Floor Statements

Mr. Chairman, I thank the chairman of the subcommittee and the ranking member, Mr. Frelinghuysen and Mr. Visclosky, for their terrific leadership and the great work, tough work that has taken place in crafting this Defense Appropriations bill.

I also would like to thank the overall chairman and the ranking member, Mr. Rogers and Mrs. Lowey, for their leadership as well.

Mr. Chairman, I urge my colleagues to support this critical legislation on which our men and women in uniform, our intelligence community, and our futures depend.

America is at war, and we face continued uncertainty and new threats daily. Now is not the time to weaken our military. This bill equips the Department of Defense with the funding necessary to keep our Nation safe while making the tough decisions necessary to ensure we stay within our spending limits.

With $491 billion provided in discretionary spending, and another $80 billion as a placeholder in overseas contingency, the DOD will be able to maintain readiness at levels that protect our military's standing, support our ongoing war efforts abroad, and, most importantly, ensure that the health and well-being of our men and women in uniform and their ability to support their families is protected.

Our subcommittee, and our committee as a whole, is keenly aware of our Nation's deficits and debt. We are committed to thoroughly evaluating our spending to ensure our defense officials, both military and civilian, are accountable for smart policy objectives that responsibly steward taxpayer dollars.

We have had months of hearings, classified briefings, and bipartisan cooperation, and I believe we have successfully accomplished a bill, a good bipartisan bill, that is worthy of support.

Mr. Chairman, as I was thinking about my remarks today, I thought about that famous verse in ``America the Beautiful'' that says: ``Oh beautiful, for heroes proved, in liberating strife, who more than self their country loved, and mercy more than life.''

Mr. Chairman, we have an enormous obligation, a constitutional obligation, to protect the homeland. But we have an obligation to ensure that we protect those heroes referenced in that great patriotic song.

So the least we can do today is put our partisan differences aside and join collectively to send our collective appreciation to those who serve us in uniform by passing this very important piece of legislation.

Madam Speaker, it is a personal honor this morning to welcome to the House Chamber the Reverend Dr. Ronnie Floyd, elected this week president of the Southern Baptist Convention in Baltimore.

Dr. Floyd is the senior pastor of Cross Church in northwest Arkansas, a multicampus ministry in one of America's fastest growing regions. His commitment to evangelism, discipleship, and the advancement of the Gospel to America and the world is remarkable.

He has authored a number of books, founded and hosts a businessperson's luncheon called The Summit, and has been a strategic leader in the Southern Baptist Convention for decades.

His lovely wife, Jeana, joins us in the gallery today, as does his son, Nick, himself an associate pastor at Cross Church, and his beautiful wife, Meredith. His other son, Josh, is a championship football coach who just took the head coaching position with Hewitt- Trussville High School in Birmingham, Alabama.

He is a dynamic leader, a dynamic visionary, and minister. I am proud to call him president of the Southern Baptist Convention. But more than anything, Madam Speaker, I am proud to call him my pastor and friend.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in remembrance of a member of the Greatest Generation--Colonel Joe Hart of Pea Ridge, Arkansas, who passed away on May 23 at the age of 93. Colonel Joe was known for many things. He was a decorated World War II hero, a B-17 pilot, a POW, a participant in January 1945's infamous Death March, a Purple Heart recipient, a test pilot for Boeing, a patent holder, and the author of a book, ``The Hart Dietary Procedure.'' He was a father and grandfather, a local radio commentator, and a frequent caller to my office.

Colonel Joe was not shy about his strong opinions, and his many visits to my Rogers office to share them were always welcomed by my staff. We--and the undoubtedly many others Colonel Joe touched throughout his long life--will certainly miss his presence.

My thoughts and prayers are with your family and friends. Rest in peace, Colonel Joe. We will miss you.

Mr. Speaker, every year in June, America celebrates outdoor recreation during National Great Outdoors Month. Arkansas has proclaimed June to be Great Outdoors Month every year since 2008. This year is no exception, and I am pleased that the Third District played a leading role in the celebrations by hosting the 2014 kickoff campout at Pea Ridge National Military Park on the 16th and 17th of May.

Arkansas, known as the Natural State, is the perfect place to have kicked-off National Great Outdoors Month; we boast more than three million acres of federal lands--and many more of state and local lands--open for public enjoyment. This network of state parks and federal lands is great for swimming and fishing, hiking and biking, climbing and hunting, paddling and boating, and more.

As summer draws near, so do the sounds of outdoor recreation. As the weather grows warmer and the days grow longer, more than 730,000 citizens of northwest and north central Arkansas will take to our fields and forests, skies and waterways to enjoy clean, healthy outdoor fun. It began at the Pea Ridge National Military Park campout--which engaged our youngest generation in the preservation of our outdoors for the enjoyment and recreation of our citizens--and will end with the entire national following in the footsteps of Arkansas's Third District and supporting America's Great Outdoors.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in celebration of the Gentry Arkansas Fire Department's 100th birthday.

Gentry, Arkansas, is home to over 3,000 of my constituents; and for the past 100 years, the Gentry Fire Department has been steadfastly committed to their safety and well-being, as well as the safety of thousands more who reside in the surrounding areas of Benton County.

From its humble beginnings in 1914 to the purchase of its first firetruck in the 1940s, the Gentry Fire Department and firefighters have worked tirelessly for its citizens, placing themselves in great danger to protect the lives and property of others.

We rest easy knowing the department will continue to do so for the next century, and I join the residents of Gentry to express my profound gratitude.

Thank you to the Gentry firefighters, past and present, for 100 years of selfless service to the Pioneer community. I wish you a very happy 100th birthday.

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to clause 1, rule I, I demand a vote on agreeing to the Speaker's approval of the Journal.

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, too, would like to offer my congratulations to the chairman, to his ranking member, and to my colleague from Arkansas (Mr. Crawford), one of the committee members, for their diligent work and for coming up with this committee report. This was not easy, to say the least.

That said, Mr. Speaker, because of the Senate's ``my way or the highway'' attitude, we are considering a conference report that does nothing to address an out-of-control agency, GIPSA, from imposing on American companies regulations that go well beyond congressional intent. Because of the Senate's all-or-nothing approach, we are considering a conference report that will subject American industries and companies to retaliatory tariffs.

For me, it would be easy to vote against this conference report. But unlike my Senate counterparts, I recognize that, in a divided government, each side must work to find common ground. Ultimately, this report, like many of the other bipartisan agreements that have been signed into law, moves the ball forward by making much-needed reforms to Federal programs and reducing spending. That is why, in the end, I will support it.

I am hopeful, however, Mr. Speaker, that the House Appropriations Committee will do everything in its power to fix some of these mistakes. I, as a member of that committee, will fight to rein in GIPSA, and I will work to fix the Country of Origin Labeling requirements.

Madam Speaker, my thanks to the subcommittee chairman and to Chairman Hensarling for shepherding this bill through committee and bringing it to the House floor. I, too, would like to express my gratitude to my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, particularly Representative Himes, with whom I worked in the previous Congress on similar legislation that has already been articulated, and Representative Delaney and Mrs. Wagner for working with me on this bipartisan measure.

As you know, Madam Speaker, we have been talking about jobs. The House has passed bill after bill to create a better environment for private sector growth and job creation. These conservative solutions would help create new jobs today, would make life for families better across the country, and would expand opportunity for everyone without expanding government. That is

exactly what this bill, H.R. 801, does as well, and I am proud to rise and urge support for its passage.

Small financial institutions are essential to the communities they serve. Their boards are made up of community leaders. Their employees are our neighbors. They sponsor Little League teams and softball leagues and support the United Way. On Friday nights, you see their logos on the scoreboards at high school football games.

These institutions have a deep and abiding love for the towns that they serve, and our constituents--small business owners, farmers, and hardworking Americans--rely on them to meet payroll, to purchase equipment, or to buy a car or a home.

Unfortunately, these institutions are coming under increased pressure from Washington, forcing them to spend more and more of their resources not to put capital into the community but to comply with onerous new regulations and requirements--requirements intended for larger banks-- instead of serving the needs of their communities. Our small community banks and savings and loan holding companies were not the cause of the financial crisis, and they should not be treated as though they were.

That is why in the last Congress the House and Senate acted to eliminate some of these unnecessary burdens by passing the JOBS Act. Among other things, the bill raised the registration threshold for bank holdings companies from 500 to 2,000 shareholders and increased the deregistration threshold from 300 to 1,200 shareholders, better positioning banks to increase their business lending and, in turn, promote economic growth in our communities.

Due to an oversight, the JOBS Act did not explicitly extend these new thresholds to savings and loan holding companies. As a sponsor of the original legislation, this wasn't our intent, and I supported report language in the House FY 2013 Financial Services and General Government appropriations bill clarifying that savings and loan holding companies should be treated in the same manner as bank and bank holding companies. Additionally, Representative Himes and I wrote to SEC Chairman Schapiro to ask that the SEC use its authority to carry out our original intent.

Unfortunately, Madam Speaker, we are still without a successful resolution to the problem. At a time when our economy is struggling, Congress must address the issue and ease the burdens on these institutions to allow them to deploy more of their capital throughout the communities they serve. H.R. 801 does this by correcting this oversight and ensuring that savings and loan holding companies are treated in the same manner as bank and bank holding companies.

I urge my colleagues to support this job-creating legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman Ryan for his great leadership in forging this particular agreement and putting us in a position to end on a positive note here as we approach the Christmas and holiday season.

Mr. Speaker, I am going to bring a couple of different perspectives to the floor as I analyze this budget deal. The first perspective I have is that of being a former mayor for 12 years in a great city in northwest Arkansas where there was an enormous amount of economic development and we did a lot of great things. I sat at the table many times talking about issues and trying to balance the needs of our community against what the wants of our community were. I have to tell you that I never ended any of those negotiations getting everything that I wanted, but I always looked for an opportunity to find the common ground and to advance the economic development issues of our city where we could find that type of consensus.

Mr. Speaker, I also bring the perspective of an appropriator. As somebody who came to Congress in 2011, I was immediately assigned to the Appropriations Committee. And, quite frankly, I have been frustrated through this entire process, living from CR to CR and never having the opportunity to do what appropriators are purposed in doing.

This agreement, while not perfect, as has already been mentioned by most every speaker, gives us an opportunity to take government shutdowns off the table and to restore some much-needed funding to something very important to all of us, our national defense. As an appropriator, it gives us an opportunity to actually do our jobs and quit ceding the authority for the power of the purse to the administration down the street. From that perspective, Mr. Speaker, I think this is the right deal at the right time. It gives us an opportunity to give some certainty to the American public who is looking to this Congress to be able to work together to try to find the solutions that move America forward.

I urge support.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to share the realities of ObamaCare in my district, the Third District of Arkansas. Health insurance enrollment through www.healthcare .gov can be described as dismal, at best. Only an embarrassing 250 Arkansans have managed to enroll.

Shawn Kispert, one of my constituents from Fort Smith, and her husband are self-employed and have spent over 64 hours on www.healthcare.gov attempting to sign up for the insurance ObamaCare requires them to purchase. She then tried to sign up via telephone. That was also fruitless.

The very few Arkansans that have successfully logged on have found, in over 60 percent of the State, only one or two provider options offering plans that increase their premiums by as much as 600 percent.

Rod Rogers of Sulphur Springs will see his family's insurance premiums go from $248 to $876 a month. Jeff Asher of Russellville is facing budget-busting monthly premiums of over $900.

In October, my fellow Arkansas Republicans and I wrote to Secretary Sebelius to ask for more information on ObamaCare's effect on Arkansans. Much like the pleas from hardworking taxpayers asking for relief from the law's suffocating regulations and overbearing mandates, our request was ignored.

But we don't need a response from the administration to tell us what I am hearing from my constituents: ObamaCare is raising the cost of health care, creating uncertainty in Arkansas, and hurting Americans. We need to replace it with real reforms and focus on the patient, not the government.

I thank Chairman Miller for this time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to join the chorus of people remembering our friend from Florida, Bill Young, the chairman of the Defense Subcommittee of Appropriations.

Chairman Young, as you know, spent five decades of his life in this Chamber fighting for a better America for both his constituents and our country. As the dean of the Republican Conference, he was a leader and of counsel to colleagues young or old, Republican or Democrat.

Mr. Speaker, I am the newest member of the Defense Subcommittee of Appropriations. I was fortunate to receive his mentorship. I learned from his fearless, unparalleled support of our troops and our veterans, and I admired his outspoken and unwavering commitment to what was in their best interest. Mr. Speaker, as a veteran myself of over 30 years, I was also a beneficiary of his incredible support of those who wear the uniform.

While his presence will be forever missed, the Bill Young Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center will serve as a small and fitting reminder that this institution, our men and women in uniform, and America are undoubtedly better off because of Bill Young. I am proud to support it.

I thank the gentleman for the time.

Madam Speaker, I rise in support of the resolution.

It is important for people to remember that the issue that we are speaking about goes right to the heart of readiness. Never before in the history of this Nation have we been so reliant on our Guard and Reserve as now.

I am an example, Madam Speaker, of that reliance. It was my National Guard battalion that became the first to answer our Nation's call after 9/11 when my Gunslingers from Arkansas took the mission of the Multinational Force and Observers into Sinai, Egypt--and let me just add--on very short notice. We were able to go because we were trained and we were ready.

This sequester has already taken its toll on our military, so to deny these Guardsmen and Reservists their pay when they're making these sacrifices makes absolutely no sense to me. In fact, it's incredibly stupid for our country to be so shortsighted to try to make our political statements by denying the men and women of the Guard and Reserve the pay for their sacrifices.

I urge support of the resolution.

I thank the gentleman.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the resolution because it allows the NIH to continue to operate at the FY13 funding levels until mid- December. The bill mirrors the clean CR that our friends across the aisle and Senate Democrats have said they will support. It should be supported by all Members of Congress.

As you have heard, Mr. Speaker, the NIH's mission is to invest in basic biomedical research to uncover new knowledge that can lead to lifesaving cures for disease, like pancreatic cancer, like Alzheimer's, like diabetes. It supports 35,000 research grants at over 3,000 institutes and universities across our country. In my home State of Arkansas, the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences is one such institute; and just this morning, the UAMS Cancer Institute announced a new collaboration with Highlands Oncology. It will undoubtedly bring incredible opportunity to Arkansas, our research and our cancer patients.

As many of my colleagues know, two-thirds of NIH's staff has been furloughed due to the lapse in appropriations. NIH has been forced to shut down the pipeline for finding future lifesaving cures, and it has shut off all systems that support grant review, leaving our researchers with many uncertainties. That's where this resolution comes in.

Federal funding is essential to sustaining the mission of improving health through scientific breakthroughs and maintaining international leadership in biomedical research, which is why we must allow the NIH to stay open while we continue to work toward regular order and through funding the rest of our Federal Government.

I urge my colleagues to support this critical legislation, legislation on which our scientists, our doctors, our patients, and our futures depend.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in celebration of ABF Freight System's 90th birthday.

Since its humble beginnings in 1923 as a local freight hauler, ABF has grown to employ 10,000 people in North America, with 1,000 in Arkansas alone, delivering freight worldwide. Today, it continues to deliver value to its customers by developing and implementing customized solutions to global logistical challenges.

It's fitting, Mr. Speaker, that this milestone coincides with National Truck Driver Appreciation Week. Last year, ABF, together with J.B. Hunt, the other great trucking company that calls Arkansas home, and the more than 3 million truck drivers in the United States were responsible for hauling 68.5 percent of all U.S. freight tonnage.

Without ABF and truck drivers throughout the Nation, 80 percent of our communities that rely solely on trucking would not be able to access the goods on which they depend.

Thank you to all of our truck drivers, and happy 90th birthday to

I claim time in opposition.

Madam Chair, I'm so pleased to hear my friend from Kentucky further discuss the true intent of what his amendment does; and respectfully, I recognize that, in order for the amendment to be made in order, it has to be written broadly. And because it was written broadly, there were concerns expressed by a number of people on both sides of the aisle about what an amendment written this way might do that would negatively affect a lot of

the things that we presently do and have been doing for a long time in Egypt.

I can speak personally to it because it was right after 9/11, while commanding an infantry battalion in Arkansas with the Arkansas National Guard, that I was called to duty to lead a task force of infantry soldiers and other personnel of over 500 men and women to the Sinai in Egypt to become the U.S. battalion so that other forces of the 18th Airborne Corps could go prosecute missions elsewhere in support of the war on terror.

The gunslingers of Arkansas distinguished themselves by going to the Sinai in Egypt on very short notice and executed that mission, the U.S. battalion in the South Sinai Peninsula that does the observe-and-report mission, consistent with all of the protocols that were established with the Treaty of Peace in 1979. In fact, our unit was there during the 20th anniversary of the MFO. Since that time, other State National Guard units have followed this mission and have been doing it consistently--Oregon, Oklahoma, and others--until, because of sequestration, the active component has accepted responsibility for that mission once again. So we've had a lot of our men and women across the country into the Sinai to do the mission of the MFO.

On top of that, our country has had a number of exercises called Bright Star, which is, if not the largest, one of the largest military training exercises that takes place on a biennial basis.

Now it didn't happen in 2011 because of unrest in Egypt, but my understanding is that Bright Star is certainly going to occur again.

So it is our hope, and as I said, I'm glad that my friend from Kentucky has further clarified the intent of his amendment, that it is not designed to affect the Multinational Forward Observer, nor is it designed to affect the training exercises that would happen with a Bright Star operation, nor does it affect what goes on with the Office of Military Cooperation or the Defense Attache program or, as he has indicated, our marine security to outposts in that region.

So again, I am very, very pleased, and we can breathe a bit of a sigh of relief that there is no intent in here at all to abandon, Madam Chair, the Treaty of Peace that was famously signed in 1979, and everybody has the vivid reminder of that picture with Jimmy Carter in the middle and Anwar Sadat and Menachem Begin signing over that peace treaty.

I reserve the balance of my time.

I yield as much time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Granger), the distinguished chair of the Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations.

Madam Chair, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Visclosky), the ranking member.

Reclaiming my time, I don't want to put words in the mouth of the author of the amendment, but I would yield to the gentleman from Kentucky to further clarify, as I understand it, his willingness to make sure that we make the appropriate adjustments to this amendment in a conference.

I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Kentucky.

Reclaiming my time, I thank the gentleman from Kentucky for his further clarification of the intent going forward beyond this.

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

I yield 45 seconds to the gentleman from New Jersey.

Madam Chair, let me just say in conclusion, I do appreciate my friend from Kentucky for further clarifying this intent of his amendment. It is something that I believe we can work with so long as we can make the proper adjustments once we get to conference.

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