Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 4030) to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 18640 NW 2nd Avenue in Miami, Florida, as the ``Father Richard Marquess-Barry Post Office Building.''

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous materials on the bill under consideration.

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

I rise today in support of H.R. 4030, introduced by Frederica Wilson of Florida, to designate the post office located at 18640 NW 2nd Avenue in Miami, Florida, as the Father Richard Marquess-Barry Post Office Building.

The Reverend Canon Richard Livingston Marquess-Barry has led a remarkable life--one of courage, service, and strong faith.

Father Marquess-Barry has been an ordained priest in the Episcopalian church for 39 years. He currently serves as the pastor of the Historic Saint Agnes Episcopal Church in Miami, Florida. In this capacity, Father Marquess-Barry has contributed to bettering the lives of those in his congregation and community, and he has earned a well-respected reputation for bridging the divide between people of different races and religions and of uplifting the downtrodden and underprivileged. The projects and ministries of his church are numerous--among them, spearheading an affordable housing project for low- and moderate-income families.

Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring the dedication and selflessness that Father Marquess-Barry has shown throughout his life, and I urge the support for this bill.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all Members to support H.R. 4030, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 5562) to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 801 West Ocean Avenue in Lompoc, California, as the ``Federal Correctional Officer Scott J. Williams Memorial Post Office Building.''

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous materials on the bill under consideration.

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

I rise in support of H.R. 5562, which is sponsored by Representative Lois Capps of California, to designate the post office located at 801 West Ocean Avenue, in Lompoc, California, as the Federal Correctional Officer Scott J. Williams Memorial Post Office Building.

Senior Officer Specialist Scott J. Williams was killed in the line of duty on April 3 of 1997. While performing routine supervision duties at the U.S. penitentiary in Lompoc, California, an inmate senselessly and brutally attacked Officer Williams, tragically taking his life. Officer Williams was a marine veteran, a former Marine of the Year, who served in Operation Desert Storm. He is survived by his wife and two daughters.

I ask my colleagues to support H.R. 5562 and ensure that this fallen hero is never forgotten.

I reserve the balance of my time.

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

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 5687) to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 101 East Market Street in Long Beach, California, as the ``Juanita Millender-McDonald Post Office.''

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous materials on the bill under consideration.

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

I rise in support of H.R. 5687, introduced by Representative Janice Hahn of California, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 101 East Market Street in Long Beach, California, as the Juanita Millender-McDonald Post Office.

Juanita Millender-McDonald represented California's 37th District in the House of Representatives for over a decade, serving from 1996 until her untimely death. During her time in Congress, she was known for her commitment to protecting international human rights, and she worked to aid victims of genocide and human trafficking. Representative Millender-McDonald was also the first African American woman to chair the House Administration Committee. Sadly, she passed away on April 22, 2007, at age 68, due to colon cancer.

Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in memorializing Juanita Millender-McDonald's public service by supporting this bill.

I reserve the balance of my time.

I reserve the balance of my time.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman of the Rules Committee for his leadership and his vision and his passion and his great words.

I also want to thank the gentleman from Jacksonville, Florida (Mr. Crenshaw). He is a true leader, and I am proud to be a cosponsor of the ABLE Act.

Today, we can talk about taxes, we can talk about legislation, but really, what we are talking about is people, Mr. Speaker.

I want to share two personal stories because, for me, I don't have to deal with children with disabilities on a daily basis. I was blessed with two kids that didn't have some of those same challenges.

What I have had is I have experienced the love and the compassion that two children with special needs have given to me over and over.

The first one of those is a young lady, 21 years of age, with Down syndrome named Chloe. Chloe is not only a dear friend but also is someone who has been able to share with me the struggles in her life, the passion in her life, the vision. She has a part-time job.

But the other part of that story is the difficulties that sometimes families with special needs have. What I have seen over and over again is that, even though I was able to experience the love firsthand, that there is a 24-hour, 7-day a week job that parents have to deal with, and some of those challenges are monumental.

We need to address that as a body. We need to partner with those moms and dads across America to make sure that, indeed, what they have to face is

not really handicapped because of a Tax Code that penalizes them.

So the ABLE Act, after 8 long years of work by the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Crenshaw), hopefully, will be voted on and passed in this very House to provide the needs and the help that those parents so desperately need.

But I also want to share another story about a young lady from my home district who has just turned 1 named Holland Burleson, because, indeed, Down syndrome, whether it is with Chloe or this young lady, has a profound effect; same love, same compassion that I got to experience.

But yet, what happened is that those parents went out, funded a 5K run to bring the awareness to a community up in the mountains of western North Carolina, and overwhelmingly, that community came together, raising funds not just for the benefit of the Burleson family but for the benefit of all of those families.

I thank the gentleman.

What happened is lives were transformed in that small little town. And so I am here today to speak on behalf of not only great work, but great vision and a partnership in which we can partner with families, moms and dads across this country, to do a job that should have been done long ago, to allow the special needs of those special families to be addressed.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (S. 1934) to direct the Administrator of General Services to convey the Clifford P. Hansen Federal Courthouse to Teton County, Wyoming.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous materials on S. 1934.

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

S. 1934 would direct the GSA to convey property in Wyoming to Teton County, Wyoming, for fair market value.

The land was originally donated to the Federal Government by the county for the purposes of a courthouse. However, since built, the courthouse has rarely been used by the Federal judiciary, and no other Federal use has been identified for this building.

The bill would sell the building to the county for fair market value for the purposes of a county courthouse and county courthouse functions. Selling this property for fair market value will ensure that the taxpayers receive the best return on the property, and it will provide for the continued public use of the facility.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his support of this legislation.

I concur with him that, in terms of setting a precedent, that is not something that we want to do. This has a unique set of circumstances in which the county actually had conveyed the property to the Federal Government at no cost. Certainly, I would agree with my colleague opposite that we need to make sure that taxpayers get the best return and that this does not set a precedent.

Mr. Speaker, I would urge all of my colleagues to support this legislation on behalf of the American taxpayers.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (S. 898) to authorize the Administrator of General Services to convey a parcel of real property in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to the Amy Biehl High School Foundation.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous materials on S. 898.

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

S. 898 would direct the GSA to convey property in New Mexico to the Amy Biehl High School Foundation for fair market value.

The Amy Biehl High School is a public charter school that has been using the building since 2006. While the school currently leases the facility from the General Services Administration, the GSA only receives a nominal rent, making it more costly to the taxpayers to maintain the property. In fact, the Amy Biehl Foundation has invested funds to renovate and restore the building for use as a school. The GSA has determined that there is no Federal need for the property, and it has concluded that the cost of managing the building exceeds any revenue. Selling this property for fair market value will ensure that taxpayers receive the best return on the property.

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

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the gentleman for his support in a bipartisan manner and for reminding us all of the importance of this legacy, not only the vision of why this school was created but the importance of that mission. It is certainly a pleasure to work in a bipartisan way with the gentleman.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I will continue to reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time at this point, and I am prepared to close.

I reserve the balance of my time.

I thank the gentleman for his bipartisan effort to make sure that this important piece of legislation gets passed, and I urge all of my colleagues to support it.

With that, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 24) to require a full audit of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Federal reserve banks by the Comptroller General of the United States, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous materials on the bill under consideration.

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

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 24, the Federal Reserve Transparency Act, directs the GAO to conduct a full audit of the Federal Reserve.

The Dodd-Frank legislation mandated a GAO audit of the Fed, but that audit issued by the GAO in July of 2011 focused solely on certain issues concerning emergency credit facilities. GAO remains restricted under the current law from conducting a broader audit of the Fed that includes, for instance, a review of the Fed's monetary policy operations and its agreements with foreign governments and central banks.

Under this bill, the GAO, as the investigative arm of Congress, is allowed to conduct the audit that reviews all these transactions and is required to report such findings of the audit to Congress.

Now, while Congress should not manage the details of monetary policy, it needs to be able to conduct oversight of the Fed. The Fed was created by Congress to be a central bank independent of influence of the U.S. Treasury. It was never intended to be a second Treasury Department.

In recent years, the Fed's extraordinary interventions into the economy and financial markets have led some to call into question its independence. The Fed remains ultimately responsible to the American people and their elected representatives. This is why H.R. 24 has strong bipartisan support, with 228 cosponsors on both sides of the aisle. A version of this bill passed the House of Representatives last Congress by a vote of 327-98.

I want to thank Chairman Hensarling for working with me to bring this legislation to the floor. I will insert our letters of exchange in the Congressional Record.

I encourage and urge my colleagues to support this legislation.

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

House of Representatives,

Committee on Financial Services,

Washington, DC, September 12, 2014.

Hon. Darrell Issa,

Chairman, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform,

Washington, DC.

Dear Chairman Issa: On July 24, 2014, the Committee on

Oversight and Government Reform ordered H.R. 24, the Federal

Reserve Transparency Act of 2013, as amended, to be reported

favorably to the House. As a result of your having consulted

with the Committee on Financial Services concerning

provisions of the bill that fall within our Rule X

jurisdiction, I agree to discharge our committee from further

consideration of the bill so that it may proceed

expeditiously to the House Floor.

The Committee on Financial Services takes this action with

our mutual understanding that, by foregoing consideration of

H.R. 24, as amended, at this time, we do not waive any

jurisdiction over the subject matter contained in this or

similar legislation, and that our committee will be

appropriately consulted and involved as the bill or similar

legislation moves forward so that we may address any

remaining issues that fall within our Rule X jurisdiction.

Our committee also reserves the right to seek appointment of

an appropriate number of conferees to any House-Senate

conference involving this or similar legislation, and

requests your support for any such request.

Finally, I would appreciate your response to this letter

confirming this understanding with respect to H.R. 24, as

amended, and would ask that a copy of our exchange of letters

on this matter be included in your committee's report to

accompany the legislation and/or in the Congressional Record

during floor consideration thereof.

Sincerely,

Jeb Hensarling,

Chairman.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to my distinguished colleague from the State of Georgia (Mr. Broun), a man who has worked very hard on this particular issue.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Massie).

I yield the gentleman an additional 1 minute.

Mr. Speaker, at this point, I have no additional people wishing to speak on this particular bill, but I would like to read one statement from Senator Rand Paul. He said: ``It is time for more transparency in virtually every part of our government.''

I think most Americans can agree on that, and the Fed is the most logical place to start. I hope the House passes the ``Audit the Fed'' bill, and I look forward to pushing this bill in the Senate.

I reserve the balance of my time.

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

Tonight, we have heard from the distinguished gentleman from Georgia, who not only has authored this legislation but has pushed at every attempt to make sure that we have accountability and transparency. The American people deserve that.

When much of the financial crisis was happening in 2008, this very body debated over and over again on whether a stimulus should be put forth to

stimulate the economy. At the same time, the Federal Reserve was making investment dollars that made that stimulus package look very small in comparison. Yet we are to assume that, like other government agencies, they are doing everything correctly. We know, as history has shown us, that that is not always the case.

I urge all of my colleagues to join me in supporting this particular bill--to support transparency, to let the accountability be with the American people.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 5169) to amend title 5, United States Code, to enhance accountability within the Senior Executive Service, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous materials on the bill under consideration.

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

Congress looks to the Senior Executive Service, or ``SES'' as we refer to it, to provide leadership so that the government may successfully deliver services to the American people.

A 1978 law creating the SES intended it to be an elite corps of leaders serving just below the high-level Presidential appointees. The roughly 8,000 SES members are spread across government agencies and are intended to be that link between the political appointees and agencies' career workforce.

In a budget-constrained environment, senior executives must be good stewards of the taxpayer dollars so citizens receive the best value for their money. Unfortunately, the Oversight Committee's investigations have, time and time again, identified SES members embroiled in agency scandals. This has created a need to restore the public confidence by increasing accountability and performance within the government's executive corps.

In February of 2012, the committee began investigating allegations that the Internal Revenue Service inappropriately scrutinized certain applicants who were seeking tax-exempt status. Documents and information showed that SES member Lois Lerner, the Director of the IRS' exempt organization unit, was extensively involved in the targeting of conservative groups' tax-exempt organizations while working to maintain a veneer of objective enforcement.

In April of 2012, the committee began investigating SES member Jeff Neely

for the excessive, wasteful and, in some cases, impermissible waste of taxpayer dollars associated with the GSA conferences, at a luxury resort in Las Vegas.

Mr. Neely directed those planning the conference to make it over the top; thus it came as no surprise when photos surfaced of Mr. Neely relaxing in a Las Vegas hot tub on the taxpayers' dime.

Senior Executive Servicemembers also chose to conceal problems within the VA health care system. With more than 20 veterans' deaths linked to substandard care, the work of the VA inspector general and the Veterans' Affairs Committee, under Chairman Miller, paints a very disturbing picture.

In response to all of this, H.R. 5169 gives agencies the tools to better manage their senior executives. The bill eliminates a provision in the current law that allows an executive removed for performance and placed in a new Federal job to retain their executive salary. I might add that that averages $161,000.

The bill makes senior executives subject to suspensions without pay for less than 2 weeks instead of a simple reprimand or admonishment in the same manner as frontline employees would receive. The bill makes senior executives accountable for conduct contrary to the efficiency of the Federal service.

The bill extends the probationary period for senior executives from 1 year to 2 years, and, if used properly, that probationary period gives agencies an effective tool to ensure that executives are productive. If executives are not performing in an acceptable level, they will be terminated.

The bill ensures that senior executives receive their performance plans--the foundation of accountability for poor and high performance-- at least 30 days in writing before the appraisal cycle begins.

Mr. Speaker, following the committee's consideration, we have worked on a bipartisan basis to address the concerns of the minority.

First, the bill before the House today reflects the adoption of the amendment offered and withdrawn at the markup of the bill by the Delegate from the District of Columbia and maintains a requirement for agencies to provide 30 days' advanced notice to senior executives facing termination.

Second, the bill requires agencies to make a decision on termination and other disciplinary actions within 30 days of receiving the employee's response to that proposed action.

Finally, the bill ensures that senior executives fired for misconduct return any salary and leave accrued while on nonduty status. This means that the executive retains his or her avenues to appeal but, in the end, if terminated, is required to make the taxpayer whole.

Combined, these changes bring needed accountability to the Federal Government's executive leadership core.

I urge the Members of the House to support this measure, joining me in providing agencies additional tools to address instances where senior government officials are engaging in behavior contrary to the principles of public service.

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield as much time as he may consume to the gentleman from the State of Michigan (Mr. Walberg), my distinguished colleague who is the author of this piece of legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Jordan).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Goodlatte), the chairman of the Judiciary Committee.

I yield the gentleman 1 additional minute.

Mr. Speaker, I yield as much time as he may consume to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Walberg).

Mr. Speaker, I am willing to close with just a few remarks.

Mr. Speaker, perhaps the IRS and the scandals that have been surrounding that are not a big deal to address this piece of legislation. Perhaps a picture of the gentleman in a Las Vegas hot tub is not a reason to address this piece of legislation, but I can tell you that our veterans are, Mr. Speaker.

Those facts that have been the headlines for far too long really are at the core of what we are as a body, that we must protect the men and women who have fought so valiantly for our country and for the freedoms. If we cannot hold our senior executives accountable for the sake of our veterans, then what good is there of any law?

What we must do, Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this for the veterans of our country to make sure that there is more accountability on behalf of American taxpayers so that we, once again, can start to trust our government.

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

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 5170) to improve Federal employee compliance with the Federal and Presidential recordkeeping requirements, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous materials on the bill under consideration.

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

Mr. Speaker, compliance with the Federal Records Act and the Presidential Records Act is vital in preserving the history of our government and ensuring its continued transparency.

Unfortunately, too frequently of late, Congress has heard examples of agencies and individuals failing to comply with the basic provisions of Federal recordkeeping law. The most recent illustration is the IRS which, according to the Archivist of the United States, failed to follow the law by not disclosing the potential loss of Federal records relating to Lois Lerner.

In another instance, the Oversight Committee learned that the then- Assistant Attorney General Tom Perez used his personal email account almost 1,200 times over a 4-year period to conduct official business. We should not tolerate this type of behavior.

Democracy requires transparency, Mr. Speaker. The public has a right to know the actions their government takes on their behalf. This principle of a right to know has been enshrined in numerous statutes at the Federal, State, and local levels. These include open meeting laws, Freedom of Information Act processes, and records laws.

At the national level, two bedrock transparency laws are the Federal Records Act and the Presidential Records Act. Together, these two laws ensure that our Nation's key documents, whether they be emails, maps, agendas, microfilm, or any other type of media, are preserved, sometimes in perpetuity, as a clear record of the government's operation and decisionmaking process.

Unfortunately, in recent weeks, particularly in relation to the events at the IRS surrounding the loss of Lois Lerner's emails, it is clear that records laws are not being followed appropriately by agencies and their employees.

The Archivist of the United States in testimony before this committee on June 24 stated that the IRS ``did not follow the law'' in failing to notify him of the potential loss of Federal records of Lois Lerner's hard drive.

Records can be lost due to ignorance, inattention, or intentional malice. We should not tolerate any of these excuses, but the intentional destruction of records, Mr. Speaker, in particular, is a criminal act, and Federal employees found to have committed such a crime should be fired.

I am pleased that today we are considering the Federal Records Accountability Act of 2014, a bill I was proud to introduce. This commonsense legislation will make a number of reforms to better hold Federal employees accountable to the requirements of the Federal Records Act and the Presidential Records Act.

Specifically, the bill creates a process requiring agencies to fire employees who have been found to have ``willfully and unlawfully'' altered, removed, or destroyed a Federal record.

The bill bars Federal employees from using nonofficial emails and other electronic messaging accounts to conduct official business, unless that communication is disclosed in full within 15 days to the government. Failure to do so would be considered a ``willful and unlawful'' destruction of Federal records and subject the employee to termination.

Mr. Speaker, additionally, the legislation will require agencies to disclose on their Web site notices indicating an actual, impending, or threatened loss of Federal records. This expands the current law mandate that agencies only inform the Archivist, the mandate recently ignored by the IRS.

This bill also requires agencies to appoint or reconfirm a senior agency official for records management. This individual would be responsible for ensuring full agency compliance with records laws, and Congress will be able to hold them directly accountable for noncompliance.

Additionally, thanks to an amendment from my good friend, the ranking member, Mr. Cummings, this bill will require agencies to preserve their electronic records in an electronic format. This reform will end the absurd and yet all too common practice in which agencies require emails and other electronic records to be manually printed out for long-term storage and instead save them on a hard drive.

Finally, thanks to efforts by Ms. Speier and Mr. DeSantis, the bill will require agencies to automatically capture all official emails, instant messages, tweets, and other electronic communications by senior agency officials, their assistants, and other officials likely to come into regular digital contact with a large number of Federal records.

This process will dramatically improve transparency at the most senior levels of government by starting with the presumption that electronic messages are Federal records instead of the current process under which officials self-select what constitutes a record.

Collectively, the reforms in H.R. 5170 will send a powerful message that transparency and faithful recordkeeping are priorities of our government.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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

As we look at this particular piece of legislation, the real genesis of this came from very troubling testimony that a number of us on both sides of this aisle heard in hearing after hearing. It was not one agency. It has been a plethora of agencies that seem to have communication that is going on, Mr. Speaker, on a regular basis that is not being preserved.

Now, part of this is accountability; part of this is historical. Can you imagine what our Founding Fathers would do if they had communicated to one another and never preserved the letter or the communication that had taken place between them? What would our history be? It would be filled with a number of holes. So, from a historical perspective, we have the real duty to require it for our children and our grandchildren to understand what goes on in government.

But, from an accountability standpoint, I think that is where most Americans are focusing these days, Mr. Speaker. They don't understand why we continue to lose email after email, while there seems to be hard drive problems at the IRS that transcend all logical comprehension of why so many hard drives would have failed. I have a hard time understanding that as well.

Regardless of those issues, if we enact this particular bill--and I thank the ranking member from Maryland because he has, indeed, with his amendment made this bill better. It is stronger, and I thank him for his support. Because when we work together in a bipartisan way to make sure that these records are kept, it not only preserves it for historical purposes, but it starts to build back the foundation, block by block, layer by layer, where the American people can once again trust their government.

I think it is time, Mr. Speaker, that we take this act and make it into law. So I encourage my colleagues to support this. I urge them to support this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the extraordinary life of Private Samuel Reed, who served our nation during the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. Private Reed will be honored on September 13, 2014 with a Grave Marking Ceremony at Reid's Chapel United Methodist in Murphy, North Carolina. Private Reed's fourth-great grandson, Edward Wayne Reid, and his wife Carol, have organized the event.

Born in Rowan County, North Carolina around the year 1750, Private Reed was a true patriot, serving in the Revolutionary War with his father, Colonel James Reed, and his six brothers. He fought in multiple key battles between the years of 1778 and 1781 throughout North Carolina, Georgia, and South Carolina. Additionally, during the War of 1812, Private Reed served in the North Carolina Militia.

After many years of military service, Private Reed and his wife, Rachel Sparks Reed, settled in Cherokee County, North Carolina. Private Reed died in 1851 at the age of 101 and was buried in the old Reed Cemetery, close to where Reid's Chapel United Methodist is today.

We owe our freedom and independence to great men like Private Samuel Reed. I am proud to honor this brave man and his many accomplishments in defense of our nation.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that my name be removed as a cosponsor of H.R. 3486.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the gentlewoman from Indiana for her leadership on this particular issue and for her time and her eloquent remarks in introducing this particular piece of legislation.

I would also like to thank the gentlewoman from California who is leading from the other side of the aisle. Much is made of headlines where the dysfunction of Washington, D.C., is in every newspaper on how things do not work, and yet a few hundred feet away from me is a gentlewoman from California representing a constituency many, many miles away from my home State of North Carolina. So today we are not only reaching across the aisle, but we are reaching across the country from California to North Carolina, because human trafficking affects us all.

I was first made aware of this by my daughter who was 15 years old when she did a report on human trafficking. I thought it was one of those things that was not a big deal until she informed me that it was in our backyard. It was in our neighborhoods. It was in our communities. Right now, some estimated 23 million people are trafficked, are caught up in human trafficking. And to give you a perspective of that, that equals a number that is very close to another slavery that we know as a horrific blight on our Nation and our world-- the African slave trade. Today we have more people caught up in modern- day slavery than at the height of that particular time, yet somehow we continue to not address it. So hopefully on our watch, Mr. Speaker, we will address that.

Mr. Speaker, I want to provide a little bit of the context of this particular bill. The genesis of it came from a hearing. Many times we have hearings over and over, Mr. Speaker. Some people say, well, why do you continue to have those hearings?

We had some Delta Airline flight attendants who came in to a hearing. They were talking about the effort that they went through, on a voluntary basis, to set up a program to train their flight attendants and, ultimately, now all of their customer service representatives who see people on a day-by-day basis, they trained them to recognize those that are being trafficked. Yet they did this on their own. So from that, we felt like it would be a good idea to not only partner with them, but to provide that same type of training for the Federal workers that get to see these people at our borders, in our airports, and places across our Nation.

I want to thank Chairman McCaul, Chairman Hudson, Mr. O'Rourke, and the entire Homeland Security Committee staff for their hard work on working on this bill to make it not only one that hopefully will be a useful tool, but also one that will make a difference. It is estimated that there is no additional cost for providing this training, and yet the benefits will be great.

Tens of thousands of people are trafficked through the United States every year, 80 percent of whom are exploited sexually, two-thirds of them women, but more accurately, most of them little girls.

We must stand together in a bipartisan way, and I thank my colleague across the aisle for working with us and her leadership on this. But if we are successful--well, the word should not be ``if.'' When we are successful, Mr. Speaker, we will have saved thousands of lives, and we will have changed thousands of lives. So it is with great humility that I ask my colleagues to come together and support this piece of legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous materials on H.R. 2283, as amended.

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

I want to rise in support of this particular legislation and follow- up on what the gentleman from New Jersey shared regarding the importance of not only the TIP Report but to remain vigilant with a number of the countries abroad where trafficking has become very commonplace.

Just in the last week, we had an ambassador from one of those countries come to us and share the fact that they are a Tier 3 country. They were very concerned and wanted to outline the things that they were doing to try to combat human trafficking.

It was very obvious to me that with the emphasis we have placed on that, not only here in Congress but with the State Department, that making human trafficking a priority for them to correct and combat was certainly something that has drawn great attention. To strengthen the efforts there, to continue to strengthen the State Department, to raise and elevate this position to bureau status, certainly will send a message not only to our country, not only to countries abroad, but hopefully will give hope to the young girls and young men that are being trafficked in so many of these foreign countries that the United States is serious about this, and that it is not just a few words that perhaps are shared by myself and the gentleman from New York here on the House floor today but that it goes to the very core of who we are, that we must stand up and be a voice for those who have no voice.

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

Mr. Speaker, we have no more speakers, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 4449) to amend the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 to expand the training for Federal Government personnel related to trafficking in persons, and for other purposes.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous materials on this bill.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the bill, H.R. 4449, to amend the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 to expand the training for Federal Government personnel related to trafficking in persons, and for other purposes.

I thank the gentleman from New York for his leadership in addressing this issue.

As we look at this, this particular bill would require appropriate personnel of the Department of State, that they would be trained in identifying victims of severe forms of trafficking and provide for the protection of those victims.

H.R. 4449 would specify three minimum training requirements in that underlying statute: one, a distance learning course for Embassy and bureau personnel dealing with trafficking issues; two, trafficking briefings for all ambassadors and DCMs before they head to their postings; and, three, annual reminders to appropriate personnel regarding key trafficking problems and issues related to their countries.

The State Department believes that these specified forms of training largely track their current activities; thus, while adding these examples to the statute will ensure that these types of training will continue, it will not result in a substantial and additional cost.

Again, I thank the leadership, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Sean Patrick Maloney) as the primary sponsor of this, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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

I want to close by saying that anything we can do, certainly, to continue to highlight this particular issue, whether it is with the State Department or laws within our Nation, gives us a rare opportunity to affect lives not only here in the United States, but across the world.

I would like to thank the committee work for those on the Foreign Affairs Committee, their diligence and hard work here at a late hour-- certainly our own personal staffs, congressional staffs, for their work too. So many times, they don't get mentioned.

With that, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 4449, and I yield back the balance of my time.

I would like to thank the chairman of the full committee, Chairman Royce, for his leadership and his kind words but, really, for bringing forth this bill so that the American people can, once again, unify against what we all know is a blight on our country, a blight on our world. When terrorism prevails, we must stand firm, and I want to thank the chairman for his leadership on that.

I also want to echo the comments of the ranking member when he talked about this being a bipartisan effort. Indeed, we have the chairman and the ranking member taking the lead. My colleague Mr. Schneider from Illinois is working with us on this, and the committee staff--our staff--has worked very hard for many, many months to make sure that this is a targeted bill. Today, we have an opportunity to place a critical blow to Hezbollah.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 4411, the Hezbollah International Financing Prevention Act. It is to make sure that those who are innocent are protected. As the chairman so eloquently said earlier, over 2,000 rockets have gone into Israel in the last few days, but, today, some 20,000 to 30,000 rockets are aimed at Israel. The trigger person--the trigger organization--is Hezbollah, so we must pass this legislation to make sure that what we can do is cripple their ability to finance and put people in harm's way.

Hezbollah has many different faces. In some areas, they are called a charitable organization. In others, they are talked about as a political organization. In Latin America, they are talked about as ones who would traffic narcotics. In North America, they are money launderers and counterfeit ring producers. We have many faces for Hezbollah but one soul, and that soul is dedicated to, really, eliminating a people off the face of this world.

Today, I rise in support of this, asking my colleagues to join me to make sure that we send a clear message, not only to the United States, but to the world as a whole.

Some people would say: Why should we be doing this?

This may only deal with Europe or Israel or Syria. It doesn't really affect me.

But I am going to close with this, Mr. Speaker. These words are not my words. They are the words of the U.S. attorney from the Western District of North Carolina, Anne Tompkins.

She was talking about Mohamad Hammoud, who was a student and a member of Hezbollah as a youth in his home country. And he came to the United States on a Hezbollah-driven mission, one that he loyally carried out, creating millions of dollars to send back for terrorism in a faraway place.

But it wasn't just a faraway place, because when he was waiting in jail, he ordered the death of a prosecutor who was prosecuting him, ordered the bombing of a courthouse in Charlotte, North Carolina.

So if it is not for Israel and it is not for Syria and it is not for Europe or Latin America, maybe it is for the United States of America. Let's come together and make sure that we pass this critical piece of legislation.