Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, this morning, as I continue highlighting places in the 23rd District, which comprises nearly 24 percent of the land area of Texas, I would like to talk about the city of Brackettville. With a population of a little over 1,500 people, it is a small town with a big history.

Located as the county seat in Kinney County, Brackettville was once the drive-in movie capital of Texas. It was founded in 1852 as Las Moras, the name of a nearby spring and creek it feeds. The town initially was a supply stop on the old San Antonio-El Paso Road and a supply depot for the U.S. Army's Fort Clark, which was also established in 1852.

The town was later called Brackett, after Oscar B. Brackett, the owner of the first dry goods store in the area. It is a name that still sticks among locals. In 1873, when a post office opened in the town, the ``ville'' was added to ``Brackett'' in order to differentiate it from another town.

The town grew exponentially in the 19th century with the expansion of the garrison at Fort Clark during the Indian wars. During that time, the town's fortune was completely tied to Fort Clark.

For many years, Fort Clark was the headquarters of the famous Buffalo Soldiers, made up of African Americans. At that time, Brackettville had a large proportion of Black Seminoles, who were people of mixed African American and Seminole ancestry, who originated in Florida. The Black Seminoles were recruited by the U.S. to act as scouts for the Buffalo Soldiers, and they settled with their families in Brackettville. During slavery years, the Black Seminoles began living in a settlement in northern Mexico in order to escape conditions in the U.S. Their language, Afro-Seminole Creole, was developed in Florida. Impressively, even today, Afro-Seminole Creole is still spoken by some in Brackettville. After the Buffalo Soldiers moved out to Fort Clark with the waning of the Indian Wars, Brackettville became a cavalry post.

In 1914, the Seminole Negro Indian Scouts were finally disbanded, but these scouts had an amazing history of service. In fact, the Seminole cemetery near Brackettville has the highest number of Congressional Medal of Honor winners resting there per capita than has any other cemetery in the country. Virtually every cavalry unit in the U.S. Army was stationed at or was trained at Fort Clark at one time or another, and many famous soldiers, including John Pershing and George Patton, were there. Others just visited, people like George Armstrong Custer and Phil Sheridan, who nearly lost his life near Fort Clark to a Comanche war party. It was there that he made his famous statement: ``If I owned Texas and hell, I would rent out Texas and live in hell.''

In 1943, during World War II, the U.S. Army activated the 2nd Cavalry, which was the last horse-mounted unit. By 1944, even the 2nd Cavalry had been mechanized. Fort Clark, so long the center of mounted cavalry, was targeted for closure, but before it closed, it was used as a German prisoner of war camp.

Because of the families of soldiers at the fort and the African American veterans and the descendants of those who had settled in Brackettville during the war, the U.S. Government funded the construction of a high school for Black students. The school opened in 1944 so that the children of these veterans could be educated. At that time, Texas was still racially segregated. This high school is believed to have been the only federally built school of its kind between San Antonio and El Paso.

After Fort Clark closed in 1946, it had a variety of uses. It was converted to a resort or a retirement center, and the Historic District of Fort Clark is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. North of the town are the remains of the Alamo Village, built in the 1950s as the set for John Wayne's movie ``The Alamo,'' and scenes of the 1969 comedy ``Viva Max!'' were also shot there.

I invite everyone to visit the city of Brackettville to learn more about the cultures and traditions of the incredible 23rd District of Texas.

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

As the Chair knows, I find several of the Federal agencies very frustrating, but among the most frustrating is the Internal Revenue Service.

One of the more interesting rulings of the Internal Revenue Service deals with the reclassification of certain gratuities as wages when they were meant to be tips. And having grown up in the restaurant business, I will tell you that there is a tremendous difference--not only to the employer, but to the employee--as to whether a wage is classified as a wage or whether it is classified as a gratuity. I know that firsthand from growing up in a family-run and local restaurant.

Revenue rule 2012-18 has forced businesses to change the way that they have traditionally handled consumer checks, and that has resulted in a burdensome and logistical challenge for small and local businesses across the country.

Mr. Chairman, for over 50 years, restaurants have had a longstanding practice of treating these automatic gratuities as tips. For example, if you have a large party of 50 people, then you want to make sure that your waiter or waitress is well taken care of. And for a while there it was 15 percent, now it is about 18 percent, that is added on as a gratuity. That gratuity is meant to go to the waiters and waitresses who have helped your party.

Yet, the way the IRS would treat that, the IRS would treat that not as a tip, not as a gratuity, but as part of their wage, which means it is counted against the employer for income purposes, and then it is counted again against the employee for income purposes. The revenue ruling clearly, clearly, clearly is against years and years and years of practice by the IRS.

Now, a lot of bigger restaurants may have the ability to forgo the automatic gratuities without experiencing any significant challenges, but for small and local restaurants, that is a big deal. Wait staff are often subject to inadequate tips on large parties. And if restaurants continue to utilize automatic gratuities, if they continue to say, please put an additional 15 percent on here for your waiter or waitress, then they can no longer take advantage of the Fair Labor Standards Act tip credit for employees who serve these tables, even if the restaurants distribute these gratuities to the employees. So even if the employee gets the money in the end, it is still counted against the restaurant as income and taxed in one place, and then it is again taxed as income to the employee.

For many small businesses, an inability to collect this tip is a really big burden. It is very difficult to determine wages for employees when they are simultaneously performing tipped and non-tipped work because you cannot add that gratuity for large parties without it being classified in one direction, but for smaller parties you can do a different thing.

Restaurants have treated automatic gratuities as tips for years, and they have been passed on to the employee. That is very important to the employees. It is a big part of the money that they make. And so as the champion of small and local businesses, I have very real concerns about the implications of the revenue rule 2012-18. I would like the IRS to delay it and reconsider their characterization of these tips and service charges.

I want to thank the chairman of the committee for allowing me to step forward and raise my concerns, as well as the ranking member. Mr. Chairman, thank you so much for the opportunity.

At this point, because of the point of order, I ask unanimous consent to withdraw the amendment.

Madam Chair, during rollcall vote No. 422 on H.R. 5016, I mistakenly recorded my vote as ``yes'' when I should have voted ``no.''

Amendment Offered by Mrs. Blackburn

Mr. Speaker, I have a motion to instruct at the desk.

Mr. Speaker, we have all heard so much about the challenges that the VA faces and how it has totally, thoroughly, and completely failed many of our veterans.

This motion to instruct the conferees would be a motion to ask that we essentially recede to the Senate provisions on leases per VA facilities.

What this would do would be to provide and expand 26 VA facilities from across the country and improve access to care for our Nation's veterans, including the 1.7 million veterans from across Texas.

In the district that I represent, as an example, District 23, which comprises about 24 percent of the land area of Texas, it is 800 miles or so from one corner of the district to the other, and in that district are a very large number of veterans. The challenge is, first off, to be able to get the veterans who have served, who are from the rural areas, to get them access to the nearest VA facility.

From my hometown of Alpine, for example, to El Paso, where there is a VA clinic, it is some 220 miles. If you live further south in Brewster County, that distance is longer. If you live here in Eagle Pass, in Maverick County, for example, you have got to go all the way down to the Rio Grande Valley before you find the nearest veterans facility-- actually, all the way down to Corpus.

The Senate provisions would allow for an additional 26 facilities, including a new facility in Lubbock and improvements and consolidations to facilities in San Antonio that are critical to veterans and their families. New facilities will help address the wait times for medical care where it is needed for veterans in our communities.

Frankly, these facilities will help open up appointment slots. According to an internal VA audit that has been released, there are more than 57,000 patients who have waited at least 90 days for their first appointment. Unfortunately, some VA facilities in Texas have among the highest average of wait times in the Nation, and that is totally inexcusable. It fails the people who stood up and served their country and did so much to maintain and protect our freedom.

While we need to explore all our options, including more contracted care to address the backlog, we also have to make sure that the VA has the capacity to fill the needs of our vets, and especially for those who have unique health care needs.

I maintain that regardless of where you live in Texas or any other State, you have as much right to health care as any veteran from any other part of the State. And by creating an additional 26 facilities, you would actually be creating more slots and giving more access to more people.

For rural vets who face additional barriers--for example, if you are driving from Alpine to El Paso, that is 220 miles, and you need a driver, and that driver has to take time off from work; you need probably to spend the night in El Paso, that is a hotel room; and you have got to eat while you are there, so that is meals--all of those, additional expenses.

The other thing, frankly, is that many of the rural vets tend to be older, sicker, and poorer than the general population. These additional facilities may very well be lifesavers for that population.

These new facilities will help address wait times for medical care where it is needed, and they are crucial. Frankly, I know there has been a conversation on the House side with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle about creating more facilities than 26.

I know that my friends from Oklahoma, for example, would like to see an additional clinic in Tulsa that would serve Oklahoma. Oklahoma veterans, as Texas veterans, as veterans across the board in every State, deserve more access to health care and better access to health care.

This week, in fact, the Acting Secretary of the VA, Secretary Gibson, told members of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee that we need to increase the internal capacity at the VA. And while we need to do a lot more than just that, these additional facilities would help achieve that goal.

One thing is clear. We have a growing demand for care. As we draw down from all of the places where we are right now--Afghanistan, for example--as we change the shape of our military going into the future, we will have more and more veterans entering the health care system. They deserve better treatment than the veterans in our health care system have had.

Frankly, the entire system needs to be upgraded and to provide A-1 quality health care to each and every person who has served in uniform and their families. We must grow the capacity. We must continue to ensure quality and to meet the growing demand for our veterans.

These leases that I am talking about in some 18 States, they will help address some of the underlying problems that lead to treatment delays. If you look at it, we are funneling all of the veterans into a very few health care facilities across the country. If we accede to the Senate's suggestion for additional facilities, we will have community- based outpatient clinics, for example, or primary care clinics or specialty clinics. It will be a huge help to everyone, and that is incredibly important.

As you look at this map, it gives you some idea of just one microcosm in one congressional district in this country what difference additional VA facilities would make.

Look at the distance from the nearest facilities. If you live here along the Texas-Mexico border and you are trying to go up to the nearest facilities, which are either in El Paso or in Big Spring or over here in San Antonio, the distances are enormous. That is so much to ask of a World War II vet or a Korean war vet who is getting older, who is having to ask for help from somebody, for somebody to take time off of work to take them for a basic appointment, and then, frankly, as we have seen, to be unable to get the health care that he or she needs and deserves.

There is no part of the population in this country that is more deserving of health care than our veterans who have served in uniform in any conflict; or, frankly, even if they haven't been in conflict, they have stepped forward, they have put themselves at the Nation's disposal, and they have protected our freedom each and every day that they wore that uniform. They deserve much better than they have gotten over the course of history.

And I would point out, this isn't a new issue. There were more than 15 reports at the VA that have indicated that care was substandard. Congress has known about this for a long time.

The challenge with Congress is that it is a crisis management institution. Whatever the crisis of the day is, that is what Congress responds to. And if there is a subsequent crisis that takes the first crisis off of the front page, then suddenly Congress is reacting to the new crisis and forgets about the old one.

This is too important to forget about. This is too critical to our veterans. It has to be taken care of; it has to be resolved; and it has to be resolved once and for all so that there are not an additional 15 reports out there about problems at the VA, so that we don't hear every day from the American Legion or the Veterans of Foreign Wars or any of these other organizations that for years have been telling Congress that the VA has problems.

Let's step forward. Let's fix it. Let's fix it now, once and for all. And we can take that first step, as a body, Mr. Speaker and Members. We can take that first step as a body by making sure that there are at least--at least--26 new leased facilities across the country that will take care of this issue and that will provide additional service to our veterans across the country.

I point out that these additional facilities are in places like Texas, Louisiana, Florida, Puerto Rico, California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Missouri, Tennessee, Illinois, Nebraska, South Carolina, Arizona, New Mexico, New Jersey, Georgia, Hawaii, and Kansas.

Whether you are a Democratic Member of this body or a Republican Member of this body, you should be in favor of additional VA facilities. You should be in favor of broadening up that funnel so that it is not so clogged up and we are not trying to put so many people through such a narrow slot and create all of these problems where people don't get the health care that they need and deserve.

New facilities, as I said, will help address the wait times for medical care where it is needed. And as a guy who represents a vastly rural area but who also represents urban areas in El Paso and San Antonio, I will tell you that this helps everybody. It helps every single veteran, whether you are a rural guy or an urban guy, whether you served in uniform in World War II or whether you are a serviceman or -woman from the most recent conflict. You deserve, and America has made a commitment to you, that you will get health care, and you will get quality health care.

This is the first step in that direction. It is incredibly important that, right, left, center, Democrat, Republican, or Independent, whatever you think you are, you ought to be in favor of additional facilities for the VA, you ought to be in favor of better health care for our veterans, and you ought to be in favor of using the Senate language.

Frankly, again, I know that there are some Members, my colleagues who are from Oklahoma, who would like to see additional facilities and who would want one in their State. I agree with that too. The more that we can do to help our veterans and to meet our commitment, the more we ought to do. And, frankly, we ought to do a lot more than we have been doing.

Again, I move that we instruct the conferees on H.R. 3230, the Veterans' Access to Care through Choice, Accountability, and Transparency Act of 2014, to recede to the Senate provisions on leases for VA facilities under title 6, section 601. It is incredibly important not only to me, not only to the 23rd, but it is important to 435 Members of this body, and it is important to every single veteran in every single one of our congressional districts.

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

Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent to reclaim the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, how much time remains?

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

I am in my first term as a Member, and growing up as a kid in Alpine, Texas, I always heard the saying with respect to things that were really, really hard, and that saying was it takes an act of Congress to do that, and for the first time in my life, Mr. Speaker, I finally understand what that means because part of our challenge as an institution is that we are so wrapped up with who goes first, whether it is the House or the Senate.

The House passed a bill by 390 votes. That is great. The Senate version passed by 93-3, and here, we are discussing whether the House version or the Senate version is better, and in the meantime, we are failing our veterans.

My own view is that people across the political spectrum, veterans and nonveterans alike, are tired of the political blame game and the finger-pointing. Notice that not once did I ever really talk about the differences between Democrats and Republicans because, frankly, there are both Democratic veterans and Republican veterans and Libertarian veterans and Independent veterans and apolitical and nonpolitical veterans.

The issue of veterans should not be something that we pound each other over the head on. The issue of veterans is something that should bring us all together in a cohesive fashion, so that we can move forward as a country and show the rest of America that Congress can actually function as intended, that it can actually work its will as a body and move a product forward.

The idea that we would have to wait for a clean bill, that we would have to wait for procedure to take its course and for things to happen is telling people we will get to it.

Along the border, there is a saying, and that saying is manana. Manana seems to be the busiest day of Congress' week. Manana, we will do it tomorrow. Tomorrow seems to be the day that Congress takes action on every single issue, and veterans are too important to be left until tomorrow.

The American people view Congress as an institution that is very full of hot air, and they don't understand why we recess in August when it is hot here because we would fit right in with the rest of the environment in the month of August.

The approval ratings for Congress are lower than they have ever been since the Gallup organization started taking polls, and it would appear to me that there is good reason for that.

I have great respect for the chairman and the other Members of this body. Their work, I admire. I don't admire, though, how much time it takes for this Congress to move forward. Another day, another hearing, another conversation, another headline--all of that while another veteran waits, and another veteran waits, and another veteran waits.

My motion to instruct doesn't touch topside or bottom the rest of the Senate bill. My motion to instruct talks about one particular provision of the Senate bill, and that one particular provision deals with additional space--additional leases for additional facilities.

It doesn't talk about choice cards or private pay or the rates or any of those other things which are crucial issues and important. My motion just deals with this issue that I talked about earlier, which is the funnel. We have such a narrow opening in this funnel that we try to channel all of our veterans through, and there is not enough space.

There are not enough resources there. We don't have adequate health care providers in the mental health fields, for example. We don't have enough specialists. We don't have enough places to put them. We don't have enough facilities. People have to go too far in order to get their health care, and as a result, they are not getting their health care at all.

Mr. Speaker, manana isn't good enough. Manana, tomorrow, should not be the busiest day of our week. This is not an issue or question that should be left for tomorrow. This is an issue that Congress can decide now, immediately.

We can instruct our conferees not on the rest of the aspects of the bill because I understand that takes time and negotiation, but we can come together on one part of the bill. We can come together to the one part of the bill that

says we need additional facilities, not only in Texas--although Texas needs them--but in other States as well. That serves all of our veterans well.

This isn't about a Democratic position or a Democratic Senate versus a Republican position and a Republican House. This is about our veterans who served every day in uniform, who sacrificed every day, so that 435 people here in this body and 100 people in the body across the way could serve and do our jobs and vote and participate in the American democratic experiment.

We wouldn't be here participating in this American democratic experiment, but for the service and the sacrifices of our veterans. If we recognized that, if we truly recognized that, then we would step forward now, not tomorrow. We would step forward now and admit that we desperately need additional VA facilities.

We desperately need those 26 additional places. We could put off for the conferees and allow the conferees the latitude to discuss all of the rest of the bill, but we ought to be able to come together on that one thing, and that one thing is those additional 26 facilities.

Waiting for a clean bill, I can't tell you, Mr. Speaker, how many times in meeting with the VA or the VFW or the American Legion or any one of the number of organizations like the Vietnam Veterans, I can't tell you how many times they tell me they have been asked to wait another day--wait, you will get your bill; wait, we will take care of you; wait, we understand you are important.

They don't need a pat on the head. They don't need a pat on the shoulder. What they need is what they have earned, and what they have earned is health care. Those 26 additional facilities would help us get them their health care and help us get them exactly what they need and what our government has committed to them, regardless of party, regardless of rhetoric, regardless of partisanship, regardless of blame, regardless of whatever.

If I started by saying it takes an act of Congress to do this, this is a great opportunity for Congress to step forward and say, through an act of Congress, we understand how important the veterans are, and we are not saving that until tomorrow--you will get your 26 facilities, your 26 additional facilities.

We will broaden that pipeline, so that more veterans across this country will have access to health care, and we will do it now.

Mr. Speaker, I don't think that is too much to ask.

I reserve the balance of my time.

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

Let me start by, in all sincerity, saying that I have the greatest respect for Chairman Miller and the work that he has been doing. I follow his comments and his remarks and his committee regularly because the issue of veterans is an issue that is near and dear to my heart, as it is to so many of us, and I have great respect for his views and his expertise.

While I may differ in my opinion, I certainly would never, ever think that his motives are impure because they are not. He is very sincere and very driven to help, but here is what I don't understand. For veterans across the country, they don't care, in my view, if the first two letters on a bill are H.R. or S.

That makes no difference, topside or bottom, to any veteran that I have ever talked to. I would urge my colleagues to talk to as many veterans as they can and to ask them specifically: Does it matter to you if this is a Senate bill or a House bill? I guarantee you that every veteran across the country will say, no, it doesn't matter.

So the idea that we are stuck here at this point in the process because the House wants a House bill and the Senate would like a Senate bill, frankly, that is ludicrous, and it is offensive to the veterans who have served our country.

I am happy to yield.

Absolutely, Mr. Chairman, I am happy to yield.

I would point out that part of the conversation that we have had is asking the Senate to take action on a bill that the House sent over, when that is even a better argument for this motion, because the House bill is already back from the Senate in the House, and we can settle this question once and for all by instructing our conferees to accept that language.

I would urge that we have 26 additional facilities. I would commit to the chairman that I will do all I can to make sure that it is not just 26 facilities, that if it needs to be 27, I am happy to do that. I have worked in a very bipartisan fashion with the Democratic and Republican members of the Armed Services Committee, particularly the freshman members of the committee, in order to do that.

Mr. Chairman, I am always happy to yield.

Mr. Speaker, again, I am always happy. I love the process, and I am a huge believer in the democratic system, but I will tell you that

the idea that we are stuck at 26 and we are stuck at 26 forever is not a credible argument because there are other vehicles in the process that would be just as rapid and just as fast if we would get over this idea, this pride of authorship, and if we would all work together on a bipartisan basis to fashion a solution that all veterans can live with. That is incredibly important. For me, this is a starting point, not an ending point.

It is important, it seems to me--and I hope to do that by example, Mr. Speaker, that we stay away from the finger-pointing and the blame game--that we not be guilty of the fiery rhetoric I have never understood.

As a west Texan, my instinct is always to put fires out. It is never my instinct to add additional fuel. So the partisan fires that rage in this building, it seems to me, need to be put out, and the interest of the American people and, in this case, the American veteran need to be put first and foremost and at the front and center of everything that we are doing.

We shouldn't stand and salute the VA, as the chairman has indicated-- I agree with that--but we should stand and salute every single veteran who has served and every single veteran who deserves health care and who doesn't get it.

We should apologize, Mr. Speaker, to every single veteran who has stood in line for those months and months at the VA and not been able to make it through that small funnel, and we should apologize to them if we don't broaden that funnel to allow more people to get more care.

Yeah, there may be changes to the system, but those changes to the system are further down the hall, further down the way, further down the road, further down whatever. Today, here, we are talking about additional VA facilities. That one question we can settle, we can settle tonight or tomorrow, whenever the vote is on this, and we can make sure that we expand that pipeline, so that we don't try to push so many veterans through this really narrow pipeline, so that some of them get squeezed out of the system.

We should make that pipeline bigger so that more people get served, and each of us, each of us--Republican, Democrat, Independent, Libertarian, agnostic--each of us should be proud of that vote.

Stand up and salute our veterans, stand up and salute our people who served, and stand up and admit that they need access to health care. That is what this motion does, Mr. Speaker.

On that note, I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to clause 7(c) of rule XXII, I hereby give notice of my intention to offer a motion to instruct conferees on H.R. 3230, the conference report on Veterans Access and Accountability.

The form of the motion is as follows:

Mr. Gallego moves that the managers on the part of the

House at the conference on the disagreeing votes of the two

Houses on the House amendment to the Senate amendment to the

bill H.R. 3230 (an Act to improve the access of veterans to

medical services from the Department of Veterans Affairs, and

for other purposes) be instructed to recede from disagreement

with section 601 of the Senate amendment (relating to

authorization of major medical facility leases).

Madam Speaker, today, as we continue our journey through the 23rd District of Texas, I would like to talk about the newest city in the 23rd District and one of the newest cities in Texas, which is the city of San Elizario, with a population of about 12,000 people.

Located south of El Paso, it is a small community that incorporated on November 5, 2013, after its residents voted to make it a city. Recently, on May 10, the people of the city of San Elizario elected their first mayor, Maya Sanchez, and the voters of San Elizario also elected council members Leticia Hurtado-Miranda, David Cantu, Miguel Najera, Jr., Rebecca Martinez-Juarez, and George Almanzar.

While it is a new city, the San Elizario community has been around a very long time.

In 1598, Don Juan de Onate, who was a Spanish conquistador and nobleman who was born in Zacatecas, led a group of more than 530 colonists and about 7,000 head of livestock from southern Chihuahua to settle the province of New Mexico.

The group traveled a northeasterly route for weeks and crossed the desert until reaching the banks of the Rio Grande in present day--you guessed it--San Elizario.

On April 30, 1598, the travelers, who were very thirsty, drank the cool water of the river and then celebrated with a thanksgiving mass and enjoyed a feast. They ate fish, fowl, and deer. That is actually considered the very first Thanksgiving ever celebrated in the present- day United States of America.

Mr. Onate performed a ceremony known as ``La Toma,'' or ``the take,'' declaring the land a new province of Spain, to be ruled by King Phillip

Mr. Speaker, today, I would like to continue our journey throughout the vast 23rd District of Texas and talk about San Felipe Del Rio, known today as Del Rio, Texas.

San Felipe Del Rio was founded by the Spaniards in the 1600s. In fact, local lore talks about the Spaniards offering a mass there on St. Philip's Day in 1635, hence the name San Felipe.

When the local post office was established in 1883, the name was condensed simply to Del Rio, in order to avoid confusion with San Felipe de Austin.

Del Rio, from the onset, has been carried forward by those with innovation and entrepreneurship in their blood, from the San Felipe Agricultural, Irrigation, and Manufacturing Company, which first harnessed the clear waters of the San Felipe Creek to satisfy the thirst of crops and a growing population, to Julio's Corn Chips, which went from a smalltown favorite now being mailed to Texans abroad who want a little taste of home.

From the skies over war-torn Europe to protecting our border, Del Rio has a long history of military accomplishment and continues to contribute to the safety and security of our Nation.

In 1942, during World War II, the War Department opened Laughlin Field as a training base to prepare pilots for high-risk missions over European skies.

In 1962, U-2 high-altitude spy planes that played a critical role in the discovery of Russian missiles hidden in Cuba were stationed at Laughlin Air Force Base in Del Rio. This action would eventually lead our Nation to having the resolve to win the Cold War.

Through Laughlin Air Force Base, Del Rio continues its military tradition by training the greatest pilots in the world and serving as a base to those who guard our borders.

Being a mix of Spanish and Mexican tradition, Del Rio is a cultural hub and an example of how in America many cultures can blend together to form something wonderful and exciting.

In Del Rio, you can fill a day visiting a winery run by the Qualia family, which is the oldest winery in Texas; learn about regional history and see Judge Roy Bean's grave at the Whitehead Memorial Museum; or, you can catch an evening show by the Upstagers, Del Rio's award-winning live theater group.

In fact, if you like the outdoors, visit Seminole Canyon, not far from Del Rio, which has one of the largest collections of Indian pictographs found anywhere in the world. You can also visit Devils River, which is the last river in Texas still in its natural state.

If you are a sports fan, there are plenty of sporting events to catch, such as Del Rio's Mighty Ram football team, or the annual fishing tournament held on Lake Amistad, which is an absolutely phenomenal lake and a national recreational area run by the National Park Service.

So if you find yourself near Del Rio, I invite you to experience the culture, take a dip in the clear waters of the San Felipe Creek, or catch a theater show. And bring back a bag of Julio's Corn Chips, which you are sure to enjoy.

Mr. Chairman, I would like to thank the chairman and the ranking member for the time as well.

I am not much for hyperbole or finger-pointing. I want to talk about what it is that is important about this bill for me as the representative of much of the Eagle Ford area in Texas and the Permian Basin. It is not about Keystone or even the President because it doesn't go into effect until 2016.

All my life, I grew up hearing about the Arab oil wars, and I remember well the Arab oil embargo as a kid growing up in west Texas. I think we can do something today that secures our energy future for our kids and our grandkids. We can do this carefully, making sure that we preserve the environment for future generations.

Sections 3 and 7 of the Natural Gas Act, which apply to the construction of facilities, still apply here. These facilities are still subject to NEPA review. They must still meet the same safety standards, which we all know are very important.

As Mr. Matheson indicated, our neighbors to the north and south are increasingly vital partners as the rest of the world goes into the global economy. We need not constantly rely on oil from unstable parts of the world when we can get it here at home and get it safely-- underscore safely--and cleanly, and we can help our neighbors get it safely and cleanly, too.

My hometown of Alpine is not located near oil or gas fields, but it is on the main line of a railroad, and in 2010, only 1 percent of U.S. oil production was moved by rail, and last year, it was up to 10 percent, and I have personally seen several derailments. One year, many of us in town had soap for a year as a result of a railroad derailment.

I want my son to play in the Big Bend and float the Devils River with his kids, just as I did, and I also want to be sure that, when he flips the switch, the lights come on, or when he and his kids cook or use their air conditioners or their heaters, the energy is there to do what they need.

Again, I want to thank the ranking member for the use of the time and the Chair and the ranking member for their work, and thank you for letting me share my thoughts.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to take note not only of a wonderful victory, but of a great example. The most popular NBA team in the 23rd District and one of the most popular NBA teams in the entire country, the San Antonio Spurs, are now the NBA champions, for the fifth time--the drive for five.

There are some interesting things that Congress and the American people can learn from the Spurs. It is the most culturally diverse team in the NBA. In addition to Americans, there are folks from Canada, Argentina, Brazil, Italy, and Australia.

Tim Duncan, who has spent his entire career with the San Antonio Spurs, started out playing basketball in the ninth grade, after he was not able to swim anymore because the swimming pool he used in the Virgin Islands was destroyed.

None of the players are among the highest paid in the league. In fact, Tony Parker is the highest paid player and he ranked number 37 in the NBA. Five championships, some heartbreakingly close calls. In fact, last year they lost in the very last minute, but they never gave up. They continued working. They came back, and this year they won it all.

The Spurs have the greatest coach in the NBA. Coach Popovich has been in San Antonio since 1996. He is the longest-tenured active coach in all Big Four sports leagues, and he has the most consecutive winning seasons, including playoffs, of any coach in the NBA--17.

The Spurs have so much they can share. Their cultural diversity is their strength. They won because they played together and they played as a

team. They trusted each other. They worked together. They didn't care who got the credit. One second you would be watching Tony Parker on a drive, the next second somebody else had the ball, and the next second they scored.

All of these examples of working together, teamwork, understanding, and knowing that cultural diversity is a strength, all of these things, that drive and that determination, that practice every day, day in and day out, all of those things are examples that are well-suited to those of us who serve in Congress and well-suited to the American public at large. Never give up; never quit. That patchwork quilt of a basketball team is the same mosaic that represents all of America.

And you know what? They weren't arrogant. They weren't hardcore. They come across just as they are, as humble, decent, good-hearted human beings. They are clearly the 23rd District's favorite basketball team. In fact, I have the privilege of representing several of them who live in the 23rd District. I think the more that America gets to know them, they will soon be America's most popular basketball team.

Congratulations to each and every member of the NBA champs, the San Antonio Spurs, their coaches, their staff, their owners, and congratulations to each and every one of their fans.

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

Mr. Chairman, I offer this amendment because I believe that government must respect the people that it serves and always remember that government is a servant of the people.

Several years ago, the Department of Agriculture closed an inspection station that was incredibly important to the city of Presidio in Presidio County, Texas.

When I took office some 18 months ago and made inquiries, USDA never returned phone calls, never made any effort to work with us to determine why it is that that inspection station was closed.

They refused to work with the city or the county or the local business community, and so businesses across the area were harmed in a way that they will never get their money back as a result of all of the lost business. Presidio was the leading cattle importation port in the country at the time.

This amendment would zero fund their Office of Congressional Relations in an attempt to get the attention of the Department of Agriculture and indicate to them that their behavior is totally, thoroughly, and completely unacceptable.

People in Presidio, as well as people elsewhere across the Nation, deserve respect. Those men and women who run businesses and depend on the cattle

industry in that part of the State deserve to have their questions answered.

For the Department to drag its feet for more than 2 years before giving a simple answer as to why that action was taken by the Department is totally, thoroughly and completely inexcusable.

As I said, Mr. Chairman, this amendment would zero fund their Office of Congressional Relations in an attempt to get their attention.

Having offered the amendment, Mr. Chairman, and made my point, I ask unanimous consent to withdraw the amendment.

Offered By: Mr. Gallego

Amendment No. 8: Page 3, line 4, after the dollar amount,

insert ``(reduced by $3,869,000)''.

Page 82, line 2, after the dollar amount, insert

``(increased by $3,869,000)''.

Mr. Speaker, this week marks the second anniversary of the passing of three constituents of the 23rd District of Texas who died in a tragic accident on May 26, 2012--Alex Alvarez, his wife, Maritza Alvarez and her mother, Olga A. Valdez. I rise today to speak in their honor.

I honor their lives. Like all of us, they sought a better life. They worked hard to achieve success. Like many of us, they were parents who longed to see their son and grandson graduate from high school, go off to college, get married, and generally succeed at life.

Unfortunately, they got none of the above. Their deaths were caused by a person who was texting and driving. Poor judgment caused a terrible tragedy. The lone survivor of this horrific car accident was Alex and Maritza's young son, Alex Jr.

Alex and Maritza were hard workers. Alex was a native son of the border, having been born in Eagle Pass, Texas. He worked in the IT department of the Fort Duncan Regional Medical Center.

Maritza was also a native daughter of the border region. She was born in Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico, the sister city to Eagle Pass. She worked in Eagle Pass as a dental assistant.

Olga A. Valdez was born in San Luis Potosii, Mexico. She was a devoted grandmother, mother, and sister.

Three lives tragically cut short. One young boy left to face life alone without his parents. One moment of poor judgment by an inattentive third party--nothing, absolutely nothing in that text could've been worth the cost of three lives not yet fully lived.

Mr. Speaker, today I rise to honor the lives of Alex and Maritza Alvarez, to commend the courage of a young boy, Alex Alvarez Jr., who still I'm sure struggles to make sense of the loss he has suffered, and urge the residents of the 23rd District of Texas and our entire Nation not to text and drive.

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

Mr. Chairman, I would like to begin by thanking Chairman Rogers and the ranking member for an opportunity to work on this issue with them, and I certainly wish Chairman Rogers well in his future endeavors.

Mr. Chairman, this amendment helps us find ways to ensure that our veterans and other former public servants can continue their service to our country on cybersecurity, a critical national security need that will only grow in importance over the next several years.

While Congress is well aware of the challenges that we face in cybersecurity, it is important to understand that cyber attacks are not only aimed at the government, where they challenge our national security and endanger our troops, but these attacks also target our Nation's economic advantages, our core advantages, when they steal proprietary information and intellectual property from American firms that lead the Nation and lead the world in innovation.

In fact, for the private sector, it is important to know that an IP theft in the U.S. costs companies upwards of $250 billion a year, and global cyber crime costs $338 billion. And when you factor in downtime, either way, that is a lot of money. And we spent up to--no kidding--$1 trillion fixing these problems.

These highlight an important point, that if these attacks on American companies are so bad, just use your imagination to figure the threat of foreign-based cyber attacks on the Department of Defense or other critical intelligence agencies. And there is no better group of people than our veterans and our retired members of the intelligence community who could be ready to assist in cybersecurity.

This amendment allows us to do everything we can to support our veterans who are looking for jobs along with those retired members of the intelligence community who have already demonstrated their commitment to public service.

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

Mr. Chairman, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Ruppersberger).

Mr. Chairman, many of our servicemembers have made the ultimate sacrifice. There are 4,423 that have died in Operation Iraqi Freedom; 66 in Operation New Dawn; and, as of yesterday, 2,320 have died in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, where I just returned from this week. But many of the thousands upon thousands of our troops who did make it home to see their mothers, fathers, spouses, and kids are alive today because actionable intelligence helped them achieve their missions more safety.

While there has been a lot of criticism about intelligence collection--and we have had a very robust debate on these issues--I think it is important that we concentrate on the fact that intelligence is so critical to the lives of our men and women in uniform. And it really does help them come back home today safe with their families because of the work of our numerous intelligence agencies who have provided the information they need to stay alive.

Mr. Chairman, I also want to do a shout-out to the Air Force ISR Agency in San Antonio, in Bexar County. I know that they do critical work to protect and defend our liberty each and every day.

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

Mr. Speaker, today, I would like to continue my journey through the 23rd District of Texas and saddle up and ride along the Butterfield Trail to a place that is truly American, and that is the city of Pecos, Texas, home of the Eagles, the mighty purple and gold.

Pecos is on Forbes' Top 400 Fastest-Growing Small Towns list. Spurred by growth in agriculture, Pecos is the home of the sweetest cantaloupes--Pecos cantaloupes--grown anywhere in the country, and also of incredible growth in oil and gas, as Pecos is part of the Permian Basin.

Pecos can be found sitting quietly in rich tradition just outside the Chihuahuan Desert where the Pecos River flows. The formidable Pecos River was nearly impossible to ford at one time. But being intrepid citizens, Americans using their ingenuity explored and discovered several places of the river where they could cross, and they founded the city of Pecos.

The city of Pecos was established in the late 1800s, and with the arrival of the Texas Pacific Railroad in 1881, Pecos functioned as a transportation hub and created something that was Texas tough, kind of a combination of a cowboy culture and a Hispanic culture that still thrives even today. Many outlaws like Bill Earhart and John Denson met their end in Pecos, messing with the Texas tough values of Pecos.

That combination of cultures encouraged competitiveness. As a result, the dusty air was filled with cowboys contending for bragging rights through friendly rivalries that would eventually lead to the first ever rodeo on July 4, 1883, in Pecos, Texas. The winner of many Pecos rodeos was that mythical person Pecos Bill, a man who legend says was raised by coyotes and can be found in many movies and many books.

Today, Pecos continues that longest-running annual rodeo. If you are lucky, perhaps you can catch a glimpse of Pecos Bill still carrying on that rich tradition of accomplishment, perhaps eating a cantaloupe--as I said, one of the fruits that that area is famous for.

I invite all to visit Pecos, to learn more about the culture, the beauty, the traditions of the 23rd District. I am certain you won't regret your visit to west Texas.

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

I, too, want to start by thanking Chairman Wolf for his service and by wishing him the best of luck on his next steps after retirement.

I would also like to take a moment to thank Representative John Culberson and Representative Cory Gardner for their help on this amendment and for making this effort bipartisan.

Mr. Chairman, this amendment seeks to add additional revenue to the Rural Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, Sexual Assault, and Stalking Assistance Program. It is a rural program that enhances the safety of children, youth, and adults who are victims of domestic violence or who are victims of stalking or of dating violence or of sexual assault.

Frankly, in rural areas across the 23rd District and in much of the country, domestic violence shelters survive on grant programs of various kinds, and money like this is the lifeblood of many of these shelters.

This amendment provides additional revenue to keep those shelters open and operating and protecting these victims of crimes, victims who so desperately need protection.

It also adds additional revenue to the Violence Against Women prevention and prosecution programs, which are programs that also help to assist the victims of crime. In addition to that, it helps to make sure that we put these people behind bars.

I have had a long history of being involved with the criminal justice movement, and I have had the opportunity in the Texas legislature to serve as chairman of the committee with jurisdiction over crime victims and crime victims' rights, and I can think of no better way to spend revenue than to make sure that victims are protected and taken care of, particularly the victims who are children, who are so in need of our assistance.

Mr. Chairman, I ask that this amendment be adopted.

Again, I thank my colleagues, Mr. Culberson and Mr. Gardner and Chairman Wolf and our ranking member as well for their help in drafting the amendment and in making sure that all of the i's were dotted and the t's were crossed.

I yield back the balance of my time.