Reservists, make many sacrifices to protect our freedom. When called to active duty, Reservists are asked to spend time away from home, to selfishly put themselves in harm's way and, in many cases, to accept a salary that is less than what they would normally earn in civilian life.

The gap in pay experienced by these servicemen and -women often causes undue hardship to them and their families and increases the already heavy burden placed upon them as they leave for battle. I am pleased that this legislation will empower the House of Representatives to do its part to eliminate the financial hardship for those brave employees and their families.

I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 1679.

I yield back the balance of my time.

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

I am pleased to support H.R. 586, a bill that will allow for the collection and preservation of eyewitness accounts of the civil rights movement from the people who lived through it. This investment in history will allow future generations to both learn and be inspired by the sacrifice of those that came before them.

While some stories of prominent civil rights leaders are well- documented, there are many lesser-known experiences and accounts just as important to the cause and lessons we and future generations can learn. Now is the time to collect the stories of those that stood up for their rights and fought for justice.

I believe that this is an important piece of legislation that will provide future generations with the rich collection of oral accounts from individuals who lived through the civil rights movement, and I strongly urge my colleagues to support it.

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

I am pleased to support this resolution authorizing the use of the Capitol Visitor Center for the purpose of unveiling the bust of Sojourner Truth.

The ceremony will take place in Emancipation Hall, a site wholly appropriate for this remarkable woman who was born into slavery, emancipated and spent her adult life fighting for the rights of others.

In 1843, while in her mid-forties, she told her friends that she had been called by the Spirit. She changed her name to Sojourner Truth and embarked on a journey of activism. Upon her death more than 40 years later, Sojourner Truth traveled the country, preaching about abolition, women's suffrage and human rights.

The inclusion of this work and the collection of arts and artifacts of the Capitol and the display of the bust in the Capitol Visitor Center fill the gap in the representation of historic Americans that contribute much to the betterment of this country.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the National Congress of Black Women, who generously offered this bust and pedestal as a donation to the collection of the United States Capitol.

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