Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 3230, a bill that honors Idaho's greatest athlete and one of our great humanitarians.

H.R. 3230 names the post office in Payette, Idaho, after Harmon Killebrew, a Hall of Fame baseball player who later built an incredible legacy of charitable work.

Idahoans take great pride in Harmon Killebrew's success, and rightfully so. Killebrew's career began in 1954 when Herman Welker, the U.S. Senator from Idaho, tipped off the owner of the Washington Senators, Clark Griffith, about the 17-year-old slugger.

Griffith sent a scout, who almost didn't get to see Killebrew play. After a night of rain, groundkeepers burned gasoline to make the field playable. Killebrew did his part by hitting a ball 435 feet into a Payette beet field.

Immediately signed as a $12,000 bonus baby, Killebrew debuted a few weeks later. During his 22-year career with the Washington Senators, Minnesota Twins, and Kansas City Royals, he hit 573 home runs, more than all but four major league players at the time of his retirement.

He was the American league's most valuable player in 1969, hitting 49 home runs and driving in 140 runs. He played in 13 All-Star games and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1984.

Killebrew built his strength lifting 10-gallon milk cans on Idaho dairies and leveraged his work ethic into legendary status. For fans across America, Killebrew was beloved for remaining the down-to-Earth farm kid who signed a major league contract before turning 18.

Twins teammate, Rich Reese, called him ``one of the classiest people I've ever met in my life. . . . he treated people with respect, even with the stature that he had.''

Asked what he liked to do for fun, Killebrew once said, ``Well, I like to wash dishes, I guess.'' In the off season, he worked feeding cows, selling men's clothing, and reading gas meters.

After retirement from baseball, he sold insurance, ran a car dealership, and worked as a broadcaster.

In 1976, Killebrew helped found the Danny Thompson Memorial Golf Tournament in Sun Valley, Idaho, now called the Killebrew-Thompson Memorial. The event benefits cancer research.

The Harmon Killebrew Foundation, founded in 1998, with his wife, Nita, has built more than a dozen Miracle League fields designed for kids with disabilities, including one named for him in Payette. The baseball and football fields at Payette High School are also named for Killebrew.

Killebrew died of cancer in 2011 at age 74 after entering into hospice care, a treatment he had advocated for for years. At his memorial service, his wife read a tribute from a fan: ``Harmon is an extraordinary, beautiful, loving, compassionate human being, who also happens to be a legendary baseball player.''

In the days after his death, his high school team, the Payette Pirates, made an improbable run for a State championship. Entering the district tournament with a losing record, the Pirates won four straight to reach the State title game. The team wore HK patches on their sleeves. ``Harmon's been with us the entire time,'' said one player. The Pirates finally lost to a 25-1 Fruitland team, taking home the second-place trophy.

``He is still touching people,'' said Nita Killebrew, who worked with my office on the bill and lives in Meridian. Killebrew's legacy of generosity lives on, and it is appropriate to honor his legacy with the legislation we are considering today.

I urge my colleagues to join me in voting for H.R. 3230. Through this bill, we will recognize one of Idaho's greatest stars, and we will advance the legacy of one of America's most charitable athletes.

Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 4760, the Securing America's Future Act. This bill provides the tools needed to enforce our immigration laws, secure our borders, and begin the process of reforming our legal immigration system while also ensuring a generous protection for DACA recipients.

Enforcement remains the key to our system. Without enforcement, our laws have little effect. This bill targets criminal gangs, dangerous aliens, and the sanctuary policies that allow these public safety threats to thrive.

The bill also provides a permanent solution for DACA recipients. They can apply to receive a 3-year, indefinitely renewable visa so they can live and work in the United States forever, as long as they abide by the laws. This permanent status gives DACA recipients more surety than President Obama's temporary program ever did.

The bill will finally make good on our commitment to grant our growers and other workers a workable agricultural guest worker program. The lack of a reliable source of labor when an American workforce is simply not available is imperiling the future of American agriculture.

The bill's H-2C program will be a true guest worker program that will allow the current agricultural workforce to participate on the same terms and conditions as any other worker around the world. The program is endorsed by the American Farm Bureau. It is a critical part of this bill.

Finally, it closes the loopholes that have allowed fraud to destroy the integrity of our asylum system by raising the credible fear standard and sending a clear message that fraud and frivolity will not be tolerated in the United States.

This is a good bill, and I encourage every Member to support it.

Mr. Chairman, the Resilient Federal Forests Act contains many provisions that will give the Forest Service additional tools to better manage our national forests.

To keep our forests healthy and productive, we must ensure we have skilled loggers to safely work in those forests. I thank Representative Westerman for including my bill, the Future Logging Careers Act, in his bill that is on the floor today.

My bill will allow 16- and 17-year-olds to learn the logging business by working in family-owned mechanized logging operations under the supervision of their parents. That will allow the next generation of loggers to learn valuable skills, prepare to take over family businesses, and provide the wood products needed to support our economy.

I learned of the need for this bill after meeting two Idaho loggers from third-generation logging families, Tim Christopherson from Idaho County and Tom Mahon from Adams County.

Mahon's 16-year-old son, J.T., was working under his father's supervision when a Forest Service employee sent him home. J.T. couldn't work in the woods because logging doesn't have an exemption that has long been enjoyed by family farms under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

With help from the families and the Associated Logging Contractors of Idaho, we crafted a solution that is good for families, good for rural America, and good for the American economy.

I am grateful for the bipartisan effort on this legislation, and I urge my colleagues to support the bill.

Mr. Chairman, I include in the Record a letter from the National Wild Turkey Federation and a letter from the National Association of Counties, Western Interstate Region, in support of H.R. 2936.

National Wild Turkey Federation,

Edgefield, SC, June 26, 2017.

Hon. Rob Bishop,

Chairman, Natural Resources Committee,

House of Representatives, Washington, DC.

Hon. Raul Grijalva,

Ranking Democrat, Natural Resources Committee, House of

Representatives, Washington, DC.

Dear Chairman Bishop and Representative Grijalva: On behalf

of the National Wild Turkey Federation (NWTF) and its 230,000

members, we urge you to take swift Committee action on H.R.

2936 the Resilient Federal Forest Act of 2017. The NWTF is a

leader in wildlife habitat conservation in North America and

is dedicated to the conservation of the wild turkey and

preservation of our hunting heritage. We are currently

working towards our 10-year Save the Habitat. Save the Hunt

initiative in which we aim to conserve or enhance 4 million

acres of critical habitat, recruit 1.5 million hunters and

open 500,000 acres for outdoor enjoyment

Active forest management is crucial to establishing healthy

and sustainable forests and decisions for forest management

should be based on sound science. As such, the common sense

solutions offered in H.R. 2936 are imperative to the health

and future of our nation's forests and important to the NWTF

to help achieve our objectives. In total, H.R. 2936 has many

reasonable solutions to the challenges that the managing

agencies face to increase the pace and efficiency of active

forest management on our nation's federal lands. We take this

opportunity to highlight those solutions that we believe will

make the most immediate difference and offer recommendations

as to how we believe the bill can be further improved.

We support increased availability for Categorical

Exclusions (CE) in order to deal more effectively and

efficiently with threats like pests and disease and for

addressing urgent wildlife needs like critical habitat for

endangered species. We are especially supportive of the CE

that will allow for activities that enhance early

successional forests for wildlife habitat. Unlike some

critics of CEs who will suggest, they do not exempt the

action from the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA),

rather they apply the NEPA review to like or similar actions

to expedite the process. These are administered under Council

on Environmental Quality regulations and other guidance.

Increased use of CEs is one of the best opportunities we have

in the short term to increase the pace of active forest

management.

Funding the cost of fighting catastrophic wildfires outside

of the agency budget is paramount to the agency's ability to

deliver on other aspects of their mission. We are supportive

of a fix that will allow catastrophic wildfires to be

considered a disaster. Until agencies are freed from the

burden of fighting catastrophic wildfires through their

annual budgets we will be unable to make meaningful progress

towards proactive forest management. We recommend capping the

firefighting budget at the current 10-year average to protect

further erosion of the U.S. Forest Service budget in other

important mission delivery areas.

We support the bill's provisions for large scale

reforestation on fire-impacted lands. While public input and

review is essential to public lands management, currently it

can result in delayed action and result in an inability to

accomplish the necessary objectives. We believe the deadlines

set for plan development and public input, as well as the

prohibition on restraining orders and preliminary injunctions

strike a reasonable balance. We recommend that this provision

of the bill clarify that proper ecological restoration is

allowed as a mechanism to salvage forests post catastrophic

events as reforestation may not always be the best action for

the ecological good.

The NWTF strongly supports arbitration as an alternative to

litigation. This will conserve valuable U.S. Forest Service

resources and expedite work getting done on the ground.

Additionally, we support the provision that does not allow

plaintiffs challenging a forest management activity to

receive any award or payment obligated from the Claims and

Judgment Fund.

We support the approach for allowing evaluation of only

action/no-action alternatives for collaborative Forest Plans,

Resource Advisory Committee and Community Wildfire Protection

Plan projects. Limiting the number of alternatives will

expedite the development of environmental assessments and

allow work to get done on the ground more quickly. We also

support the requirement to look at consequences of a no-

action alternative as a no-action decision would still have

an impact on the resource.

We understand budget concerns counties face and are

supportive of a portion of retained receipts from stewardship

contracts going to the counties. Stewardship Contracting is

an important tool for active forest management. Ultimately

this change will remove one impediment to utilizing

Stewardship Contracting and help garner support from the

counties. We recommend modifying this section to reflect that

payment should come only from retained receipts on completed

projects, versus strictly from timber value within ongoing

projects. This will maintain the ``exchange of goods for

services'' function of Stewardship Contracting while also

preserving the balance of timber dollars and the investment

of matching funds from organizations like the NWTF to expand

the scope and scale of projects, thus accomplishing more

active management and fire protection across the landscape

and within counties.

We appreciate the recognition of the importance of funding

planning activities for forest management. We are concerned

that the provision could potentially provide justification

for the U.S. Forest Service staff to refrain from fully

utilizing product value and

partner match dollars for on the ground work. While we feel

the 25% threshold is too high, the provision of allowing some

of the stewardship project revenues to cover the costs of

planning additional projects could be beneficial and

incentivize project planning.

We also appreciate the common-sense amendments to the

Endangered Species Act (ESA) that will improve the process of

protecting endangered and threatened species and their

habitat. The bill overturns the ``Cottonwood'' court

decision, which directs that if additional critical habitat

is designated under an approved Forest Plan or Resource

Management Plan, a section 7 programmatic re-consultation of

the entire Forest Plan needs to be done. The U.S. Fish and

Wildlife Service and the Obama Administration argued that the

section 7 consultation needs only to be done on the portion

of the project covering the additionally designated acreage

of critical habitat. The remedy in this bill will greatly

reduce the debilitating process that the federal court

decision directs. The bill also affirms current U.S. Fish and

Wildlife Service policy that no ESA section 7 consultation is

required if the U.S. Forest Service or Bureau of Land

Management determines through informal consultation that the

proposed action will not likely have an adverse affect on

species or critical habitat. We further support the 90 day

threshold on a CE established by this bill because it will

conserve agency resources and expedite management activities

on the ground.

We commend Congressman Westerman, the co-sponsors, and

Chairman Bishop for their dedication to restoring and

maintaining our federal forests under management informed by

science, and offering the appropriate reforms to management

practices. We respectfully urge that you expeditiously report

H.R. 2936 out of Committee and to the House floor.

Sincerely,

Rebecca A. Humphries,

Chief Executive Officer.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 36, the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act. This legislation passed the House yesterday, and I encourage the Senate to vote on it soon.

I am strongly pro-life. The Federal Government's most important responsibility is protecting human life, including the lives of the unborn. Additionally, we have a moral obligation to minimize pain and suffering, especially for the most innocent among us.

The United States is one of only seven countries that allow abortions after 20 weeks. At the 20-week mark, anesthesia is used in fetal surgeries for patients still in utero. For premature babies born at this stage, special care is given to reduce their pain.

H.R. 36 will prohibit abortions after the 20-week mark precisely because of

the substantial evidence that unborn babies at this stage can and do feel pain.

I am proud to support H.R. 36, and I am glad it passed the House. I will continue to do all I can to advance a culture of life in Idaho and in America.

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 513, I call up the bill (H.R. 3697) to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act with respect to aliens associated with criminal gangs, and for other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 3697.

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

I rise today in support of H.R. 3697, the Criminal Alien Gang Member Removal Act. I introduced this bill with Chairman Goodlatte and Representatives Comstock and King for a very simple reason: the United States is facing an ever-growing danger from transnational gangs, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, better known as ICE, needs more tools to deal with this danger.

The Federal Government's most important responsibility is the safety and security of the American people. However, we are not fulfilling that responsibility when we allow gangs to illegally enter our country with the express purpose of victimizing innocent Americans.

In communities across our country, transnational gangs are using violence and the threat of violence to create a climate of fear that allows them to operate with near impunity. They regularly target local business owners and law enforcement officials. Innocent bystanders, those unlucky enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, are also paying a price.

According to ICE, these gangs ``have grown to become a serious threat in American communities across the Nation--not only in cities, but increasingly in suburban and even rural areas. Entire neighborhoods and sometimes whole communities are held hostage by and subjected to their violence.''

Furthermore, ICE has found that, ``membership of these violent transnational gangs is comprised largely of foreign-born nationals.''

The most infamous transnational gang, of course, is MS-13, which entered the U.S. in the 1980s. Today, it has over 10,000 gang members operating inside the United States alone. At every level, our enforcement officials are working to curb this growing threat with large-scale enforcement actions. These include Operation New Dawn, which netted almost 1,100 arrests over a 6-week period.

However, we all know that prosecution of criminal gang members is notoriously difficult. This is because victims and witnesses of gang crime are often reluctant to testify because of the quite reasonable fear of retaliation against them or their families, thus many gang members are never convicted of the crimes they have committed.

The question is often asked: Why should law-abiding Americans have to wait until an alien gang member has committed a deportable offense? Why not deport the gang member before he has a chance to victimize more innocent people? The answer is that current immigration law contains dangerous loopholes that alien gang members are exploiting.

Currently, an alien may not be deported, even if he is known to be a member of a criminal gang or participating in gang activities. ICE must wait for the gang member to be first convicted of a deportable offense.

H.R. 3697 changes that. For the first time, ICE will be permitted to place alien gang members into removal proceedings on the grounds of being criminal gang members. Our bill sets out clear specifications for what crimes are considered to be gang related, relying on longstanding Federal criminal law to determine what a gang or group consists of.

In addition, our bill permits the Secretary of Homeland Security, using procedures already used by the Secretary of State, to designate a gang as a criminal gang. This would be done in a transparent way through notification to Congress and publication in the Federal Register and with meaningful judicial review.

The conclusive decision as to whether to place an alien in removal proceedings would rest with the Department of Homeland Security. When an alien is charged, the charge must be proven by evidence on the record in immigration court.

I have heard some uneasiness that ICE will use these provisions to charge any alien they encounter with gang activity. Our bill does not allow that. As a former immigration attorney, I know the importance of due process and know how important it is for illegal immigrants and for Americans and everyone within the jurisdictions of the immigration court to receive due process. I can tell you that our bill is consistent with due process.

Under H.R. 3697, ICE has the burden of proof when charging an alien with a deportable offense. While the alien has the burden of proof when they are inadmissible, a denial of gang membership should be sufficient to shift the burden back to the government. The government must convince an immigration judge of its case. Of course, an alien ordered removed as a gang member has every right to appeal that order to the Board of Immigration Appeals and then to the Federal courts.

Ultimately, H.R. 3697 is about providing law enforcement with the necessary tools to combat gang activity in every community in our country. This is essential if we, as elected officials, are committed to our responsibility to keep the American people safe and secure. That is the purpose of H.R. 3697.

This is the third time this year the House is holding a floor vote on portions of the Davis-Oliver Act, which I introduced back in May, to make our country safer through stronger immigration enforcement.

I am proud that the House passed the first two bills that came from Davis-Oliver, Kate's Law and the No Sanctuary for Criminals Act, and I encourage my colleagues to vote for H.R. 3697 as well.

We must take action now or watch crime rates rise in our Nation. There is no place in our country for criminal alien gang members, and any legislation which makes it easier to deport them deserves the support of every Member of this body.

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentlewoman from Virginia (Mrs. Comstock), the lead sponsor of this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 1 minute to the gentlewoman.

Mr. Speaker, I know we spent a lot of time in committee talking about a lot of different issues, but maybe the gentleman forgets that we had 3 whole days of hearings on the Davis-Oliver Act, which this bill was included in, and many arguments were made against the Davis-Oliver Act. Most of the arguments that are being made today were not made against this portion of the act.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. King).

Mr. Speaker, I agree. We should save our children. We need to start deporting some criminal gang members.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Goodlatte), who is the chairman of the full committee.

Mr. Speaker, I yield the gentleman from Virginia an additional 2 minutes.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Arrington).

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

Madam Speaker, I keep hearing again and again and again that there is no dispute about ongoing violence or gang violence in the United States, but what has been clear from today's argument is that our friends on the other side just don't want to do anything about it. They are willing to talk about the gang violence, but they don't want to actually craft and pass legislation that does something about it.

I hope it is something that the American people are listening to, because as we have debates over the next few months about what we should be doing with regard to immigration, I hope everyone understands that every time we try to do something about enforcement of immigration laws, about stopping gang violation, about stopping illegal immigration into the United States, it is very difficult to get agreement on the other side.

Criminal alien gang members are wreaking havoc in this country. Without stronger tools to specifically target those aliens that terrorize our streets, gangs will continue to grow in numbers and in strength.

The time has come to take action and to provide a path to deportation to those that so unabashedly seek to destroy our society.

ICE has found that ``membership of these violent transnational gangs is comprised largely of foreign-born nationals.'' Often bearing the brunt of these gangs' violence are these very immigrant communities that the other side claims that they want to protect.

The Criminal Alien Gang Member Removal Act takes a tough approach. I agree with that. Those gang members who have successfully evaded prosecution through witness intimidation, employing the tactics of fear and violence, will now be within ICE's reach. The new grounds of removability provided by H.R. 3697 will get criminal gang members off of our streets.

ICE's recent Operation New Dawn resulted in almost 1,100 arrests of gang

members. Had H.R. 3697 been enacted prior, that number would have almost certainly increased.

This bill is only starting the removal process, however. Make no mistake--and there was a lot of obfuscation today about this-- immigration proceedings do not equate to deportation. The government must prove its case and provide evidence to convince an immigration judge that gang-related activity occurred.

As a former private immigration attorney, I have seen this process in action, and it does work. ICE will not use this new charge as pretext, as this ground will never be sustained by an immigration judge without sufficient evidence.

The time for this bill is long overdue, and we cannot afford to be distracted by extreme hypotheticals and issues not germane to what we are discussing today.

This bill was introduced to target criminal gangs, as that term is commonly understood, and that is what it will do once enacted. There is no place in our country for criminal alien gang members. By removing them from our streets, H.R. 3697 will help make our communities safer. I urge my colleagues to support the bill.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of an amazing Idaho family which has taken a horrible personal tragedy and turned it into a cause that will benefit many other families in the years to come. I am referring to the family of Shauna Hill, a 16-year-old girl who lived in Eagle, Idaho, in my district, and who tragically lost her life in 2012.

At the time of her untimely death, Shauna was a junior at Eagle High School. She was a competitive figure skater and ice dancer and played the violin in her school orchestra. She even performed with the orchestra at New York's Carnegie Hall.

She was also working to qualify for a Congressional Silver Medal for public service, personal development, and physical fitness. She aspired to attend Stanford University and become a doctor. Sadly, she lost her life in a car accident on her way home from orchestra practice.

I first met Shauna's parents, Captain Edward Hill and his wife, Heidi, in 2013, when I helped present them with the Congressional Bronze Medal their daughter had earned. While presenting the award, I learned that Captain Hill, who served 28 years as a Navy pilot and flew to protect America during three combat tours, had retired shortly before Shauna's death.

Following the tragedy, Captain Hill was working with the Navy to try to reassign his benefits to his second child, Haley, who was also planning to attend college. With almost 3 decades of distinguished service, Captain Hill qualified for the full utilization of the education benefit, but the Navy said Haley wasn't eligible because education benefits under the GI bill cannot be reassigned.

The Hills asked for my help, and my staff got to work. Unfortunately, we found out that the Navy's hands were tied. Current law does not allow the transfer of education benefits after a servicemember has retired. No waivers are permitted, even in such tragic circumstances.

I promised the Hills that I would seek a legislative solution. In February of this year, I introduced H.R. 1112, the Shauna Hill Post 9/ 11 Education Benefits Transferability Act. This bill would permit the reassignment of veterans' education benefits in cases where the designated beneficiary passes away.

Losing a child is the worst thing I can imagine, and surely Congress didn't intend to exclude the ability to transfer benefits to a surviving child or spouse.

The bill I introduced would correct this oversight, and it has received support from many veterans' groups. These include: the Concerned Veterans for America, the Military Order of the Purple Heart, the Student Veterans of America, AMVETS, the Air Force Sergeants Association, the Association of the United States Navy, and the National Military Family Association.

This month, VA Committee Chairman Roe and Ranking Member Walz included my bill in the bipartisan GI Bill, the Harry W. Colmery Veterans Education Assistance Act of 2017. This bill passed the House last night, and I was proud to join my colleagues in voting for it.

I am grateful to Chairman Roe and Ranking Member Walz for including my bill in their legislation. I am also thankful to Senator Crapo, who has introduced companion legislation in the Senate. Now that the House has acted, it is my hope that the Senate will act too and, from there, our bill can be signed into law.

This legislation will mean a great deal to the Hills. It will be a great comfort to them and all those who have experienced such a terrible loss. As a grateful nation, it is the least that we can do, and America must always be a grateful nation.

The Harry W. Colmery Veterans Education Assistance Act of 2017 keeps our promises to our veterans and their families, especially when they need it the most.

Mr. Speaker, today, March 17, 2017, the 100th class for the Department of Homeland Security's Industrial Control Systems Cybersecurity training course will be completed in Idaho Falls, Idaho. It is my honor to congratulate the graduates and recognize this milestone for the Idaho National Laboratory. INL hosts this training in support of the National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center for DHS where up to date information about current security issues, vulnerabilities, and exploits are provided to government agencies, states, and the private sector.

This course provides hands-on training in discovering who and what is on the network, identifying vulnerabilities, learning how those vulnerabilities may be exploited, and learning defensive and mitigation strategies for control system networks in an actual control systems environment. The training offers the opportunity to network and collaborate with other colleagues involved in operating and protecting control system networks.

The Idaho National Laboratory, Department of Energy and Department of Homeland Security are working together to advance cybersecurity for critical infrastructure. Idaho has a longstanding leadership role to establish cybersecurity best practices and innovative technologies for government and industry partners. Under the guidance of the National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center the Industrial Controls Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team in collaboration with Idaho National Laboratory has successfully illustrated the demand and importance of advanced training for cybersecurity professionals within the critical infrastructure sectors through the instruction of over 4 thousand industry professionals and students.

Congratulations to the graduates of the 100th Industrial Control Systems Cybersecurity training course and thank you to these men and women whose hard work and dedication will make our critical infrastructure safer and more secure.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 4049) to amend the Act to provide for the establishment of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore in the State of Wisconsin, and for other purposes, to adjust the boundary of that National Lakeshore to include the lighthouse known as Ashland Harbor Breakwater Light, and for other purposes, as amended.

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

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

The Ashland Harbor Breakwater Light is an operational lighthouse located near Ashland, Wisconsin, and is currently owned and managed by the U.S. Coast Guard. In 2007, the Coast Guard announced its intent to give up ownership of the Ashland light, and only the National Park Service expressed interest in maintaining the public access to it.

H.R. 4049 adjusts the boundaries of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore to include the light station, but protects the ability of the Coast Guard to maintain the light as an aid to navigation.

Congressman Sean Duffy should be commended for his work on this issue, which also has the support of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.

I reserve the balance of my time.

House of Representatives,

Committee on Natural Resources,

Washington, DC, November 14, 2014.

Hon. Bill Shuster,

Chairman, Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure,

Washington, DC.

Dear Mr. Chairman: On June 19, 2014, the Committee on

Natural Resources ordered reported without amendment H.R.

4049, the Ashland Breakwater Light Transfer Act by unanimous

consent. The bill was referred primarily to the Committee on

Natural Resources, with an additional referral to the

Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.

I ask that you allow the Transportation and Infrastructure

Committee to be discharged from further consideration of the

bill so that it may be scheduled by the Majority Leader. This

discharge in no way affects your jurisdiction over the

subject matter of the bill, and it will not serve as

precedent for future referrals. The Committee on Natural

Resources concurs with the mutual understanding that when the

House considers H.R. 4049, it will consider amended text

negotiated between the staffs of our two committees. In

addition, should a conference on the bill be necessary, I

would support your request to have the Committee on

Transportation and Infrastructure represented on the

conference committee. Finally, I would be pleased to include

this letter and your response in the bill report filed by the

Committee on Natural Resources, as well as in the

Congressional Record during floor consideration, to

memorialize our understanding.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Sincerely,

Doc Hastings,

Chairman.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Duffy).

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

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 5040) to require the Secretary of the Interior to convey certain Federal land to Idaho County in the State of Idaho, and for other purposes.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, I am the author of H.R. 5040, which directs the Secretary of the Interior to convey a 31-acre parcel of land to Idaho County, Idaho, to use for public recreation.

Idahoans deeply value their Second Amendment rights, and many use firearms for hunting and shooting sports. The safe and proper use of firearms is often a tradition passed down from generation to generation. People need a safe designated area where they may sight in their rifles and teach safe firearms practices.

Nearly 6 years ago, a county in my district, Idaho County, began the process of searching for a suitable location to install a shooting range to serve the needs of the county residents interested in exercising their Second Amendment rights.

Idaho County, which is 83 percent controlled by the Federal Government, began working with the local BLM office in Cottonwood, Idaho, to identify land that the BLM could transfer to the county for use as a shooting range.

The BLM identified a buried landfill in the county as a suitable location because the site is already used casually by recreational hunters and the general public as a shooting range. The land also provides the proper safety barriers because it is situated on an elevated bench, approximately 240 feet above a nearby road and surrounded by hills. The county and the local BLM officials agreed the site was perfect for a shooting range.

The county began the process of seeking an administrative transfer from the BLM, but soon ran into procedural roadblocks. The site of the proposed shooting range is within a portion of the Lower Salmon River, which was identified by the BLM for potential inclusion in the National Wild and Scenic River System. Because of existing BLM regulations, the parcel cannot be transferred to the county administratively.

As my staff and I met with the Idaho County commissioners to come up with a solution, we determined the only path forward was to introduce legislation in Congress to convey the land from the BLM to the county. My bill, the Idaho County Shooting Range Land Conveyance Act, would convey the 31-acre parcel to Idaho County for use as a shooting range.

The BLM has spent a great deal of time and resources studying the proposed site and has determined the land would be perfect for a shooting range. The local BLM office in Cottonwood has been instrumental in gathering necessary environmental data to support the land conveyance, and I am grateful for their ongoing efforts to work with my staff and finally resolve this issue.

My office has also worked closely with the Idaho County commissioners and Idaho County sheriff to develop a plan to manage the land for public use as a shooting range. Part of the plan includes allowing Idaho County law enforcement to use the range to conduct firearms training and qualifications.

Idaho County has waited nearly 6 years for this process to be completed. Idaho County residents want a safe, remote location to exercise their Second Amendment rights, and my bill will provide a solution that is long overdue.

I urge support for the bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3608) to amend the Act of October 19, 1973, concerning taxable income to members of the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians.

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

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

H.R. 3608 would protect certain funds paid by the State of Minnesota and held by the United States in trust for the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians from Federal and State taxation. Under the bill, the tribe may distribute these funds to its members, and these payments won't be counted against the members' eligibility for Federal financial assistance as long as each payment does not exceed $2,000.

The payments made by the State stem from a 1988 settlement in which two Minnesota Chippewa tribes agreed to forgo the exercise of certain treaty hunting and fishing rights. In 1999, legislation was introduced to protect these State settlement payments from taxation. However, by the time the bill was enacted into Public Law 106-568, only one of the two tribes was granted the tax relief.

The Subcommittee on Indian and Alaska Native Affairs held a hearing on H.R. 3608. Neither the hearing nor a staff review of the legislative history for Public Law 106-568 reveals any explanation for the exclusion of the Grand Portage Band from the tax relief granted to its sister tribe. Principles of fairness and equity suggest that both bands of Minnesota Chippewa be accorded equal treatment. H.R. 3608 accordingly amends the applicable statute to provide the Grand Portage Band the same tax benefits.

The Committee on Natural Resources ordered H.R. 3608 reported by unanimous consent, and Chairman Camp of the Ways and Means Committee and Chairman Goodlatte of the Judiciary Committee have graciously agreed by letter to expedite consideration of this bill by not exercising their jurisdiction. As always, we appreciate their cooperation.

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

House of Representatives,

Committee on the Judiciary,

Washington, DC, November 5, 2014.

Hon. Doc Hastings,

Chairman, Committee on Natural Resources, Longworth House

Office Building, Washington, DC.

Dear Chairman Hastings: I am writing with respect to H.R.

3608, the ``Grand Portage Band Per Capita Adjustment Act,''

which the Committee on Natural Resources reported favorably

on September 18, 2014. As a result of your having consulted

with us on provisions in H.R. 3608 that fall within the Rule

X jurisdiction of the Committee on the Judiciary, I agree to

discharge our Committee from further consideration of this

bill so that it may proceed expeditiously to the House floor

for consideration.

The Judiciary Committee takes this action without mutual

understanding that by foregoing consideration of H.R. 3608 at

this time, we do not waive any jurisdiction over the subject

matter contained in this or similar legislation, and that our

Committee will be appropriately consulted and involved as the

bill or similar legislation moves forward so that we may

address any remaining issues in our jurisdiction. Our

Committee also reserves the right to seek appointment of an

appropriate number of conferees to any House-Senate

conference involving this or similar legislation, and asks

that you support any such request.

I would appreciate a response to this letter confirming

this understanding with respect to H.R. 3608, and would ask

that a copy of our exchange of letters on this matter be

included in the Congressional Record during Floor

consideration of H.R. 3608.

Sincerely,

Bob Goodlatte,

Chairman.

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

Mr. Speaker, as I sit here and I listen to the other side talk about this issue, I wonder if they even understand what is happening at the border.

In 2011, there were only 6,500 children coming to the border. In 2012, the President acted through DACA, and we started seeing an increase of these children coming to the border. Today, in 2014, we will have 90,000 children rushing to the border, and next year, it is estimated that we will have 142,000 children coming to the border.

Almost 2 months ago, Gilberto Ramos, a 15-year-old boy from Guatemala, was found lying in brush, dead from the heat. Many of these children that are coming to the border don't make it across the river. There are reports of discoveries of small, lifeless bodies washed up along the riverbanks. Many of these children are abused, they are victimized, and they are raped.

We must understand that the President is responsible because of his failure to fully comply with the law. We have heard a lot from the other side that the President acted because we did not act. Well, that is not true.

The reality is that the President and his party had majorities in both Houses of Congress for 2 years, and you failed to act, so don't point your finger at us. In November of 2012--in November of 2012--we passed in this House a STEM Jobs Act, which was the beginning of a step-by-step approach to actually deal with the immigration process. What did you do? You didn't vote for it, and the Senate refused to take it up.

In September of 2011, we passed here in the House the Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act, and the Senate again refused to act, which would have been the beginning of a step-by-step approach for us to deal with the immigration process. You have refused to do small things.

Stop the hypocrisy. If you truly care about these kids, stop encouraging them to come to the United States illegally. They are crossing the border. Most of them are being harmed, many of them are being abused, and a few of them are dying.

It is time for us to stop this nonsense and to have the President of the United States actually follow the law and work with the Congress, so we can actually do immigration reform.

Mr. Chairman, I rise today in support of title VIII of H.R. 2954, which I originally introduced as H.R. 657, the Grazing Improvement Act. I thank Chairman Hastings for recognizing the importance of this issue and for including it in H.R. 2954 for consideration today.

Livestock grazing is an important part of the rich ranching tradition in Idaho and the United States. My home State of Idaho produces some of the world's finest lamb and beef. Food production is a major part of Idaho's history, and it is an integral part of our cultural fabric and our economic security. These traditions are under attack, and we must preserve them for future generations.

The financial security of ranchers depends upon their responsible stewardship of the land. Unfortunately, the Federal process to review the permits which allows them to produce food has become severely backlogged due to lawsuits aimed at eliminating livestock from public lands. The local Federal land-managing offices cannot keep up with the pace of litigation and the endless environmental analysis. This diverts the already limited resources from these offices and leaves ranchers at risk of losing their grazing permits and jeopardizing their livelihoods.

Agriculture is a challenging way to make a living, but producers choose this path because it is their passion, and it is their way of life. Several ranchers in my State of Idaho have said, if they were to lose their grazing permits, they would have to subdivide their land and further reduce their grazing areas. My bill, the Grazing Improvement Act, would provide relief to these ranchers and to ranchers throughout the country.

It would, number one, extend livestock grazing permits from 10 to 20 years in order to give producers adequate longevity and production stability. It would codify existing appropriation language to put into statute annual riders. It would also encourage the respective Secretaries of the Interior and Agriculture to utilize categorical exclusions to expedite permit processing.

I believe that protecting our environment can be done in a manner that does not impede our economic growth. It is time that we improve our regulatory structure so that we continue to prosper as a Nation. We can no longer allow the Federal Government to maintain an enormous backlog in processing grazing permits.

I thank the cosponsors of this legislation, and I look forward to working with my colleagues on this issue.

I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of my amendment of title VIII of H.R. 2954, which I originally introduced as H.R. 657, the Grazing Improvement Act.

My amendment is a commonsense reform to require groups who are not substantially justified or directly affected by final Federal grazing decisions to pay for the legal expenses of the other party when they lose in court.

In short, this is a ``loser pays'' system to discourage frivolous legal challenges to Federal land management grazing decisions.

Current law gives grazing permittees the right to a hearing in connection with grazing decisions and gives the ``interested public'' the opportunity to participate in the way Federal land is managed. However, it is doubtful that Congress ever intended to elevate the ``interested public'' to a level of equal standing to that of grazing permittees.

In 1995, the Bureau of Land Management established grazing regulations that far surpassed the intent of Congress. Some were given the ability to participate in the administrative appeals process allowing them to sue if the nonpermittees disagreed with a final grazing decision. Since then, environmental groups have been increasingly effective at abusing the current appeals process, not to promote environmental health, but for the sole reason of removing livestock from Federal lands. Each year, hundreds of appeals are filed on grazing decisions by groups. The cost to ranchers can hardly be measured. In a recent case in Wyoming, for example, an appeal cost a small group of ranchers over $125,000 in administrative appeal and attorneys' fees alone.

My amendment simply addresses this growing problem by clarifying the intent of Congress on who may appeal and litigate a final agency decision on a final grazing decision. It is time we ease the burden that environmental groups have placed on our ranchers.

I yield to the gentleman from Idaho.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chairman, I agree that everyone should have a right to sue, but if you lose, I think you should pay. This amendment will allow Federal land managers to get back to managing lands, create greater certainty in the ranching community, and help strengthen rural economies in the West. This minor reform will save taxpayer dollars and countless hours and dollars spent by ranchers who are forced to defend against these nuisance suits.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, over the last few days we keep hearing about how Republicans are terrorists, Republicans have guns to everybody's head. And it's been, actually, really sad to hear the other side talk about these things.

At this point in Ronald Reagan's second term, for example, the government had already shut down the government six times, according to The Washington Post and according to many other articles. And this happened under the leadership of Democratic leader Tip O'Neill, precisely the opposite of the political dynamic that exists today.

Former O'Neill staffer and MSNBC pundit Chris Matthews has written an entire book extolling the era as a time when politics actually worked. You can probably guess how he feels today about this.

But the problem is that, during Tip O'Neill's career, there were seven different shutdowns with the Democrats. The final shutdown of O'Neill's career, according to Andrew Stiles of the National Review, happened in October of 1986. House Democrats had picked a fight with Reagan on a number of issues, including labor, energy, and welfare policy.

Today, Democrats insist that this has never happened in history, and the reality is that the history is much different.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the heroic efforts of Colonel Bernard Francis Fisher of the United States Air Force and Lieutenant Thomas Rolland Norris of the United States Navy, both of whom are Medal of Honor recipients from Idaho.

Colonel Fisher was with the 1st Air Commando Squadron and was awarded the Medal of Honor for his conspicuous gallantry on March 10, 1966, in the Republic of Vietnam.

A Special Forces camp was under attack and hostile troops had positioned themselves between the airstrip and the camp. Colonel Fisher observed a fellow airman crash on the airstrip. In the belief that the pilot was injured, Colonel Fisher decided to attempt a rescue. Directing his own cover, he landed and taxied the full length of the runway to rescue the pilot. In the face of fire, he applied power and took off at the overrun airstrip.

Lieutenant Norris was a SEAL Advisor and was awarded the Medal of Honor for supreme bravery in action from April 10 to April 13, 1972, in Vietnam.

During the 3-day period, Lieutenant Norris and a 5-man team established a forward operating base deep within heavily controlled enemy territory to conduct a rescue of several downed pilots.

It is for their outstanding display of leadership and courage that I am proud to honor and remember the actions of Colonel Bernard Francis Fisher and Lieutenant Thomas Rolland Norris.

Mr. Chairman, I rise today in support of H.R. 1526. I want to thank Chairman Hastings and the ranking member for all of the work that they have done on this bill. And today I specifically rise in support of title IV of H.R. 1526, which I originally introduced as H.R. 1294, the Self-Sufficient Community Lands Act. I thank Chairman Hastings for recognizing the importance of this issue and including it in the bill.

In Idaho and much of the West, the economies of rural communities once relied upon the timber industry for job creation and tax revenues. Over the last several decades, extreme environmentalists have hindered the ability to develop timber from our public lands through litigation. In fact, timber harvests have declined more than 80 percent over the last 30 years. Counties that were once dependent on timber receipts to fund schools, roads, and daily operations find themselves desolate and broke.

In 2000, when the Federal Government operated with a budget surplus, and in order to compensate for the decline in timber receipts, as everybody knows, Congress passed the Secure Rural Schools and Communities Self-Determination Act. These payments were supposed to be phased out over time to allow counties to diversify their local economies. However, last year alone, 35 of Idaho's 44 counties received SRS payments totaling over $26 million. While Congress has continually reauthorized this funding, we are still fighting the same issues about multiple use on public land while leaving our counties in limbo.

To solve this problem, I introduced H.R. 1294. This legislation empowers counties to generate much needed revenue by turning over management of Federal forests to local and State officials who are best equipped to make these important management decisions rather than bureaucrats in Washington.

It is time to permanently provide our counties with a solution which would create jobs, generate tax receipts for the counties, and improve forest health. In a time of record deficits, it is time that we stopped kicking the can down the road and started working toward a solution.

Mr. Chairman, our country continues to spend billions of dollars on this program instead of fixing the program.

Traditional rural timber communities have been operating in an environment of uncertainty for decades, and many public lands in Western States have been inaccessible due to Federal policies and litigation. It is time we find a long-term solution to help our counties. I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 1526.