Floor Statements

Thank you for yielding, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of the Fiscal Year 2014 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Appropriations Act. I want to commend my good friend, Chairman Latham, for making some tough choices, but making those choices in a manner that was fair, transparent, and rational. I also want to thank my good friend, Mr. Pastor, the ranking member on the other side of the aisle. He's always a pleasure to work with. He's always a delightful Member and he always contributes. I know while this bill may not be everything that he would like, he certainly added a great deal in the course of our deliberations.

The reality is that because of sequestration, the allocation this subcommittee was given is meager. The bill provides $44.1 billion in discretionary spending--a reduction of many billions below the fiscal year 2013 enacted level. But let's be clear: that reduction is due to the Budget Control Act and the mechanism of sequestration, not the Ryan budget, which simply recognizes the realities that have been agreed upon and passed into law. It's worth noting that our friend, the President of the United States, recommended the sequester, which we're trying to enact in this budget.

At the same time, even with these cuts, the bill has maintained funding for the FAA Contract Tower Program, a program which is vitally important to maintaining safe national airspace.

The bill also provides funding to continue assistance to all families anticipated to hold section 8 and public housing vouchers at the beginning of fiscal year 2014. I know that was a tough mark to make, Mr. Chairman, and one that I appreciate that you did make because you put people first.

Additionally, this bill fully funds the President's request for veterans housing vouchers at $75 million, a point that my friend, Mr. Pastor, made.

Mr. Chairman, I know Mr. Latham and every member of this committee would like to spend more money on infrastructure; but because of our $17 trillion crushing debt and because of unrestrained growth and entitlement spending, this is where we are and this is where we will be until we confront out-of-control entitlement spending.

Many of my friends on the other side of the aisle seem to reject this hard reality. Some believe we will never have to balance our budget. Some believe that trillions of dollars in additional tax increases are the solution. And some think that we don't need to make any changes in our entitlement programs. That approach, in my view, simply won't work.

The deficit we have is far too high, but it is less than half of what it was when Republicans retook the House in 2010. That's progress. But more progress will need to be made until America actually balances its books. And that, I believe, will set the stage for faster, more robust economic growth.

I pledge to work with my friends on both sides of the aisle to find a compromise that will allow us to make vitally important investments while still lowering the deficit, but that compromise must involve entitlement reform. Until then, we frequently will continue to see important programs, such as the ones in this bill, starved for investments that they need.

So we need to get on to that bigger deal that my friend, Mr. Latham, talked about. I think the product of that deal will be much more robust appropriations for this particular subcommittee.

Mr. Speaker, on July 23, 2013, I was unavoidably detained and was not present for rollcall vote No. 389. Had I been present, I would have voted ``no.''

Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. Chairman, I yield myself 1 minute.

I'm offering a bipartisan amendment this evening, Mr. Chairman, to prevent funds from the so-called Working Capital Fund from being used to implement furloughs of DOD employees. This amendment would affect approximately 180,000 workers scattered around the country in different working Capital Fund units. Tinker, Hill, Robbins, the great Air Logistics Centers, account for 26,000 of those.

Working Capital Fund employees are indirectly funded by the government and not by direct appropriations. The commands where these employees are paid have more than sufficient funds to continue to operate without a furlough. Indeed, furloughing these workers would be counterproductive and ultimately cost money.

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

Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to my good friend from the State of Washington (Mr. Kilmer), a new Member from the Sixth District.

Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished majority whip from the great State of California (Mr. McCarthy).

Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentleman from Utah (Mr. Bishop), my classmate and colleague on the Rules Committee.

I yield 1 minute to my good friend from the great State of Iowa (Mr. Loebsack).

Mr. Chairman, I yield the balance of my time to my good friend from the great State of Georgia (Mr. Austin Scott).

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, on July 10, 2013, I was unavoidably detained and was not present for rollcall vote No. 343. Had I been present, I would have voted ``no.''

Mr. Speaker, on July 10, 2013, I was unavoidably detained and was not present for rollcall vote No. 330 and rollcall vote No. 331. Had I been present, I would have voted no on vote No. 330 and no on vote No. 331.

Mr. Speaker, on July 11, 2013, I was unavoidably detained and was not present for rollcall vote number 348. Had I been present, I would have voted ``no.''

Mr. Speaker, on July 9, 2013, I was unavoidably detained and was not present for rollcall vote No. 316. Had I been present, I would have voted ``no.''

Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word in order to enter into a colloquy with Chairman Carter.

As many people in this Chamber and around the country know, Oklahoma has had a particularly devastating period of time, and I want to begin by just thanking my colleagues on both sides of the aisle and, through them, their constituents for their prayers and their sympathy and their help because we certainly have received an extraordinary amount of help from the American people, from the administration, and from my colleagues here in this Chamber.

While most people have focused on the damage in my hometown of Moore, we actually had, Mr. Chairman, three tornadic events. On May 19, the towns of Shawnee and the small communities of Carney and Little Axe were hit. Two people died, hundreds of homes were destroyed, and there was extensive damage. The second one was the next day, the second episode, hitting the towns of Newcastle and Oklahoma City, in addition to my hometown of Moore, and that one cost the lives of 24 people, and I'll talk about that in just a second.

And then we had a third outbreak on May 31 that hit El Reno, Oklahoma, and parts of Oklahoma City that are in my district. This area actually spreads across several congressional districts. The first episode was largely in Mr. Lankford's district, the second largely in mine, and the third actually hit Mr. Lucas's district, Mr. Lankford's district, and my district.

The single greatest loss of life, of course, was in my hometown of Moore. And so my colleagues understand the extent of the disaster, we not only had 24 dead, including 10 children, we had 33,000 people displaced in a town of 55,000; that is, they literally are not sleeping tonight where they were sleeping on the night of May 19. In addition, we lost two elementary schools, a school administration building, extensive damage to three other schools, the hospital, the U.S. Post Office, and hundreds and hundreds of businesses. So the employment base of the community was devastated as well.

The full extent of the physical damage in this area alone is not yet known. The initial estimates by the Oklahoma insurance commissioner are somewhere between $2 billion and $4 billion, but it will take awhile to actually get through this.

I have spent a lot of the last few days visiting with the people in the communities involved, particularly in Moore, but also in Little Axe and Newcastle and Oklahoma City, the other areas. Without the tireless efforts of the first responders from all of these communities and the surrounding area, we simply wouldn't have gotten through the horror of the experience.

The communities in question are extraordinarily close-knit and, sadly, are quite experienced in this kind of activity. My hometown of Moore has actually been hit by six tornadoes in 15 years, including two F5s, the highest category. One of the tornadoes in question, this latest incident, was actually the largest ever recorded, 2.5 miles across, with wind funnel speeds of up to 295 miles an hour. So it is extraordinary to behold.

As I understand it right now, as best we can estimate, there are no current needs for additional disaster funding; but the possibility, obviously, of other disasters and hurricanes, fires, earthquakes, what have you, the rest of the fiscal year always raises the possibility that the resources that are available will be strained, and I want to make it very apparent that if that were to happen, I will certainly be looking forward to working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to ensure that should similar misfortune befall other areas, that they, too, have the help that they need.

If I may, I yield at this time to my friend, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Carter), the chairman of the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Appropriations.

I want to thank my friend from Texas whom I had the opportunity to confer with during recent days for his kind support and assurances. I know my friend would appreciate this. We sort of think of ourselves as Scotland to your England. And in football season, I always remind people that the Red River was an international border for 42 years, and every October it is again. But the reality is, when you're in a tough situation, you don't have any better neighbors in the world than our friends from Texas. And not just on this floor, but the outpouring particularly from our neighboring State in terms of volunteers and contributions, and, honestly, from all

across America, has been extraordinary.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker: On rollcall No. 180, (Ordering The Previous Question on H. Res. 232, a resolution providing for consideration of H.R. 1911--Smarter Solutions for Students

Act) had I been present, I would have voted ``yea.''

On rollcall No. 181, (Adoption of H. Res. 232, a resolution providing for consideration of H.R. 1911--Smarter Solutions for Students Act) had I been present, I would have voted ``yea.''

On rollcall No. 182, (Member (D-) Motion to recommit H.R. 1911 with instructions) had I been present, I would have voted ``no.''

On rollcall No. 183, (Passage of H.R. 1911--Smarter Solutions for Students Act) had I been present, I would have voted ``aye.''

On rollcall No. 184, (Approval of the Journal) had I been present, I would have voted ``yea.''

personal explanation

Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 167, (Ordering The Previous Question on H. Res. 228, a resolution providing for consideration of H.R. 3--Northern Route Approval Act) had I been present, I would have voted ``yea''.

On rollcall No. 168, (Adoption of H. Res. 228, a resolution providing for consideration of H.R. 3--Northern Route Approval Act) had I been present, I would have voted ``aye''.

On rollcall No. 169, (Weber (R-TX) Amendment No. 1--Adds to Section 2 of the bill the State Department's findings that the Keystone XL pipeline is a safe and environmentally sound project) had I been present, I would have voted ``yea''.

On rollcall No. 170, (Waxman (D-CA) Amendment No. 2--Adds a finding that ``the reliance on oil sands crudes for transportation fuels would likely result in an increase in incremental greenhouse gas emissions'' and provides that the bill will not go into effect unless the President finds that TransCanada or tar sands producers will fully offset the additional greenhouse gas emissions) had I been present, I would have voted ``no''.

On rollcall No. 171, (Johnson (D-GA) Amendment No. 3--Requires a study on the health impacts of increased air pollution in communities surrounding the refineries that will transport diluted bitumen through the proposed Keystone XL pipeline) had I been present, I would have voted ``no''.

On rollcall No. 172, (Connolly (D-VA) Amendment No. 4--Delays approval of the Keystone XL project contingent on the completion of a threat assessment of pipeline vulnerabilities to terrorist attack and corrective actions necessary to protect the pipeline from such an attack and to mitigate any resulting spill) had I been present, I would have voted ``no''.

On rollcall No. 173, (Rahall (D-WV) Amendment No. 5--Strikes section 3 of the bill eliminating the Keystone XL permit approval, allowing the President to continue to delay issuing a permit for the pipeline) had I been present, I would have voted ``no''.

On rollcall No. 174, (Esty (D-CT) Amendment No. 6--Strikes language in the bill that allows TransCanada to obtain certain permits for operation and/or maintenance of the pipeline, but continues to allow construction permits to be expedited) had I been present, I would have voted ``no''.

On rollcall No. 175, (Jackson Lee (D-TX) Amendment No. 7--Extends the time period for filing a claim under the Act from 60 days to 1 year) had I been present, I would have voted ``no''.

On rollcall No. 176, (Chu (D-CA) Amendment No. 8--Requires a GAO study of the Keystone XL project regarding the costs of cleanup activities from a pipeline spill and the potential impacts on health, environment, and water) had I been present, I would have voted ``no''.

On rollcall No. 177, (Holt (D-NJ) Amendment No. 10--Prohibits the export of any oil, or all refined petroleum products derived from the oil, transported by the Keystone XL pipeline unless the President finds that there is an exception required by law or it is in the national interest) had I been present, I would have voted ``no''.

On rollcall No. 178, (Democrat Motion to recommit H.R. 3 with instructions) had I been present, I would have voted ``no''.

On rollcall No. 179, (On Passage H.R. 3--Northern Route Approval Act is expected; please check at the leadership desk for details) had I been present, I would have voted ``yea''.

Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 164, (H.R. 1412--Improving Job Opportunities for Veterans) had I been present, I would have voted ``yea.''

Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 165, (H.R. 324--To grant the Congressional Gold Medal, collectively, to the First Special Service Force, in recognition of its superior service during World War II, as amended) had I been present, I would have voted ``yea.''

Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 166, (H.R. 1344--Helping Heroes Fly Act, as amended) had I been present, I would have voted ``yea.''

Mr. Speaker, I was unavoidably detained and missed rollcall No. 152 and No.

153. Had I been present, I would have voted ``aye'' on rollcall No. 152 and ``nay'' on rollcall No. 153.

Mr. Speaker, the sad tale of Benghazi is a story of complacency, incompetence, and coverup: complacency in the face of repeated warnings by the CIA and diplomats on the ground that the post was in danger; incompetence in preparing for a potential attack in a region in turmoil in a place where we had multiple military assets and on a day where we had every reason to believe trouble would occur; and an attempted coverup of a successful terrorist attack with talk about videos and spontaneous riots when the State Department, the CIA, and top officials in the administration knew the truth.

Mr. Speaker, it's time for the administration to take responsibility, come clean, and dismiss those associated with this debacle that cost the lives of four brave Americans.