Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, the Greater Houston Concerns of Police Survivors (C.O.P.S.) was created to help provide resources to assist surviving families of law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty. This noble organization helps rebuild the lives of those they help, and provides training to law enforcement agencies on survivor victimization issues. They also educate the public on ways to show support for law enforcement professions and their survivors.

The Greater Houston C.O.P.S. instituted two programs that the public can join to show support for the fallen officers and their families. Project Blue Light gets residents to place a blue light in a window of a home or business. By keeping the blue lights burning, it is a constant reminder to everyone that law enforcement officers serve and protect the public ``every day, every minute, and every second of the year.''

The Blue Ribbon Program encourages the public and law enforcement personnel to tie blue ribbons to their car antennas during National Police Week. C.O.P.S. hopes the blue ribbons are a reminder to the public that many law enforcement officers have already paid the ultimate price and given their lives in the line of duty. They also encourage the public to display their blue ribbons outside of National Police Week, to honor those officers who are in our communities each day, putting their lives on the line to keep the public safe.

The Greater Houston C.O.P.S. is an active chapter of the national organization of Concerns of Police Survivors, Inc. and continues to advocate for citizens in the Greater Houston area to support the law enforcement officers lost, still serving, and the families of these officers.

I applaud C.O.P.S. and Greater Houston C.O.P.S. for their dedication and commitment to law enforcement and their families.

Senior Police Officer Gary A. Gryder assigned to the Southeast Division, Paroled Offender's Unit, while directing traffic was struck and killed at Katy Freeway West service road at Highway 6 on Sunday, June 29, 2008. Officer Gryder was a twenty-three (23) year veteran of the Department joining on January 7, 1985, entering Police Academy Class No. 126. He is survived by his wife, Retired Senior Police Officer Debra L. Gryder, who served the Department for over twenty- seven (27) years, his son, Austin A. Gryder and a daughter, Jennifer Streeter. He is also survived by his Father-in-law, Retired Police Officer Alfred B. Lewis, who retired from the Department after serving over thirty-one (31) years, on March 2, 1981.

Madam Speaker, I attended the funeral of Officer Gryder along with hundreds of other citizens. His wife, Debbie, and his family now join the ranks of C.O.P.S. Our communities need to constantly remember our fallen police and their families that will need to continue on without their loved ones.

And that's just the way it is.

Mr. Speaker, each fall, students arrive on college campuses and universities across the Nation to further their education. There is a general excitement about campus life and the opportunity to live away from home for the first time with little to no rules. However, the harsh reality soon becomes evident--that campuses are not immune from the threat of crime.

Recognizing the very real presence of crime on college campuses and universities across America, I am a cosponsor of H. Res. 1288, Supporting the goals and ideals of National Campus Safety Awareness Month. This resolution designates the month of September as the National Campus Safety Awareness Month in partnership with hundreds of colleges and universities in the Nation.

As the co-chair and founder of the Congressional Victim's Rights Caucus, I strongly believe that we need to raise awareness about crime issues present on campuses, such as sexual assault, stalking, hazing, and alcohol and drug abuse.

This resolution encourages our Nation's colleges and universities to promote campus safety and crime awareness prevention programs. I am proud to know that several colleges and universities from my home state of Texas participated in the National Campus Safety Awareness Month last year, and my hope is that even more campuses and universities participate this year.

The facts are before us--from 2004-2006 there were 8,114 forcible-sex offenses, 8,923 aggravated assaults, and 37 homicides on college and university campuses. Although we would like to think that these higher education institutions are immune from such heinous acts of crime, sadly they are not.

I join with Rep. Sestak in support of H. Res. 1288, the National Campus Safety Awareness Month, because although there is a lot of work to be done to make our campuses a safer place, this resolution is a step in the right direction.

Madam Speaker, today I am proud to honor long-time restaurateur Don Pittman, as he was inducted into the Texas Restaurant Association Hall of Honor in June 2008. From Bar-B-Q to fresh seafood to Cajun delights, Texans take their food very seriously. For Don to receive this honor, he must have done some significant work.

Pittman has been in the restaurant business for almost forty years. His career began in 1970 in Fredericksburg, Texas. He spent some time in Austin before deciding that he should branch out and carve a place for himself. He searched for a location with a community with a positive attitude and decided that Southeast Texas was the best place to start.

Don moved to Beaumont in 1985 and opened eight Short Stop Burger locations across Southeast Texas. He operated these restaurants in Beaumont, Port Arthur, and Orange until the late 1990s. In 1998, he opened a Schlotzky's Deli in Beaumont and another in Port Arthur in 2002. Pittman will serve as President of the Sabine Area Restaurant Association beginning this August. This will be his second term, as he previously served from 1991-1993.

The Texas Restaurant Association Hall of Honor is the highest recognition that a member of the Association can receive. Winners are selected by a committee made up of past TRA presidents and Hall of Honor members. Individuals are honored for their commitment to the foodservice industry, the Association and their communities. This year, they chose to honor Don Pittman for his continuing excellence in serving Southeast Texas.

On behalf of the Second Congressional District of Texas, I applaud Don Pittman for his dedication to serving some of the best food in the entire State of Texas.

Madam Speaker, today I am pleased to honor Dr. Mark Kubala, M.D., for being named Outstanding Neurosurgeon of the Year by the Texas Association of Neurological Surgeons, the latest in a long line of awards given to this extraordinary physician. The award was given to a man that has spent his life displaying excellence in his field and commitment to his community.

Dr. Kubala graduated from the University of Texas in 1955 as a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Honorary Society, considered one of the most prestigious American college honor societies. He received his medical degree from the University of Texas Medical Branch--Galveston and served residencies at the Baylor College of Medicine and the Mayo Clinic. He has engaged in private practice in neurological surgery since 1966 and is Chief of Surgery at all three Beaumont hospitals.

Dr. Kubala has a long history of leadership. He has been a member of the Texas Medical Association since 1969 and has served as the Association's President, Speaker of the House of Delegates, and has served on numerous committees. He helped create the TMA Foundation, their philanthropic association, and served two terms as President. He served as President of the Texas Head & Spinal Cord Injury Prevention Foundation for 7 years. He also has the unique distinction of serving simultaneously on three different school boards in the 1970s. Dr. Kubala is a very busy man.

His honors are numerous, including the Texas Medical Association's 2006 Distinguished Service Award, their highest honor, for his tireless advocacy for patients and physicians at the local, state, and national level. His peers at the University of Texas Medical Branch--Galveston awarded him the Ashbel Smith Distinguished Alumnus Award. He was presented the Distinguished Service Award from the American Association of Neurological Surgeons in 1998 as well as the Dr. J.C. Crager Award for community service from the American Heart Association.

On behalf of the entire Second Congressional District of Texas I would like to congratulate Dr. Kubala on his latest award and thank him for his many years of service to the Southeast Texas Community.

Madam Speaker, journalists should be able to report the news without having to worry about getting arrested for not revealing their confidential sources. Our Nation needs a Federal shield law to further protect the freedom of speech and press.

Recently, several journalists have been arrested and jailed for not disclosing their anonymous sources. These arrests did not occur in foreign countries run by dictators but happened here in America. Putting journalists in jail for not confessing their sources tramples on the Nation's freedom of speech and freedom of the press. These freedoms in the first amendment are first because, without them, the rest are meaningless.

More than 30 States so far have passed laws that protect reporters from being required to testify and name confidential sources, but there is no Federal law.

The job of a journalist is to report the news and not be an arm of the government or controlled by our government. Law enforcement officials should not force journalists to gather information or find witnesses.

A free press means free and independent of government intrusion into the sources of reporters.

Madam Speaker, the country needs a Federal shield law because, instead of getting a reporter arrested, the truth should set them free.

And that's just the way it is.

Madam Speaker, I rise in total support of this resolution today. And I want to thank the chairman for including language from one of my proposals regarding worker exploitation to the bill being considered today.

Having been to China, I have seen firsthand how the Chinese government runs roughshod over its people and abuses their basic rights.

Earlier this year, Madam Speaker, I introduced a resolution condemning the government of China for not only its inhumane working conditions, but also for the exportation of unsafe goods like lead toys and pet food to the United States, and for the poor environmental policy that affects the entire globe. I hope the committee will soon consider the Chinese policy of exporting harmful products to the United States and other parts of the world.

However, the Olympic Games begin next week, and I believe it is critical to remind the government of China that it is a member of the world community, and the world is watching how China treats its citizens. China has a social and moral responsibility to provide basic rights to all of its citizens, especially in the workplace.

In June of 2007, it was discovered that hundreds of people, including women and small children, were forced to work in hot brick-making factories, suffering from brutal beatings and confinement equal to imprisonment.

According to Amnesty International, there are instances where Chinese companies withhold wages from the workers for months at a time, refuse to give them ID cards. Without an ID card, it prevents that worker from securing work someplace else.

In the city of Shenzhen alone, in an average day, 13 factory workers lose an arm or some other body member, and every 4 days a worker dies in a workplace accident. And Madam Speaker, this is just in one city in China.

I stand with the Chinese people who have been subjected to inhumane working conditions, and call on the government to end the dangerous conditions faced by these workers. If China expects to gain the respect of the global community, China must earn that respect from its own citizens first, and that requires reforming their inhumane working conditions and respecting basic human rights of their own people.

And once again, I want to thank the chairman for bringing this to the House floor.

Madam Speaker, on H. Res. 1311--National Gear Up Day, H. Res. 1202--National Guard Youth Challenge Day, H.R. 6493--Aviation Safety Enhancement Act of 2008, I was not able to return to the House because myself and 6 other Members of Congress from Texas had to make an emergency plane landing due to mechanical problems on CO flight 458. Thus this emergency prevented a timely return to Washington, DC.

Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea'' on all three of these measures.

Mr. Speaker, I bring you news from Iraq and the war profiteers that make money off this war.

According to the Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction and as reported by the Washington Post, a California contractor ``was paid $142 million to build prisons, fire and police stations that were never built or finished.''

The Inspector General states, ``Millions of dollars in waste are associated with incomplete, terminated and abandoned projects.''

The biggest fiasco was an incomplete prison that was so poorly constructed that the floors are collapsing. This facility is totally useless to the United States and Iraqi governments.

Mr. Speaker, it seems to me this is yet another example of incompetence, waste, and possible fraud against America.

If crimes have been committed, the Justice Department needs to prosecute anyone that steals money from America during this time of war, because the long arm of American law even reaches crooked contractors in Iraq.

And where shall we send these people? To the well-built Guantanamo Bay Prison where we house war criminals.

And that's just the way it is.

Mr. Speaker, National Night Out is a crime prevention event that brings awareness to neighborhood crime. The idea is that people will come out of their homes, meet with their neighbors, and become more aware of issues in their community, especially crime concerns.

When people know each other that live around them, they are more apt to work together to prevent crime in their communities. Unfortunately, Americans today don't know their neighbors like they used to. My grandmother used to say that ``we quit knowing our neighbors when they quit building front porches on houses.'' Maybe there's some truth to that statement, Mr. Speaker, because not many people go and visit their neighbors, sit on the porch, and discuss important events like what's taking place in their community.

National Night Out allows neighbors to get together with their kids. Back home in Texas, some communities block off streets, eat barbecue and hot dogs, and invite the local police over to meet with the kids and the neighbors that they protect.

A neighborhood that has visible neighbors is a safer neighborhood. On National Night Out in August, there will be less burglaries, car thefts and vandalism because neighbors will be with other neighbors on watch, protecting the neighborhoods they call home.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from California for yielding and for cosponsoring and offering this legislation to capture the individuals who sail these vessels.

Mr. Speaker, here's a photograph that was taken of one of these submersible vessels that we have been talking about this evening. As you can see, it's blue like the water, but it also, as the gentleman from California pointed out, has stealth capability. And these vessels are able to go from the coast of Columbia all the way to the United States without refueling. They are made by the drug cartels in the jungles of Columbia. They're floated down river, and they set sail for the United States.

The United States Coast Guard has brought this to the attention of Congress. What happens is they come upon one of these vessels that are stateless, they have no flag, and as soon as they come upon one of these vessels carrying 9, 10, 11 tons of cocaine, the crew scuttles the vessel. It sinks to the bottom of the ocean, and then the Coast Guard or the United States Navy has to rescue the crew and take care of them and send them back home even though they're criminals smuggling drugs into the United States.

So to prevent that from happening anymore, these stateless vessels will be a crime to be in possession of one of these on the high seas. Thus when our Navy or the Mexican navy, as Mr. Lungren pointed out, last week came across one of these vessels, it would be a crime to be in the possession of one of these vessels, and the crew members can be prosecuted for being on board one of these vessels.

The Coast Guard has reported that at any one time, there are over 100 of these vessels on the high seas all headed to the United States, all bringing cargo, drugs or even people. And, Mr. Speaker, this is a photograph of it. And this other chart shows where the United States Coast Guard came across one of these vessels. The crew tried to scuttle it, but it didn't sink fast enough. So the Coast Guard got on board, recovered some of the drugs, captured the outlaws, and they're being prosecuted in Florida as we speak.

So this bill, which I hope all Members of Congress support, will help us fight the sea trafficking of these drug cartels who are relentless in bringing that cancer into the United States.

And, lastly, as pointed out previously, these things are so shallow, even though they are 100 feet long, they are so shallow they can go up our rivers and tributaries into the inner-most parts of the United States, and some of them might not even be discovered, and they could bring in weapons of mass destruction, and all types of weapons into the United States.

So it's time to make it a crime to set sail in one of these vessels, these submarines on the high seas, and prosecute these criminals who bring drugs into our country.

Madam Speaker, as our ``Drill Nothing'' Congress continues to ignore viable energy options such as drilling in ANWR, I thought a chart would best illustrate where these drilling locations are.

Madam Speaker, this is Alaska, this is ANWR, and this little bitty red speck is where the proposed drilling in ANWR is to be. It takes glasses to see it because it's only 3 square miles. To put it in perspective, the Houston Intercontinental Airport is five times the size of this speck. Disney World is 15 times the size of this speck, and the King Ranch in Texas is 500 times this proposed drilling location.

Madam Speaker, it's time for Congress to stop using the distortions of the elites in the environmental fear lobby as an excuse not to take care of ourselves. America needs to take care of Americans and not be held hostage by OPEC and handcuffed by the Drill Nothing Congress.

And that's just the way it is.

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

In its current form, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank first of all the chairman of the committee for his work on this bill and his vast knowledge of transportation issues, not just with bridges but every other issue regarding transportation and how he is able to give us that history lesson every time the committee meets, either in English or Spanish. He can do both of those.

Today there is a reasonably good system in place for removing old bridges when they need to be replaced with new bridges, but it is in the circumventing of that system that causes problems. Old bridges that have been replaced, if not removed, could cause nationwide problems for shipbuilders, ship operators, port authorities, terminal operators and even barge operators.

Under current law, bridges have to come down or be repaired when they pose an unreasonable obstruction to navigation. This is carried out through bridge permit requirements, providing that an old bridge must be torn down when the new bridge is built and the old bridge no longer serves a transportation function.

One example of where this process is not followed is the Brightman Street Bridge case. This bridge is 101 years old. New construction started 10 years ago, but yet the new bridge has still not been built, and now there are plans to keep the old bridge in place even after the new bridge is constructed.

There has been a constant increase in the size of ships on our waterways throughout history. This makes bridges built in the past an obstruction and danger to navigation. For instance, the width between the bridge and the pier on the new Brightman Street bridge are much longer than on the current bridge. And unless old bridges like this are removed, they will still be navigation problems upriver.

We need to understand that some of the worst, most severely deteriorated bridges in the country are not only hazardous to vehicular traffic and people traveling on top of the bridge, but also to maritime and perhaps rail traffic that are below them. There are bridges deemed by the Coast Guard to be navigational hazards, and when States build a replacement bridge, the hazards ought to be removed.

There are roughly 60 bridges with a sufficiency rating of 5 or less, or what I call 95 percent deficient that are over navigable waters according to 2007 numbers.

The purpose of this motion to recommit is to be proactive, Mr. Speaker, and strengthen current policy that when a permit is issued to build a new bridge it also includes a provision or requirement for removal of the old bridge. If an exception to this rule is allowed to continue, it could lead to similar bridges being kept nationwide for limited transportation purposes. But the sole purpose of using these old bridges is to really block upstream development, specifically blocking energy development upstream that has already been approved.

Keeping an old bridge when a replacement has been constructed has less to do with the condition of the bridge and more to do with the existence of an unnecessary barrier to navigation. This makes the dangers of an old bridge worse for the maritime industry.

At this time, Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from New Mexico.

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

Mr. Speaker, I demand a recorded vote.

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

Mr. Speaker, in our country, Americans debate, argue and discuss all types of issues. And because of the type of people we are, we seldom agree on everything. Almost any issue you bring before the American public, it is evenly split on most issues, about 50/50, sometimes a little more than others.

But today, 73 percent of all Americans believe we ought to drill offshore. That is a phenomenal number. 73 percent of Americans don't really agree on hardly anything, but they agree on drilling offshore because the American public gets it. They understand we need more crude oil, Mr. Speaker. And the only way we can get gasoline is from crude oil. And the offshore drilling ban by the President has been lifted.

The only thing standing between us and energy independence offshore is Congress. Congress has handcuffed the American public's will to drill offshore.

This map shows where we drill currently, Mr. Speaker. The section down here in the Southeast, where the blue markers are, now, I represent part of the State of Texas, and proud to do so. But we only drill in this country off the shore of Texas, Louisiana, parts of Mississippi, and parts of Alabama.

But yet, you see all of this red section, off of our shores, and in all of those areas there are places where there is crude oil on the bottom of the ocean. But yet, Congress won't let us drill there. There are a lot of reasons for that. They are all political, and they are all nonsense because there is oil out there.

Seventy-three percent of the American public say we ought to drill. We need help. Gasoline prices are too high. We can't afford to go to work. And even in California, 53 percent of the people who live on the West Coast in California say, for the first time in recent memory, that we ought to drill off that coast as well because there is crude oil out there in the Pacific. But because of political reasons and reasons that really don't make much sense we are not taking care of ourselves.

One argument is that we can't drill safely, that those oil rigs out there in the Gulf of Mexico and off the east and west coast will cause environmental damage because there will be pollution from that crude oil that would seep from those oil rigs. That is not correct, Mr. Speaker.

Give you the best example. In 2005, two hurricanes came blasting through my congressional district in Southeast Texas. Their names were Katrina and Rita. They came from Louisiana and Texas. Hundreds of offshore rigs in this area where we do drill were damaged or completely destroyed. But yet, we didn't hear 1 word about those rigs causing pollution from crude oil seepage from the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, and the reason was it didn't

happen. Those massive valves that sit on the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico called Christmas trees, that are made in Houston, Texas, by the way, they shut down. That crude oil was not allowed to escape and there was no environmental damage.

But still we hear this hue and cry. We can't drill safely. There is pollution. Crude oil will pollute our shores. Let's look at some facts instead of hysteria.

Pollution from crude oil. Here is where it comes from off our shores. Mother Nature is the biggest culprit. 63 percent of the pollution of crude oil that comes a shore is from Mother Nature.

The second is boating, 32 percent. Tankers cause 3 percent. And if you look at that little bitty line over there on the end, Mr. Speaker, 2 percent comes from offshore drilling. Mother Nature is the culprit, not offshore drilling. We can drill offshore safely.

We need to take care of ourselves. If we allow the opening of the Outer Continental Shelf, two good things will happen. Those oil companies will have to pay a lot of money for the right to drill offshore. That brings revenue into the Federal Treasury, to the taxpayers. And we ought to let States that do allow offshore drilling, no matter which State it is, get a portion of that offshore lease revenue, and let them use it in their states for whatever they wish, like education, transportation, health care, whatever they wish.

Secondly, thousands, literally thousands of high-paying jobs will be created if we allow offshore drilling, plus we will have the crude oil, then the gasoline and be able to reduce the price. That is not the only answer, offshore drilling, but it is one of the answers.

And we are not doing anything. Like my grandfather used to say, when all is said and done, more is said than done. And we haven't done anything this week. We could be 1 week up on offshore drilling if we just took the handcuffs off of America and allowed offshore drilling.

$425 million dollars a day goes to Saudi Arabia from the American taxpayers to buy crude oil. $425 million. That money needs to stay home. We need to take care of ourselves.

And that's just the way it is.

Madam Speaker, I bring you an update from the City by the Bay. San Francisco recently spent $50 million proudly advertising that it was a sanctuary city. I now give you the results of this very successful PR campaign, because it has worked.

This week's example is illegal Edwin Ramos. He loves San Francisco because even though he has been arrested twice for felonies, the compassionate folks of San Francisco never wanted him deported back to El Salvador. So he stuck around, got arrested for a gun charge this spring, and still wasn't sent home.

So last week he got a bit of road rage and gunned down Anthony Bologna and his two sons, Matthew and Michael, while they were returning from a family picnic. Mrs. Bologna blames the city for the murders because it ``caters to illegals''. I hope the mayor of San Francisco is proud of his sanctuary policy for illegals because it's cost three lives.

Mrs. Bologna should have a wrongful death cause of action against the City of San Francisco, especially the mayor, for its sanctuary policy. And Congress should prohibit all Federal funds from going to cities like San Francisco that proudly ignore American immigration laws and welcome foreign outlaws like Ramos.

And that's just the way it is.

Mr. Speaker, U.S. Border Agent Luis Aguilar, Jr. was on patrol in January on the Arizona border chasing two vehicles of suspected drug dealers. As the vehicles, a Hummer and a pickup, realized they had been discovered and fled back to the Mexican border, Agent Aguilar put road spikes in front of the vehicles. The Hummer, however, went off the road and ran over and killed Agent Aguilar.

The driver, Jesus Navarro Montes, was quickly arrested by the Mexican government and held on unrelated drug charges. However, he was released 6 months later because the U.S. Government never requested extradition proceedings.

Members of Congress have asked the Justice Department what happened. We received a standard bureaucratic, nonsensical letter saying, ``we're not telling you.'' In other words, our Justice Department blundered by not requesting extradition, and now won't admit it.

This is incompetence. Montes, meanwhile, is still probably running drugs into the United States.

We owe it to all border agents and the family of Agent Aguilar to capture this killer. Maybe we should offer an old fashioned reward for his capture, and let our friends in Mexico do the job our government won't do.

And that's just the way it is.