Walter Minnick

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 6058) to ensure that the housing assistance programs of the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Veterans Affairs are available to veterans and members of the Armed Forces who have service-connected injuries and to survivors and dependents of veterans and members of the Armed Forces.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks on this legislation and to insert extraneous material thereon.

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

Mr. Speaker, this bill directs the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and the Veterans Administration to meet the needs of our veterans with service-related injuries and their families with their housing and mortgage programs.

As importantly, the bill asks that HUD and the VA help the survivors and families of these courageous people with respect to these matters. I compliment my colleague from Minnesota (Mr. Paulsen) for his leadership in introducing this legislation and urge my colleagues to pass this bipartisan bill.

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

I would like to thank the gentleman from Alabama for his remarks and the gentleman from Minnesota for his leadership.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 4072, the AMERICA Works Act. This is a bill that would direct the use of already- appropriated funds within the Carl Perkins Vocational Technical Education Act to prepare American workers with the skills necessary to qualify for the increasingly high-tech jobs available in the 21st century. It would do so by making available Federal funds from these programs to obtain nationally recognized industry credentials acceptable anywhere in the country.

Under this bill, training would continue to be done by technical schools, universities, and union-sponsored journeyman programs in coordination with companies and business groups. A welder trained in a junior college in Maryland would have a certificate qualifying him to work in a machine shop in Idaho. An AmeriCorps trained diesel mechanic in my State could get an auto mechanic's job in yours.

American workers are the best in the world. They are resilient, innovative and hardworking, but they must be properly trained and have widely accepted and understood credentials making them employable anywhere. This bill will ensure that Federal job training is used to provide hardworking Americans desiring training with the certificates, degrees, and credentials American industry needs to fill the sophisticated technical jobs available in today's business world.

I thank my colleague from Louisiana for his support and the gentlewoman from Hawaii for her leadership, and urge my colleagues to support this bipartisan commonsense legislation.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to congratulate Tom Lamar, a resident of Moscow, Idaho, on his 20th anniversary as Executive Director of the Palouse Clearwater Environmental Institute (PCEI). Tom has built this organization from a small environmental group to an important element of the Palouse community. On June 16, 1990, Tom's first day of work, PCEI had a $30,000 budget and a one-room office rental in the Moscow Hotel. Today, PCEI has a $1.4 million budget, 14 full-time staff, and a 12-acre home with two buildings for office space. Currently, PCEI now boasts over 1,000 members in Idaho and many other states.

PCEI undertakes numerous environmentally themed restoration, education and outreach programs throughout Idaho and eastern Washington. From planting trees and utilizing solar powered panels to teaching children about owls and placing AmeriCorps members throughout Idaho and eastern Washington, PCEI has emerged as a premier environmental organization for the region.

Tom began work at PCEI by cleaning up the local creek. In 1996 PCEI began watershed restoration projects and have since completed 56 watershed restoration projects in the region.

Tom has helped to run the McCall Outdoor Science School (Idaho's only residential Science Camp) established in 2001. It has since taught 14,000 students in hands-on scientific discovery. Today, the work of PCEI reaches over 2,500 students a year.

Tom helped create PCEI's AmeriCorps Placement Office in 2004, over 100 AmeriCorps members are placed across the state annually. In 2009, the year Tom was honored by being named Environmental Leader of the Year, PCEI volunteers contributed nearly 19,000 hours of environmental service to the region.

Tom has helped to develop other community organizations including the Western Sustainable Agriculture Working Group, Palouse Land Trust, Rural Roots, Idaho Smart Growth, Village Bicycle Project, and Backyard Harvest. Tom serves on the steering committee of the Idaho Environmental Summit, and on the board of the Latah Trail Foundation. He also serves on the Moscow City Council.

I had the honor to visit PCEI recently and can attest to the great things they are doing and the positive impact that Tom and the dedicated PCEI staff and volunteers are making each and every day. Tom's work and leadership sets an important example of environmental commitment and community service that I encourage others to follow.

Congratulations Tom.