Floor Statements

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

We support the legislation, and I would like to yield as much time as he may consume to the author and sponsor of the legislation, the gentleman from Rhode Island (Mr. Langevin).

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to the rule. Whether or not you support the pipeline, you should oppose this legislation. H.R. 3 is a reckless attempt to sideline environmental review and limit public input.

The majority claims that Keystone XL is the most studied pipeline in the history of pipelines. Shouldn't a pipeline that is going to run the length of our country be exhaustively studied? We need to know the environmental impacts and truly weigh all the consequences, intended or not, of H.R. 3; and H.R. 3 would deny the American people and this Congress that opportunity.

Over 1 million Americans commented on the Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement. The President and his administration need time to analyze these comments and evaluate the impacts of this massive project. H.R. 3 shuts that process down and says it's ready to go.

This can't be about making the President look bad or the bottom line of a Canadian corporation. This is about doing what's right for this country.

This is no ordinary pipeline. It will transport dirty tar sands oil from Canada to Port Arthur, Texas. Tar sands oil produces 40 percent more carbon pollution than conventional oils.

Pretending that this pipeline has to be done and has to be done immediately is to hide from the reality of the consequences of this pipeline. We really don't need the oil. It is oil that will be primarily exported out of this country.

A recent study by Cornell University found that Keystone XL will divert more green jobs and contribute to more climate change than any other project. The claims of employment are hugely exaggerated.

We are having the wrong conversation. We should be talking about the future of real energy independence and alternative and renewable energy.

While I don't support H.R. 3 or Keystone XL, I think the decision lies with the President. That's why I am circulating a letter to the President to reject this lack of a Presidential permit.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of national Senior Corps week.

Older Americans bring a lifetime of skills and experience as parents, workers, and citizens that can be tapped to meet challenges in our communities.

For more than four decades Senior Corps, and its three programs-- RSVP, Senior Companions, and Foster Grandparents--have proven to be a highly effective way to engage Americans ages 55 and over in meeting national and community needs.

Each year Senior Corps provides opportunities for nearly 330,000 older Americans across the nation, including approximately 1,700 in Arizona to serve their communities. Foster Grandparents serve one-on- one as tutors and mentors to more than 1,400 young Arizonans who have special needs. Senior Companions help more than 860 homebound Arizona seniors and other adults maintain independence in their own homes. RSVP volunteers conduct safety patrols for local police departments, protect the environment, tutor and mentor youth, respond to natural disasters, and provide other services through more than 130 groups across Arizona.

Senior Corps volunteers last year provided more than 96.2 million hours of service, helping to improve the lives of our most vulnerable citizens, strengthen our educational system; protect our environment, provide independent living services, and contribute to our public safety.

Senior Corps volunteers build capacity of organizations and communities by serving through more than 65,000 nonprofit, community, educational, and faith-based community groups nationwide.

At a time of mounting social needs and growing interest in service by older Americans, there is an unprecedented opportunity to harness the talents of 55-plus volunteers to address community challenges.

Service by older Americans helps volunteers by keeping them active, healthy, and engaged; helps our communities by solving local problems, and helps our nation by saving taxpayer dollars, reducing healthcare costs, and strengthening our democracy.

The fourth annual Senior Corps Week, taking place May 6-10, 2013, is a time to thank Senior Corps volunteers for their service and recognize their positive impact and value to our communities and nation.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Congressman Young for his work on this legislation, and I am very proud to be a cosponsor.

H.R. 588 allows the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund to acknowledge donor contributions to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Visitor Center. The Memorial Fund has raised $45 million in private funds and anticipates the cost of the center to be approximately $85 million. This legislation is specific to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Visitor Center and deserves immediate attention.

I am hopeful that subcommittee Chairman Bishop and I might explore whether a broader amendment to the Commemorative Works Act, setting standards for donor acknowledgment for all memorials covered under the act, makes sense, but that project should not slow down this legislation.

Again, I thank Congressman Young for his leadership, the leadership of the foundation, and others who have worked very hard on this issue for the past 2 years.

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

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

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

H.R. 291 conveys cemeteries, currently on Forest Service lands, to communities in South Dakota. These local communities already manage and maintain these cemeteries and the legislation requires that these lands continue to be used for cemetery purposes. We have no objections to the legislation.

With that, I reserve the balance of my time.

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

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

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

H.R. 507 is an important piece of legislation that will enable the Pascua Yaqui Tribe in my district in Arizona to consolidate its landholdings and remove two isolated, undeveloped parcels of land from the Bureau of Land Management responsibility.

The two 10-acre parcels are islands of ``trapped'' Federal land surrounded by Pascua Yaqui land on all sides. The tribe is developing a golf course in this area, and conveying these two parcels to the tribe will make managing the land easier for the tribe and the Federal Government.

Without this legislation, the tribe would have to design around the parcels, slowing down the project, weakening economic development that will benefit the entire Yaqui community. Passage of this bill will further the Federal Government's responsibility to enhance tribal trust resources.

I want to thank my colleagues and the leadership within the Natural Resources Committee for making this bill a priority for passage this session. I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 507, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today as a member of the Safe Climate Caucus. Earlier this week, American Rivers published its annual list of the country's most-threatened rivers. Primarily because of over allocation, the Colorado River is at the top of that list. That is a challenging place to be.

Across our region, 34 million people rely on the Colorado River for drinking water. That includes cities like Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and Phoenix. The Colorado River snakes through the Grand Canyon and is truly the lifeblood of Arizona, and that's why I continue to advocate for Federal solutions to threats from uranium mining and other sources of contamination.

But the real and most serious threat to the health of the Colorado River is climate change, and that should not be ignored. Scientists predict that climate change will reduce the Colorado River's flow by up to 30 percent by 2050, threatening all those communities and resources, including recreation and agriculture.

We need proactive solutions. We need strategies to manage and mitigate climate change and the impacts of climate change. The majority has to deal with this question. It cannot be ignored. The Safe Climate Caucus is challenging the majority to floor debate on climate change. We look forward to that opportunity; and for the sake of the Colorado River, that debate needs to happen.

Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to recognize the Arizona State Museum on the 120th anniversary of its founding.

Established by the territorial legislature in 1893, Arizona State Museum is the oldest and largest anthropology museum in the region, focusing on the indigenous cultures of Arizona, the American Southwest, and northern Mexico.

The museum's seminal field research in the early 20th century is the foundation on which the very discipline of Southwest anthropology sits.

The museum's laboratory research sets worldwide standards in object preservation.

The museum's collections research continues to inform the world about the ancient, historic, and present-day southwestern cultures of this great nation.

The museum's award-winning and nationally recognized exhibits and public programs celebrate the vibrant and enduring cultures of the region with international audiences.

The museum's archaeological repository is the largest and busiest state-run facility in the country.

The museum is a national model in working with Arizona's tribal leadership under NAGPRA, to repatriate items of cultural heritage, having respectfully returned or reinterred thousands of sets of human remains and funerary objects. The museum began this important work years before NAGPRA became law and continues to be a leader in this effort. Last year, an Arizona State Museum/Bureau of Indian Affairs joint project transferred 1,148 sets of human remains and 2,827 funerary objects to the Hopi, Zuni, and White Mountain Apache tribes.

As it cares for millions of artifacts in perpetuity, the museum is home to the world's largest collections of Southwest Indian pottery and American Indian basketry--both collections having been designated American Treasures.

Best wishes to Arizona State Museum, itself a National Treasure, after a century and a score of national leadership in research, preservation, collections care, and public outreach.

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

Mr. Chairman, in presenting our Back to Work budget, a budget of the Progressive Caucus of this House, we are first pleased to announce that in less than 48 hours, 105,000 citizen cosponsors have joined with us in presenting this budget. They are pleased to affirm, and the point of this is House Budget Committee chairman, Representative Paul Ryan, has released a budget proposal that is the most reckless austerity plan he's ever proposed. Instead, we get a budget that will slow the economy and kill jobs.

We urge you to vote for the Progressive Caucus' Back to Work budget which will grow the economy, create 7 million jobs, and ask the wealthy and multinationals to pay their fair share so we can make investments in our people and our future--105,000 citizen cosponsors in less than 48 hours.

With that, I yield 2 minutes to the cochair of the Progressive Caucus, my friend, the gentleman from Minnesota, Keith Ellison.

Mr. Chairman, there is some adage about if you do the same thing over and over again without changing it, that that is a mark of insanity. That adage applies to the Ryan budget 2, the same as Ryan budget 1, and to 10 years of failed fiscal policy that our budget, by putting people to work, attempts to get us out of that fiscal black hole.

With that, let me yield 1 minute to the gentlelady from California, Congresswoman Lee.

Mr. Chairman, let me yield 1 minute to the gentlelady from Illinois (Ms. Schakowsky).

Mr. Chairman, when, in the course of the last decade- plus, multinational corporations, billionaires in this country have been curried favor with tax breaks, loopholes that have allowed them to pay less than the average American, that has hurt the economy. And I would suggest that, aside from thievery, that is gaming the system and not sharing in the full responsibility we all have as Americans to take care of this country.

I would now yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Wisconsin, Congressman Pocan.

The Back to Work budget sets a level of 2006 for defense. Pentagon spending has doubled over the last decade; 2006 was the height of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the war on terrorism. We just celebrated the 10th anniversary of Iraq. There has been $2.2 trillion spent on that war--a war, I might say, that was not paid for at all. This does not cripple defense; this merely brings it to a realistic level so as to share in the reconstruction of this economy of ours.

With that, I yield 1 minute to the gentlelady from California (Ms. Waters).

I yield 1 minute to my good friend, the gentleman from Washington (Mr. McDermott).

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

I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Nadler).

Mr. Chairman, may I inquire as to the time remaining?

I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Ellison), the cochair of the Progressive Caucus.

I yield myself the balance of my time.

The Back to Work budget is a budget that is common sense, and it reflects the values of the American people. It is a budget that deals with the realities of our economic times and our social times in this country.

This budget is about investment. It's about saying that the greatest resource we have in this country is the American people. We need to put them to work. We need to educate them for the future, and we need to provide them with some economic security for the middle class, working people, so they, too, can enjoy the economic benefits of this great Nation of ours.

We also do not step on those who are the most vulnerable. We provide them with the security, with Medicare, Social Security, and Medicaid, so that they, too, can continue to utilize the full benefits of those earned benefits that they have.

This fiscal debate today with the Ryan budget, too, and the other good budgets that have been proposed today is really an argument and a debate about the values and the future of this Nation. The Back to Work budget accepts the reality that we're in. It does not try to repeat a failed policy of the past, and takes us in a direction that in 10 years--and in 10 years, this country will be more solvent, more secure, and unemployment will be down and the investment in this time will pay off tremendous dividends for the future. Our budget is about the future. It is not about being mired in the past, as the Ryan budget is.

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

Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

Later today, we're going to begin consideration of the Republican budget, a plan that not only voucherizes Medicare but retains $40 billion in subsidies to the oil industry and requires approval of the Keystone

XL pipeline. At a time when climate change is affecting more and more people throughout the country, the majority is committed to keeping our economy dependent on fossil fuels and ignoring the serious challenge that it represents. The $75 billion in damages from Superstorm Sandy, the ongoing drought in much of the West, including my home State of Arizona, don't seem to be enough evidence that it's time for serious action.

Climate change is global. A United Nations report indicates that because of climate change, 3.1 billion people will be in extreme poverty by 2050. If we want to make a sizable dent in the human contributions to climate change, we have to start making those responsible for pollution accountable and pay for it. This is the sort of leadership the American people are looking for from Congress. Climate change is real. It is not a problem that will go away. We cannot ignore it. We have to face it head on and not bury our heads in Canadian tar sands.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to express my support for the Senate-approved Violence Against Women Act reauthorization bill known as S. 47 and to explain my concerns about its counterpart in the House.

Since it was first authorized in 1994, VAWA has supported countless victims of domestic violence, stalking, dating violence and sexual assault. VAWA-funded programs have provided housing and legal services to survivors across the country. The law has provided police and nonprofit organizations the resources they need to investigate more cases and prosecute those responsible. Over time, VAWA has progressively protected more Americans, including seniors and Americans with disabilities.

VAWA has meant tangible successes in the fight against domestic and other forms of violence. Reporting of these incidents has increased by 51 percent since 1994, when we first passed the law.

S. 47 builds on these successes by adding protections for immigrants, Native Americans, and LGBT Americans. Under this measure, Native Americans will be able to effectively address sexual violence in their own communities. U-Visa holders will receive new legal protections against stalking. LGBT Americans will be added to the measure's non- discrimination clause. More funding will be given to college campus programs that combat human trafficking and sexual assault.

I applaud my colleagues in the Senate for passing this strong measure 78 to 22 with bipartisan support.

Unfortunately, my colleagues introduced a weaker and unacceptable House version of S. 47 last week. It removes the necessary protections for Native Americans, immigrants, and LGBT Americans and weakens the Trafficking Victims Protection Act and the SAFER Act.

As lawmakers, we must cement protections for every American harmed by sexual violence--regardless of race, sexual orientation, or country of origin.

As discussions of VAWA conclude this week, I urge my colleagues to support the Senate bill, and to accept no substitute for a strong, inclusive final product.

I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, we do not object to the Senate amendment to H.R. 443, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not present.

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

The bill designates an unnamed mountain peak at the northern border of the Ansel Adams Wilderness and Yosemite National Park in California as Mt. Andrea Lawrence.

Andrea Lawrence, a former Olympic skier and inductee into the U.S. National Ski Hall of Fame, was a community leader in northern California who worked to protect these special places and communities in the eastern Sierras.

We applaud Senator Boxer and Congressman McKeon for this legislation, and we support its passage.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not present.

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

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

We have no objection to the Senate amendments to H.R. 2606. As amended, this bill allows for the delivery of natural gas into an underserved area while also providing a revenue stream that will allow the National Park Service to rehabilitate important historic structures at Gateway National Recreation Area.

We support enactment of H.R. 2606, as amended.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I, along with Representative Hinojosa submit the following:

Educational success depends on well-prepared, qualified, and effective teachers, leaders and other support professionals. We believe that establishing and continuing to improve programs that train, develop, and support these professions must be integral in elementary and secondary education.

Unfortunately, we know that in too many states and districts across the country, students with the greatest needs are being taught by teachers with little or no training, including those enrolled in alternative route teacher preparation programs. That is why we are glad H.J. Res. 117 requires the Department of Education to provide to Congress--and the Nation--comprehensive information on the extent to which our highest-need students, including students with disabilities, English learners, students from rural communities, and low-income students, are being taught by teachers-in-training who are enrolled in alternative route programs, disaggregated by state and district, as well as by student subgroups. The data that will be included in this report should be made public and disseminated to parents and other interested parties so that it is understandable and actionable.

Specifically, the provision requires the Secretary of Education to submit a report to Congress by 12/31/13 that provides a comprehensive picture, with state-level and LEA data, on the extent to which the following categories of

students are taught by alternative route teachers-in-training who are deemed ``highly qualified'' pursuant to 34 CFR 200.56(a)(2)(ii): students with disabilities; English learners; students in rural areas; and students from low-income families.

34 CFR 200.56(a)(2)(ii) is the regulation that allows individuals participating in alternative route programs but who have not yet completed their full state certification to be labeled ``highly qualified.'' This regulation was struck down by the Ninth Circuit in the Renee v. Duncan lawsuit but written into statute in the December 2010 CR.

To produce the report required by this legislation, states and LEAs will be required to compile the data that they are already required to have under Section 1111(h)(6)(A) of NCLB regarding the professional qualifications of all their teachers, including: whether the teacher has met State qualification and licensing criteria for the grade levels and subject areas in which the teacher provides instruction; whether the teacher is teaching under emergency or other provisional status through which State qualification or licensing criteria have been waived; and the baccalaureate degree major of the teacher and any other graduate certification or degree held by the teacher, and the field of discipline of the certification or degree.

This data will provide essential information to parents, to educators and to policy makers so that informed decisions can be made to strengthen one of our Nation's most valuable assets, our public schools. We will be in a much better position to look at our neediest students and our neediest rural and urban school districts and determine the extent to which well-prepared teachers are or are not equitably distributed. Mr. Speaker, we look forward to receiving this important report from the Secretary on December 31, 2013.