Floor Statements

Mr. Chairman, at this time, it is my pleasure to yield 3 minutes to a gentleman I mentioned in my opening remarks, the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Boustany), who has been a true leader in the House of Representatives on this issue of shoreside and waterside security for LNG facilities.

I would be happy to yield 15 seconds to the distinguished gentleman from Minnesota.

I thank the Chair.

At this time--if the gentleman is reserving his 2\1/2\ minutes--it's my pleasure to yield 3 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Shimkus).

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

May I ask--I know the chairman has 2\1/2\ minutes-- how much time do we have?

I thank the Chair.

Mr. Chairman, I would yield myself such time as I may consume to engage in two short colloquies with the chairman of the full committee, if I may.

Mr. Chairman, first of all, would you be willing to enter into a colloquy regarding the withdrawal of funds from the seamen's accounts authorized under section 405?

Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, it's my understanding that it is current practice for seamen on passenger vessels to be paid in cash. Section 405 authorizes the deposit of their pay into certain approved accounts. The section also requires that those funds be available for withdrawal. I understand that, as a practical matter, many seamen want to make sure that they can make those withdrawals in cash.

Would the chairman and the chairman of the subcommittee be willing to work with us in conference to clarify the amounts that can be withdrawn from those in cash up to the amount of a seaman's pay?

I thank the Chair.

The second colloquy, if you'd be kind enough to engage in a colloquy relative to the delegation of certain functions of the Coast Guard to classification societies.

Mr. Chairman, the unnumbered section in your

amendment that replaces section 318 as reported by the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee adds a new subsection, subsection (d), to section 3316 of title 46 of the United States Code. Under paragraph (2) the Secretary may delegate the Coast Guard's authority to a foreign classification society ``to the extent that'' the government of the society's home country, one, accepts plan review, inspections, or examinations conducted by ABS, and, two, provides to ABS equivalent access to inspect, certify, and provide related services to offshore facilities under that country's jurisdiction.

I understand that some foreign countries do not use a delegation system but instead accept plan reviews, inspections, or examinations performed by classification societies as part of a comprehensive operating plan submitted by the offshore leaseholder. Concerns have been raised that the Secretary may construe acceptance of the ABS plan reviews, inspections, or examinations as part of those comprehensive plans to be something less than full acceptance of plan review, inspections, or examinations in the United States, thus limiting the work that classification societies headquartered in those companies could perform in the United States and limiting the work that ABS can perform in foreign offshore markets.

Would the Chair be willing to work in conference to clarify what constitutes fair and full access by ABS to work in foreign offshore markets and by foreign classification societies headquartered in countries which do not use delegation schemes to work domestic offshore markets?

I thank the Chair.

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

Mr. Chairman, to close the debate on our side, and I hope that Homeland Security, if they don't use all their time, can give him more time, I yield 30 seconds to a distinguished member of the full committee, the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Ehlers).

Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent to control the time in opposition to the amendment, although I don't oppose the amendment.

Mr. Chairman, I have asked for the time in opposition to the amendment for the purpose of engaging the distinguished chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee in a colloquy relative to the issue of recreational boating.

Mr. Chairman, as you know, during the consideration of this measure before the Rules Committee, I offered several amendments related to discharges from recreational vessels. Those amendments were not made in order under the rule.

I am still concerned about the impact the proposed regulations may have on more than 16 million recreational boaters in the United States. At the Rules Committee, you were more than gracious in suggesting that we would work together to develop legislation, hold hearings in the committee and move legislation quickly to the House on this subject.

I would ask the chairman, and in saying this I also want to give a tip of the hat to Candice Miller of Michigan, who has been a real champion on this issue as well, but I would ask the chairman if you would be willing to work with us to bring legislation to the House floor and to get it prompt consideration, as this deadline is now approaching in September?

I yield to the gentleman from Minnesota.

Reclaiming my time, I thank the chairman very much. I want to thank the chairman for not only his work on the bill, the manager's amendment, but also this issue. I look forward to working with him to solve this problem which is looming out there for these 16 million boaters that never thought they would need a discharge petition when they went walleye fishing on Lake Erie.

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

I would advise the distinguished chairman, I have no other speakers and am prepared to yield back whenever you are finished.

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

Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk made in order under the rule.

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

Mr. Chairman, I indicated during the opening remarks general debate on this bill that this is an amendment which I cosponsored with Representative Boustany, and it would authorize the Coast Guard to consider qualified State and local security assets, personnel and resources, made available to a liquefied natural gas terminal when determining whether security resources are available to carry out necessary security measures.

This language carries out an agreement that was developed in a colloquy with Chairman Cummings during our subcommittee's and the full committee's consideration of the bill.

Mr. Chairman, all of us want to ensure the highest levels of security at LNG terminals and other at-risk assets. This amendment would do that by leveraging the collective resources of Federal, State, local, and private sector officials. I urge all members to support this amendment.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chairman, at this time it is my pleasure to yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentleman from New Jersey, a valuable member of the full committee, subcommittee, and the former Chair of the Coast Guard Subcommittee, Mr. LoBiondo.

Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I might consume to, one, thank the distinguished chairmen of the subcommittee and the full committee for working with us to massage this language and for accepting our amendment.

It is now my pleasure to yield 1 minute to the coauthor of the amendment with me, who spoke during the course of the general debate and who, when this issue was coming up, because of the importance of natural gas and because of the importance of natural gas in the gulf coast, immediately came to me and said, can we continue to work on this as we bring it to the floor? And I again want to commend Mr. Boustany and his colleagues from the gulf coast for bringing this to our attention.

I would advise that I am prepared to close if the gentleman is.

It's a good amendment. I hope we can all vote for it.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Would the gentleman yield?

I thank the gentleman. I had intended to claim the time in opposition, even though I am not opposed to the amendment. I would indicate to the chairman and the sponsors of the amendment that we are prepared to accept the amendment.

I do have some concerns about the scope of the alleged incidents that will be reported via the Web site and the manner in which it will be presented, but I pledge to work with the amendment's sponsors as we move this bill to conference to facilitate those.

Madam Chairman, I ask unanimous consent to control the time in opposition, even though I am not opposed to the amendment.

Madam Chairman, we are prepared to accept this amendment. The Coast Guard is a multi-mission military service that must have the ability and flexibility to respond to numerous concerns and threats in the maritime domain.

We share the concern of the sponsor that no one Coast Guard mission should be elevated in precedence to the expense of the service's many other responsibilities.

I want to congratulate Mr. McNerney, a new Member of the House, for bringing this amendment to the floor, bringing it to our attention.

I would be happy to yield to the distinguished chairman for any observations he would have.

I would ask the chairman of the subcommittee, Mr. Cummings, do you want to say anything about the amendment?

I would be happy to yield to the gentleman from Maryland.

I thank both chairmen and want to again congratulate Mr. McNerney on his amendment.

I would yield back the balance of my time.

I want to congratulate Mr. Bilirakis on this amendment, and we all had the privilege of serving with his dad, Mike, and he's a ``Gus'' off the old block, and he's doing a fine job not only in this amendment but also the Waterway Watch program.

We're prepared to accept the amendment. The Coast Guard has operated a pilot program in Mona Pass, Puerto Rico. It has been extremely successful. We're aware that the Coast Guard intends to expand the program in the Caribbean Basin to make it a permanent program. His amendment would accomplish these goals.

For that reason, I support the amendment and congratulate Mr. Bilirakis.

I thank the chairman for yielding. We are also prepared to accept this amendment. We think it's a good amendment.

Although I was very taken by the gentleman from Massachusetts' prose, I would indicate we did have a pretty extensive hearing in the Coast Guard Subcommittee on this particular bridge and this waterway up in Fall River. I'm never caught short about the imagination of the Massachusetts delegation.

Just to be clear, the FERC approval of that site was based upon one bridge. After the delegation applied for the construction of a new bridge and there was a proposal to demolish the old bridge 100 yards from the new bridge, the Massachusetts delegation has fallen in love with this old bridge. As a result, it is not a navigable waterway. That was the basis for the Coast Guard's decision in this matter. I congratulate Mr. Markey for not only his good amendment but also the Massachusetts delegation in general for their ingenious work.

Madam Chairman, I ask unanimous consent to control the time in opposition although I will not oppose the amendment.

Madam Chairman, we're prepared to accept this amendment, although I must say we have concerns about the overall effect

the language will have on the requirements under the Transportation Worker Identification Credential program and port security levels in general.

As we all know, and the committee has received voluminous testimony, TWIC readers will not be available for some time. However, in my opinion, we should not relax identification requirements once the readers are in place in our Nation's ports. The evidence at the committee is that we're not dealing with an unknown universe of individuals, we're dealing with a universe anywhere from 750,000 to 1.5 million people who will eventually come and require a TWIC card.

I look forward to working with Representative Zoe Lofgren and commend her on behalf of this 85-year-old gentleman, and others, for bringing this matter to our attention. I look forward to working with Chairman Oberstar and Chairman Cummings and Representative Zoe Lofgren in the conference to perhaps tweak the TWIC language and make sure that we're not saying that, in fact, the alternative identification measures are biometric, and they're not saying that we're going to use someone's driver's license as a substitute for those procedures.

I look forward to the conference, and would be happy to yield to the chairman for his observations on the amendment.

I would ask the distinguished chairman of the subcommittee if he has any observations.

I thank the chairman and reserve the balance of my time.

I would indicate to the gentlelady that if you're prepared to close, I will yield back when you're done.

Then I am happy to yield back the balance of my time.

I just want to be clear as we move forward, Madam Chairman. This has happened a couple of times. And I am not questioning the ruling of the Chair, but a couple of times, the chairman of the committee, Mr. Oberstar, has risen to claim time in opposition without being opposed to the amendment and has claimed the right to close, and I just want to make sure we're all squared away.

No. You're doing a great job and making great rulings. I just want to be clear as we move forward, because we have about six more amendments. It is my understanding that the chairman closed because he was defending the position of the committee, which I'm doing. If that's not the ruling of the Chair, I'm happy to live with the ruling of the excellent Chair, but I just want to make sure we're squared away.

But in the meantime, I'm yielding back my time.

I thank the chairman very much for yielding.

Madam Chairman, we have no objection to the amendment and are pleased to accept it. I want to congratulate Mr. Bishop, a valued member of the committee and the subcommittee.

This will require the Coast Guard to report on the use and qualification of State and local officials used in a security capacities at LNG facilities.

I would just remark parenthetically that I assume that the chairman was able to close because he is much more revered in the institution than I am, and I accept that and I also agree with that assessment.

Madam Chairman, I would like to claim the time in opposition to the amendment even though I am not opposed and would continue to yield to the distinguished chairman of the subcommittee.

I yield to the gentleman from Georgia.

Reclaiming my time for a minute, it is my understanding that the gentleman from Georgia is going to ask unanimous consent to withdraw his amendment, and I want to express my appreciation because the amendment, from my perspective, is problematic. We do concur in the concerns that have been expressed in the colloquy between the chairman and Mr. Broun, and I want to congratulate Dr. Broun as another new Member of the House who has really stepped up to the plate and brought important issues before this body.

I would tell the gentleman that we did have some pretty illuminating hearings on the Administrative Law Judge, and the current Acting Chairman and I both served as prosecuting attorneys, she was also a judge, and I would tell you that my experience, and I think she would echo this, is that people can accept when they come into a forum if they lose, as long as they believe that they have lost fairly. The testimony that we received was that there are a number of people that don't have that feeling going in. It was our hope by making this small adjustment that even when they are ruled against, they will say, I got my day in court.

That was the objective. I do appreciate the gentleman's concern. I promise him that we will continue to work on it as it goes to conference.

I would be happy to yield once again to the gentleman from Georgia.

I thank the gentleman for yielding.

We are not opposed to this amendment. We are willing to accept the amendment, which requires the Coast Guard to develop mission needs down on the Rio Grande. I want to congratulate Mr. Cuellar and Mr. McCaul, who looks remarkably like Mr. Fortenberry, for bringing this amendment before the House. We accept it.

I thank the chairman for yielding.

Madam Chairman, we wholeheartedly support this amendment and congratulate the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Kirk) for his catch and for his unwavering diligence and vigilance on Great Lakes water quality issues. Those of us that have the pleasure to represent districts that are near or abut the Great Lakes know the damage that has been done by invasive species, both plants, animals and pathogens. The gentleman's amendment improves upon our bill.

As I said before during general debate, I am so proud of this committee's work on this ballast water exchange program. It really is a shining example of how Members of both parties can come together and do the right thing and the noble thing, and that, of course, all begins at the top with Chairman Oberstar's leadership.

Madam Chairman, I ask unanimous consent to control the time in opposition, even though I am not opposed to the amendment.

Madam Chairman, I want to congratulate the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee) for her thoughtful amendment. We are willing to accept her amendment, which will require the Department of Homeland Security to assess measures that may encourage maritime workers to accelerate application rates for the TWIC card. We all know a deadline is looming.

The only observation I would make so that no one is under a misapprehension, nobody has been prevented from working yet, because the TWIC requirements don't go into effect until September. But we support the gentlewoman's amendment. We think it is a thoughtful amendment.

I would be happy to yield to the chairman of the full committee for his thoughts.

I am happy to yield to the chairman of the subcommittee for his observations.

It is my understanding that the gentlelady's time has expired. I learned the hard way today that I don't have the right to close. But I would be happy to yield the balance of our time to the sponsor of the legislation, Ms. Jackson-Lee.

I yield back the balance of my time.

I thank the chairman for yielding.

We are also willing to accept the gentleman from Michigan's amendment, which authorizes the conveyance of property and the light station to Marquette, Michigan. This provision follows the standard language that has been used by the committee in other light station conveyances in previous years.

I would just note, I know the chairman of the full committee represents very hearty folk. When he came to Akron and said that it was 41 below, I think, at International Falls, I also know the gentleman from Michigan, having gone to school in Michigan representing the UP, represents very hearty folk. And so I hope we not only give them what he wants in Marquette, but Sheboygan as well, because they deserve it because it is really cold.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the late Howard Metzenbaum, the tenacious and scrapping Senator from the State of Ohio who died this week at the age of 90.

I never had the privilege of serving in the Congress with Senator Metzenbaum, as he retired the same year I was elected. Nevertheless, I followed his career closely from the sidelines and admired him because he was so truly authentic and larger than life. Agree with him or not, he was one of the most important political figures in our State in the last century. I respected Senator Metzenbaum because he was so true to himself and his core beliefs and values, even when they were immensely unpopular. He was unflinchingly liberal and made no apologies for it. The Buckeye State--long before we'd been tagged red or blue-- consistently rewarded him at the polls for his fighting spirit and his ``don't mess with me'' attitude.

In Metzenbaum, Ohioans had a tenacious, extraordinarily hard-working and committed Senator who helped elevate so many issues of importance to Ohioans to the national stage. One of his most remarkable accomplishments, in my estimation, was giving workers 60 days notice of plant closings, a scenario that has become all too familiar in our State. He is best known for championing workers' rights and the middle class, challenging and aggravating corporate America, and ferreting out wasteful spending. Yet, he had a soft and compassionate side as well, and led the effort to change the law to make it easier to adopt a child of a different race. That one legislative victory made adoption a reality for countless families, and gave so many children a loving home.

Howard Metzenbaum was a man of remarkable wealth, yet he chose to devote so much of his life to public service. He brought to Washington the same work ethic that he'd bestowed on his business affairs, and never seemed to slow down or coast as his years in the Senate stretched on. He left the institution just as feisty and combative as he'd arrived.

Today, far too many politicians' choices are guided by polling data, focus groups and the ramblings of pundits and talk show hosts. Senator Metzenbaum left public life before the Internet took hold and the media feeding frenzy crested, yet I have to believe that the Junior Senator from Ohio wouldn't have been tamed or tempered by talk radio, 24-hour news cycles or the blogosphere. To the contrary, I think it would have emboldened the unapologetic, unabashed and ferocious liberal who, against many odds, earned the respect and support of so many Ohioans.

This week, Ohio and the Cleveland area lost a political giant. My thoughts and prayers are with the Metzenbaum family.

I thank Mr. Hastings for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I am not happy to have the opportunity to speak today. The gentleman from Washington is my classmate. We were both elected in 1994. The distinguished chairwoman of the Ethics Committee I've known for 25 years. I served on the Ethics Committee for 4 years, had some of the same circumstances that Mr. Hulshof was previously talking about at the time. Mr. Hastings and Mrs. Tubbs Jones were also members of the Ethics Committee.

And there's a reason that we take that oath of secrecy, and it's why, unlike Mr. Hulshof, I voted ``no'' last night. My belief has always been that the ethics process here has worked when left to its own devices, and by ``left to its own devices,'' when leadership on either side stays out of it and permits five good Democrats and five good Republicans to consider what is sometimes a messy business. But it needs to be not aired in public as, sadly, this new whatever we did last night will do, because, and I used to be a prosecuting attorney, as did the chairwoman of the committee, there are many times when a case is brought to you and there are no facts to support that case, but you will be accused on page 1 and the case will be dismissed on page 45, and when you're in public life, by the time you get to the retraction on page 45, your career is ruined.

So every Member that embarks upon the ethics process takes the oath that we will hold close to us and not discuss with our colleagues, not discuss with the press, not discuss with others if we have a Member under investigation, if allegations are made against a Member, not to protect a Member, not to shield that Member from scrutiny, but so that we don't shoot the Member until there has been an adjudication that he or she has done something wrong. I took that oath. Every member of the committee takes that oath. We take that seriously.

Now, yesterday evening when I was preparing to make a determination as to how to vote, I received a memo from Doc Hastings, Representative Hastings, that had included in it the opinion of the nonpartisan, bipartisan professional staff of the Ethics Committee where they opined on how, if at all, what was being done last night would impact upon the ethics process of this House. I have to tell you that the memorandum wasn't written for Republicans. It wasn't written for Democrats. It was nonpartisan, bipartisan, and I found a lot in it that I thought that's an interesting point and I hadn't actually thought about it. I was grateful to receive that memorandum from Doc Hastings, not knowing how it came to my possession or attention other than Doc Hastings provided it.

I'm dismayed on this point of personal privilege, however, to then be in receipt of a letter written by my friend the chairwoman of the committee that, in my opinion, has a tortured construction of rule 7 of the committee. It correctly indicates that we take the oath of secrecy and matters should only be discussed in accordance with the rules of the House. Mr. Hulshof, I think, has adequately talked about 7(d), and what that indicates is that we're not supposed to talk about if Representative Y is under investigation until that matter moves to the public phase, that being the adjudicatory hearing, which we achieved against the gentleman from Ohio a number of years ago and which we were all involved in.

It does not, in my opinion, indicate that when a memorandum that might be instructive to the other Members of the House on a matter before the House should remain secret. And I would just say that we would then read paragraph 7(g) that indicates that, ``Unless otherwise determined by a vote of the committee, only the chairman or ranking minority member of the committee, after consultation with each other, may make public statements regarding matters before the committee of any subcommittee.''

The gentleman from Washington says that is what he did. And if the gentleman from Washington did that, I find no violation of the committee rules. I find no violation of the House rules. And I think what is most unfortunate, and it really goes into why the matters before the Ethics Committee need to remain secret, the letter suggests, it doesn't suggest, it says that Representative Hastings has broken the rules of the House, and if he does it again, there is going to be a complaint. Well, if someone feels that way, then file a complaint. But it is entitled to the confidentiality which it is now indicated has somehow been broken.

And I want to indicate that besides my disappointment, that what is roiling this House, and I think those of us that are centrists, moderates, those of us that are institutionalists, we now are roiled in the House because the rules don't seem to be the rules. The rules apply when people think they should apply. And if the rules don't apply, well, then we will make a new rule.

And last night's example, and it ties in directly to this point of personal privilege, couldn't be any clearer. The new majority, because of the Medicare part D vote that Representative Hulshof talked about that we wrongly held open for 3 hours to achieve a certain result, in outrage in response to the culture of corruption that permeated this place until 2007, led to a rule change. And the rule change was that we will hold no vote open in this House for the sole purpose of affecting the outcome or changing the outcome.

Well, that is just what we did last night, sadly, Mr. Speaker. For 12 minutes, 12 minutes after the final vote was cast, the vote was held open. It was 204-209. And during those 12 minutes, four Members of the majority party were persuaded to switch their votes. There is no other explanation. But where we find ourselves, and why this point of personal privilege is so important, where we find ourselves is that the rule is written in such a way that says you can't hold the vote open for the sole purpose of affecting or changing the outcome.

Now, we are going to have to bring in Kreskin. We are going to have to have ESP to climb into the mind of the presiding officer. And unless the presiding officer says, do you know what, I know what the rule is, I know what clause 9 of rule XX says, but I kept the vote open to affect the outcome. Short of that, there is no way to enforce the rule. And it puts us in a very difficult place. And I would ask my friends that are today in the majority to remember the 12 years that they were in the minority that they felt so oppressed, and in many cases had the right to feel oppressed, by some of the heavy-handed tactics that were employed on the conduct of this floor.

When you have a rule that can never be enforced, when you have rules that you don't pay attention to, it leads to discontent. It destroys the fabric of the institution. The minority serves an important purpose in the House of Representatives. It is the loyal dissent. It is to make sure that the majority just can't run roughshod and do what they choose to do in violation of rules, practices, precedents and procedures.

I fear, Mr. Speaker, that last night the rules were once again broken. I believe that the totality of the circumstances will demonstrate that. But what I do not find is that my friend and classmate from the State of Washington violated rule 7 of the Ethics Committee.

I thank the gentleman from Indiana for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I first want to thank Chairman Waxman and Ranking Member Davis for moving this legislation expeditiously through the committee and on to the floor today. And I want to thank the other Mr. Davis from Illinois and Mr. Burton for so ably managing it today as well.

Mr. Speaker, Michael Kashkoush grew up in Michigan, and then he moved to Chagrin Falls to start high school. He was the beloved son of Marwan and Mary Jane Kashkoush.

He spent his freshman and sophomore years in Chagrin Falls, and then moved with his family to London for a year and returned to Chagrin for his senior year, graduating in 2001.

Michael was like many young men. His high school years had been about girls, friends, lifting weights, sports, and parties. He started college with great intentions, but didn't find it a good fit for that moment in his life and, after 2 years, he announced to his parents that he wanted to join the Marines. The exceptionally bright and capable young man said that he had led a soft life and wanted to be a marine because ``they're the toughest and most disciplined in the world.'' The Marines were the matching puzzle piece for this gifted former high school wrestler and football player.

Michael's father urged him to finish college and instead attend officers school, but Michael believed he could not lead unless he knew what it was that the grunts had to do. Marwan Kashkoush stood behind his son's choice.

Michael was an exemplary marine and was promoted to sergeant in 2005 in counterintelligence/human intelligence. He had never spoken Arabic, but at the Defense Language Institute in 6 short months he mastered the language. He had a limitless future in the Marines.

In 4 short years, the United States Marine Corps made Michael Kashkoush a man. They gave his self-described ``soft life'' purpose. He was very proud of his military service to our country. On January 23, 2007, just 10 days after being sent to Iraq, he died while conducting combat operations in Anbar province.

Earlier this year, Michael's father and stepmother, Phoebe Brockman Kashkoush, wrote to me and asked me if I would introduce this piece of legislation in honor of Michael. It was a wonderful idea, and it is a perfect one for Chagrin Falls, Ohio.

Chagrin Falls is a small, tight-knit community where neighbors are close and there is a genuine sense of community. It is a place where there are almost as many American flags as front porches, and when one of their own died, it deeply touched the community.

Chagrin Falls, a town of about 4,000 people, turned out en masse for the funeral services, and some 600 people crammed into St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church, where they sang a joyful, tearful rendition of Don McLean's ``American Pie.'' The Jaycees adorned street posts with hundreds of flags, and more than 300 people walked the half-mile trek from the church down South Franklin Street in blustery snow to Michael's final resting place.

It is fitting, Mr. Speaker, that the Chagrin Falls Post Office be named in honor of Sergeant Michael Kashkoush, and it is a wonderful remembrance for a family who has lost so much.

The father who first resisted his son's plan to enlist credits the Marines with changing his life. He said, ``They built me my best friend.''

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

Mr. Speaker, House Resolution 853 honors the efforts of all of those that volunteered to assist the response to the recent oil spill in San Francisco Bay. Last month a cargo vessel collided with a span of the San Francisco Bay Bridge, resulting in a gash to the vessel's hull and the release of approximately 58,000 gallons of fuel oil into the bay.

Following reports of the oil spill, the Coast Guard, with its Federal, State and local government partners, initiated a response to the spill which has resulted in the deployment of 440 personnel and the recovery of more than 4,000 cubic yards of oily solids.

In addition to the critical work performed by the Coast Guard and other government officials, literally thousands of volunteers have assisted in cleanup operations at beaches throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. Volunteers have assisted professional cleanup crews in removing oil from beaches and have reported sightings of oil-affected areas and impaired wildlife to oil spill response personnel.

Additionally, volunteers were required to undergo at least 4 hours of hazardous waste and emergency response training before participating in the cleanup efforts.

I want to commend the Speaker of the House, Ms. Pelosi, and join with her today in thanking these volunteers and honoring their efforts to respond to this unfortunate event.

I also want to take time to thank all of the Federal, State, and local officials for their efforts to contain and minimize the environmental and economic impacts of the spill.

I urge all members to support this resolution.

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

General Leave

Mr. Speaker, I would advise my friend and colleague from California that I have no further speakers at this time and would reserve until she finds herself in a similar position.

Mr. Speaker, again I yield myself such time as I might consume just simply to thank the honorable Speaker of the House for introducing this resolution and, again, to commend the selfless acts, thousands of selfless acts of the volunteers in the San Francisco Bay Area, also my good friend on the Transportation Committee, Mrs. Tauscher, for her stewardship of this bill. I urge passage.

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

Madam Speaker, House Resolution 822 recognizes the 100th anniversary of the Port of Los Angeles. The Port of Los Angeles is the busiest port in the United States in terms of maritime cargo volume and, when combined with the adjoining Port of Long Beach, is the fifth busiest commercial seaport worldwide.

This trade is a critical component to our national economy, and directly and indirectly supports millions of jobs nationwide. The port has also taken action to lessen impacts on the surrounding areas and the environment by recently implementing a comprehensive strategy to reduce emissions from ships and port operations.

I join the resolution's sponsors, Congresswoman Richardson of California and Congressman Rohrabacher of California, and all of the cosponsors in recognizing the Port of Los Angeles' first 100 years and wishing the port continued success in the future.

I urge all Members to support the resolution. And I want to congratulate one of our newest Members in the House, Congresswoman Richardson, on guiding this legislation to the floor in such a quick manner.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, at this time it is my pleasure to yield as much time as he may consume to the gentleman from California (Mr. Rohrabacher).

Madam Speaker, it's my pleasure to yield such time as he may consume to another gentleman from California (Mr. Daniel E. Lungren).

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, may I inquire of the Chair the time remaining on each side.

Madam Speaker, I am going to continue to reserve. But I do see the distinguished chairman of our subcommittee on the floor, and if 2\1/2\ minutes isn't enough time for his observations, I would be happy to inquire to see if the gentlewoman needs time.

Would you like me to yield to the chairman?

I would yield 2 minutes of our time and ask unanimous consent that it be added to the gentlewoman's time so they have 4\1/2\ minutes.

I yield back the remainder of my time.

Madam Speaker, House Resolution 822 recognizes the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Port of Los Angeles. The Port of Los Angeles is the busiest port in the United States in terms of maritime cargo volume and, when combined with the adjoining Port of Long Beach, is the fifth busiest commercial seaport worldwide. This trade is a critical component to our national economy and directly and indirectly supports millions of jobs nationwide.

The port has also taken action to lessen impacts on the surrounding areas and the environment by recently implementing a comprehensive strategy to reduce emissions from ships and port operations.

I join the resolution's sponsor, Congresswoman Richardson of California, and all of the cosponsors in recognizing the Port of Los Angeles' first 100 years and in wishing the port continued success in the future. I urge all Members to support the resolution.

Mr. Speaker, this past weekend, more than 600 people gathered at Federated Church in Chagrin Falls OH, to mourn the loss of Allison Walden, 19, a 2006 graduate of Chagrin Falls High School and the daughter of Terry and Diane Walden of Chagrin Falls.

Allison was one of seven students to die in the tragic beach house fire in North Carolina.

Her father, Terry, said she was a wonderful girl and full of life. She had a scholarship to University of South Carolina, where she was a sophomore studymg pre-med and a member of the Delta Delta Delta sorority. She had planned to return to her beloved Chagrin Falls after graduation and study anesthesiology at Case Western Reserve University.

This senseless fire that took the lives of seven wonderful young people capped a very difficult year for the Walden family.

Their son, Greg, a 2005 Chagrin Falls graduate, is a student at Virginia Tech and was there in April when a deranged student shot up the campus, killing 33 people Fortunately, Greg, an honors engineering student, was unharmed in that horrific attack. I can't imagine as a parent going through that, and then losing your only daughter just five months later in another tragedy. It is just unspeakably cruel.

As their father said, ``What is the chance that out of all the schools in the country that our children would go where tragic events unfold?''

On behalf of the 14th Congressional District, my sympathies go to the Walden family on their horrible loss, and may they find comfort in their family, friends, faith and community.

I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Chairman, I rise today in support of H.R. 2095, the Federal Railroad Safety Improvement Act of 2007. A number of the speakers who will speak on this bill today, when the bill was first introduced I had some difficulty with some of the provisions, but I want to thank Chairman Oberstar, Chairwoman Brown, Ranking Member Mica and Ranking Member Shuster for continuing the great hallmark of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and working through those issues, be it limbo time, be it Federal preemption, be it a variety of other issues, and reaching a product that was brought to the floor today that I think that most, if not all of us, will be supportive of, as well.

Just a moment about Chairman Oberstar. When the majority changed, there's more Democrats on the committee than there are Republicans. They could write their own bill. But that hasn't been the way this committee has ever worked, and that isn't the way Chairman Oberstar is running the committee either. He reached out

to our side of the aisle to talk about these issues, and the result is that he has brought to the floor a piece of legislation that will overwhelmingly pass sometime later this evening.

Mr. Chairman, this important legislation will bring industry and government a long way towards the shared goal of improving rail safety. Although the number of train accidents decreased last year by almost 500, it is unclear whether that 1-year progress will continue. We are and we should always be looking for new ways to improve safety, not only for railroad employees, but for the surrounding communities as well.

Despite everyone's best intentions, disasters will strike. As the current Speaker pro tempore is well aware, in January of 2002, a Canadian Pacific train derailed 31 of its 112 cars in Minot, North Dakota. Five tank cars carrying anhydrous ammonia, a liquefied compressed gas, catastrophically ruptured, and a toxic vapor plume covered the derailment site and surrounding area. More than 11,000 people were impacted, and there was one fatality. More than 300 people were injured, including two members of the crew. Damages in that event exceeded $2 million, and more than $8 million has been spent for environmental cleanup efforts.

Mr. Chairman, just last week in Painesville, Ohio, about a mile from my district office, a CSX train derailed 30 of its 112 cars. A car containing ethanol exploded and fire engulfed several cars containing grain and ethanol. It burned for a number of days. More than 1,000 residents were evacuated, schools were disrupted, and roads, highways and businesses closed. Fortunately, in our event there were no injuries, but it was a tremendous disruption in the lives of many people. The six law enforcement agencies and 24 local fire departments that responded put in an untold number of overtime hours. Officials are only now evaluating the environmental fallout as they search for a cause.

To its credit, CSX Rail has stepped up following this incident. They are paying for hotel rooms of displaced persons, assisting in a variety of manners with the recovery and cleanup efforts, and have shown that they are willing to take responsibility when something goes awry. Our local responders and CSX worked together and provided a seamless response in Painesville.

Mr. Chairman, I am also happy to announce that following my conversation last Friday with Tony Ingram, the chief operating officer of CSX, the company has offered to work to cover the costs incurred by our local first responders. I greatly appreciate that and know that this is going to be a huge relief to cash-strapped communities in my district whose budget cannot handle the overtime.

While CSX is doing its best to minimize the damage this derailment has caused, it goes to show that when accidents do happen, this disruption is enormous. We must do everything that we can to prevent these types of incidents from occurring. The bill that Mr. Oberstar has brought forward today before the Congress takes a number of steps in the right direction. I urge my colleagues to support the bill.

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

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the subcommittee chairman, Mr. Cummings from Maryland, for bringing this important measure to the floor in such a bipartisan way. I enjoy continuing to work with the chairman on a variety of matters that affect the Coast Guard and our Nation's maritime industry.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of House Resolution 549, which recognizes the importance of America's Waterway Watch program in enhancing our Nation's maritime security. America's Waterway Watch was established by the Coast Guard to encourage America's 70 million recreational boaters to report suspicious activity in the maritime environment to local law enforcement agencies. The program is a nationwide initiative that is similar to the Neighborhood Watch program that is so effective in many of our neighborhoods back home.

Through America's Waterway Watch program, the Coast Guard, the Coast Guard Reserve, and the Coast Guard Auxiliary are actively educating the public on actions and behavior that constitute suspicious activities. These outreach efforts are being made in cooperation with our Nation's recreational boaters, marine dealers, marinas, and other businesses located near waterways. America's Waterway Watch program acts as an important force multiplier for Coast Guard and local law enforcement and enhances the capabilities of local and regional security programs.

Mr. Speaker, I want to commend the resolution's sponsor, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Bilirakis), and all of the other cosponsors for rightly recognizing this important community program.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all of the Members of the House to support this resolution.

I reserve the balance of my time.

I thank the chairman.

At this time, it is my pleasure to yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Bilirakis), the author of the resolution.

Mr. Speaker, I would advise my friend, the distinguished chairman of the subcommittee, that we have no additional speakers, and if he is prepared to yield back, I will yield back the balance of my time.

I yield back the balance of my time and urge adoption of the resolution.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize Les C. Vinney, a resident of the 14th Congressional District of Ohio, who retired at the end of September from his position as President and Chief Executive Officer of STERIS Corporation in Mentor, Ohio.

Mr. Vinney joined STERIS as Chief Financial Officer in 1999, and from July 2000 through September 2007 he served as President and CEO. Mr. Vinney presided over a period of unprecedented growth at STERIS, including a growth in revenue of more than 50 percent, a near quadrupling of stock values, and a rise in employment in Mentor from fewer than 400 employees to almost 1,000.

Mr. Vinney has innovatively led the way at STERIS, transforming it from primarily a healthcare company to one that has adapted its proven technologies for new markets. Most significantly, he established STERIS's Defense & Industrial Group to adapt and market STERIS's technologies to help businesses and government address the risks of biochemical contamination.

Following the anthrax attacks in 2001 that closed down much of Washington--including my congressional office--STERIS successfully completed the cleanup of State Department and the General Services Administration's mail processing facilities. Since then, he has briefed me regularly as STERIS has successfully conducted collaborative research and development work with the U.S. Army Edgewood Chemical Biological Center to adapt and modify STERIS's Vaporized Hydrogen Peroxide (VHP) technology for use against biological and chemical warfare agents.

Mr. Vinney is keenly aware that military applications can be applied to other settings, and has helped grow STERIS into a model for military, public and commercial applications of its technologies. The cutting-edge VHP decontamination system can be used to kill bacteria, viruses and spores in settings from operating rooms to jets, and was even used after Hurricane Katrina.

Beyond his work with STERIS, Les is a civic leader as well, and has served as Chairman of the Northeast Ohio Technology Coalition, an organization promoting economic and technology development in Northeast Ohio. He's also served on the boards of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, University Hospitals, the Greater Cleveland Partnership, and as a past chairman of the Lake County United Way Campaign. Outside Ohio, he also serves on the boards of Campbell Soup Company and the Advanced Medical Technology Association (AdvaMed).

I wish Les the best in his retirement, and know how much he is looking forward to spending more time with his wife, Linda, and their family. On behalf of the 14th Congressional District of Ohio, I congratulate Les on all of his fine work, and thank him for his leadership for Northeast Ohio and the nation.

Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentlelady for yielding, and I rise today to support the manager's amendment and to offer my thanks to the chairman of the full committee, Chairman Frank.

About a year ago in Ohio we had a 500-year event, and a lot of places that had never flooded, flooded. And what we found was that the current structure of the National Flood Insurance Program indicates that if the primary insurance, if there is a finding that it is underinsured, there is a penalty that attaches to it. It further goes on to say that if the penalty attaches and you don't pay out the limits on the first policy, you can't reach the secondary insurance.

We had people in our hometown that basically did what they were supposed to do; they bought the secondary insurance, they were fully insured. The condominium owners association, however, was underinsured, and therefore we didn't reach the policies.

The chairman joined with me in August in writing to FEMA to see if we could administratively reach some resolution. Sadly, we were unable to do that, and my thanks to Chairman Frank for including in his manager's amendment today something that not only reaches my constituents, because apparently that would be some kind of illegal earmark, but it reaches all people in the country that find themselves so afflicted. So my thanks to the chairman.

Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

I want to thank the chairman of the full committee, Mr. Oberstar, and the chairman of the subcommittee, Mr. Costello, together with the ranking member of the full committee and subcommittee for working with me on this amendment.

The chairman of the full committee is fond of saying that the civil aviation system in the United States is the safest in the world because under his leadership, and with the work of others, we have built in an amazing amount of redundancy. Redundancy not only deals with the equipment that flies in the air, the air traffic control system; but it also relies upon the fact that you need to have sufficient capacity should there be a disaster, or weather, or other things.

As a result of this amendment, if this amendment is agreed to, we will make sure that northeastern Ohio continues to have sufficient capacity in its civil aviation system.

I urge the passage of the amendment and would be happy to yield to the chairman of the full committee.

I yield to the ranking member of the subcommittee.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the dean of our delegation for authoring this resolution. I also want to thank our Democratic friends from Ohio and Members from other States who I see gathering on the floor.

Mr. Speaker, there is no way to describe today's news about our friend, Paul Gillmor, other than shock, a devastating loss to his family, to his friends, his colleagues, Ohio and our Nation.

Unlike a number of the other members of the Ohio delegation, I didn't come to Congress through the Ohio legislature, and so I didn't serve with Paul in the Ohio legislature, although I knew of him from Republican gatherings around the State of Ohio, he also was my mom's Congressman. She always told me the story about how excited the people were who were up in Lakeside, Marblehead and the Islands that Congressman Gillmor was going to come up and share his thoughts. But I didn't have the chance to work with him until I arrived here about 13 years ago. What I found was what I had heard, and that was that Congressman Gillmor was a hardworking, smart legislator who loved his family, loved his friends, loved this institution and the people he served. He was willing to take the time to show a young freshman around back in 1995. He was willing to share his vast knowledge of financial services with those that didn't quite have the same expertise. If you were having a sadness or a joy in your life, he was willing to share in that. And he was a wonderful fellow to sit and have dinner with. And after dinner, he was a wonderful fellow to sit around with and tell war stories. And over the course of the years, many of those stories were exaggerated with the passage of time and also the failing of memory, but it was always a good time.

I was reminded by my staff, because I want to talk about Paul's family, but I also want to talk about Paul's other family. And my staff reminded me, when they learned of Paul's passing today, that we were neighbors in the Longworth Building, and my staff told me how lucky we were to have a neighbor whose staff was always willing to walk us through another clueless day in the 104th Congress. And how you could always walk into the lobby, and how he taught us about constituent services because you would always find a bowl of Dum Dum suckers because the Spangler Candy Company was located in Bryan, Ohio, which was in the Congressman's district.

Our Ohio delegation is poor today with the loss of our friend, neighbor and mentor, Paul Gillmor. Our thoughts and prayers are with Paul's wife, Karen, his five wonderful children, and also, Mr. Speaker, with his Capitol Hill family, many of whom have been with him for many, many years and who miss him very badly today.

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

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

Madam Speaker, H.R. 2722, the Integrated Deepwater Program Reform Act, makes significant changes to the Coast Guard's Deepwater program and will reform the way that the Coast Guard oversees, manages, and carries out the program as the service takes on the lead systems integrator responsibilities.

I want to add my thanks on the floor tonight and appreciate the cooperation of Chairman Oberstar and Chairman Cummings to consider both at the subcommittee and during the full committee markup amendments from our side of the aisle to improve the bill through the markup process. The bill that we are considering today is the product of several oversight hearings and has been developed under the regular order in both the subcommittee and full committee markups. I want to thank both chairmen for their efforts to develop this bill in a truly bipartisan manner

Madam Speaker, I appreciate the cooperation of Chairman Oberstar and Chairman Cummings to consider amendments from my side of the aisle to improve this bill through the markup process. The bill that we are considering today is the product of several oversight hearings and has been developed under the regular order in both Subcommittee and Full Committee markups. I thank both Chairmen for their efforts to develop this bill in a bipartisan manner.

Our Subcommittee has held four hearings to oversee the Deepwater program over the past six months, and we have delved into the problems that have troubled this critical acquisition program. This bill addresses many of the areas that were identified through our oversight process. This bill will provide the Coast Guard with the framework to turn the program around and to support the successful acquisition of enhanced vessels, aircraft, and systems necessary to carry out the service's many missions.

However, I do want to point out that despite problems with some Deepwater program--most notably the failed 110 to 123 conversion, the program has had successes. Most importantly, the improved communications between shore, sea and air assets have already led to improved operations.

I also want to note that not all of the program's problems result from contracting issues. The program has never been funded at the level the Coast Guard determined it needed to carry out the program in the timeframe it described. Unfortunately, it appears those funding shortfalls will only get worse in the coming fiscal year. In fiscal year 2007, $1.1 billion was appropriated to carry out the Deepwater program. For fiscal year 2008, the Administration sought $837 million for the program, the House has provided $698 million, and the Senate has approved an amount of $770 million. At those levels, acquisitions of new ships and aircraft will be further delayed, meaning that ready- to-be-retired legacy ships and planes will be kept in service longer. Those assets will, in turn, incur higher maintenance costs further reducing the funds available to acquire new assets.

The bill before us today improves the organization and administration of Deepwater and seeks answers to questions about the implementation of the program. However, if Congress and the Administration continue to fail to seek and provide funds at the level planned for, then Deepwater has no chance of meeting its targets and goals.

While this bill will not solve the problems that result from funding shortfalls for the Deepwater program, the bill will give the Coast Guard adequate time to build its in-house staff and capabilities to the level necessary to successfully assume the lead systems integrator role and to put in place arrangements to acquire additional personnel and expertise from the private sector and other Federal agencies. This is a necessary programmatic change.

I support this bill and urge all Members to approve H.R. 2722.

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

General Leave