Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, today, I rise on behalf of all of America's National Guard and proudly introduce the Guardians of Freedom Act of 2010--a bill to elevate the Chief of the National Guard Bureau to a position on the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The National Guard is one of our nation's longest standing institutions, empowered by Congress and providing to the states a highly trained and well equipped force to protect life and property.

Over the course of its nearly four hundred year history, the National Guard has remained a dual state-Federal force, providing security on the home front and fighting threats to our Nation and our freedoms all over the globe.

Our National Guardsmen are true American patriots. Theirs is a proud story of tradition, service, sacrifice, and uncommon acts of heroism. They make each of us so very proud.

Aristotle said, ``Men acquire a particular quality by constantly acting a particular way . . . you become just, by performing just actions . . . brave by performing brave actions.''

The American people owe an enormous debt of gratitude to our 362,192 men and women members of the National Guard in service to these great United States. These extraordinary individuals maintain the Guard's multi-mission role--providing nearly 33 percent of America's combat power globally. Yet, simultaneously and with great skill, from approximately 3,400 community-based armories they serve their fellow citizens in defense of our homeland, and in support to states and local civil authorities and emergency response needs.

For decades there has been a significant evolution in the missions and capabilities of the National Guard. As Major General Allen E. Tackett, the Adjutant General of the West Virginia National Guard so appropriately states, ``Not since World War II has the Guard been so vital to the overseas mission and not since the founding of our Nation has the Guard been so vital to the defense of our homeland.''

Madam Speaker, for 34 years I have been privileged to represent the people of southern West Virginia, and it is with humble sincerity I say, our West Virginia National Guard is a model example of the training, commitment to excellence and professional dedication to America's defense.

From the home front to the front lines, we call upon our National Guard to fulfill missions of public safety and security on and between our borders here at home, and send them to foreign lands to combat terrorism abroad. They are among the first called to aid in a domestic disaster and have often times been the last to leave a battlefield.

This year the National Guard marks its 374th birthday. Formed as colonial militias, the new colonies in North America depended upon the Guard to protect fellow citizens from Indian attack, foreign invaders, and later to help achieve our independence. Recognizing the militia's role for the newly formed United States, the Framers of the Constitution empowered Congress to provide for training and equipping the militias.

Since founding and through an historic journey of ``call outs'' and stand out missions--from the bayou communities ravaged by Hurricane Katrina to the frontiers of freedom during the Cold War, our National Guard has seen its Federal mission change.

Our National Guard has a duty and commitment to the citizens and communities of the states in which these soldiers call ``family'' and ``home.'' It is a military service tradition that has been challenged by long-term and multiple deployments to front lines in two active theaters, and in support of missions in all corners of the globe as directed by our Nation's Commander in Chief.

Therefore, it is not only our duty it is an absolute necessity, that Congress take action to elevate the Chief of the National Guard Bureau to a position on the Joint Chiefs of Staff to serve as an advocate and liaison for the National Guard of each State to inform of all actions that could affect their Federal or State missions.

In a Nation such as ours, it is a stunning reality that today we ask our brothers and sisters, husbands, and wives to serve around the

globe to preserve democracy and promote freedom. But in our country, where every voice counts, our Nation's active duty leadership excludes the voice of the Chief of the National Guard Bureau.

Congress must ensure the National Guard has appropriate input during the planning and budgetary process within the Department of Defense, and end the challenge to live with ``after-the-fact'' process, as is now the case.

As a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Chief of the National Guard Bureau would have responsibility and authority to advocate and coordinate the Guard's warfighting support and force provider mission with its homeland security and support missions to ensure the Guard has the resources to perform its multiple missions and fulfill its Constitutional role to our states.

Creating a Veterans' preference in the Transportation sector is very simple. It seeks to give America's veterans an opportunity advantage in the contracting process for their service to our country--a means to attach importance and to acknowledge our fellow Americans who have put their life on the line to preserve our way of life.

Madam Speaker, from the battlefield to the home fields, our National Guard--America's patriots--exemplifies sacrifice and commitment to duty.

I urge my colleagues to vote for Guardians for Freedom Act of 2010-- so that we may respectfully and gratefully fulfill our duty to support the original intent of our Constitution for each state to maintain an organized militia with integrity--and, effectively support and acknowledge the great sacrifice so many willingly make for all of us.

Madam Speaker, Constitution Day was Senator Byrd's Day.

Having just finished drafting our Constitution, Benjamin Franklin was stopped in the street as he left Independence Hall in Philadelphia where delegates from thirteen former colonies had been meeting the summer of 1787. ``Dr. Franklin, what form of government have you given us?'' a concerned citizen asked. ``A republic, Madam,'' said Franklin; quickly adding, ``If you can keep it.''

Throughout Robert C. Byrd's life he was a proud keeper and guardian of two sets of laws, one laid down in our Bible (the King James Version), the other rooted in our federal Constitution.

Senator Byrd was a largely self-taught man. He cherished learning, a process he continued throughout his life, and he made sure that countless Americans would get an annual lesson, a civic reminder about our Constitution each September 17th. Senator Byrd authored the law that now requires all institutions receiving federal funding to celebrate the venerable document in a meaningful and instructive way.

Dr. Ray Smock, director of the Byrd Center, the repository for Senator Byrd's papers and a center for the study of Congress in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, recently shared some insights with me in advance of our celebration of the Constitution this September 17th, which serve to remind us that Senator Byrd's values are as timeless as his work for West Virginia was tireless.

At the Byrd Center, among the collection of thousands of pages of Senator Byrd's work, rests the Bible he held when he was sworn in as President Pro Tem of the Senate on Jan. 3rd, 1989. That Bible, like others that were in his possession, was heavily underlined on almost every page. Sometimes he would write in the margin: ``Memorize This.'' He wrote two quotations on the inside front cover of this particular Bible:

``Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set.'' Proverbs 22:28

And, ``We speak much about what matters little; we speak little about what matters much.'' We are not sure of the source of this quotation, but the fact the Senator placed it here, shows us how important it was to him.

When you think about it, even a little bit, both quotations are relevant to Constitution Day. Certainly, to the Senator, one of the great ancient landmarks had to have been the U.S. Constitution. No one defended it better or more eloquently than Senator Byrd.

In the hard times we find ourselves right now, there are some prognosticators who argue that the Constitution needs to be overhauled. A recent article in Harper's magazine even suggested that the Senate is an anachronism and should be abolished.

Senator Byrd spent a lifetime defending the wisdom of our Founding Fathers and the government they created. He understood from his Bible and his Constitution that mankind was not perfect. And no government conceived by man is going to be perfect either. But he believed in the genius of the Constitution, which has served us well for more than two centuries.

He loved the Federalist Essays, and read them thoroughly from cover to cover, memorizing key passages. These 85 essays on the nature of the American government penned by James Madison, John Jay, and Alexander Hamilton were collectively the single best source Senator Byrd used to form his understanding of the intent of the Founders when they penned the Constitution. He quoted the Federalist papers frequently.

Among his favorite passages was in Federalist 51, in which James Madison wrote:

But what is government itself, but the greatest of all

reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no

government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men,

neither external nor internal controls on government would be

necessary. In framing a government which is to be

administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in

this: you must first enable the government to control the

governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.

The other quotation in the Senator's Bible, ``We speak much about what matters little, we speak little about what matters much'' gets to the heart of a lot that is wrong with our public discourse these days. The 24/7 news machine, the Internet, and talk radio, devote vast amounts of time speaking about what matters little, and not enough talking about the things that matter most. We all feel that government could work better. The question is in how to make that happen. We must not surrender to bumper-sticker politics that entice one to believe that solutions to great challenges are simple and quick.

The legacy of Senator Byrd's life suggests that we all need to be more responsible in making government work. Citizens and those who are elected need to put aside the extremes of partisanship to effectively address the complex needs of the country.

Senator Byrd was in awe of the Founders for their ability to set aside their partisanship and work to build a nation. He admired the Framers of the Constitution for their understanding of history and of human nature. While he could play partisan politics with the best of them and while he was loyal and dedicated to West Virginia, he never forgot that his role as a Senator was to look out for the whole nation, not just one party, or one place. It is certain that he would agree that our Constitution does not need changing so much as our moral compass needs adjusting.

Let us ``remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set,'' and let us all follow Senator Byrd's example of keeping our perspective on the things that matter much, and not get lost wasting our time on those that matter little. Senator Byrd is gone now, but our job to work to keep this Republic is an ongoing duty, one that each generation must take up so our Union can endure, and prosper.

I will be visiting Boone County to celebrate our Constitution and the invaluable lessons Senator Byrd left with us. Constitution Day was dear to Senator Byrd's heart because it was a day of reflection on the very thing that does matter much to the future of this nation.

To learn more about the Byrd Center, its collection and programs, please visit its Web site at: www.byrdcenter.org. Ray Smock is Director of the Robert C. Byrd Center for Legislative Studies, Shepherd University in Shepherdstown, WV, and is a former Historian of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Madam Speaker, on behalf of the Committee on Natural Resources, pursuant to subsection (c)(2) of H. Res. 1493, which passed the House on July 1, 2010, I am submitting findings that identify changes in law that help achieve deficit reduction by reducing waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagement and promoting reform of government programs.

In this regard, the Committee on Natural Resources has reported, and the House has passed, H.R. 3534, the ``Consolidated Land, Energy and Aquatic Resources Act of 2010.'' According to the Congressional Budget Office, this legislation would reduce future deficits by $5.3 billion over the 2011-2015 period and $1.7 billion over the 2011-2020 period by reducing abuses which have occurred in the federal offshore oil and gas leasing program and by promoting greater efficiencies in those programs.

Specifically, the Consolidated Land, Energy, and Aquatic Resources Act would make several significant changes to current law in order to create greater efficiencies, transparency, and accountability in the development of federal energy resources. In this regard, the bill would impose tough new ethics standards, including putting an end to the revolving door between government and the oil and gas industry. It would reform the Minerals Management Service by breaking it up and removing the conflict-of-interest between leasing, inspections, and revenue collection. And it would close royalty loopholes that allow companies to get away with shortchanging the American people, including provisions designed to do away with the ability for companies to pay zero royalties during times of high oil prices--consumers paying sky- high gas prices that fuel record profits should not face the indignity of receiving no royalty on the sale of the public's oil.

The legislation would also provide for strong new safety standards for offshore drilling, including independent certifications of critical equipment, demonstrations of the ability to respond to future blowouts or major spills, increased inspections, stiffer penalties for safety violations, and an end to the practice of issuing environmental waivers for drilling plans.

Enactment of this legislation would reduce the budget deficit and reform government programs while promoting the energy security of the United States.

Madam Speaker, we have witnessed the personal courage and sacrifice made by so many West Virginians, who serve our great state and country proudly in our armed forces. But we must never forget those who lost their life on September 11, 2001--a most tragic day in our history.

Today, it is appropriate that the formal federal recognition ceremony at the West Virginia National Guard for its Joint Interagency Training and Education Center coincides with the ninth anniversary of terrorist attacks on America.

Those who delivered the blows hoped their cowardly actions would mark the beginning of our destruction. Instead, they reaffirmed our commitment to our founding values and inspired a renewed dedication to embrace once again that America's destiny is the world's destiny--to secure life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Today will always be a solemn day for Dr. Kenneth and Sharon Ambrose who lost their son, Dr. Paul Ambrose. He was on board American Airlines Flight 77 that was hijacked by terrorists and flown into the Pentagon. His passion to improve health care and the well being of West Virginians through better nutrition and activity lives on through the Paul Wesley Ambrose Health Policy Program, a fellowship program at Marshall University's Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine, and the Paul Ambrose Trail for Health being developed for Huntington with the Rahall Transportation Institute. PATH is a 26-mile walking and shared-road trail that encompasses nearly every part of the city.

The Puritan preacher John Winthrop proclaimed as he and his followers sailed for America and freedom, ``The eyes of all people are upon us.''

Many have looked to us in awe, over the last nine years and through the nearly four centuries of our history--inspired by our nation rooted in liberty, and today we must re-dedicate ourselves to continue our mission to improve life and protect those freedoms we all hold dear.

Mr. Chair, I submit an exchange of letters between the Committee on Natural Resources and the Committee on Ways and Means concerning H.R. 3534.

House of Representatives,

Committee on Ways and Means,

Washington, DC, September 13, 2010.

Hon. Nick J. Rahall II,

Chairman, Committee on Natural Resources, House of

Representatives, Washington, DC.

Dear Nick Rahall: I am writing to you concerning the

jurisdictional interest of the Committee on Ways and Means in

your amendment in the nature of a substitute to H.R. 3534,

the ``Consolidated Land, Energy, and Aquatic Resources Act of

2010.''

Rule X of the Rules of the House of Representatives

provides that the Committee on Ways and Means has

jurisdiction over ``revenue measures generally.'' Section 802

of H.R. 3534, as amended, raises revenue by imposing a fee of

$2 per barrel of oil and 20 cents per million BTU of natural

gas produced on Federal onshore and offshore lands. As a

result, Section 802 of H.R. 3534, as amended, is within the

jurisdiction of the Committee on Ways and Means.

I recognize and appreciate your desire to bring this

legislation before the House in an expeditious manner and,

accordingly, I will not seek a sequential referral of H.R

3534, as amended. However, I agree to waive consideration of

this bill with the understanding that this does not in any

way prejudice the Committee on Ways and Means and its

jurisdictional prerogatives on H.R. 3534 or similar

legislation.

Further, the Ways and Means Committee reserves the right to

seek the appointment of conferees during any House-Senate

conference convened on this legislation on provisions of the

bill that are within the Committee's jurisdiction. I ask for

your commitment to support any request by the Committee on

Ways and Means for the appointment of conferees on H.R. 3534

or similar legislation. I also ask that a copy of this letter

and your response be included in the Congressional Record

during consideration of this bill by the House.

Thank you for your consideration in this matter.

Sincerely,

Sander M. Levin,

Chairman.

Madam Speaker, I want to recognize Beckley Impact, a very special team of 16 and under softball players from my native town of Beckley, West Virginia.

This talented group of young ladies recently won the WV United States Specialty Sports Association (USSSA) Championship and recently returned from Florida having competed in the USSSA World Series. Now the 9th ranked team in the Nation, originally formed in 1999, the team ended its recent tournament with a 3-3 record and 24-8 overall record.

While I applaud these players for their hard work, commitment and dedication to softball, I would also like to commend them for serving as a great inspiration to others both on and off of the field. Just recently, each of the team members dedicated herself to play in honor of the West Virginia coal miners who perished in the Upper Big Branch mining disaster in April. Most every family on this team had a relative, friend or neighbor who died in this tragedy.

In what has become a tradition, and a very meaningful moment, immediately following each game, the team invites their opponents to join them in a group prayer on the field, whether they won or lost.

It is my honor to salute this wonderful team, these giving individuals--Eryn Buchanon, Alexandria Garris, Alyssa Hunt, Kelci Jones, Alexa McCormack, MacKenzie Milam, Ashleigh Mills, Katie Muovich, Andrea Roles, Alissa Ward, Randi Wright, team manager Randy Hunt, and coaches Patti Ward and Willie Wright.

Their effort is aided and strongly supported by an array of local businesses who serve as sponsors. We recognize their commitment and dedication to this worthwhile community activity for our youth.

This partnership of coaches, team managers, small business, proud parents and players helps guide our youth to more productive adulthood and helps build citizens for our cities, towns, states and Nation who care and contribute of themselves in due turn. A valuable lesson for us all.

I appreciate the gentleman from Massachusetts yielding.

The Stateside LWCF program does provide vital support for States and local communities for access to outdoor recreation. My home State of West Virginia, for example, has benefited greatly from these formula- driven matching grants, and I am pleased that the CLEAR Act will provide stable, permanent funding for the Stateside program.

I agree with the gentleman that the funding levels for Stateside in recent years have been completely inadequate, and I look forward to working with you, our colleagues on the Appropriations Committee, the administration, and others who support this critical program to ensure it receives adequate and equitable funding going forward.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 3534.

No, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that during proceedings today in the House and in the Committee of the Whole, the Chair be authorized to reduce to 2 minutes the minimum time for electronic voting on any question that otherwise could be subjected to 5-minute voting under clause 8 or 9 of Rule XX or under clause 6 of rule XVIII.

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

Mr. Chairman, I understand the typographical error made by somebody has been corrected in the supplemental report just filed and we are now on line for consideration of this bill.

Today the House is considering H.R. 3534, the Consolidated Land, Energy, and Aquatic Resources Act of 2010, better known as the CLEAR Act. This legislation is aimed at shedding light on longstanding inadequacies in the management of our Federal oil and gas resources and to address the lessons learned in the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon disaster.

On the afternoon of January 29, 1969, an environmental nightmare began in Santa Barbara, California. A Union Oil platform stationed 6 miles off the coast suffered a blowout. For 11 days, oil workers struggled to cap the rupture. During that time, around 5,000 barrels of crude oil bubbled to the surface and was spread into an 800-square-mile slick by winds and swells. Incoming tides brought thick tar to beaches, marring 35 miles of coastline. At the time, it was the worst environmental disaster this country had experienced and heralded the beginning of the environmental movement, but that paled in comparison to the events in the aftermath of the tragic explosion that occurred in the Gulf of Mexico on the evening of April 20, 2010.

The explosion of the Deepwater Horizon took the lives of 11 brave workers, unleashed up to 5 million barrels of oil over nearly 100 days, wreaking havoc on the gulf. It soiled over 600 miles of pristine gulf coast shoreline, and enforced the largest fishery closure in history. The souls of those 11 men cannot be recouped, but we, in part, can redeem them by taking action on this legislation.

Prior to this incident, I led the Committee on Natural Resources in the vigorous oversight of America's flawed oil and gas program. We uncovered billions of dollars that were never paid to the American people, countless examples of agency regulators sleeping around with, instead of keeping an eye on, the oil and gas industry, and the flagrant mismanagement of America's public energy resources. We had amassed a mountain of evidence that something was wrong. The American people were being cheated. The environment was being degraded, and Big Oil was writing their own rules.

As a result of a decade of investigations by the inspector general and the GAO, as well as holding countless oversight hearings held by my committee, we crafted a comprehensive package to completely overhaul and reform America's oil and gas leasing program. The CLEAR Act was introduced last September, and it seeks to make several important changes to current law in an effort to create greater efficiencies, transparency, and accountability in the development of our Federal energy resources.

Since April 20, our Committee on Natural Resources has led congressional efforts to investigate this tragedy, which was clearly a game changer for the way we manage our public energy resources. Through the work of the Natural Resources Committee and other committees, it became obvious that additional reasonable reforms were necessary to protect and prevent against such a catastrophe in the future.

While we may not know the exact cause of the incident at this time, we clearly know what contributed to it--a culture of cozy relationships that had regulators interviewing for jobs on the same rigs they were supposed to be inspecting, drilling plans that were rubber-stamped in a matter of minutes with only the most cursory environmental reviews, a ``trust but don't verify'' attitude towards safety standards, and an agency in charge that was spending too much time on the sidelines as the oil and gas industry wrote their own rules.

The CLEAR Act addresses these issues. It directly responds to the Deepwater Horizon disaster while also looking forward and attempting to prevent the next catastrophe. It will create strong new safety standards for offshore drilling and the revolving door between government and industry. It

will require real environmental reviews, hold BP accountable, help restore the gulf coast, and ensure that the American people get the best bang for their buck for the use of their resources.

The CLEAR Act will dismantle and reorganize a dysfunctional Minerals Management Service so that conflicts of interest between leasing, policing, and review collecting are permanently abolished. It establishes a new training academy for Federal oil and gas inspectors who will be required to adhere to strict new ethical guidelines. Thanks to Chairman Oberstar and his Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, the bill before us today also ensures that oil companies are held fully accountable and that drilling rigs meet strict U.S. safety standards.

Finally, the CLEAR Act fulfills a 45-year-old promise to the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which was based on the premise that money obtained from the sale of the public's resources should be used to protect and conserve our natural, historical, and recreational resources. The bill establishes a new Ocean Restoration and Conservation Assistance Fund, known as ORCA, so that funds raised from drilling in our oceans will also go toward protecting and improving our oceans. We take so much from our oceans, Mr. Chairman, that it is about time we gave something back.

We will, undoubtedly, hear horror stories today from the oil and gas industry about what they allege this bill will do to them. It happens every time, but this is sheer hyperventilation from an industry that has had its way with the public lands for 8 years. The industry should take a look at the spill in the gulf to see how an overly permissive attitude can turn into a real horror story for the entire industry and for the American people.

The Deepwater Horizon explosion and the subsequent damage that has occurred over the past 102 days is, indeed, a game changer. It is time that we act to protect America's families, America's workers and businesses, to rebuild the gulf coast, to hold oil companies accountable, to work to ensure that a spill of this kind never happens again, and to secure our domestic energy resources.

In this day and age, in this America, whether it is a coal mine in the congressional district that I am honored to represent or an oil rig deep in the Gulf of Mexico, there is no room for an environment where working men and women leave their homes in the morning and do not know if they will return in the evening. This is what this legislation is about.

I reserve the balance of my time.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, a gentleman with whom we have worked very closely in the development of this legislation, and who has conducted a number of investigations and hearings on his own, Mr. Waxman.

Mr. Chairman, I am very honored to yield 1 minute to the distinguished Speaker of the House, Speaker Pelosi.

Mr. Chairman, I yield myself 15 seconds.

The other side is cherry-picking the letter from the Congressional Budget Office. The gentleman from Tennessee was giving quotes from it, as far as what this conservation fee does, et cetera, and also nothing to do in this legislation. We jettisoned the part related to uranium leasing.

But the bottom line is that CBO estimates that enacting H.R. 3534 would reduce future deficits by $5.3 billion.

I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Holt).

Mr. Chairman, it is my honor to yield 1 minute to the gentlelady from California (Mrs. Capps), who has been so instrumental in development of this legislation and a valued member of our Natural Resources Committee.

May I have the time on all sides, please, Mr. Chairman, and who has the right to close.

Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Kind), a valued member of our Committee on Natural Resources and very helpful in our efforts to preserve the Land and Water Conservation Fund.

(Mr. KIND asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chairman, I am very honored to yield 30 seconds to the chairman of the Education and Labor Committee in honor of the Whistleblower Act, a member of our Natural Resources Committee, the gentleman from California (Mr. George Miller).

I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Maryland, a valued member of our Natural Resources Committee, Mr. Sarbanes.

Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Stupak).

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

Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Inslee), another member of our Natural Resources Committee.

(Mr. INSLEE asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. Chairman, I am glad to yield 30 seconds to the distinguished chairman of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, Mr. Dicks.

(Mr. DICKS asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer).

Mr. Chairman, the Republicans are at it again-- apologizing for Big Oil against the interests of the American people.

The fact of the matter is that House Republicans were for a conservation fee before they were against it, and now they're coming to the floor today and accusing the majority of all of these huge tax increases, but they are opposed to the CLEAR Act. House Republicans voted for a $9 conservation fee in energy legislation sponsored by the former Republican Congressman, now Governor of Louisiana, Bobby Jindal. That vote was on June 29, 2006. I have it here: 192 Republicans voted ``yes'' for a $9 conservation fee, and 155 Democrats voted against it.

What is the difference between then and now? I'll tell you the difference. The Democrats' fee is smaller and Big Oil is richer. That is the difference. The House has passed similar conservation fees with Republican support four different times since 2007, and I could list them.

The fact of the matter is the conservation fee will have no impact on the prices at the pump. As we all know, the prices at the pump are determined by the world market. The $2 per barrel fee will be paid for by Big Oil, not by the American consumer. So I respond by saying the Republicans' raising this conservation fee as a tax increase is simply not true.

The Republicans will also say that we are proposing $30 billion in mandatory spending that is unrelated to the oil spill. We just heard my dear friend and ranking member say that. Not true. There they go again--apologizing for Big Oil.

The fact is that the Land and Water Conservation Fund was visualized by Dwight Eisenhower, proposed by John Kennedy, signed into law by Lyndon Johnson, and is financed by royalties from offshore oil and gas drilling. The dollars raised from depleting one of our natural resources goes toward protecting another. The LWCS is a decades-old promise to the American people that, if we allow energy companies to deplete public resources off our shores, we will require them to dedicate that back in order to help our people and to help our coastlines. That's what this bill is all about.

I urge support.

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

I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Chairman, the amendment incorporates a number of constructive proposals from my colleagues which I believe significantly improve the CLEAR Act. Some of these proposals affect the provisions of the bill under our Natural Resources Committee's jurisdiction while others address the title of the bill that was added by Chairman Oberstar's T&I Committee.

In addition to a number of technical changes, this amendment also contains language that will improve the management of the new training academy for oil and gas inspectors that has been established in this bill. It holds CEOs more accountable for the actions of their companies. It ensures that, even when you spill the public's oil, you still pay the royalties that are due to the American people, and it also leads to a more accurate collection of royalties for natural gas. This amendment also studies the issue of potentially requiring relief wells to be drilled at the same time as the primary well. These are noncontroversial, good government, and good policy provisions. I urge my colleagues to support them.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentlelady from Wisconsin, Ms. Gwen Moore, who has been very helpful to us in drafting this bill.

Mr. Chairman, I am very happy to yield 2\1/2\ minutes at this point to the gentleman from Maryland, Mr. Elijah Cummings, the chairman of the Subcommittee on the Coast Guard of our Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, a gentleman who has been so instrumental in helping to bring this legislation to the floor.

I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Boyd).

(Mr. BOYD asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Farr).

Madam Chair, I yield the remainder of my time to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Markey), who has been so instrumental in this legislation as well on this issue.

Will the gentleman yield?

We are prepared to accept the gentleman from Delaware's amendment on this act and commend him for bringing it to us.

Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman from Wisconsin for yielding and certainly support his amendment. I commend him for his leadership and for his efforts and discussions that have been held long and on many occasions in regard to his amendment and support his bill.

I thank the gentlelady for yielding, and I certainly do support her amendment. I commend her for her leadership on our Committee on Natural Resources in helping to develop this legislation. It is a commonsense amendment that deserves the support of every Member of this body, and it certainly makes the bill better. I appreciate her effort.

I reserve the right to object.

Mr. Chairman, I know a lot of Members are under time pressures because of airline schedules, et cetera. I feel compelled to object.

Plus, if the gentleman would yield further, I am prepared to accept the amendment.

It is 20 minutes; is that correct?

I still have to object.

I appreciate the gentleman from Louisiana's yielding, and I commend him for his commonsense amendment here.

This, of course, would end the moratorium on drilling in the gulf on rigs that have met the safety requirements prescribed in two notices to lessees issued by the DOI as well as other safety standards described by enactment of this legislation. This legislation is about safety on these rigs, and we do put in some new language that does certify and verify that there is necessary safety in place. I urge support.

Just to clarify for my colleague from Washington, my ranking member, if his concern was about the taxpayer ending up paying for something that BP should be liable for under the gentleman from Louisiana's amendment, we do have a catch-all provision in the legislation that applies to not only the entire legislation, but would apply to the gentleman from Louisiana's amendment as well that says none of the funds that are authorized or made available by this act may be used to carry out any activity or pay any cost for removal or damages for which a responsible party, BP, is liable under the OPA.

Mr. Chairman, I move that the Committee do now rise.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to the motion to recommit.

As the gentleman from Louisiana knows from our debate and work in committee on this, this gentleman from West Virginia is not against lifting moratoria when it comes to the production of domestic energy resources. What I care about is safety; the safety of our most valuable resource, which is the worker him- or herself. That's what I care about, whether it's oil and gas or whether it's coal mining.

I will yield to the gentleman from Louisiana whose amendment just passed that does lift the moratorium when it comes to the protection and safety of our workers. His amendment passed with votes from votes from your side of the aisle. Mr. Melancon cares about the fishermen, the jobs of everyone along his coast, and I yield to him at this point.

I yield to the chairman of the Education and Labor Committee, Mr. Miller of California.

Mr. Speaker, what we have seen in the gulf is just plain wrong. We don't know what was the final cause of this explosion and this tragedy, but we know that something went wrong and we know that there are other scenarios that exist today where something may yet go wrong again. We hope not. We pray to God it does not.

But the fact is we need new safety requirements, and we cannot lift any moratoria in any domestic production of energy without ensuring that the new safety requirements are met. In this pending legislation, we do that. We don't just trust what the industry gives the oil rig safety inspectors. We say you have to verify. The safety inspectors have to verify what previously had just been given to them by the industry to submit as a final safety report.

So what we're doing in this legislation is not only providing ethics requirements for safety inspectors, proper training for safety inspectors, but we're also saying let's do a better job than we have in the past. And that's what this whole effort is about in the CLEAR Act.

I would urge my colleagues to reject this moratoria MTR because of what we have already adopted again in a bipartisan fashion. We've adopted the gentleman from Louisiana's amendment to lift the moratorium as long as safety requirements are met.

So if you support lifting the moratoria to protect oil workers' jobs, which everybody says they do, I hope that we'll do it and ensure that jobs are safe, and we do that by rejecting this MTR and passing this bill.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of the 20th Anniversary of the enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, which I deem to be one of the greatest civil rights laws ever passed by our Congress.

Since the establishment of the Americans with Disabilities Act, more than 50 million Americans are able to more wholly enjoy their lives, thanks to the ongoing elimination of barriers on employment, public services, transportation, telecommunications and public accommodations.

Prior to the passage of this Act, our disabled American citizens-- wounded warrior veterans, men, women and children--faced higher rates of poverty, lower graduation rates, significantly lower unemployment rates and were too often denied their right to fully participate in society.

This Act made vital changes, prohibiting discriminating against qualified individuals with disabilities in the workplace; requiring state and local government entities to accommodate qualified individuals with disabilities; providing better access to many modes of public transportation; and requiring places of public accommodation to make their goods and services easily accessible to the disabled.

While many great changes have been instituted since the passage of this act, there is still a lot of work to be done. In a nation as great as ours, it is a stunning reality that our disabled grandparents and parents, sons and daughters, and the wounded warriors who have so bravely served around the globe to preserve democracy and promote freedom, continue to struggle with inequalities that do not have to exist.

I'm putting the Wounded Warrior Fellowship Program to work in our area to provide an employment opportunity for a wounded or disabled veteran living in southern West Virginia. There are 170,783 veterans in West Virginia--51,500 in our Congressional District alone--and that number is growing exponentially every day. These brave men and women returning from Iraq and Afghanistan face a 21 percent unemployment rate; add to that fact, the vulnerable position as a wounded or disabled soldier, and we know the challenges to secure a good paying job grow tremendously.

It is our duty as leaders to support each and every one of our disabled Americans. While I salute this historic piece of legislation, I continue to work on a bipartisan basis, to help identify and address the remaining barriers against the disabled, which truly undermine America's goals and the ideals upon which our great country was founded.

Madam Speaker, we in West Virginia understand well the need for this ``Make it in America'' initiative. Even as we diversify, from broadband infrastructure to tourism marketing, we all know what the manufacturing center means for good paying jobs. The leap from a hard days work, producing the best products in the world, to a service- based industry is a far stretch--one that leaves our national security at risk. The House Democrats understand the need for a plan and action to increase American manufacturing and create new American jobs.

When we ``Make It in America,'' we create jobs to lead the world economy. First and foremost, we must ensure that every nook and cranny of the federal government is geared towards American products, American companies and American workers. In 2007, the Defense Department alone allowed over 14,000 contracts for goods and services to go to foreign companies. That's $5.7 billion American tax dollars we waved goodbye to. We've got to shut the floodgates on the tidal wave of taxpayer's dollars flowing overseas, and shore up our contracts for goods and services bought by the federal government and provided by American workers. I'm a long time advocate for `Buy American' provisions in law, but a concentrated effort will sharpen the focus on a fair deal for our workers and small business and industries.

A global economy doesn't mean a one way trade route for American capital. There's no question we can compete here at home, under fair rules applied to all competitors. Federal agencies should be partners, not competitors, with our workers. The first step towards this realignment is the National Manufacturing Strategy. We passed Congressman Lipinski's bill that calls for a National Manufacturing Strategy and will create the high-skill, high-wage jobs of the future-- promoting American competitiveness, innovation, and exports.

The manufacturing sector generates two-thirds of our exports, and employs millions of Americans. This manufacturing strategy goes hand- in-hand with the newly formed Buy American Caucus, of which I am a member, by working to promote American jobs; reclaim American leadership in manufacturing; support small businesses; and close loopholes in current law to ensure that the federal government is purchasing American-made products.

Our efforts have the potential to assist manufacturing businesses throughout southern West Virginia. We are proud of those manufacturers who continue to support the economy and workers, and are particularly proud of those in the Third District of West Virginia. We have to create a continued demand for American products and create a rebirth of our state and nation as the manufacturing world leader. That effort must start with buying American products here at home.