Floor Statements

I thank the gentleman from Nevada for yielding. I also want to thank my friend from California (Ms. Bass) for introducing this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, you are going to find tonight that there are eight bills dealing with sex trafficking in the United States. You will also find that these are bipartisan bills, and a lot of different Members are involved in this legislation, which goes to say that on this issue of modern-day slavery--the human sex trafficking that is taking place-- Members of Congress are working together in many different ways to come to the same conclusion to present legislation to the House floor.

I would just encourage the Speaker in his role to get the Senate to bring up this legislation as soon as it all passes, either tonight or tomorrow.

We have already had some good pieces of legislation pass, a piece of legislation called the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act, sponsored by Carolyn Maloney from New York, a Democrat, and myself, a Republican from Texas. That is about as bipartisan as you can get, Mr. Speaker. We don't even speak the same language, but it passed the House 2 weeks ago, 409-0.

The House of Representatives is moving as fast as we can and as carefully as we can to deal with this scourge of modern-day slavery. You don't get much talk about it in the national media. It is just not one of those controversial issues, but it is being done, and that is a good thing.

Mr. Speaker, there are two types of minor sex trafficking that are taking place. There are children from foreign countries that are being sold and delivered to the United States for sex trafficking, and then there are Americans, kids that live in the United States, that are being sold and delivered throughout the United States for domestic sex trafficking. It is increasing for a lot of reasons, but awareness is one of those reasons--or lack of awareness is a reason that we want to hopefully stop--and the awareness needs to go to parents and children about what can take place.

Also, when sex trafficking with minor children takes place, as my friend Ms. Bass from California has said, when that child is rescued by law enforcement, they don't have anyplace to take them. There is no housing for those individuals, so they put them in the juvenile justice system for their safety. But, yes, they are labeled. They are given that stigma of a criminal. Even though it is juvenile criminal, they are still a criminal.

They are not a criminal, Mr. Speaker. They are victims of crime, victims of slavery.

For example, in the United States, there are 5,000 animal shelters, and they are great. I have got three dalmatians--I call them the weapons of mass destruction--and two of them came from dalmatian rescue. But, Mr. Speaker, there are only 300 beds for minor sex- trafficked children in the United States. That is it. There aren't any more.

So we need to have the ability to take those children when rescued by law enforcement or by child protective services or whoever to a shelter where they have a place that they can stay other than the jailhouse. That is one of the most important things that we can do.

As the gentleman from Nevada has said, this scourge is a multimillion dollar business. It is second only to the illicit drug trade. The reason is because children can be sold more than once each day--some up to 20 times. Drugs are sold one time. Plus, the risk of apprehension and the consequences for drugs is a whole lot more than that of sex trafficking, and therefore that is why it is the second, will soon be the highest, income for illicit activity, criminal activity, because there is no risk involved.

So those are some things that are being addressed by these eight pieces of legislation tonight. They are all good, and they are all bipartisan. They are supported by most Members. There are a lot of cosponsors on all of that legislation. Hopefully, we can get all eight of those pieces of legislation passed and sent down the hallway to the Senate and get their attention and vote on these.

And that is just the way it is.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 4411.

My amendment to the bill that passed in committee encourages the State Department to go after Hezbollah's money.

It does this by pushing the State Department to use its Rewards Program is an old-fashioned idea. It's like putting out a reward on a wanted poster. If we get good information that can be used for an arrest or conviction of a Hezbollah member, we're willing to pay a reward.

This is a strategy that works.

The Rewards Program paid $2 million to a source who helped reveal the location of Ramzi Yousef [YOU-sef], the mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Yousef [YOU-sef] was arrested in 1995.

All too often, the challenge with going after the finances of terrorist groups is knowing where they get their money and how they move it.

This bill will help bring more of that important information to light so we can seize Hezbollah's money and stop their evildoing ways.

And that is just the way it is.

I thank the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Duncan) for sponsoring this leadership hour and bringing the issue of energy to the attention of the House and the American public.

Yes, Mr. Speaker, we consider where I live, Houston, Texas, the energy capital of the world because it is the energy capital of the world. And it is because of our location. Fifty percent of the Houston ship channel exports exports are energy-related, not just energy itself, but everything that is used in the development of energy throughout the world. Fifty percent of the economy of Houston is based upon the Houston ship channel.

We are experiencing a phenomenon in this country that nobody thought would happen 5 or 6 years ago, and that is the abundance and surplus of natural gas and what we call Texas sweet crude, or light crude, an abundance of it in this Nation. There is so much natural gas being produced in this country that in south Texas, in the Dakotas, they are flaring gas wells. They are capping wells in west Texas.

What does that mean?

That means that when they flare wells, there are over 1,500 wells that are being flared. That is enough energy to take care of a million homes. We are talking about a lot of energy. We are talking about a lot of natural gas.

So what do we do with that?

Well, we should sell it.

There is an ice cream company down in Texas. It is a little creamery in Brenham, Texas, a German community, called Blue Bell Ice Cream. It is the best ice cream in the world, Mr. Speaker, by the way. Their motto is simple about their ice cream: We eat all we can and we sell the rest.

Well, that should be the American motto for our natural gas: use all we can, then sell the rest throughout the world. And yes, there are a lot of buyers who want to buy American energy, natural gas.

When I was in India, I talked to the Prime Minister, and all the Prime Minister wanted to talk about was getting natural gas from the United States to India. Mr. Speaker, there are a billion more people in India than there are in the United States. They can take it all. They will buy it all if we will just make it happen.

When I was in the Ukraine, right before the Russians invaded the place, that is all that the Ukrainians wanted to talk about: getting natural gas from the United States, mainly from Texas, to offset being held hostage by the Russians where they get gas from. You know, the Russians turn off the gas in the Ukraine when they don't like the politics in Ukraine.

Give them an alternative. Give them a free market alternative. Sell them American natural gas. The same with other Eastern European countries. Same with Western Europe. Give them an alternative to Russia. It is not only an energy independence thing for those countries, but it takes them politically away from the stranglehold of Russia. That is one thing we can do to offset Russian aggression: sell American natural gas throughout the world.

Then why aren't we doing it?

Well, we are, but it is slow. It is very slow. It takes forever to get the Department of Energy now to grant those permits.

Here is the way it works. Since we are now permitting to sell natural gas or exporting that product, it not only takes FERC to have a permit, but then the company has to get the Department of Energy to permit them as well, and it takes too long. So we don't get to sell the gas, and we lose out on that opportunity to competitors throughout the world who will sell their natural gas, who don't have to deal with the Department of Energy.

We need to expedite that, expedite the sale of natural gas. That helps the United States with jobs, as the gentleman from South Carolina has said. It helps us with American jobs. But it also makes us energy- independent.

We can make, Mr. Speaker, the Middle East irrelevant, not just their energy and all the turmoil. We can make them politically irrelevant because we can take care of ourselves, not only exporting natural gas but, of course, exporting what we call Texas sweet crude, or light crude, throughout the world. That is what we should do.

We should export. We should be willing to use all we can and then sell the rest. We should adopt the motto of the best ice cream company in the world.

A couple of other matters, if I may. The Keystone pipeline: How ridiculous is it that we haven't started building it? You have got to get that crude oil to market some way. What do you want to do, put it on ships? We have already found out that is not such a good idea.

How about railcars? Well, I think we have had some problems with railcar transportation of crude oil.

You want to use thousands and thousands of trucks to move that crude oil around? That is kind of dangerous too.

The safest way to move crude oil is through a pipeline. There are thousands of miles of pipeline. The XL pipeline, why it hasn't been done is because of political reasons, not because there is common sense involved in it. We ought to get through the politics and build the Keystone pipeline.

It comes from Canada down to southeast Texas to where the refineries are. My former district, Mr. Weber now represents that area where they are waiting.

How much crude oil are we talking about? We are talking about as much crude oil, Mr. Speaker, as we get from Saudi Arabia. Now we are talking about a lot of crude oil.

Once again, make America energy-independent but energy-secure, and it is a national security issue as well. It is just sense. It is common sense. It also brings in revenue to America, to the American people to be able to sell throughout the world natural gas and crude oil.

I want to thank the gentleman for the time.

And that's just the way it is.

Mr. Speaker, Amarech Mana is a 28-year old mother living in a small Ethiopian village, hundreds of miles from the capital. She does her best to care for her sick child who is crying out in pain. She knows he needs water to survive, but she worries that the very water she uses to quench his thirst is filled with the very bugs that made him sick in the first place. This story is an all too common one when 884 million people around the world do not have access to clean water.

Coordinating and uniting the action of over 180 organizations, InterAction is helping poor people like Amarech around the world. InterAction is working to encourage transparency on foreign aid projects. InterAction's NGO Map collects project-level information to disseminate to donors, businesses, government, and the public. It is also working to push for new laws that require tougher evaluations of foreign aid projects. If we are not evaluating projects than we do not know what is sustainable or even making a difference over the short term.

InterAction's mission is to uphold human rights and ensure human dignity for the poor. It knows that the best way to accomplish this mission is to focus on sustainability. For example, InterAction not only helps dig wells to give poor people clean water but then teaches individuals how to fix the well when it breaks. This gives them the skills and opportunity to improve their own standard of living, long after InterAction and its partners are gone.

Water, sanitation, and hygiene are just some of the issues that InterAction addresses to improve the quality of life in the world's poorest communities.

At the end of the day, InterAction doesn't just improve the social and economic circumstances of the poor. It gives hope. Amarech Mana once feared for her son's life. Now she can hold him and enjoy the clean water supply provided by Concern Worldwide, a partner in the InterAction nonprofit community. The water supply serves 1,000 households in the area.

Children no longer have to trek for hours to get water before going to school. And they don't have to miss countless days of school due to dehydration or dysentery. InterAction is a testament to the positive change U.S.-based NGO partnerships are making throughout the world. I look forward to working with InterAction to ensure our foreign aid is transparent and rigorously evaluated so our taxpayer dollars can make a meaningful and lasting difference.

And that's just the way it is.

Madam Speaker, the Hamas terrorists in Gaza keep shooting their rockets into Israel. Israel has used defensive weapons to intercept some. However, Iranian-backed Hamas keeps on reloading its six-shooters and firing into civilian areas.

The Israeli Government is shooting back and is headed to Gaza to stop the bandits.

Our government wants a cease-fire. Cease-fires in the past have just given Hamas time to obtain more ammo rockets from Iran. Also, Hamas shields its command centers underneath schools and hospitals in Gaza. So it cowers behind women, children, the elderly, and the sick.

Hamas wants Israel annihilated.

Israel is following the first natural right of a nation--it is protecting its people. Now it has taken the fight to the terrorists, as it has a right and an obligation to do.

The United States should be helping Israel eliminate this terrorist group instead of criticizing Israel for protecting its citizens from murder. The only way to stop this war against Israel is for Hamas to be defeated.

And that's just the way it is.

Mr. Speaker, a family in Spring, Texas, has been executed.

The evil killer, disguised as a FedEx driver, forced his way into the home of the Stay family on Wednesday. He tied up one child, Cassidy, and waited and waited until all five children and their parents--Katie and Stephen--came home. Then he shot them one by one, killing six, and leaving Cassidy for dead. He fled the scene with more malice in his heartless soul, headed to kill the grandparents of the children.

Cassidy called 911 to alert the law, and quickly, the murderer was caught before he could kill again.

Murdered were Stephen, aged 39; Katie, aged 34; Bryan, aged 13; Emily, aged 9; Rebecca, aged 7; Zach, aged 4--and wounded was Cassidy, aged 15.

The killer had come from Utah to Texas to seek revenge against the Stay family. He targeted the Stays because his ex-wife was a family relative.

People in the quiet area of Spring, Texas, and Houston are saddened and shocked and are in mourning for their neighbors who had life viciously and violently stolen from them.

The killer is charged with capital murder in Texas, and if found guilty, hopefully, a Texas jury will help him meet his Maker very soon.

And that's just the way it is.

Mr. Speaker, when there is a blaze, when there is a fire, when there is an explosion, when someone has an emergency medical problem, the firefighters rush in. While others flee danger, the firefighters, with sirens, red lights, horns, red-and-white trucks, charge into the jaws and midst of danger. Sometimes, the danger is overwhelming and firefighters are injured and killed.

Yesterday afternoon, with temperatures approaching 100 degrees outside, in an area called Forest Cove, near the San Jacinto River in Houston, Texas, the fire alarm sounded at the fire station. A house fire then turned into two alarms. The firefighters rushed and battled a fire in the hot, humid Texas summer heat.

Firefighter Daniel Groover was on the second floor of the house when he collapsed in the heat. He was pulled from the blaze by other firefighters, but later Daniel died.

Mr. Speaker, Daniel, like his dad, was a career firefighter.

Groover, a 21-year veteran of the Houston Fire Department, lived in Spring, Texas. He was 46 years old. Daniel was married to Elia and had three sons.

Chief Terry Garrison said of Groover:

Firefighters risk a lot to save lives, and that's what

Daniel was doing.

Daniel and his fellow firefighters are a remarkable breed, a rare breed--the American breed.

Mr. Speaker, it has been said that all people are created equal, but a few become firefighters. One of those was Daniel Groover.

And that's just the way it is.

This is a list of the other Houston firefighters who have been killed in the line of duty in the last 12 months:

Captain EMT Matthew Renaud, 35, of Station 51;

Engineer Operator EMT Robert Bebee, 41, of Station 51;

Firefighter EMT Robert Garner, 29, of Station 68;

Probationary Firefighter Anne Sullivan, 24, of Station 68.

Mr. Speaker, since the early 1990s, Pastor Duong Kim Khai Duong has been detained or arrested thirteen times, usually for organizing prayer sessions.

Most recently, he was arrested in August 2010 for his efforts to advocate for religious freedom and social justice. The trumped up charge? Attempting to overthrow the government.

Following his arrest, it took over two months for authorities to tell his family where he was being detained.

Now, he faces five years in prison followed by five years of house arrest.

In 2011, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention ruled that the Vietnam government's detention and conviction of Pastor Duong Kim Khai and six other activists were in violation of international law.

But the State Department continues to ignore the situation, refusing to include Vietnam as a Country of Particular Concern for religious freedom.

Pastor Duong Kim Khai Duong looks forward to the day he meets his Maker but that will be an awful day for the Communist government of Vietnam.

And that's just the way it is.

Mr. Speaker, according to a Federal judge in Texas, our government is ``completing the criminal mission'' of human traffickers ``who are violating the border security of the United States'' and assisting a ``criminal conspiracy in achieving its illegal goals.''

Here is how ICE is complicit in aiding and abetting human smuggling:

A smuggler is paid to bring children into the United States. The smuggler then is apprehended by ICE and prosecuted, but the criminal act is completed when ICE personally delivers the migrant child to the parent who has instigated the crime. If the parent is also illegally in the United States, ICE neither deports the parent nor the child.

The Federal judge chastised the Department of Homeland Security for not enforcing the law and compares this nonenforcement on the border to ``taking illegal drugs or weapons it has seized from smugglers and delivering them to the criminals who solicited their illegal importation'' into the United States.

Mr. Speaker, this administration, with its policy of open borders and blatant refusal to enforce the law, is complicit in the crisis at the southern border.

The timing is not a coincidence. The surge of foreign nationals illegally entering the United States all began when the President planted the seed for executive amnesty in a 2012 Rose Garden speech. In this speech, he announced his policy of unilateral administrative amnesty for minors. This was an avoidable crisis created to set the stage politically for universal amnesty.

The President's policy of nonenforcement has effectively encouraged tens of thousands of people to pay smugglers to bring children from Central America to the United States. Now migrant children just surrender themselves at the border and expect the United States to let them stay, take care of them, or reunite them with their parents who may also illegally be in the U.S.

Why? Because the word is out in Central America that America does not enforce its laws. The number of unaccompanied minors who are smuggled into the U.S. illegally has grown tremendously under this administration, as this chart shows, now up to 142,000 a year.

This is not only a humanitarian crisis, but this crisis is affecting our national security, our economy, our health, and our sovereignty. Our porous border allows anyone to enter the United States illegally. The influx of thousands of migrants comes with a cost to the tune of billions of dollars, all left to Americans to pay for.

The system is overwhelmed. We can't even take care of our veterans. Now there have been disturbing reports of diseases originating in Central America that have traveled with the migrants coming to our country threatening the health of people who are legally here and American citizens.

This is not isolated on the border towns. Unaccompanied minor children are being sent all over the country. In fact, I just found out last night that Health and Human Services is looking for a school to house unaccompanied minors in Houston, Texas--my hometown.

While the administration acts surprised about the crisis, the paper trail shows they knew that it was coming in January. The Department of Homeland Security in January posted online advertising for transportation contractors needed to help deal with this surge of unaccompanied minors coming into the United States.

The administration knew about this, but rather than enforce the rule of law and increase border security, the administration planned to accept the migrants and find places to house them. This current chaos is also an insult to people who come to America the legal way, but the White House has put politics over the law and what is best for the American people.

So what now? Well, deploy the National Guard to the southern border to deter future migrants from making the journey to America. It is the first duty of the Federal Government to defend the sovereignty of our Nation. Appropriate money that is still going for nation-building in Iraq to fund the National Guard on our southern border. Surely, protecting our border is just as important as securing the border of Iraq. If the President won't protect the border, let the State Governors do it with the National Guard.

Second, those who have already come here should be safely reunited with their families in their native countries. The law should be changed to expedite their removal. Warehousing these children is not a compassionate response to this crisis. It will not solve the crisis; it will only grow.

The President of the United States should be the first to say to the world: The rule of law will be enforced in the United States. Do not try to beat the system. Come to the United States the legal way or not at all.

But the administration is missing in action in this crisis. It is true the President is going to Texas this week, but he is going down there to raise money for a campaign. He is not going near the border. Maybe it is just too dangerous to go to the Texas-Mexico border.

And that's just the way it is.

Mr. Speaker, it was raining as the English Channel churned and tossed the Americans in the landing craft. The sun was coming up over the horizon, but no one could see it through the gray clouds. Thousands of teenage liberators stared into the distance to see the high cliffs of Normandy, France. It was D-Day, June 6, 1944--70 years ago.

Expecting to land on Omaha Beach at 6:30 a.m. ahead of other Allied Forces, Texan Lt. Col. James Earl Rudder led the United States Army Rangers' 2nd Ranger Battalion into what seemed like an impossible feat.

As the treacherous weather conjured crashing waves five to six feet tall, a shifting wind tossed the Rangers off course. The mist, clouds and smoke obscured the navigation, making it hard to locate Pointe-du- Hoc from a mile out at sea. Their landing was delayed by forty minutes. Already, the mission seemed doomed. This navigational error meant two things: They would have to sail parallel to the coast facing intense enemy fire. It gave the enemy time to recover and prepare for the next assault.

For almost half an hour, the Rangers rode along the coast as bullets were flying all around them. Some Rangers were hit by enemy fire. But bleeding or not, still they pushed forward.

They battled the wind as the pelting rain blurred their vision and soaked their climbing equipment. They were exhausted and tense. The landing crafts that brought the GIs to shore were beginning to take on water, presenting yet another obstacle for Rudder's Rangers. Water began to leak in through the front ramp of the landing crafts, so the Rangers ripped up the floorboards and used their helmets to bail out the alarming amount of water rushing in all while the Nazis fired down at them atop the cliffs.

One of the landing crafts sunk from the weather and enemy fire. The brutal conditions of the sea caused others in the landing crafts to become violently seasick. Finally, the Rangers reached the eastern side of the Pointe, their new designated landing spot. It was now 7:10 a.m. The battle had just begun, and the odds were stacking up against Rudder's success.

The Rangers were miserable, cold, wet and seasick; some bleeding from injury but none wavered. Their mission: to conquer the cliffs at Pointe-du-Hoc and find the big German guns. The guns could reap havoc on later landings.

No longer was the weather their only enemy. As the first shoe print was made in the wet sand of Normandy, the Rangers came under brutal fire from atop the cliffs as the enemy chunked grenades down at them. The men had to resist the urge to take out the machine guns because the primary mission was to climb. Fifteen men were already lost in the crossing of the beach. Divided into three units, Lt. Col. Rudder prepared to lead the Provisional Rangers, task force A of 250 men up the cliffs. They moved quickly with precision and expertise. They shifted through the chaos that ensued around them all while operating soaking wet equipment. (The ropes attached to the grappling hooks were heavy with water and thus could not reach the top of the cliffs when launched from a mortar.)

The Rangers used rope ladders, a few dry grappling hooks and steel ladders to scale the cliffs. Their machine guns were clogged with mud. Amidst enemy fire and malfunctioning equipment, the Rangers were flung back and forth climbing the wet ropes.

While some Rangers provided cover on the beach, amazingly, the first ones to the top, conquered the cliff in 10 minutes. They in turn

provided covering fire for the ones still on the beach.

As soon as the Rangers pulled themselves over the cliff, snipers immediately fired. Fortunately, the heaving bombing the Americans had done to the island in the days beforehand had created large craters in earth. This allowed the Rangers to hide themselves from the enemy fire.

Within half an hour, the remaining task forces had made it up the tall cliffs. Rudder, bleeding from two gunshot wounds, never let his focus waver or his determination grow weary. He discovered quickly that the Germans had left wooden decoys in the gun casements. Exhausted, wounded and bewildered, Rudder kept pushing the Rangers inland. They had to find the big guns. Around 8:00 a.m. small patrols were sent south to locate the missing guns. By 9:00 a.m., their second goal completed. Now, they had to take them out.

The Rangers had located the missing guns 600 yards south of the Pointe. The Nazis had hidden the guns back from the beach to protect them from Allied air strikes and naval bombardment.

Rudders' Rangers took out the emplacements using thermite grenades and eliminated the enemy protecting them.

The mission though completed in spite of the horrific obstacles was not without cost. Rudder's Rangers had over 50 percent casualties. Some Rangers gave their lives that summer morning conquering the cliffs.

As American blood was shed on the French beaches and cliffs, General Rudder had secured the beachhead for later Allied Forces coming ashore. This paved the way to eventual victory.

In the months leading up to the Normandy Invasion, Rudder's elite group of Army Rangers underwent rigorous training in preparation for the part that they would play for the invasion named Overlord at Normandy.

Colonel Rudder put his 2nd Ranger Battalion through hell in order to prepare them for their mission at Pointe du Hoc. He made them march in full gear for over 20 miles. He had them train in hand to hand combat, climb rope ladders without safety harnesses and endure difficult amphibious training.

The success that the Rangers had on D-Day was a direct result of Rudder's intense personal involvement with their training. The amount of effort and dedication he put forth into the training is why the troops were able to manage the chaos and complete their mission. Rudder made sure that every man was prepared to do the impossible.

James Earl Rudder was born in the small Texas town of Eden, about 45 miles southeast of San Angelo, in 1910. After graduating from high school, he played football for two years at Tarleton State. He then transferred to Texas A&M in 1930. He graduated in 1932 with a degree in education. After graduation he joined the U.S. Army Reserves as a second lieutenant.

In 1937, he married Margaret Williamson (who graduated from the University of Texas), and together they had five children. In 1941, he was doing what he loved, coaching football, when duty called.

These brave men who cracked the Nazi grip on Europe began with the liberation of France 70 years ago. From there, the Rangers went on to fight in the Battle of the Bulge and U.S. forces on to Germany. Nothing like it had ever been done before in history. Over 150,000 Allied soldiers hit the beaches during the assault landings on the 6th of June. By the 4th of July, over 1 million joined in the invasion force through Normandy. It was a miraculous feat for 1944.

Colonel Rudder received many military honors including the second highest award, the Distinguished Service Cross. He was a full Colonel by the end of the war and was promoted to Brigadier General of the U.S. Army Reserves in 1954 and Major General in 1957.

After the war, Rudder returned to Texas. He remained a highly successful and distinguished Texan until his death.

He served as Mayor of Brady for 6 years, visited the White House frequently--advising Lyndon Baines Johnson on many military issues and was hired to clean up the corruption going on in the General Land Office.

Col. Rudder became president of Texas A&M University in 1959 and president of the entire A&M system in 1965, holding both positions until his death in 1970.

The boys of D-Day came; they liberated; and some went home. Over 9,000 other GIs are buried at the top of the cliffs of Normandy, France. As we reflect on those Rangers on D-Day, 70 years ago, and the Texan who led them into battle, Lt. Col. James Earl Rudder, we once again marvel at the lives of those we call the Greatest Generation of Americans.

And that's just the way it is.

Mr. Speaker, this weekend there will be a great gathering in Philadelphia to commemorate 200 years of Serbians in the United States.

As co-chair of the Congressional Serbian Caucus, we make sure that the voices of Serbian-Americans and our allies in the Serbian people are heard in Congress. Serbians are a lot like Texans. There's a certain spunk in us. It makes perfect sense that the first Serbian in the U.S., Dorde SSagicc or George Fisher, spent time in Texas, and Houston at that, serving as a justice of the peace and in the Texas militia.

For more than 130 years, we have had a close relationship with the Serbian people. Our friendship with the Serbians is based on our shared belief in democracy and standing up for liberty. During both World War I and World War II, our two countries fought on the same battlefield and our people shared and shed blood together. Because of that brotherhood, we have a special relationship.

Serbians that have immigrated to the United States have brought so much to our country. George Dudich was a Serbian who immigrated to the U.S. in 1947 after World War II. He and his family fled communism under Tito. His daughter was my Chief of Staff when I was in Judge in Texas. During World War II, George worked with the Serbian resistance and rescued downed American flyers. When he came to the U.S. he spent much of his life locating those downed flyers.

I am proud to chair the Serbian Caucus with Representative Emanuel Cleaver from Missouri. And am grateful for recognition of the Caucus with the Ruth Mitchell Friendship Award. Serbian-Americans should be proud of their heritage and contribution to both of our great countries.

And that's just the way it is.

Mr. Speaker, Francis Scott Key is best known for being the author of our National Anthem, ``The Star Spangled Banner.'' During the second American revolution, the War of 1812, the British reinvaded the United States, captured Washington, DC, burned this building, the White House and most of this city.

The English Fleet then set sail for nearby Baltimore and were determined to take the city, but Fort McHenry was blocking and protecting Baltimore Harbor. Key, a lawyer, had boldly gone on board a British ship to seek release of a captured United States citizen. The Royal Navy held both Key and his client and refused to release either until after the British naval attack on the fort was completed. During

the night, the British bombarded the fort with hundreds of shells and rockets, but at ``dawn's early light,'' the outnumbered American defenders still held the fort, refusing to surrender, and a massive 30 foot by 40 foot American flag still flew defiantly over Fort McHenry. The unsuccessful British sailed away for good. Francis Scott Key, upon seeing the flag, wrote our national anthem that is sung on the 4th of July throughout the prairies and plains of America.

But, Key also has a Texas connection. Before Sam Houston made his way to Texas, he served with Andrew Jackson in the Indian wars and was elected United States Congressman for Tennessee for two terms and served as Governor of Tennessee.

After his governorship, Houston spent time in Washington, DC, during the 1830s advocating on behalf of the Cherokee Indians and denouncing the corruption in the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

In 1832, Congressman William Stanbery from Ohio made slanderous accusations about Houston and the Cherokees on the floor of Congress. One morning, Houston was leaving a boarding house on Pennsylvania Avenue and saw Stanbery walking down the street. A confrontation occurred between the two men over Stanbery's statement. A street brawl resulted. Sam Houston thrashed and viciously beat Congressman Stanbery with his hickory walking cane for Stanbery's derogatory remarks on this House floor. Stanbery then pulled a pistol and put it to the chest of Houston, but the pistol misfired. Houston, now really mad, continued the trashing of Stanbery. Fate saved Sam Houston's life.

The United States Congress ordered the arrest of Sam Houston, charging him with assault and demeaning a Member of Congress. Houston was tried before Congress. The trial lasted a month.

Houston spent one full day on this House floor in boisterous oratory stating his positions, that he was defending his honor; Stanbery was the aggressor; and anyway, Stanbery deserved the severe caning.

So what does Francis Scott Key have to do with any of this? Francis Scott Key was Sam Houston's defense lawyer. He did an admirable job in the defense of this later Texas hero, but after the trial was over, Houston was found guilty, publically reprimanded and ordered to pay a $500 fine. Houston refused to pay the fine and, rather than face more problems with Congress, left Washington that same year and began a new life and political career in--Texas.

After defeating Dictator Santa Anna on the marshy plains of San Jacinto, Houston became the first president of the Republic of Texas.

After Texas was admitted to the United States in 1845, he was a United States Senator and then Governor of the State. Houston is the only person to serve as Governor and Member of Congress from two different States.

Sam Houston's troubles with the legislative bodies continued, however. When Texas voted to leave the Union in 1861, the Governor, Houston, refused to take the oath to support the Confederacy. So the Texas legislature removed General Sam from the office of Governor.

Too bad. Maybe if Francis Scott Key had been Sam Houston's lawyer before the Texas legislature, the outcome might have been different.

And the rest, they say, is Texas history.

And that's just the way it is.

Mr. Speaker, growing up, Darryn Andrews was known as one of the most selfless and patriotic kids in the neighborhood. Not surprisingly, he joined the United States Army to serve America. 2nd Lieutenant Darryn Andrews was the platoon leader for the 3rd Blackfoot Company, 1st Battalion, 501st infantry (Airborne) in Afghanistan.

On September 4, 2009, 2nd Lieutenant Andrews' platoon was on a mission and was traveling along a walled road in Afghanistan when an IED exploded and disabled the lead vehicle in the convoy. Lieutenant Andrews quickly jumped out of his vehicle and was assessing the damage of the vehicle that had hit the IED, and he saw through the glint in his eye an RPG coming straight for him and his fellow troops. So, in an instant, he jumped on top of his fellow soldiers and took the brunt of the RPG. He sacrificed himself so that his buddies would live. Recently, it was learned that Lieutenant Andrews and his patrol were searching for a missing soldier by the name of Bowe Bergdahl.

Second Lieutenant Andrews was awarded the Silver Star in honor of his service and the sacrifice he made for his fellow soldiers.

At his death, Darryn left behind his 2-year-old son, his pregnant wife, his twin brother, and both of his parents, Andy and Sondra. Both of his parents, Andy and Sondra, were here last week and testified before my Terrorism Subcommittee. Sondra still wears Darryn's dog tags. The family lives in Cameron, Texas.

Mr. Speaker, General George Patton said it best about warriors such as Lieutenant Darryn Andrews who die in battle. He said:

While we continue to mourn the loss of such soldiers, we

should thank God that such men ever lived.

And that's just the way it is.

I thank the gentleman for sponsoring this legislation.

Mr. Chairman, 5 years ago, companies were building terminals to import natural gas at the cost of billions of dollars because analysts agreed that the United States economy was going to need natural gas from overseas. Today that scenario has flipped on its head, and import terminals are dormant. The Department of Energy has 19 applications waiting to get permission to export U.S. natural gas.

Thanks to technology breakthroughs, U.S. natural gas reserves have climbed 72 percent since 2000. We have more gas than we can use here in the United States. Mr. Chairman, we have the best ice cream company in the world in Brenham, Texas, and their motto is: ``We eat all we can, and we sell the rest.'' That is what our motto should be with natural gas. We should use all we can and sell the rest everywhere in the world that wants to buy it.

As chairman of the Trade Subcommittee on Foreign Affairs, I did a hearing on more LNG exports in April. Every witness at the hearing, from the union representatives to a professor, agreed that we should export natural gas. We have too much gas and our allies have too little.

And then there is Russia. Russia has an energy stranglehold over Europe, including Ukraine. Just this past week, Russia announced it was going to require payments up front from Ukraine. Russia has already increased the price of natural gas and even stopped sending natural gas to Ukraine.

Isn't that lovely?

Ukraine needs access to natural gas down the road, and that could be the United States. We need to compete with Gazprom. That could be the United States. That is how we can help thwart Russian aggression in Eastern Europe.

Technically, the United States can export natural gas, but the approval process is slow as molasses. It is the government. The government takes too long to make a decision, and the Department of Energy wraps companies in red tape. Many times we can lose these natural gas contracts to our competitors.

So I support this legislation. I thank the gentleman for bringing it to the floor.

And that's just the way it is.

Mr. Chairman, the NSA has shown they will always interpret the law to the extent that allows them to seize the information. That is why the law has to be much more clear to the NSA. We all must remember that the NSA was violating the PATRIOT Act, as written.

This amendment does something that is very concrete. It tells the NSA: Get a warrant. Get a warrant through the front door. You get a warrant through the backdoor. You can't spy on Americans unless you get a warrant. That is what this amendment does, and I support this amendment.