Floor Statements

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

Mr. Chairman, I yield myself 1 minute.

My amendment would streamline the permitting process for production of minerals deemed critical and strategic for national security and other infrastructure needs.

What does the word ``streamline'' mean? If you read the amendment, it means 30 months. Now, I am a little embarrassed to tell you that streamline is 30 months, but unless the parties agree to something longer, it is 30 months.

When you say ``deemed critical,'' if you read the amendment, you will see multiple pages basically paying respect to the NEPA process and also setting forth due process and asking for a Federal representative of the lead agency to coordinate Federal permitting actions so that we proceed as expeditiously as possible when there is, in fact, a need that affects the Armed Services of our country for supply chain and things like that that are critical.

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

Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Gosar).

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

Mr. Chairman, it is good to hear that my colleagues from the Golden State think that the administration is doing a good job in this area in some respects, and it is good to hear about concerns about the State of Kentucky.

But let's talk about what is actually in the amendment.

So let's talk about what is not in the amendment first. First of all, there is nothing in the amendment that says you must approve a request to be considered a strategic critical mineral. So when we talk in the context of, oh, gee, this could be sand and gravel, some Federal land manager in the executive department, under the provisions in this amendment, has to find that. By the way, there are multiple pages saying how they go about that. So it is 30 months. Guess what? After that 30 months, you don't get a yes.

So when we talk about how the sky is going to fall, let's keep in mind that if you can't satisfy them on whatever it is that is critical, then guess what? You may get a no, as should be done if it doesn't satisfy that.

So to indicate in context that this is something that is going to make everything critical omits the whole application process and omits the consideration process that goes over 30 months.

Now, I just want to point out a couple other things, because, quite frankly, although maybe the other side thinks that the crystal ball that the administration has is an excellent one, I beg to differ. Since we are talking about things that happened in specific States, let's talk about the Loma Prieta earthquake that happened in northern California a while back that, quite frankly, shut down freeways--major arteries--in the bay area.

Now, I don't know if sand and gravel would have been appropriate and critical for that, but guess what? To those people in the bay area who wanted that transportation infrastructure open, they wanted it open as soon as possible. So if we have to wait for 30 months to haul loads of sand and gravel and make concrete to get the 580 or the 680, or whatever it was, in the East Bay open, then perhaps there was an argument for that. I don't know, unless something like that happens again.

But for those minerals that are critical to our healthcare industry, our defense industry, and all of those sorts of things, they ought to have the opportunity to apply and see if they get told yes or no in 30 months.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to celebrate the birthday of a Nevada icon. I am sure you all recall that the State of Nevada turned 150 a few years ago, and that the Biggest Little City in the World, Reno, is turning 150.

Well, Bob Cashell, former University of Nevada regent, former Nevada lieutenant governor, and former mayor of the city of Reno, is past the halfway point in catching the State of Nevada and the city of Reno at 150. He is 80, four score.

A native of the Lone Star State, like many Nevadans, Bob got to Nevada as fast as he could. A leader in Nevada's gaming resort industry, an A list philanthropist, and a blue chip public servant, he has done some great work as a Nevadan.

Of course, he owes all of his success, and his defiance of the actuarial tables, to his wife Nancy, who has performed miracles during their lifelong partnership of transforming this pilgrim from Texas into a special part of Nevada's fabric. Thank you, Nancy. And happy birthday to you, Mr. Mayor, for life. Bob Cashell is 80.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today with birthday wishes for the premier municipality in the Nation--not the Big Apple, not the Windy City, not the City by the Bay, or the Big Easy.

I am talking about the Biggest Little City in the World, Reno, Nevada. Reno turns 150, celebrating its sesquicentennial.

Congratulations to you Mayor Hillary Schieve and the city council.

Happy birthday, Reno, Nevada.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleagues from Montana and Hawaii for their supportiveness.

Briefly, Mr. Speaker, this is what you get when people talk about issues and not cliches. This is a long time in the making, as has been previously indicated, folks from the wilderness areas, folks from economic development areas, folks from the resource extraction areas all coming together on this.

But just in case there is some concern about, oh my God, potentially we are transferring the Federal estate, let's remind people of a couple of things that are in this legislation.

First of all, nothing is transferred for nothing. It talks about the appraisal process and how, if you are going to purchase the Federal estate, you are going to pay for it.

Secondly, it is talking about exchanges along the Trans-Pacific legislation on the checkerboard from 1862, which talks about the Secretary of the Interior is a full partner with the county commission in identifying those lands that are appropriate for exchange.

Why is this important?

This is important because if they don't think it is a good idea to exchange, then the Secretary of the Interior can stop that process, so it doesn't force the Secretary of the Interior to exchange land that he or she, in the future, doesn't want to.

But let's remind ourselves of one other thing. Exchanges of checkerboard land are not just something that benefits perhaps economic development along the Interstate 80 corridor, or somebody who does a cow-calf operation somewhere. It also allows resource managers, Federal land managers, wildlife people to consolidate checkerboard lands where they need to be consolidated, to do things like preserve habitat, preserve special resource areas, whether it is for mule deer, whether it is for the endangered species potential of the sage hen, and other things like that. So it is a two-way street.

So my congratulations to the folks of Pershing County and the BLM employees in the Winnemucca district.

By the way, no lands are subject to this that haven't been identified in their resource management plan, their planning document, as potentially available for either exchange or disposal.

Finally, I want to remind you of this: there are 150,000 acres that can be bought out of a potential Federal estate of over 9 million acres in that county. So it is a fraction of 1 percent. And of the potential available for exchange, it sets an upper limit of 300,000, potential. The county has to ask for it, the Secretary has to agree to an exchange.

So when you talk about the size of the Federal estate in Pershing County--which, by the way, is the home to the Burning Man festival, for those of you who follow that sort of stuff--it is something that is, quite frankly, not going to change the landscape, literally speaking, in terms of the ownership and the diminishment of the Federal estate. They are still the major player to the tune of--at the end of the day, 95 percent of the Federal estate is still intact.

Finally, on wilderness study areas and wilderness creation areas, in this bill, you have created about 148,000 acres of new wilderness areas and you have released parts of five different wilderness study areas that are about 48,000 acres. So when you start talking about this is a good housekeeping measure, it allows Pershing County to come into the new age in terms of what they think is appropriate for their economic diversification and vitality, but also gives Federal land managers, resource folks, wildlife groups, and conservation groups, the tools to do good things in Pershing County, too.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for his generous provision of the time.

The last piece is this: the most successful public lands legislation in the country is probably the Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act, which turns 20 this year. Much of this is patterned on that.

When you talk about what happens when they sell land, money goes to education and it goes to the county, and then 85 percent of every dollar brought in goes for the benefit of those Federal lands, for those land managers in Pershing County.

It has been working in southern Nevada for 20 years. This is a good step. I encourage bipartisan, nationwide support.

Mr. Speaker, I intended to vote ``nay'' on rollcall No. 650.

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

Mr. Chairman, I yield myself 1 minute.

One size does not fit all. As an enthusiastic supporter of the CHOICE Act, I must confess it is not perfect. You have been told all financial regulators should be subject to the power of the Federal purse. Well, this regulatory agency, the National Credit Union Administration, uses no Federal funds to operate, to administer, or to manage the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund--let me repeat, uses no Federal funds.

Now, when nontaxpayer funds are required to be federally appropriated, hopefully, this strikes you as an odd idea. But when the funds in question are placed under the appropriations process and are subject to being swept for other Federal spending measures, I hope that bothers you--not strikes you as odd, but bothers you.

Credit union member-generated insurance funds are now, by virtue of being put into the appropriations process, subject to being swept for other Federal spending processes.

Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Mr. Aguilar).

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

Mr. Chairman, with all due respect to my colleague from the financial institution folks, one of the things in the CHOICE Act is the Mick Mulvaney-generated transparency amendments that we are not trying to strike. It is not like we are hiding anything. And I missed the part where it says, oh, the fact that they are not taxpayer funds makes it okay that we go ahead and try to sweep those into that.

I also missed the fact, quite frankly, that this is different than something like the Bureau of Consumer Protection folks who were an out- of-control executive branch agency using federally appropriated funds to do as they darn well please.

I missed the fact where we have got a problem with credit unions taking care of their own administration and their own insurance.

And I, finally, missed the fact where, quite frankly, we have absolutely no problem with respect to these folks' performance record.

So when you talk about going out and getting nontaxpayer-generated funds and saying we are going to bring those--by the way, good luck for these folks to get under our budgeting process. I won't say anything more than that, Mr. Chairman. Good luck.

Whose budget are they going under? Who are we waiting for approval so we can say keep doing the things the way you were?

So I will just say that this is a problem that does not exist with a solution that is being applied because of other regulators, which I agree with, but it is like to suggest, quite frankly, that the CHOICE Act was perfect and doesn't need a second look on a small thing like this, I mean, hats off to the committee. It is the only perfect committee I know of that has ever existed.

Mr. Chair, I am prepared to close, and I will just say this: We ought to take a look at what track records are. And when we take a look at that and we look at unintended consequences, when you start branching out, for those of you folks in Production Credit Association territory and things like that and the budget issues and all of that other sort of stuff, it is like these folks are doing a good job. Let's let them continue to do that.

Mr. Chairman, I would urge your bipartisan, nationwide support, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, I appreciate the opportunity to engage in a colloquy with you on an important issue related to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

This Congress should act swiftly and establish a five-member, bipartisan commission at the CFPB. A commission structure will bring much needed certainty and stability to consumers and small businesses who are the most deeply impacted by regulation that reduces access to banking products and drives up costs.

According to FDIC data, financial institutions of all sizes provide more than $4 trillion in consumer loans to help America's consumers achieve their dreams of purchasing a car, buying their first home, or even providing an education for their children. Financial institutions also provide more than $600 billion in small business loans to help entrepreneurs start or grow their businesses and create jobs. The ability of banks and credit unions to continue to serve their communities by providing access to credit is critical to making these dreams a reality. Therefore, it is important that the agencies that regulate our nation's depository institutions are stable, transparent, and provide long term certainty.

A five-member, bipartisan commission at the CFPB will help achieve just that. Right now, a sole director at the CFPB over politicizes what should be an impartial regulatory body. With every new Director there could be a dramatic regulatory whipsaw effect. This volatility will leave financial institutions limited in their ability to properly serve customers because of an inability to plan for the long-term.

Protecting consumers and increasing access to well-regulated financial products should be a top priority of the CFPB. A bipartisan board will ensure consumers best interests are always first by increasing transparency and stability in the rulemaking process and allowing for more robust debate with many different viewpoints considered.

On multiple occasions, the House of Representatives has passed legislation to create a bipartisan commission, and most importantly, the American people have made clear that they believe a bipartisan commission is a better form of leadership at the CFPB. In fact, a recent Morning Consult poll showed that registered voters support a bipartisan commission at the CFPB by a 3 to 1 margin, and that just 14 percent of voters believe the CFPB structure should be left the way it is now.

Congress must implement structural changes at the CFPB. The future of consumer and small business lending is too vital to have uncertainty at the Bureau.

Mr. Chairman, do you agree that the regulatory agencies that oversee banks and credit unions should take into account the impact to all stakeholders and bring certainty to the regulatory framework?

Will you commit to working with me to depoliticize the CFPB once and for all, and bring a stable form of leadership to the Bureau that is in keeping with most other financial service regulators?

Mr. Speaker, today I would like to honor Captain Joshua Byers, a fallen soldier, son, husband, brother, and friend.

In Sparks, Nevada, Captain Byers lives on as a legacy. His kind heart, patriotic soul, and strong ideals of servant leadership have left a strong and lasting impact on everyone who knew him.

Captain Byers attended Edward C. Reed High School in Sparks, the home of the Raiders. Although not originally from Sparks, Captain Byers moved with his mother, father, and two younger brothers to chase a dream and God's calling in Nevada.

While at Reed High School, he joined the Naval Junior ROTC program and various other clubs, all while maintaining excellent grades.

When he reached his senior year, he was student body president, the battalion commander of the Junior ROTC

unit, and in line to be valedictorian on graduation.

One of his biggest dreams was to attend one of the Nation's service academies. After he completed his 4 years at Reed High School, he accepted an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point, Hudson High.

Upon graduating from West Point, he earned an Army Ranger tab and was deployed to Iraq in 2003, where he was killed in action due to an IED explosion.

His legacy lives on at Reed High School, especially in the NJROTC program. Through an award given there by one of the past instructors as well, there is now being more done in order to memorialize a hero who left such a profound impact on those who knew him and were around him.

The NJROTC hallway at Reed High is going to be completely dedicated to Captain Byers, being named the Captain Joshua T. Byers Leadership Memorial Hallway.

In this hall you can find Captain Byers' uniform, awards, military decorations, and various pictures and stories to help capture the essence of this hero in our hearts and minds.

Mr. Speaker, I ask today that we keep the Byers family and Joshua in our prayers and thoughts.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commemorate the retirement of a member of Nevada's public service varsity team, Reno mayor Bob Cashell. Bob was not a native of Nevada, but like most people in Nevada, he got there as quick as he could.

He has been there for a long time and has had various titles during his public service career: chairman of the board of regents of the university system, Lieutenant Governor of the State of Nevada, and finally--maybe finally--as the mayor of the city of Reno.

Bob is one of those folks who is blessed with vision that does not have many shades of gray. It is pretty black and white with the mayor when you talk to him, whether formally, informally, or whatever.

Words like ``gosh'' and ``gee whiz'' are not used in his vocabulary much. He possesses an incredible volume to his voice, uses it often, and is happy to share with you his thoughts.

Bob also has the support of an outstanding family: his wife and partner in life, Nancy, and his sons. His family has been key in terms of the fabric of the community of Truckee Meadows in northern Nevada for half a century or more.

In the resort hospitality industry, Bob was involved with properties, ownership-management--whatever--in Reno, Winnemucca, Carson City, and that little town where they do a little bit of the gaming business in the south known as Las Vegas. He was an outstanding participant in all of those.

A native of the Lone Star State, we were lucky to have Mayor Cashell come and make Nevada his home for all of his adult life and raise his family. Mr. Speaker, I thank Bob Cashell very much for his public service.

We appreciate it, and I look forward to hopefully being able to speak about him not here on the floor of the House of Representatives, but in a roast in the Truckee Meadows some time where I can pay him back for when he spoke at my roast upon my retirement from the legislature.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the chairman of the committee for yielding me this time, and I also thank my colleague from California, the ranking member, and also the subcommittee chairman, the gentleman from Alaska (Mr. Young), for processing this bill.

I also want to associate myself with the remarks of my colleague from Idaho earlier regarding the departure of the committee chairman, Mr. Hastings from Washington, and while he talked about who is going to miss who more, I think it is probably accurate to say that I will miss Mr. Hastings more than he will miss me, but I will endeavor to change his mind over the years no matter what. This is a prime example of what happens when we work together.

This is several tens of thousands of acres which some have been waiting since I was in the eighth grade. The original legislation for the Fort McDermitt Paiute and Shoshone Tribe was introduced in 1971 by then-United States Senators Alan Bible and Howard Cannon who represented Nevada, so those folks get the patience award.

This bill does housekeeping things that we should all be happy to have been part of finally finishing up. With checkerboard reservations, you have multiple issues of law enforcement--you are on the reservation, you are off the reservation--economic development, jobs for some of the most economically-challenged cultures in our Nation, multiple use, cultural resource protection, all those sorts of things which I am proud to be associated with.

I want to thank the chairman and the tribal council members who brought this to our attention at a meeting originally with Mr. Young in Nevada several years ago, and we are looking forward to, since the committee and the subcommittee did great work, along with the minority, on changing some of this since it now conforms with the Senate wishes, to the Senate processing this expeditiously.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to retiring Mayor of Fernley, Nevada, LeRoy Goodman.

A native of the Silver State, born in Virginia City, Nevada, resident of Fernley for the last 44 years, former educator and high school coach, also a key member of the private sector after that working for Sentex from the Silver State in Nevada, for Nevada Cement, Mayor Goodman had and has a statewide network of friends which helped him serve his native city, his city that he is the mayor of, in an extraordinary manner.

Member of the Association of Counties, Lyon County commissioner for 12 years, he is one of those few folks that the phrase ``politician'' does not apply to; it is ``public servant.''

What also applies to him is a word that we see used less and less these days when we talk about people who are elected by those, and that is a ``leader.'' The father of the effort to create Nevada's newest incorporated city, being Fernley, in the legislature during his term on the Lyon County Commission, his leadership was effective and resulted in the creation of that city. The people of Fernley were very well served.

I want to read to you what he said when he was elected to be the mayor after serving a short term as the appointed one:

I am both privileged and proud to be voted in as mayor of

Fernley. I shall endeavor to fulfill the role with dignity

and purpose. My priorities and mandate will be centered on

improving the overall functioning of the council, city

operations, and focusing on doing the people's business.

Fernley is my home. I am committed to giving the residents of

Fernley my absolute best.

Mr. Mayor, your absolute best does us all proud.

I want to add a few more praises to this tribute, and that is ``class act'' and ``true leader.''

I want to also thank the first lady of Fernley, your wife, Diana, for her support of you and your endeavors, and say thank you very much on behalf of those folks not only at the home of the Vaqueros in Fernley, but also throughout Nevada.

You are truly, truly a part of the fabric of not only your community, but our State.

Mr. Speaker, I want to associate myself with the remarks of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle that went before me on this measure.

I want to also say thank you to the House of Representatives for passing this bill again in the 113th Congress. It was passed in the 112th Congress.

There were concerns about not having a conservation element. It contained 75,000 acres of wilderness, 50 in Lyon County, 25,000-- congratulations to the folks in Humboldt County who have worked on the pine forest bill for a long time--elements in Elko, elements in Fernley--it clears up some title problem for the folks in Virginia City dating back to the Comstock days.

I guess, now, it is appropriate since we have shown such unity on this bill in passing it out of the House twice for all eyes--for all eyes--to turn to our colleagues at the north end of the building and see what they can do with the bill that my colleague from Nevada (Mr. Horsford) has so eloquently described as nearly unanimous and overwhelmingly bipartisan.

Go, Senate.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman, my colleague from Big Sky Country.

This legislation would authorize the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe to grant waivers against both Fish Springs Ranch and the United States Government. The provisions would take effect after the tribe signs the waivers and Fish Springs pays the tribe. The amount in payment--for those of you keeping track--is about $3.6 million.

The tribe would also dismiss pending litigation against BLM for violations in NEPA and potential trust responsibilities related to the groundwater project. At that point, any potential Federal liability would be eliminated.

This is a settlement reached at arm's length between the two parties as a result of a lawsuit filed in 2005. Settlement was reached in 2007. The damage amount of $3.6 million would also have added to it interest from 2007.

The approach is simple and straightforward, with no Federal dollars involved.

I recommend passage of the bill.

Mr. Chairman, thank you for the chance to speak on programs at the Nevada National Security Site that are critical to our Nation's ability to ensure the safety and performance of our nuclear weapons stockpile and for the excellent job you and the ranking member have done in managing the fiscal year 2015 Energy and Water Development Appropriations bill.

However, the bill before us does not include the full amount requested for a new advanced radiography capability that will establish an integrated facility at the Nevada National Security Site to help us understand the effects of aging and manufacturing processes on proposed approaches to stockpile life-extension programs.

I appreciate that in this fiscal environment we must all make difficult choices. Yet, I am hopeful in conference there will be budget flexibility to support the full request for advanced radiography.

Furthermore, going into conference, I appreciate, Mr. Chairman, the fact that you would be open-minded to additional information from the Department of Energy on this proposed capability to better understand its strategic value to our nuclear weapons stockpile.

We stand ready, willing, and able to assist you in getting more transparency and more information from the Department of Energy regarding proposed plans for advanced radiography capability.

I yield to the gentleman from Idaho.

Mr. Speaker, tomorrow in Carson City, Nevada, there will be a memorial service for former Mayor Marv Teixeira. Marv called Carson City home for about 50 years, coming from the bay area as the IBM typewriter--I know that is a phrase that is foreign to many of you--as the IBM typewriter salesman in the State capital of Nevada. During those decades, Marv set a blistering pace as a member of the community: husband, coach, businessman, public servant, lobbyist, and kind of a self-appointed Carson City gadfly.

Before he became what we friendly referred to him as the ``mayor for life,'' he was the unofficial youth sports czar for Carson City. He coached recreation league basketball, coached Little League baseball, founded the Pop Warner football league in Carson City. In this later role as the founder of the Pop Warner football league, he had the distinction of molding a then young Dean Heller, now a United States Senator from Nevada, into the football athlete that Senator Heller didn't become.

Once he was elected mayor of Carson City, his Portuguese charm was on full display. If he called you ``pal'' during a board of supervisors meeting, you weren't a pal. He called for motions to adjourn when the agenda was completed by announcing, ``We are out of Schlitz.''

He fancied himself a top-tier lobbyist for Carson City, both at the State level and here in the Nation's Capital, because if lawmakers didn't do what he thought should be done, he simply questioned your intelligence and, in a fatherly way, advised you to do what he wanted you to do, and please be quick about it.

Finally, Marv understood that he was both good-looking and a sharp dresser. In this role, he taught me an invaluable lesson as a public servant: when you are at functions, the proper thing to wear was not a tie, that you should wear a turtleneck; because, invariably, if food was being served at these functions and you happened to drip something down the front, you could, as Marv demonstrated to me on one occasion at a function, simply go to the men's room, turn the turtleneck around, put your sport coat back on, and come back as if nothing ever happened.

Carson will miss our mayor for life. When you go by the bypass, the hay barn as we like to call it, or Governors Field, think of our mayor for life, Marv Teixeira.

Rest in peace, Your Honor; and thank you, Coach.