Transcripts For CSPAN U.S. 20240702

And so we see, even on the issue of israel, sitting members of Congress Like tlaib who cant bring themselves to condemn hamas. These are dangerous things. These are dangerous. Host the house is coming back into session to debate a resolution on israel right now. N which the yeas and nays are n ordered, or votes subjected to under clause 6 of rule 20. The house will postpone votes at a later time. For what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition . Mr. Speaker, i move the house suspend the rules and pass House Resolution 771 in support of the state of israel. The speaker the clerk will report the title of the resolution. The clerk House Resolution 771, resolution standing with israel as it defends itself against the barbaric war launched by hamas and other terrorists. The speaker pursuant to the rule, mr. Mccaul and the gentleman from new york, mr. Meeks control 20 minutes. Mr. Mccaul i ask to extend the debate by 10 minutes and ask all members have five legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on this measure. The speaker without objection. Mr. Mccaul i yield myself as much time as i may consume. The speaker the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Mccaul on october 7, the israelis woke to rockets raining down on them from gaza and gunmen broke down their doors and invaded their homes. Hamas terrorists killed babies and toddlers and killed elderly grandmothers and grandfathers. They killed moms and dads. They killed teenage kids in their homes. No one was spared from their brutality. Following world war ii, my fathers war, i never believed the world would bear witness to the slaughter of the jewish people like weve seen at the bloody hands of hamas. October 7 was the deadliest day for the jewish people since the holocaust. Additionally, hamas is holding 220 hostages, including americans. This is a flier, mother and son taken hostage by hamas, bring them home now. Theyre using them as human shields and threatening to execute them. They must all be released unconditionally now. This is one of the darkest moments in the history of the state of israel. I was in one of the kibbutz kibbutz right on the border of gaza meeting with members of the community and i saw their Daycare Center, that same kibbutz was overrun by 70 Hamas Terrorists. Many of the residents i met were slaughtered, most viciously, the babies and the children i visited in the Daycare Center were slaughtered, shot to death, beheaded, and burned alive. When the press says it didnt happen, theyre just wrong. It did. Because ive seen the pictures of the burned babies and the decapitated children and the blood that you see here in the babys crib, for gods sakes. What is going on in the world today . In one of the most horrific stories to emerge, a pregnant woman who had her baby cut out in front of her very eyes as they murdered her baby before her and before they shot her in the head. Simply put, mr. Speaker, they are monsters. At a Music Festival to celebrate peace, chaos, gunfire and explosions ripped through the air, piercing hundreds of bodies with bullets and shrapnel. And while the attendees attempted to three the area, gunmen surrounded them from every direction. In total, 260 attendees assembled in peace to enjoy music were massacred. Among other atrocities weve heard reported include children with their hands bound, shot in the back of the head execution style. Women who were raped and slaughtered, one of whom was dragged through the streets of gaza. Families, including babies, and Young Children were burned alive in their homes in front of their parents. The but heeding of Israeli Soldiers and parents gunned down as they shielded their children before the onslaught of gunfire. This is sheer terror. Its evil. And it cannot stand in this world. We are witnessing in real time hamas carrying out their covenant that outlines their goal of eradicating israel through jihad. In fact, their covenant states, quote, israel will exist and continue to exist until islam will obliterate it, obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it. As they specifically discuss jihad, noting, quote, the day the enemies usurp part of muslim land, jihad becomes the individual duty of every muslim. Its compulsory the banner of jihad is raised and it was indeed raised october 7th. To be completely clear, despite repeated efforts by israel to secure peace, the hamas covenant states, quote, peace initiatives and socalled Peaceful Solutions and International Conferences are in contradiction to the principles of the islamic resistant movement. Theres no solution by the palestinians except by jihad. This declaration calling on the annihilation of the jewish state must be confronted with zero equivocation. That is why i worked with my good friend, Ranking Member meeks, to introduce this bipartisan resolution. It condemns in the strongest possible terms the atrocities of hamas and reiterates israels right to defend herself, along with americas unwavering support for the state of israel. All roads lead to iran. Their fingerprints are all over this attack. Theyve consistently funded hamas and other palestinian groups to the tune of 100 million per year. This resolution condemns hamas and iran for its support of terrorist groups such as hamas and the Palestinian Islamic jihad, and calling for all sanctions on iran to be fully enforced. So i urge my colleagues to support this important resolution. It will send a clear message across the world that terrorists and their sponsors will be held to account for their atrocities, their crimes against humanity, their crimes of genocide. On december 7, 1941 in response to the bombing of pearl harbor, president roosevelt said it was a date which will live in infamy. So, too, will october 7, 2023. And with that, mr. Speaker, i urge support and i reserve the balance of my time. The speaker the gentleman from texas reserves, the gentleman from new york is recognized. Mr. Meeks thank you, mr. Speaker. I yield myself as much time as i may consume. The speaker the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Meeks i rise in support of this extraordinary important resolution written with my friend and colleague, chairman mccall. 18 days ago the state of israel suffered the greatest mass murder perpetuated against the jewish people since the holocaust when Hamas Terrorists invaded israel by land, by sea, and by air. Behaving just like isis, Hamas Terrorists murdered and beheaded soldiers and civilians alike, babies were shot and burned in their cribs and reduced to smoldering piles of ash, babies. Children were murdered. Teenagers were murdered. Men and women were murdered. Elderly people, including holocaust survivors, murdered. Hamas has also taken 200 of those who survived into gaza as hostages, including unaccompanied children, holocaust survivors, and Many American citizens. Mr. Speaker, hamas attack was truly unprecedented. And when you consider the size of israels population, proportionately, it would be like 30,000 people dying in new york on 9 11. Just let that sink in a little. We must all acknowledge that hamas is a cutthroat terrorist organization that exists solely to destroy israel. And hamas terrorism does not help the palestinians. And in this moment, it is critical for israel to know that the United States of america stands firmly by its side in this battle against hamas. Mr. Speaker, what im about to say next is also very important. There are innocent palestinians in both gaza and the west bank that seek normal and free lives and what nothing to do with hamas or other terrorist organizations, so we cannot lose sight of this and we must keep them, many of whom are also children and their safety and their wellbeing in mind. And we must find a way to ensure the safety of those innocents who are in gazas war zone. And i support the Biden Administrations efforts towards that goal. The United Nations estimates thousands of palestinians have been killed since the terrorist attack on october 7. And we dont know for certain how many of those killed were civilians. But heres what we do know, we know that Hamas Terrorists used palestinians as human shields. And we know that every single one of them would be alive today if hamas had not launched its terrorist attack. So we must be aware and do all that we can to stop this war from expanding beyond its current scope. The administration and our allies are working around the clock to send messages and warnings to iran and hezbollah to stay out. President biden underscored this message during his recent travel to israel, do not test americas will. This congress will have israels back as it degrades and eliminates hamas terrorist infrastructure. We know that it wont take a day, it will be difficult. For too long too many have been willing to contribute to the the delegitimatization of the state of israel and even concerning that Global Leaders are already white washing one of the worst terror attacks in history while hamas and its allies blanket cyberspace with misinformation about this war. Just yesterday turkish president ered juan president erdogan said its a group of mahadine defending their lands and this from the mouth of a nato ally who has its own concerns about terrorists as a existential president erdogans state suspect dead wrong, it is rank with my pockcy and its timing is dangerous. The resolution before us is a bright spot of bipartisanship today. During a very difficult time in american politics. 425 members of this house of representatives have cosponsored this resolution. There is no question in my mind that it will pass overwhelmingly. Democrats and republicans alike. And most importantly, the American People believe in the jewish state and believe in its survival. In the days, weeks, and months ahead, i know the United States will continue to stand steadfastly with israel to assure its defense and its longterm security. We will also, as President Biden has outlined, remain committed to ensuring the civilians in gaza have access to safe areas and continue to have access to food, water, medical care and other assistance without diversions by hamas. We must also stay keenly focused on working to get United States citizens and their immediate family members to exit gaza safely. I want to conclude, mr. Speaker, by raising an issue that the United States and israel must address. What does a Successful Ground operation in gaza look like . How do we achieve the goal of leaving gaza to a responsible Palestinian Government if israels effort to remove hamas is successful . One thing is for certain. The path to peace will require more arab states to recognize that israel has the right to exist. And that will hold firm and will make sure that we can have thereby a twostate solution. But if you say israel does not have the right to exist, youre saying that you do not want peace. So i urge our arab friends to join the Abraham Accords and acknowledge israels right to exist because thats the pathway to peace in the middle east. And to the people of israel, i hope you learn of the passage of this resolution today, and know that the United States congress and the American People have your back. We mourn beside you. And are working to provide the resources your government needs to defend you. We have deployed powerful military resources to the region to demonstrate just that support. We are working all of our diplomatic channels to assure your success. And we are in this together. We will not waver. We will not quit. We will stand with our ally, israel. With that, i reserve the plans of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves. The gentleman from texas is recognized. Mr. Mccaul i yield two minutes to the gentleman from new je jersey, on the committee of global holt. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized. Thank you. Our great friend and ally israel with significant assistance from the United States continues to respond to the cowardly hamas invasion that includes hamas psychotic terrorists butchering innocent civilians, rape, hostage take, the beheading of babies and daily indiscriminate attacks that are reminiscent of nazi buzz bombs and v2 rockets. Mr. Smith Prime Minister netanyahu said in the past he would never allow a second holocaust, nor should we. Antisemitism is at the root of hamas violence against israel and every jewish man, woman, and child. Israels right to defend itself from this brutal invasion is absolute. Hamas 1988 charter explicitly demands the destruction of the state of israel and pr claim, quote, israel will exist and will continue to exist until islam will obliterate it, close quote. Article 7 of the Hamas Charter demands the slaughter of all jews and says, the jews will hide behind rocks and trees and the rocks and trees will cry out there is a jew hiding behind me, come and kill him. Close quote. Article 13 explicitly rejects initiatives for peace and reconciliation and states, quote, initiatives in socalled Peaceful Solutions and International Conferences are contradictions to the principle of Islamic Resistance movement. It is 2017 in its 2017 Charter Hamas reiterated its goal of wiping israel off the face of the earth and said, and i quote there is no alternative to a fully sovereign palestinian state on the entire National Palestinian soil with jerusalem as its capital. Like the nazis before them, hamas and its chief terrorism sponsor, iran are committing genocide against the jews. The United States and all people committed to human rights and the rule of law must stand with israel. That means our support and prayers and the Weapons Systems to defeat hamas. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. The gentleman reserves. The gentleman from new york is recognized. Mr. Meeks im proud to yield two minutes to the gentleman from North Carolina, the honorable representative kathy manning. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman is recognized for two minutes. Ms. Manning 18 days ago, more than 1,000 Hamas Terrorists invaded our democratic ally israel and in the most gruesome, savage and unimaginably barbaric manner attacked 22 israeli towns going housetohouse, slaughtering families, raping girls, beheading babies, setting fire to homes where children were hiding in safe rooms, burning them alive and taking more than 200 people of 40 different nationalities hostage. Taking infants and the elderly hostage. They massacred more than 260 young people attending an outdoor peace concert. They perpetrated the worst attack on the jewish people since the holocaust. Slaughtering more than 1,400 people including 39 americans. And in committing these horrific crimes against humanity, they have brought disaster to the very people they govern. The Palestinian People. They hide their fighters among civilians. They place rocket launchers and weapons in schools and hospitals. In mosque, in residential buildings. Compounding their acts of evil. I was so proud that President Biden immediately expressed the full support of the United States for the state of israel and he traveled to israel in a time of war to embrace the israeli people, to show with his presence that the jewish state has not only a right but a duty to defend itself against hamas. A terrorist group that has in its charter as its foundational purpose to murder jews and destroy the state of israel. And make no mistake, when they shout from the river to the sea, they are calling for the total destruction of the state of israel and ridding the middle east of all jews. Well, not on our watch. The United States will stand sidebyside with our democratic ally israel. I urge my colleagues to join me in voting in support of this resolution. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewomans time has exniempled gentleman reserves. The gentleman from texas is recognized. I yield two minutes to the gentlelady from missouri, mrs. Wagner. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady is recognized for two minutes. Mrs. Wagner i rise in support of h. Res. 771. Today the house has an opportunity to demonstrate moral clarity and moral courage. These past few weeks have exposed a level of antisemitism in this nation that is frightening. Whether it is schoolchildren chanting for the genocide of israelis by calling for removal from the river to the sea or radicalized College Students projecting antisemitic slogans on the side of school property, it is clear Young Americans are being indoctrinated against israel. These actions must be con deemed. Hamas is a Terror Organization. That slaughtered innocent women and children. Hamas is a Terror Organization that manipulated western media into doing their bidding by spreading lies about attacks israel did not commit. Hamas is a Terror Organization that steals foreign aid, using to construct rockets and attack israel. These are not my opinions, mr. Speaker. They are facts. And yet too many refuse to call hamas out for what it is. Evil incarnate. Focused solely on the destruction of the jewish people. Mr. Speaker, the United States government must be united in support of israel and against hamas and antisemitism. There should be no equivocation from the white house, when asked whether the rise of anticism is wrong. There should be no equivocation from a member of congress about whether to stand with israel or with terrorist groups like hamas. Today this body is speaking loudly to the International Community that israel must have the resources to defend itself from genocidal terrorists. With one voice, let us support h. Res. 771 and stand with israel and if, mr. Speaker, you cannot bring yourself to support this resolution today, i would encourage any such member to do the right thing and resign from this body. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman yields back. The gentleman reserves. The gentleman from new york is recognized. Mr. Meeks im proud to yield one minute to the former majority leader of this distinguished body, the gentleman from maryland, the honorable steny hoyer. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from maryland is recognized for one minute. Mr. Hoyer i thank the gentleman for yielding. For millenia, the jews of the world have been subject all over the world to prejudice, hate, and violence. Mr. Speaker, i have visited a kibbutz over four types in the last 25 years. It was a place of community. And on october 7, hamas turned it into a place of slaughter. This Brutal Terrorist Organization will pursue its genocidal, antisemitic mission to fight and kill jews. Thats their purpose. The jewish state of israel will cease to exist if their objectives are achieved. Hamas will not yield. And neither can we. As the resolution makes clear, we will stand by our ally, israel. Have their back, mr. Chairman. Dozens of american civilians have been killed, wounded, held captive in this war. We have seen the scourge of antisemitism here in america. 30 more seconds . The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is yielded 30 seconds. Mr. Hoyer we must follow this resolution with action and we must all vote for this resolution and speak with one voice. Action that shows the world that america will defend its allies in israel and ukraine and around the world. And i yield back the plans of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. The gentleman reserves. The gentleman from texas is recognized. Mr. Mccaul thank you, mr. Speaker. I yield two minutes to the gentleman from South Carolina, mr. Wilson, chairman of the Foreign Affairs subcommittee on the middle east. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Wilson spb thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, mr. Speaker. I am grateful to support this bipartisan resolution which has been offered by our chairman, mike mccaul, and Ranking Member greg meeks. I was born with an appreciatary of appreciation of the people of jewish faith my birth place of charleston charleston, South Carolina, was at the time of the American Revolution had the largest Jewish Population in the new world who came here to escape oppression to achieve freedom which they achieved in america. I was grateful today to be the chairman of the middle east subcommittee and cochair of the israel caucus. Seven weeks ago i met with Prime Minister net and yao hue who is so courageous and serving there in jerusalem. I pledged my support of israel to defend itself from a nuclear iran which also includes of course support of israel from the barbarian invasion of hamas, the pickup trucks of iran who have conducted murder, killing hundreds of persons, 1200 at least, possibly more. Americas resolve i saw firsthand leading the house delegation to fulfill Donald Trumps opening of the u. S. Embassy in jerusalem with david friedman. I urge my colleagues of both parties to support the resolution and i yield back. The speaker the gentleman yields back. The gentleman reserves. The gentleman from new york is recognized. Mr. Meeks i now proudly yield two minutes to the member of the house Foreign Affairs committee, the gentleman from california, representative brad sherman. The speaker the gentleman from california is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Sherman i want to thank Hakeem Jeffries for his speech in favor of the importance of this resolution. The scenes from gaza are horrendous, and some cry out for a ceasefire but hamas cannot follow a ceasefire. They exist, and it is in their charter, kill every jew in the middle east, if they ever agree to a ceasefire, theyd fall apart. They had a ceasefire october 6 which is why they killed 1, 400 civilians october 7. We can get a ceasefire when hamas agrees to release the hostages and the voices demanding a ceasefire should be shouting at that maas demanding those two actions. We hear quotes of the Gaza Ministry of health. It counts in their death counts the terrorists killed and mixes them with the civilians and the gazas administrative of health is under control of hamas. Hamas brutally murders palestinians who dare dissent and forces palestinians to act as human shields. It steals aid for civilians. 30 of the time when it shoots a rocket in an effort to kill and is really civilian, it never leaves gaza and falls to earth where it may kill palestinians, including those who died at that hospital in gaza. And israel is characterized as somehow a european colony. Keep in mind, the majority of israeli jews are there from arab states and iran from which theyve been expelled or persecuted. There has been this is a middle eastern country, of middle eastern dissent for people who lived there 2,000 years ago but also lived there until arab states persecuted them. I look forward to a time of twostate resolution and begins with the destruction of hamas. The speaker the gentleman reserves. The gentleman from texas is recognized. Mr. Mccaul mr. Speaker, i yield 1 1 2 minutes to the gentlelady from california, mrs. Kim, from the chair of the indopacific. The speaker the gentlelady is recognized. Mrs. Kim i rise in strong support of this resolution to demonstrate this house stands united with israel as it defends itself against the barbaric war launched by hamas and other terrorists. On october 7, we watched in horror as hundreds of terrorists poured across the israelgaza border and massacred, kidnapped and raped israelis. Its abhorrent. This is at the hands of hamas and hezbollah terrorist groups backed and funded by the iran regime. They want to wipe israel off the map. Thousands of rockets have fallen on israel and continue falling as we speak. This has been the worst attack on jews since the holocaust. I visited israel last year and i felt a constant threat of attack that the people of israel face. And it reminded me of my time growing up in south korea as a young girl after the korean war, and i felt that constant threat coming from north korea. This is really personal to me. Hamas now holds around 200 hostages from israel, the u. S. , and other countries around the world. Israel has a right to defend itself against terrorist aggression, bring its hostages home, and its right to exist. I thank chairman mccall and Ranking Member meeks for leading this resolution, and i urge my colleagues to support it. I yield the balance of my time. The speaker the gentlewoman yields her time. The gentleman reserves. The gentleman from new york is recognized. Mr. Meeks mr. Speaker, i now proudly yield two minutes to a strong member of the house Foreign Affairs committee, the gentleman from illinois, representative brad schneider. The speaker the gentleman is recognized for 2 1 2 minutes. Mr. Schneider thank you for leading on this resolution, mr. Meeks and mr. Mccaul. Hamas is a terrorist oh committed to hate and committed to genocide. Since its founding hamas has been dedicated to the murder of jews and destruction of israel. All who cherish life, value democracy, and seek justice must resolutely condemn hamas, condemn its heinous attack on october 7 and condemn its war with israel. And israel has the right, israel has the responsibility to defend itself against hamas, to protect its citizens, to secure its borders, and to rescue its hostages no matter how long it takes. Peace will only come after hamas releases its hostages. Hamas ceases at launching rockets from israeli neighbors, from palestinian neighborhoods, schools, and hospitals. And hamas no longer governs gaza or threatens israel. Until then, palestinians and israelis cannot know peace. Three points, hamas is a murderous organization and its aspirations are no different than al qaeda or isis. 22 years ago the United States went to war halfway across the world. Today hamas is not halfway across the world but entrenched on israels border. Israel must be able to defend itself. Point number two, defend itself and protect its citizens. And point number three, the United States, the United States congress, and the American People stand with israel. Our relationship is unbreakable. Our commitment to israels security to a Jewish Democratic state is iron clad. Israel has no better friend than the United States. And the United States has no better friend than israel. And to those who cheer hamas, who turn a blind eye to murder, rape, torture, and kidnapping, you cast your lot with the barbarians and share in their shame. I ask my colleagues to support this resolution and yield back. The speaker the gentleman reserves. The gentleman from texas is recognized. Mr. Mccaul mr. Speaker, i yield one minute to the gentleman from california, mr. Issa. The speaker the gentleman from california is recognized for one minute. Mr. Issa thank you, mr. Speaker. Many in this body continue to say that no words can describe the horror that the israeli people are facing. Thats not true. There are words to describe it, and they have to be said. And some of those words are simply the facts, the real information that were not seeing. One of them is that we are constantly hearing from pro palestinian groups that in fact you have a right to resist occupation. I have been in this body since 2001. I was in israel under ariel sharon when he withdrew every settler and every soldier from gaza. Gaza has not been under occupation, just the opposite. When they didnt like the control they had after an election, hamas seized by violence the control of gaza, killing their fellow palestinians and since that time, they have been a war making machine that has in fact been financed by iran, equipped by iran, and today it is iran that owes an apology to the world, and the Palestinian People need to discount forever their association. I yield back. The speaker the gentleman reserves. The gentleman from new york is recognized. Mr. Meeks and ill probably yield two minutes to another strong member of the house Foreign Affairs committee, the gentleman from california, representative jim costa. The speaker the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Costa i thank the gentleman from new york for putting together this strong resolution. The United States unequivocally stands with the state of israel and its people. The world is watching our actions today and tomorrow. And well determine by our actions the future of democracies around the world. So therefore we must be unified and bipartisan. Terrorism is never, ever justified. Israel has the right to exist and defend itself against hamas, a terrorist group whose only purpose is to destroy the state of israel and its people. Congress, therefore, and the president must together pass a strong bipartisan package to support our ally israel. We must send a strong message to iran, syria, hezbollah not to escalate this situation. In the president s words, dont, dont think about it. America defends its allies, israel and ukraine and other freedomloving democracies around the world. We stand by our word. I yield back the balance of my time. The speaker the gentleman reserves. The gentleman from texas is recognized. Mr. Mccaul yield one minute to the gentleman from louisiana, the majority leader, mr. Scalise. The speaker the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Scalise i thank you, mr. Speaker. I want to thank chairman mccall and Ranking Member meeks for coming together on this critical, important piece of legislation, this first piece of legislation under speaker mike johnson, to stand with our friend, israel, as theyre under attack from hamas and other terrorist organizations. Lets not forget what has happened, because there are reports that iran and other terrorist organizations worked with hamas for not only months but possibly up to over a year planning these vicious attacks that now result in war and death of so many people, not just israelis, americans, hostages, so many injured, thousands more. This is horrific. This is an opportunity for people all around the world to stand with israels right to defend themselves. But as we look at the casualties and we look at the devastation, the barbaric nature of the attacks coming from hamas and gaza, we must recognize that the funding that goes to these terrorist organizations can be stopped with stronger action from this congress. And i know were going to be coming together again to address some of those issues. We need to stand up against irans ability to sell oil on the World Markets because they use those billions of dollars in funds to also augment and Fund Terrorism to groups like hamas. Everybody knows it happens. Its been going on for years and years and it must stop. We must stand up against it. We must also freeze the 6 billion that still hasnt been transferred but that was negotiated as part of a settlement that even iran has admitted can be used for whatever purpose they want, including funding terrorism. We cant stand by and let that happen either. And as were taking strong action to stand with israel, our friend in the middle east, we must also stand up to the antisemitism we see here in our country that pops its ugly head during ugly times like this. So i applaud my colleagues, again, 425 cosponsors on this piece of legislation shows that even a divided congress, we can come together when its time to support our strongest ally in the region when they are under attack. We strongly stand with israel. Lets pass this legislation overwhelmingly. I yield back the balance of my time. The speaker the gentleman reserves. The gentleman from new york is recognized. Mr. Meeks mr. Speaker, im proud to yield two minutes to the former chair of the House Appropriations committee and the current Ranking Member of the House Appropriations committee, the gentlelady from connecticut, representative rosa delauro. The speaker the gentlewoman from connecticut is recognized for two minutes. Ms. Delauro im devastated by the attacks on innocent civilians in israel which includes taking elderly people and women hostage. I stand by israel and unequivocally support its right to defend itself. This vicious assault was enabled by iran which has publicly praised the attacks, and now more than ever, it is vital the United States does not walk away from its global commitment to defend democracy. This war is against hamas. It is not the Palestinian People. And palestinians have also lost communities and even loved ones because of hamas atrocities. Israel has to end hamas role in gaza. And while we Work Together to minimize harm to civilian populations, but hamas presence is an assault on humanity, and i want to work with the unity government in israel to create the conditions for peace again. As Ranking Member of the House Appropriations committee, im intent on ensuring that we do everything that we can to provide the humanitarian, military assistance that is necessary for israel to recover from this devastation and continue to defend itself. And i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves. The gentleman from texas. Mr. Mccaul i yield one minute to the gentleman from tennessee, mr. Burchett. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Burchett lets be honest, mr. Speaker. If hamas puts down its guns, peace will happen. If israel does it, theyll be slaughtered. These brutal attacks by Hamas Terrorists, theyve killed over 1,400 israelis, and over 200 hostages. I thought it was telling when i saw a father, jewish father, on the news celebrating that his daughter died in the initial attack because he was afraid shed been abducted and all the horrible, horrible things these dirt bags would have done to her. Weve had a few week heres of discontent here in this body. But today i think we all stand united with israel as a body. Israel and the jewish people have long been targets. Hamas must understand their time is over. They are about to meet their fate and their maker. We stand in solidarity with the people of israel. Their fight against these worthless thugs, hamas, hezbollah and other iranian backed terrorist groups. They must know we are committed to our allies and they will die. Thank you, mr. Speaker. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves. The gentleman from new york is recognized. Mr. Meeks i now yield two minutes to the former chairman of the agriculture committee, the current Ranking Member, the gentleman from georgia, representative david scott. Mr. Scott thank you very much. And the very first thing i want to say is this. Take note, those of you who are around the world watching this house of representatives in action. That the very first bill that we are putting out is a bill to send a powerful message. We not only stand with israel, we will fight with israel. Theres absolutely no way, as gotd is our maker, that we are going to stand by and see israel destroyed. Make no mistake about it. Its as clear as bell. In the holy scriptures brought down by the mighty hand of god almighty, stand with my people, the people of israel. Now, ladies and gentlemen, i was called upon as a member of the Nato Parliamentary Assembly to go to iran, write the paper on iran. I met the people of iran. And i want the people of iran to listen. Go to your leadership, they are the ones that control hamas, hezbollah, and then i call upon our friends in saudi arabia. The answer to this is in your hands. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. The gentleman reserves. The gentleman from texas is recognized. Mr. Mccaul thank you. I yield one minute to the gentleman from texas, a member of the Foreign Affairs committee, mr. Jackson. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Jackson thank you, mr. Chairman. Mr. Speaker, there has never been a more important moment in the relationship between the United States and israel. I call upon this body to take all necessary actions to unequivocally stand with israel as it fights for its very existence in this unprovoked war launched by iranianbacked Hamas Terrorists. I have and always will do everything in my power to stand with israel. I, like the rest of the civilized world, have been disgusted with the unspeakable and barbaric atroughsties imposed on innocent israeli women and children by these animals that call themselves hamas. We must enact poll stoic provide israel with anything and everything it needs to defend itself, to immediately end all illegal aid payments to the palestinian terrorists and to hold iran accountable. As long as i have a vote in congress i will always cast my support always cast my vote in support of the jewish state. With that, i yield back. Thank you. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves. The gentleman from new york is recognized. Mr. Meeks im proud to yield two minutes to the speaker emery tay, the gentlewoman from speaker emerita, the gentlewoman from the state of california, the honorable nancy pelosi. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman is recognized for two minutes. Ms. Pelosi thank you, mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for yielding. I rise in strong support of this resolution to support one of the closest allies in the world and partners, israel, as she defends herself against terrorist attacks. I thank chairman mccaul for his leadership in bringing to the floor as well as Ranking Member meeks, for their leadership, working together, crafting this resounding statement of support and doing so in unifying in a unify, bipartisan way. Mr. Speaker, on october 7, we watched in horror as Hamas Terrorists unleashed a brutal assault on israels families and slaughtered weve gone into some of the detail of the brutality of it all. Outside the circumstance of civilized human behavior. Brutality. The attacks were horrible. With this resolution the United States congress resoundingly declare ours support for israel, not with revenge but with justice, that justice will be done. When doing so, we continue to remain concerned about the humanitarian situation in gaza with civilians caught in the middle of the war. I echo secretary blinkens call for humanitarian pause so that innocent lives can be saved. 80 years ago, mr. Speaker, on the floor of this house, my father, as a member of congress, called upon the Roosevelt Administration to support the establishment of the state of israel in what was known as palestine at the time. He was early in calling for that. So its in my d. N. A. To protect that state of israel. Hamas is dedicated to the destruction of the state of israel. Hamas has been declared a terrorist organization by the United States. Hamas must be destroyed. But in destroying them we must protect the children in gaza. They use them as shields. We want to protect them. So this resolution in overwhelm, bipartisan support on the floor of the house, is so necessary. I urge unanimous vote and thank the chairman and Ranking Member for their leadership. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves. The gentleman from texas is recognized. Mr. Mccaul i yield one minute to the gentleman from kentucky, mr. Barr. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Barr i rise in support of this resolution affirming israels right to selfdefense against this savnl war perpetrated by hamas an other iranianbacked terrorists. While it was Hamas Terrorists who invaded peaceful communities across israel, decapitating baby, burning elderly women alive, kidnapping civilians including holocaust survivors, it was iran who was working behind the scenes to support this terror. I support this resolution because it calls out think the mullahs for this attack. How did this happen . It happened because the Biden Administration Foreign Policy allowed it to happen. Our government designated iran as a state sponsor of terror yet the Biden Administration pursued a policy of weakness and appeasement toward tehran. Since the Biden Administration took office, iran has generated approximately 80 billion in revenue from oil sales and thats because this administration rolled back the Trump Administrations successful maximum pressure campaign. In 2021, the administration lifted Oil Sanctions on iran that were so helpful to the regime that the deputy chief of the central bank of iran mr. Mccaul i yield an additional 30 seconds. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is yielded 30 seconds. Mr. Barr the deputy chief of the central bank of iran said irans foreign currency reserves were growing due to the growth of oil and other exports. For months, secretary blinken and our National Security adviser and voars chased another jcpoa to release billions in sanction assets and now we see the administration effectively incentivize to take american hostages by facilitating the transfer of 6 billion from south korea to iranian banks in qatar, a deal this administration claims it has frozen for now, for now, but qatar and iran says is available to them today. Support this resolution. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from new york is recognized. Mr. Meeks let me inquire how much time remains. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from new york has seven minutes remaining. The gentleman from texas has 10 minutes remaining. Mr. Meeks i yield a minute and a half to the gentlelady from florida, weptive Debbie Wasserman schultz. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady is recognized for a minute and a half. Ms. Wasserman schultz i thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, i rise in strong support of this resolution on the state of israel and to the speak out against the horrific murtd of 1400 israeli civilians and the kidnapping of hundreds more. The unspeakable violence on the jewish people by hamas goes beyond condemnation, it requires action. I was in the region in pursuit of peace when hamas launched their cowardly attack on civilian communities. Three days later i met with israelis unified leadership and pledged continued u. S. Support for the defense of the jewish state. President biden has led our nation in mourning the dead, rescuing the kidnapped and punishing those who need it. Israel has never had a stronger ally in the oval office the unconscionable apathy of many nations and many in our own nation is a sobering reminder that israel remains surround by hostility and danger. Israel has a right to defend itself and hamas must be destroyed. As an advocate for peace, normalization and a twostate solution it must be stated that hamas is the primary obstacle to all three. We should not tolerate americans who rationalize massacres and lionize monsters while spouting off antisemitic tropes and accusations. I will not equivocate. Theres no equivalence between israels righteous efforts to protect civilians and democracy from terror and hamas using innocent palestinians as a human shield, burning families alive and raping teenage girls to death. Thank you, i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves. The gentleman from texas is recognized. Mr. Mccaul mr. Speaker, i yield one minute to the gentleman from arkansas, a member of the Foreign Affairs committee, mr. Hill. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Hill i thank the speaker. I want to thank the chairman and thank the Ranking Member for their work on this bipartisan, strong resolution. Iran and russia are locked in a poisonous partnership committed to terror. Terror in ukraine. Terror in syria. And iran is the Worlds Largest state sponsor of terrorism is further committed to the destruction of our ally israel. On october 7, irans pickup truck, hamas, commenced its most recent sick, savage slaughter of innocents. America, we were the first nation to recognize israel in 1948. But over the decades, we have stood at her side when shes been attacked by force over her borders. Weve stood by her side against antisemitic rhetoric in the halls of the United Nations. And together we have been seeking solutions. Today united we stand on this house floor in prayer for the safe return of all the hostages taken by hamas. I urge adoption on a strong bipartisan basis, of this resolution in support of our ally, israel. I yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves. The gentleman from new york is recognized. Mr. Meeks i yield one minute to the gentleman from michigan, representative thanedar. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Thanedar thank you, chairman mccaul and Ranking Member meeks. I rise in support of House Resolution 771, i firmly stand with israel in the face of terrorism from hamas. When i visited israel in august, i saw how they were surrounded by threats. Now those threats have come true in the most violent and terrible possible way. Let me be clear. Our goal is the eradication of terrorists and terrorism from the face of this earth. We call on and expect the israeli army to try to minimize civilian casualties and we should make a reasonable effort to protect innocent palestinians. But there can be no cease fire until hamas releases all hostages, stops rocket attacks and surrenders lead oars they have terrorist attack. Mr. Chairman, i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves. The gentleman from texas is recognized. Mr. Mccaul mr. Speaker, i yield one minute to the gentleman from new jersey, the chair of the subcommittee on europe, mr. Kaine. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Kaine i thank the gentleman for yielding me time. On october 7, hamas launched the most brutal, surprise attack on israel since the yom people were shocked with reports of Young Children beheaded and holocaust surviveors being led into gaza. I spent time with speaks with constituents who had to flee back to the United States. I stand here in support of this overwhelming bipartisan resolution which has almost every Single Member of the house of representatives as a cosponsor. As the house of representatives, we support israels right to selfdefense and survival. We stand against hamas, against its terror and against its masters in tehran. We stand with israel and its fight for survival and against antisemitism in all of its forms. Thank you and i yield back my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves, the gentleman from new york is recognized. Mr. Meeks i yield to mr. Frankel for one minute. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady is recognized. Ms. Frankel my uncle fled the holocaust as others were tortured and we thought it would not happen again but on october 7 it happened again. The brutal, barbaric attacks by hamas was not about freeing innocent people, it was about destroying israel and killing view jews. So today im proud to stand with all those who condemn hamas, support israels right to defend itself and reaffirm the United States commitment to israels security and i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves. The gentleman from texas is recognized. Mr. Mccaul mr. Speaker, i yield one minute to the gentleman from new york, from the Foreign Affairs committee, mr. Lawler. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Lawler women, children, babies slaughtered, the worst massacre of jews since the holocaust. Israel has a right to exist, a right to defend itself. We have members in this body who do not believe that. Members in this body who cannot muster the courage or the strength to condemn the slaughtering of babies. But have the audacity to repeat a vial and disgusting lie that israel bombed a hospital. And the fact everyone didnt sign on to the resolution tells you everything you need to know. If you cannot stand with israel, our greatest ally in the middle east, a beacon of democracy and hope and freedom, you do not belong in this body. Those members should resign in disgrace. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from new york is recognized. Mr. Meeks how much time remains . The speaker pro tempore the gentleman has four minutes remaining, the gentleman from texas has 4 1 2 minutes remaining. Mr. Meeks i reserve. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from texas is recognized. Mr. Mccaul i yield one minute to the gentleman from tennessee, one minute. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Kustoff i rise to condemn the brutal attack on israel and reiterate our strong support for our greatest ally in the middle east, israel. We all know about the heinous, unprovoked attack is barbaric. Its our responsibility as members of congress to stand united with israel. Let me be clear, israel has a fundamental right to defend herself and her people during this conflict, during this war. Im honored to be chairman of the bipartisan house knesset parliamentary friendship group. From both side of the aisles our Member Support for the only democracy in the middle east is absolutely ironclad and this resolution demonstrates our unwavering commitment to israel and our relationship. Its important for our nation and the rest of the world to hear this strong support and commitment from the United States house of representatives. I thank chairman mccall and member meeks for their membership and yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. The gentleman from new york is recognized. Mr. Meeks i yield 1 30 to the gentleman from North Carolina, representative don davis. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from North Carolina is recognized for 1 1 2 minutes. Mr. Davis thank you, mr. Speaker. I rise today in strong support of this resolution which expresses unwavering support for israel. This past august, i traveled to israel, and it was absolutely heartwrenching, as i think the very place that i stood just days later, when i was in israel, i was at the kibbutz there where 58 people in the community was massacred. Its awful to think babies killed, people slaughtered, gunned down in cold blood. 33 americans have lost their lives. Others are missing. Lets be clear, a nation must respond. And yes, we must respond. So let us continue to extend our unwavering support to israel and ensure that the people of israel have everything necessary to defend themselves in this matter, these egregious hamas fighters. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves. The gentleman from texas is recognized. Mr. Mccaul i yield one minute to the gentleman from texas, a member of the Foreign Affairs committee, mr. Moran. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Moran as a freedom loving member of the u. S. Is house, these events of israel these past weeks are of concern and should concern every member of the house and every member no matter the religion. Hamas is a iranian backed terrorist organization whose official charter calls for the obliteration of israel and the jewish people. Consider that for a moment. These last few weeks have been proof of their commitment to this goal. How should we respond in the United States. The u. S. Should act strategically with strength and steadiness so that those enemies of the u. S. And israel are overwhelmed and defeated in their entirety. We Must Stand Firm with israel whatever they need, whatever they need. Now is not the time to timidity and time for strength and unity with israel and such action will deter evil and promote liberty p. Now is time to be all in. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. Mr. Moran let us stand with israel. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from reserves. The gentleman from new york reserves. Mr. Mccaul i yield one minute to mr. Roes. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Roes today i rise in support of the greatest ally in the middle east, its people and the right to defend itself against the horrifying hamas terror attacks that have taken the lives of so many innocent individuals including 33 americans. Mr. Rose since that deadly attack, ive been working to assist tennesseans and family and friends in israel and their attempts to come home. Ive also joined members of the tennessee delegation in a letter to President Biden urging him to support israel by any means possible, including by providing any weapons and munitions necessary and punishing all involved in aiding the Hamas Terrorists. And lastly, i was proud to be an original cosponsor of this resolution we are here voting on today which reaffirms our commitment to israel and condemns hamas brutal terrorist attacks. Mr. Speaker, we must do everything we can to protect and defend our friend israel. Thank you. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from new york is recognized. Mr. Meeks i continue to reserve. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from texas is recognized. Mr. Mccaul i yield one minute to mr. Pfluger of texas. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Pfluger thank you. Its great to be back at work doing the work of the house and the United States stand together against the barbaric attacks against israel. The attack nearly 50 years to the day of the yom kippur war was horrific with hundreds taken hostage including american citizens and the brutality is unlike anything weve seen in modern years with women and children raped and babies beheaded, this cannot be the norm. Israel has every right to protect itself, to defend itself and their sovereignty. Israel must protect its citizens and withhold their sovereignty without question. With the misinformation and horrible prohamas demonstrations throughout the world, the u. S. Congress must reaffirm our unwavering support for israel and we must work towards a lasting peace that ensures the security and prosperity of our jewish friends and israel. Let us stand shoulder to shoulder unwavering in the enduring bonds that bind our nation together. We stand with israel today and forever. With that, i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves. The gentleman from new york is recognized. Mr. Meeks i continue to reserve. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from texas is recognized. Mr. Mccaul i yield to mr. Full occur. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Full churr i rise to support israel. Theyre our most important partner in fighting terrorism and the first line of defense for the u. S. When it comes to terrorism because the sources of that terrorism is the same for both of us. Israel is a fabulous intelligence partner and liken them to a giant antenna in the middle east that serves and provides information to america. And as the only true democracy in the middle east, israel is a beacon for the american ideals of freedom, personal liberty and a market economy. Lets stand together and support israel and support h. R. 771. Mr. Speaker, i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves. The gentleman from new york is recognized. Mr. Meeks im ready to close. The speaker pro tempore is the gentleman ready to close . The gentleman from new york is recognized to close. Mr. Meeks thank you, mr. Speaker. I want to thank my friend and colleague, the chairman of the house Foreign Affairs committee, mr. Mccaul, for his friendship and working collectively together in making sure the world knows theres no daylight between us when it comes to us standing with our friend, our ally, the state of israel, and i appreciate you. After this horrendous attack on october 7, we had a conversation. We said lets make sure we put out a statement collectively, giving our opinions as chair and Ranking Member of this committee and then immediately thereafter, we went immediately to work on a resolution so that the world would know where the United States house of representatives stood. And we thought wed get it done earlier but we knew the next thing that we would the first bill, the first resolution that would come to the floor after the house resumed its business would be this bill because this bill is so significantly important to state that we have the back of our friend and ally, and we want to make sure that hamas does not exist. Mr. Speaker, ive had the privilege and opportunity to visit israel. Several times ive been in some of those tunnels. Ive talked to the people. And when ive talked to the people of israel, all they say is they want to live in peace. When i talk to the people of the palestinian individuals in gaza or the west bank, they say they want peace. But hamas, a terrorist organization, when you look at their mandate, they say they want the destruction of israel. You cannot have peace. You cant even negotiate peace if one side says you should not exist. How can you say you want a better relationship if youre saying that one side should not . If youre saying israel should not exist . And you cant forget the horrific terrorist isislike atrocities committed on october 7. You you cannot be silent. You cant sit back and make believe it didnt happen. Because it did. So mr. Speaker, i say as we end this debate, thank you and thank you to the American People for standing with our friend and ally, the state of israel. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. The gentleman from texas is recognized to close. Mr. Mccaul i want to thank my good friend, mr. Meeks, as well. Thats how this committee operates and you know, the fact that this is the most bipartisan resolution in modern history, with 425 cosponsors, over 97 of this body, speaks volumes. And it sends a strong message to the people of israel that the United States congress and the American People stand firmly behind you. The hamas covenant states, quote, ranks will close, fighters joining other fighters, and masses everywhere in the islamic world will come forward in response to the call of duty, loudly proclaiming, hail the jihad. They say this cry will reach the heavens and will go on being resounded until liberation is is achieved. The invaders vanquished and victory comes about. In response to this we must strengthen ourry solve to stand with our ally, israel. This resolution sends a clear and unequivocal message that the United States house of representatives and the American People condemn the bar barety of the genocide and war crimes perpetrated by hamas. And we want to make it clear that israel has the right to defend herself to to prevent an event like this from ever happening again. We want to assure you that the United States will be shouldertoshoulder with israel, supporting her right to selfdefense and with that, mr. Speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. I hope everyone votes yes on this resolution. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. The question is will the house suspend the rules the speaker the question is will the house suspend the rule the speaker pro tempore the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill. Mr. Speaker. The speaker pro tempore for what purpose does the gentleman from texas rise . Mr. Mccall i request the yeas and nays. The speaker pro tempore the yeas and nays are requested. Those favoring a vote by the yeas and nays will rise. A sufficient number having risen the yeas and nays are ordered. Members will record their votes by electronic device. This will be a 15minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc. , in cooperation with the United States house of representatives. Any use of the closedcaptioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u. S. House of representatives. ] the speaker pro tempore on this vote, the yeas are 412, the nays are 10. Six recorded as present. 2 3 being in the affirmative, the rules are suspended and resolution is agreed to. And without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. The chair lays before the house a communication. The clerk honorable kevin ma couple beer, as a result of my election today as speaker, this letter is to inform you i resign from the committee of armed services, mike johnson, speaker of the house of representatives. The speaker pro tempore without objection. The resignation is accepted. The chair lays before the house a communication. The clerk the honorable, kevin ma couple beer. As a result of my election today as speaker, this letter is to inform you that i resign as a member of the committee on the judiciary and resign as a member of the judiciary select subcommittee on the weaponization of the federal government. Signed sincerely, mike johnson, speaker of the house of representatives. The speaker pro tempore the house lays before the house sundry communications. The clerk sir, this is to notify you personally that the House Permanent Select Committee on intelligence has been served a subpoena for documents issued by the United States District Court of the Southern District of new york. After consultation with the office of general counsel i have determined that compliance with the consistent is with the privileges and rights of the house. Michael r. Turner, chairman of the Permanent Select Committee on intelligence. Sir. Pursuant to the permission granted in 2h of rule 2 of the u. S. House of representatives, the clerk received the following message from the secretary of the senate on october 4, 2023 at 5 47 p. M. That the Senate Passed senate 2231, that the senate agreed to relative to the death of honorable duncan mclaughlin, former United States senator from the state of North Carolina, Senate Resolution 393, that the senate agreed to relative to the death of honorable james l. Buckley, former United States senator from the senate of new york. Signed sincerely, kevin f. Ma couple beer. And pursuant to the permission granted in 2h of rule 2 of the u. S. House of representatives, the clerk received the following message from the secretary of the senate on october 16, 2023 at 3 10 p. M. That the senate agreed to relative to the death of honorable feinstein United States senator from the state of california Senate Resolution 400. Signed sincerely kevin f. Mcumber. Sir, the rules of the u. S. House of representatives the clerk received the following message from the secretary of the senate on october 18, 2023 at 2 55 p. M. That the senate agreed to Senate Joint Resolution 32. That the senate agreed to relative to the death of honorable richard clearance clark former United States state senator from the state of iowa, Senate Resolution 406. ,. Pursuant to the permission in 2h of rule 2 of the rules of u. S. House of representatives, the clerk received the following message from the secretary of the senate on october 23, 2023, at 12 38 p. M. That the Senate Passed, senate 2854. That the Senate Passed without objection amendment h. R. 366. Signed, sincerely, kevin f. Mccumber, acting clerk. The speaker pro tempore the chair lays before the house a communication. The c the clerk will report the message. The clerk the honorable the speaker, house of representatives. Sir, pursuant to the permission granted in clause 2h of rule 2 of the rules of the u. S. House of representatives, i have the honor to transmit a sealed envelope received from the white house on october 17, 2023, at 3 44 p. M. And said to contain a message from the president regarding the continuation of the National Emergency with respect to significant narcotics traffickers centered in colombia. Signed sincerely kevin f. Mccumber, acting clerk. The speaker pro tempore the clerk will report the message. The clerk to thing on kong of the United States, section 202d. National Emergencies Act 50u. S. C. 1622d provides for the automatic termination of a National Emergency unless within 90 days prior to the anniversary date of its declaration, the president publishes in the federal register and transmits to the congress a notice stating that the emergency is to continue in effect beyond the anniversary date. In accordance with this provision, i have sent to the federal register for publication the enclosed notice stating that the National Emergency with respect to significant narcotics traffickers centered in colombin executive order of 12978, of october 21, 1995, is to continue in effect beyond october 21, 2023. The circumstances that led to the declaration of the National Emergency on october 21, 1995 have not been resolved. The actions of significant narcotics traffickers centered in colombia continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the National Security, Foreign Policy, and economy of the United States and to cause an extreme level of violence, corruption, and harm in the United States and abroad. For this reason i have determined that it is necessary to continue the National Emergency declared in executive order 12878 with respect to significant narcotics traffickers centered in colombia. Signed, joseph r. Biden jr. , the white house. October 17, 2023. The speaker pro tempore referred to the committee on Foreign Affairs and ordered printed. The clerk places before the house a communication. The clerk the honorable the speaker, house of representatives. Sir, pursuant to the permission granted in clause 2h of rule 2 of the rules of the u. S. House of representatives, i have the honor to transmit a sealed envelope received from the white house on october 24, 2023, at 3 55 p. M. And said to contain a message from the president regarding the continuation of the National Emergency with respect to the democratic republic of the congo. Signed, sincerely, kevin f. Mccumber, acting clerk. The speaker pro tempore the clerk will report the message. The clerk section 202d of the National Emergency act 50 u. S. C. 1622d provides for the automatic termination of a National Emergency unless within 90 days prior to the anniversary date of its declaration, the president republicans in the federal register and transmits to the congress a notice stating that the emergency is to continue in effect beyond the anniversary date. In accordance with this provision i have sent to the federal register for publication the enclosed notice stating that the National Emergency with respect to the situation in or in relation to the democratic republic of the congo declared in executive order 13413 of october 27, 2006 as amended by executive order 13671 of july 8, 2014, is to continue in effect beyond october 27, 2023. The situation in or in relation to the democratic republic of the congo, which has been marked by widespread violence and atrocities that continue to threaten regional stability, continues to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the Foreign Policy of the United States, therefore i have determined that it is necessary to continue the National Emergency declared in executive order 13413 as amended by executive order 13671 with respect to the situation in or in relation to the democratic republic of the congo. Signed, joseph r. Biden jr. The white house. October 24, 2023. The speaker pro tempore referred to the committee on Foreign Affairs and ordered printed. For what purpose does the gentleman from tennessee seek recognition . Mr. Speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on h. R. 4394, and that i may include tabular material on the same. The speaker pro tempore without objection. Pursuant to House Resolution 756 and rule 18, the chair declares the house in the committee of the whole house on the state of the union for consideration of h. R. 4394. The chair appoints the gentleman from nebraska, mr. Flood, to preside over the committee of the whole. The chair the house is in the committee of the whole house on the state of the union for consideration of h. R. 4394. Which the clerk will report by title. The clerk a bill making appropriations for energy and Water Development and related agencies for the fiscal year ending september 30, 2024, and for other purposes. The speaker pro tempore pursuant to the rule, the bill is considered as read the first time. General debate shall be confined to the bill and shall not exceed one hour equally divided and controlled by the chair and Ranking Member of the committee on appropriations or their respective designees. The gentleman from tennessee, mr. Fleischmann, and the gentlewoman from ohio, ms. Kaptur, each will control 30 minutes. The chair recognizes the gentleman from tennessee. Mr. Fleischmann mr. Chairman, i yield myself such time as i may consume. The chair the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Fleischmann mr. Chairman, it is my distinct honor to bring the fiscal year 2024 energy and water bill before you today. Before i go into the details, id like to recognize the hard work of chairwoman granger and Ranking Member delauro on this bill bill and the entire appropriations process. Id like also specifically to thank my Ranking Member, ms. Kaptur, for being a tremendous partner throughout this years process. At a total of 56. 958 billion, the energy and water bill advances our National Security, our Energy Security, and our economic competitiveness in a fiscally responsible manner. The bill includes 24 billion for the National Nuclear security administration. Within that the bill fully funds all major weapons programs and Infrastructure Modernization activities, including the w93 warhead, the nuclear sea launch cruise missile. The b831 sustainment efforts. And the restart of plutonium pit production capability. N. S. A. Funding also supports naval reactors and Defense Nuclear nonproliferation. Remaining a leader in Nuclear Energy technologies whether ensure Reliable Energy here at home and will help allies across the globe. The bill sustains the department of energys Nuclear Energy base program and also redirects previously appropriated funds to higher priorities. Specifically 2. 4 billion to develop a domestic capability for producing low enriched uranium, including high assay low and enriched ukraine number that will be necessary for upcoming advanced reactors. And 1. 2 billion to support the ongoing advanced Small Modular Reactor demonstration project. To reduce our rely reliance on foreign sources of Critical Minerals, the bill provides more than 200 million for the full spectrum of production technologies. The army corps of engineers is funded at 9. 57 billion, including full funding of the Harbor Maintenance trust Fund Activities and ongoing inland Waterways Trust Fund Construction projects. These investments will help ensure goods can be moved safely to and from global markets. Funding for the bureau of reclamation totals Social Security 8 billion and prioritizes projects that increase water supply and support drought resilience. The bill continues strong funding for the department of Energy Office of science, including Fusion Energy science to enhance americas role as the Global Leader of scientific discovery and to lay the foundation for future scientific breakthroughs. In closing, i would like to thank the staff on both sides of the aisle for their hard work throughout this process. On the majority staff, angie, perry, noria, richie, scott, and janet. In my personal office, ian and daniel. On the minority staff, scott, jocelyn, and adam. This is a strong bill. And i urge members to support it. I reserve the balance of my t time. The chair the gentleman reserves. The gentlewoman from ohio is recognized. Ms. Kaptur thank you, mr. Chair. I yield myself such time as i may consume. The chair the gentlewoman is recognized. Ms. Kaptur i want to say also i appreciate chair fleischmann very much for his serious attention to our complex bill and his cordiality. And very constructive attitude throughout. I would like to begin also by thanking our diligent staff for all their hard work on this bill. On the minority staff i would like to thank scott and jocelyn and adam. On the minority staff i would like to thank angie, perry, nora, richie, scott, and janet. On my personal staff i would like to thank margaret and maley. As we work on this energy and water bill, i wish to place on the record how deeply saddened i am by the passing of our Dear Colleague in the other body, senator dianne feinstein. Who dedicated the best years of her life to our country. As energy and water appropriators, dianne and all of us worked closely over many years to protect the waters of the United States and to build a brighter, cleaner Energy Future and to assure Americas Nuclear capabilities are secure. Her acute mastery of the energy, mamat water, and security needsf our nation had no comparison. And her Public Service is truly a great loss to our nation. There is not a time during our bills consideration today to fully express my thoughts, but i am so deeply saddened for californias loss for, for our nations loss, and for all who grieve the loss of the longest serving woman in senate history. All i or any of us can do is laud senator Dianne Feinsteins career of exemplary, effective Public Service. Rest in peace, my dear friend. We consider this important measure at a moment in which the u. S. Economy is growing at record rates. Producing historic levels of job growth due to the laws enacted by the last congress. With historic job growth, revenues are now coming in to the private sector and the federal government at much higher levels than before because post pandemic millions more people are working. Companies are earning money. The American People again are doing what america does best. Be productive. And leave our nation to the future in better condition than we found it. Indeed, as this debt chart, i call it Gross Domestic Product depth chart clearly illustrates, as a result of robust economic growth, our nation has bent the debt curve as a percentage of g. D. P. For the first time in modern history. Here we go. Its going down. Thats where we want it to go. Yes, we are beginning to pay down our nations accumulated debt largely amassed from the cost of past wars, the old debt. That were not paid for by those who conducted them at the time. Then we had then we had the pandemic and sadly over decades, tax cuts that were enacted allowed the wealthiest and most productive powerful corporations in our country not to carry their fair share of the tax load. I think its important that everyone shares in our nations responsibilities. And unable to concur with chair fleischmann on this particular appropriation bill. I prefer a more realistic energy and water allocation that meets the energy and water needs of our nation, not just for today but for the Energy Independence and the water security for america in perpetuity. And we are not out of the woods on this, we have a lot of work to do. Energy and water security are National Security. Think about it. Yet the nondefense spending in this bill is 6. 4 billion lower, 25 lower than last years effective level. That is a radical, irresponsible reduction and repeals over 5 billion for Critical Energy programs from the Inflation Reduction Act that would have helped American Families save money while at the same time creating thousands of jobs, good paying jobs in new Energy Technologies. For energy and water needs, it is not an overstatement to say people in our nation live or die by decisions being made here in congress. Since world war ii america has paid a terrible price for unconscious slide into foreign dependency on imported energy. While we have made strides, after a half of century of efforts starting in the late 1970s, we still havent scored at the home plate of u. S. Independence in perpetuity. I read an article that our country is going to import petroleum after 2040. Im not voting for that. We must keep Energy Energy and our people secure here at home. And thats one of the major purposes of this bill. Hasnt our nation learned the hard way when gasoline prices top 4 a gallon, our economy is thrown into deep recession. It should be obvious why u. S. Energy independence is vital. No foreign power should ever again make america vulnerable. Energy security is National Security. We Must Ensure Energy Security within our own borders and cant depend on foreign sources or malignly concocted to do us harm. Energy impacts every persons wellbeing and allows our nation to be free and free of maligned influence. How well our nations fate can be affected by events outside our border. News outlets are correctly reporting that russias unprovoked war on ukraine is being waged on more than one front. Surely including energy. Russia is hard fast at manipulation of global oil and gas prices through reserves russia controls. In fact, Global Oil Prices surged to nearly 100 per barrel in september after saudi arabia and russia continued their curtailment of oil supplies. The sharp escalation and geopolitical risk in the middle east from the hamas attacks in israel has oil markets on edge. Check it out. Let us not forget that the middle east accounts for more than onethird of seaborne oil trade. Energy resources are bound to the fate of liberty, halfway around our world. Let us make our home front impenetrable. It allows the ability to flourish in a modern economy with millions and millions of living wage jobs in Energy Production and conservation across all sectors, natural gas, ethanol, biodiesel, biodiesels and advancing sectors of hydrogen and advanced nuclear platforms. Meanwhile, imagine the Energy Conservation and other developing technologies are being created by americas new inventors and new building and solar and electrified windows, biofuels and thermal heat recovery, wind energy to name a few. America will never lose her power of invention. Now let me turn to our water responsibilities, new major engineering challenges lie before america. Ask the citizens along the mississippi and louisiana as saltwater creeps north and how about the flood victims in new york city . Across our nation, cities are managing waste water loads for which they were not geared. Farmers are losing crops because of increasing rainfall and ainability to manage water in their fields and drainage systems that were built for another era a century and a half ago. Times are changing. U. S. Army corps of engineers and bureau of. Recrossexamination reclamation whether down the mississippi in the great lakes. There is an old expression, dont try to fool Mother Nature and i would say dont ignore Mother Nature, this is one such moment in American History. I must express the energy and water appropriation bill before us is completely inadequate and does not meet our countrys needs in this new era of Climate Change. If i need more proof, americans are paying billions more in disaster relief. This country paid over 150 billion last year in disaster damage significantly higher than the 60 billion average from the last 30 years. How about that . Doubling and a half. That is a big warning sign that one simply cant ignore. We ought to be investing that money up front to avoid those disasters by properly funding this bill. We must meet the needs of the future and not founder. I continue to be troubled by the unsustainable in the weapons programs. We know we have to keep a tight lid on them because they have the tendency to overspend. I am concerned how it cuts Nuclear Nonproliferation programs and counter the global challenge. Finally, the bill includes controversial poison pill riders that show extremist republicans are not interested in bills that could gain bipartisan support and become law. Oppose the bill. America and must do better on the new age frontiers on energy and water. And i reserve. The chair the gentlewoman from from ohio reserves. The gentleman from tennessee. I yield to the gentleman from South Carolina, my friend, mr. ~wilson, for two minutes. The chair the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Wilson mr. Speaker, the energy and water appropriations bill is critical for Energy Security and creating jobs. I want to congratulate Chuck Fleischmann for his success in developing this legislation which is so crucial. I respectfully disagree with the Ranking Member. On passing h. R. 1, the Lower Energy Cost act, House Republicans have shown dedication to lead in a way that will secure americas Energy Independence. I am grateful for the strong actions to lower costs for families for deregulation. Bidens disastrous has helped putin to finance his mass murder. Increasing Energy Production is the best way to combat chinese made or supplied electric vehicle batteries are solar panels. Green Energy Spending has been devoted into unsustainable boondoggles. I appreciate that this legislation that at the Savannah River site. As the only member of congress who has worked at the Savannah River site, i know firsthand. In South Carolina, Nuclear Energy has provided 70 of the energy matrix. Mr. Speaker, i urge passage of the bill, and i yield back. The chair the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. The gentleman from tennessee . Mr. Fleischmann i reserve. Ms. Kaptur i yield six minutes to the Ranking Member of the full committee, our appropriations, ms. Delauro. The chair the gentlewoman from connecticut is recognized. Ms. Delauro last year the energy and Water Development appropriations bill lowered energy costs for families, created good paying jobs by growing and supporting a robust sector and promoted Energy Independence and string thend National Security and ensured that American Energy outcompeted china. Sadly that isnt what this bill does. It cuts Energy Investments by a staggering 25. 4 or 6. 4 billion than last year. The consequences of increasing energy costs for American Families at a time when families are living paycheck to paycheck and struggling with the high cost of living. This undermines growth and growth of our energy infrastructure. It would yield leadership of the worlds Energy Future to our greatest adversaries. As much as my republican colleagues may refuse evidence and deny Scientific Consensus becoming more severe and more common in their districts and across the country, we have no choice and reflect our climate the only path that addresses Climate Change and reduces our depend dense on fossil fuels and diversify how we produce and store energy, wind, solar, hydroelectric, geothermal and driving a Robust Energy sector. Our answer to the question how must be everything under the sun. The department of energys clean Energy Programs drive down energy costs making it cheaper to expand energy resources. The majority proposed cutting the department of energys budget by 1. 5 billion or by 42 from the 2023 levels. This develops Building Energy management and weatherration technologies that are critical to our nations growth and resilience. Half a billion dollars that will not be invested in our Economic Energy and climate future. Furthermore, republicans would cut 4. 5 billion from the rebate program. That Program Helps 250,000 low and moderate income households and save upwards on their energy bills annually and creates 50,000 new jobs. 1 billion cut from the assistance in energy Code Adoption and 200 million from the statebased Home Contracting training grants. If American Families wants to lower their monthly bills, my republican colleagues say no. We must be creative and innovative in fighting for a clean Energy Future. Which is why it is irresponsible to cut 15 billion from the department of energys Loan Guarantee program. That supports critical projects that for example, remove air pollutants that cause asthma and cancer. After watching the skies turn orange over parts of the east coast, i hope we would agree that air pollution is a bad thing. Sustainability is we demand steward the planet and natural for future generations. The majority failed these demands. The Energy Future and our ability to build were not enough to vote enough against this bill, the political riders on race gender and sexuality. The majority continues to break the deal that the speaker struck with the president earlier this year to avert a default. Democrats and republicans from the house and senate need to begin the process of negotiating, finding Common Ground to pass bipartisan appropriation bills immediately. Pursuing these bipartisan bills ensure we will need a continuing resolution in three weeks. This is no way to govern. No excuse to be considering bills written to appease a minority of this chamber who we know will not vote to fund the government. For all of these reasons i cannot support this bill and i urge my colleagues to vote against it. I yield back. The chair the gentleman from tennessee. Mr. Fleischmann mr. Chairman, i yield to the gentleman, my friend from ohio sorry, id idaho. Absolutely. The Ranking Member of the interior and environmental subcommittee, mr. Simpson, for five minutes. The chair the gentleman from idaho is recognized. Mr. Simpson i thank the chairman for yielding. Having been a former chairman of this committee, either Ranking Member or chairman for the last nine years, when i left people asked me repeatedly what kind of chairman will mr. Fleischmann be of this committee . Whether it was people from the Idaho National lab or pmnl or other places. I told them i thought he would be a great chairman. And this is why. He cares about the department of energys lab complex. Not just oak ridge, which he represents, but all of the labs throughout the complex. Hes been to a lot of them and visited them and find out what they do. He cares about Nuclear Energy, which is important to me and important to him also. And many other aspects of the department of energy. I thought he would be a great chairman. Hes done a masterful job of putting this bill together. This bill contains many things that are vitally important to the future of this country. Whether its Nuclear Power or Fusion Energy as we talked about, or the next generation reactors that are going to be developed, whether its high speed computing in oak ridge is probably the leader in highspeed computing, all other agencies depend on the department of energys highspeed computing to do work for them. Whether its cybersecurity, a lot is done at the Idaho National lab and other laboratories. Whether its Renewable Energy the facility in colorado. All of those things are important. What a lot of people forget about this bill is that about a third of it, 36 , 38 is defense part of this bill. Nnsa. Whether its the portion mentioned by the Ranking Member. The clean up portion, whether its the weapons modernization program, or whether its the part that i like and thats the Naval Reactors Program. When they started the Naval Reactors Program at the Idaho National laboratory, when they fueled the First Submarine with Nuclear Energy, it lasted about 18 months. Then they had to refuel it. Because of the work they have done out there, we now fuel ships for the life of the ship. Thats an amazing process that they have done. And its because of the work thats done by the nnsa. But thats just on the energy side of this bill. We could talk about that for a long time. The other important part of this bill is the water part of it. It is energy and water. The army corps of engineers is funded through this bill. Whether they do the dredging for our ports or for our waterways throughout this country, or whether its the bureau of reclamation, will i tell you that every member of congress, i believe, has a department of a army corps of engineers project within their district. This bill is important to them. I think the chairman has done a masterful job of putting this bill together. I eni listening i enjoy listening to my colleague. They are good friends, we have worked together for many years both chairwoman delauro, or whether its Ranking Member kaptur, who used to be chairman of this committee also. It goes back and forth, but we have worked together in a cordial way. I enjoy their conversation where we havent spent enough money on this bill. They talked about how we could spend more money in certain areas. The one thing they didnt mention when they were talking about the fact that we need more money in these bills is the 33 trillion deficit we have. And i will guarantee you it is easier to write bills when you are just expanding spending and you got more money than you know what to do with, throw it all to different bills, which is the way its been for the last couple years, if they didnt have enough money, they took things out and made it emergency spending. We are having to deal with that. It is more difficult to write a bill where you have to actually reduce spending. And i think everyone in our conference on this side of the aisle realizes that we have to reduce spending. If we are ever going to address the 33 trillion debt. Its just a small part of it. Its an important part of t so thats what we are trying to do in a responsible manner. Thats what chairman fleischmann has done in a responsible manner. Find it curious that as i have heard the Ranking Member and the chairwoman Ranking Member of the full committee talk, they have talked about we have to spend all this more money because families are struggling. And then they say, this is the best economy we have had in years and years. Which one is it . I dont understand. Its both . Interesting. When can we address the debt and deficit in this bill . Youll get a chance. It is a challenge that we face, but again, i congratulate the chairman of the subcommittee for his work on this. And i also would be remiss if i didnt Say Something about the staff. They have done a fantastic job. They work incredible hours to get these bills ready for the floor. They have done a good job in this one, too. I congratulate them and thank them for the work. The chair the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Fleischmann i thank the distinguished gentleman from idaho. Mr. Chairman, i reserve. The chair the gentleman reserves. The gentlewoman from ohio. Ms. Kaptur let me say i look forward, mr. Chair, to res responding to my dear friend, former chair simpson. But first want to yield 2 1 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from florida who has been awaiting. The Ranking Member of the military construction and veterans Affairs Subcommittee who does such a phenomenal job, ms. Wasserman schultz. The chair the gentlewoman from florida is recognized. Miss cults thank you ms. Wasserman schultz thank you, mr. Speaker. I thank the gentlelady for yielding. I stand here as a proud member of the energy and water subcommittee for many years. And unfortunately rise in opposition to this harmful bill. Lets start with the two most obvious problems. It raises energy costs for families. And it has zero chance of becoming law. It was drafted with one goal, to appease maga extremists. The new speaker spoke of reaching ao cross the aisle for all americans. One of the republicans first major acts is to jam through a bill that raises their energy cost, undermines our security, and all to keep their rightwing base happy. How do we know . Instead of fort filing our Power Infrastructure and confronting the climate crisis, it fixate on blocking the army corps of engineers from renaming items that celebrate the confederacy. House republicans have draft add bill that is etirely removed from the realities that our families and entire planet face right now. I recently had an Affordable Housing round table with brow ward county in florida. They talked about being rent burdened by climbing housing costs. This bill takes away funding to help american homeowners keep their homes safe and Energy Efficient to cut their power bill. Instead of investing in a stronger america, it seeds symmetry to a Chinese Communist party that throws its weight into infrastructure and clean Energy Investments. If republicans want to craft a bill that helps American Families, start by abiding by the bipartisan budget agreement signed into law by President Biden just a few months ago. In a rare instance where this bill honors that agreement, it fully funds the 425 million budget request for everglades restoration, which im thankful for. And allows us to keep moving the e. A. A. Reservoir project for forward. Beyond that this bill has dramatic funding gaps that jeopardize americas stability. It raises costs for families, hurts job creation, fails to tackle the climate crycy, and rolls over to chinese and russian competitors. For all these obvious reasons, i urge my colleagues to vote no. I yield back the balance of my time. The chair the gentlewoman from ohio is recognized. Ms. Kaptur yes, mr. Chair. I wanted to kind of offer a few thoughts here regarding what our esteemed colleague, mr. Simpson, said, about the federal balance sheet. If you think of your own checkbook when you work and earn money, you have an entry thats positive. You have a payroll check. You earn interest on something. And then if you have to pay a bill, you put a minus sign and you subtract it and see whats left. Whats interesting about the arguments from the folks on the other side of the aisle is, they only talk about what is subtracted. They dont talk about whats being added. So both revenues and expenditures are a part 69 federal budget of the federal budget. Its interesting to me, i served in congress a while now. The other side never, never, never talks about revenues. They only talk about expenditures. The interesting thing about revenues is, when an economy is booming, you are bringing more revenue into the federal government. Thats why the federal debt as a percent of our economic prowess right now is decreasing because we are growing the economy. What we are spending in this bill causes more economic growth. Thats a good thing. But what the other side is not talking about is that there are a lot of free riders in our country. And they are not paying their fair share of revenues into the treasury. And we have to talk about that side of the budget, too. There are a lot of people who are what i call free riders. We are paying for them. Some of the richest people in this country. Some of the biggest corporations arent paying their fair share of the load. You have to look at both sides of the ledger. I just wanted to put that on the floor today in order to adopt the proper policies. And it will be a most interesting discussion as we move forward with the new debt mission thats been formed. It will be interesting if they bring both pages in the ledger, both the revenues and expenditures. Because as our chart shows, the federal debt as a percentage of g. D. P. Is going down for the first time in modern history. We better not do anything that stops t it is one of the answer. It is one of the answers as well as getting free riders to pay their fair share. I reserve the balance of my time. I thank the chair. The chair the gentlewoman from ohio reserves. The gentleman from tennessee is recognized. Mr. Fleischmann thank you, mr. Chairman. At this time id like to yield to my friend, the distinguished gentleman from North Carolina, and also my colleague on the congressional Baseball Team, dr. The chair the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Murphy i recognize the m. V. P. Of the Baseball Team very much for his heroic athletic ability during the climactic game we had. I rise today in support of h. R. 4394, the energy and Water Development appropriations act. What this did is fund the u. S. Army corps of engineers civil work projects. The department of energy enhance our Energy Security, and bolster our economic competitiveness in f. Y. 2024. Under President Biden the americans have been forced to pay record prices at the pump, and our Strategic Petroleum reserve has been decimated. We have become further aligned on china for Critical Materials crushed by overregulation and watch the woke agenda destroy americas Energy Independence. This legislation rolls back america last policies. Robustly funds construction, operation, maintenance of our nations ports and indhahn waterways, and provide 35. 8 million for dredging in North Carolinas Third District alone. Within this bill is 6. 3 million for dredging the atlantic intercoastal waterway, we call it the icw, which is vital to our commercial and Recreational Fishing industry in my district. 18 million for dredging the Morehead City port where our marine expeditiousary units deploy, and play a vital role in our National Security. God forbid we have to use them soon. Funding for other import inlets that our fishing industry and ferries rely on, is also included. And lastly, 5. 2 million for the channel from back sound to lookout which connects the ferry system to cape lookout and has not been dredged in over 30 years. It is common for vessels to run aground, and must be pulled off the shoal with a very expensive movement by the u. S. Coast guard. Im very grateful for the work of energy and Water Development appropriations subcommittee chairman fleischmann, a. K. A. M. V. P. Baseball team for putting together a bill with unique challenges that meet our coastal communities. I support this years energy and Water Development appropriations bill, and urge my colleagues to do the same. With that i yield back. The spemr. Fleishchmann i thane gentleman from North Carolina and i reserve. The chair the gentleman reserves. Ms. Kaptur i reserve. The chair the gentlewoman reserves. The gentleman from tennessee. Mr. Fleishchmann i yield to my good friend, the distinguished gentleman from california, mr. Lamalfa. For two minutes. Mr. Lamalfa i appreciate the time from my great colleague from tennessee who works a lot on the Important Energy field, its great to work with him. I too rise in support of the energy and Water Development appropriations act. This funding bills cuts billions of needless spending if the democrats budgetbusting spending bills of the last congress and prioritizes funding toward our nations water infrastructure, so desperately needed especially in my home state of california. Stored waters means water for people and agriculture. It means hydroelectricity can be generated. It means flood control. It means recreation and even Environmental Water which is getting the lions share of water in my home state. Im pleased to see h. R. 215 is included in this legislation which my colleague representative valadao and i have worked on with the entire republican delegation from california. The water for california act restores the basic principle of fairness for water uses for the california by requiring bureau of reclamation to follow the terms of their water contracts. Isnt that a concept . And use the best available science to operate the Central Valley project. This would also eliminate the environmental blockade against using water storage funds to move forward with the enlargement of shasta dam in my district, an opportunity to score 632,000 new acrefeet at an existing structure that should be easy. Lastly this measure prohibits the administration from changing the rule, regulations and procedures of the California Water system on a whim to satisfy radical environmentalists. Much to the detriment of our farm for agriculture and forcing urban waters users to have to ration water to the tune of even as few as 42 gallons of water per day. Picture that. If youve got a wading pool for your kids or pets or whatever, it might take three days of your water ration to fill a wading pool under what they have coming down the pike on rationing water and we have so much watt e water flowing out to the pacific through the delta thats being wasted. Water being let out of dams to meet the conservation level for funding control later that should be put someplace helpful like to san luis reservoir. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you to my colleague, mr. Fleishchmann. I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of this bill and get some common sense back in our water supply. Thank you so much. I reserve. The chair the gentlewoman from ohio is recognized. Ms. Kaptur im prepared to close. The chair the gentlewoman reserves. The gentleman from tp is recognized. Mr. Fleishchmann i yield back. The chair the gentleman yields. The gentlewoman from ohio is recognized. Ms. Kaptur mr. Chairman, and members, Congress Needs to write bills that meet our countrys needs. And i reiterate my disappointment that the energy and water bill before us today does not adhere to the agreed to levels in the bipartisan fiscal responsibility act of 2023. The American People are counting on us to Work Together, not draft partisan bills that will never become law. I urge my colleagues to oppose this bill and i yield back the balance of my time. The chair the gentlewoman from ohio yields. All time for general debate has expired. Pursuant to the rule the bill shall be considered for amendment under the fiveminute rule. The amendment printed in part a of housery port 118242 shall be considered as adopted and the bill as amended shall be considered read. All points of order against provisions in the bill as amended are waived. No further amendment to the bill as amended shall be in order except those printed in part b of house report 118242, amendments en bloc described in section 3 of House Resolution 756, and pro forma amendments described in section 4 of that resolution. Each further amendment printed in part b of the report shall be considered only in the order printed in the report, may be offered only by a member designated in the report and shall be considered as read, shall be debate initial time specified in the report equally divide and controlled by the proponent and an opponent, shall not be subject to amendment except as provided by section 4 of House Resolution 756 and shall not be subject to a demand for division of the question. It shall be in order at any time for the chair of the committee on appropriations or his designee to offer amendments en bloc consisting of amendments printed in part b of the report not earlier disposed of. Amendments en bloc shall be considered as read, shall be debatable for 20 minutes equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the committee on appropriations or their designees, shall not be subject to amendment, except as provided by section 4 of House Resolution 756, and shall not be subject to a demand for division of the question. During the consideration of the bill for amendment, the chair and ranking minority member of the committee on appropriation or their designees may offer up to 10 pro forma amendments each at any point for purposes of debate. For what purpose does the gentleman from tennessee seek recognition . Mr. Fleishchmann mr. Chairman, pursuant to House Resolution 756, i offer eanlted en bloc. The chair the clerk will designate the amendments. The clerk en bloc amendments conning of amendments 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 17, 18, 21, 23, and 33, printed in part b of house report 118242, offered by mr. Fleishchmann of tennessee. The chair pursuant to House Resolution 756, the gentleman from tennessee, in fleishchmann, and the gentlewoman from ohio, ms. Kaptur, each will control 10 minutes. The chair recognizes the gentleman from tennessee. Mr. Fleishchmann thank you, mr. Chairman. This bipartisan en bloc amendment was developed in coordination with the minority. It contains noncontroversial amendments addressing important issues at the agencies funded in this bill that have been agreed to by both sides. I support its adoption and reserve the balance of my time. The chair the gentleman from tennessee reserves. The gentlewoman from ohio is recognized. Ms. Kaptur yes, mr. Chairman, i rise in support of this amendment. I know it took a lot of effort on the part of the chair and we appreciate your cooperation. The en bloc contains noncontroversial amendments from members of both parties. I have no objections and urge support of the amendment. The chair does the gentlewoman reserve . Ms. Kaptur i yield back. The chair the gentlewoman yields. The gentleman from tennessee is recognized. Mr. Fleishchmann i yield to the gentleman from louisiana, mr. Graves, for three minutes. The chair the gentleman is rk niced. Mr. Graves thank you, mr. Chairman. I want to thank chairman fleishchmann and raching member kaptur for their cooperation here. Dating back to the budget act of 2018, there was legislation there was funding provided important advancement of projects known as the comey project, north of my hometown of baton rouge, as well as a project in the river parishes. These projects date back to the early 1980s. One of these corpse of engineer projects thats been stalled. We had a flood in 2016 that would have been tempered or mitigated if this had been constructed. Thankfully in 2018, the prompt was fully funded. Folks were excite, believed we were going to be moving forward on the project. Similarly, mr. Chairman, the west Shore Project started before i was born. Literally. 1970, 1971. That prpbility had been stalled. And had not advanced at all until we were able to get the authorization pass through the congress in 2016 and were able to get the project, what we believed was also fully funded. What we found today is that these project costs have skyrocketed. In the case of the west Shore Project its approximately 1. 3 billion short. Now. And in the case of the comey project its about 447 million short. What this amendment does, this is an increasedecrease amendment, approximately 1. 75 billion. It is designed to complete these prompts. Mr. Chairman, its kind of like being a little bit pregnant. The project just doesnt work. Its either completed and functional or its not. Weve got to finish these projects. We have to ensure the resiliency of these communities. I know that my two colleagues here, being the chair and Ranking Member of this committee, this subcommittee, with the corps of engineers know the importance of resiliency and mitt tbaition efforts, know the importance they share. I want to thank you again for accepting our amendment and lack forward to continuing to work with you. I yield back. Mr. Fleishchmann i thank the gentleman from louisiana. Mr. Chairman, i have no further speakers at this time and i yield back the balance of my time. The chair the gentleman from tennessee yields. The question is on the amendments en bloc offered by the gentleman from tennessee. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. The ayes have it. The en bloc amendments are agreed to. It is now in order to consider amendment number 3 3reu7b9ed in part b of house report 118242. For what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition . I have an amendment at the desk. The chair the clerk will designate the amendment. The clerk amendment number 3 printed in house report 118242, offered by mr. Perry of pennsylvania. The chair her sunt to House Resolution 756, the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. Perry, and a member opposed each will control five minutes. The chair recognizes the gentleman from pennsylvania. Mr. Perry thank you, mr. Chairman. This amendment eliminates funding for the Delaware River Basin Commission. The funding that is if the federal government. You see unfortunately this bill provides nearly three quarters of a Million Dollars to the Delaware River Basin Commission, meaning that since 1998, federal government has provided funding of some sort to this commission full of unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats. That have unilaterally in this case instituted a hydraulic fracturing ban for a portion of the commonwealth of pennsylvania literally stripping away the property and mineral rights from pennsylvanians in direct contravention of the will of the legislature. These people arent elected by anybody. Theyre not accountable to anybody. Most people have no idea who the people on this Commission Even are. The result is a prohibition on the development of critical shale plays in eastern pennsylvania that can bring desperately needed natural gas to the market and the unconstitutional taking of mineral rights of the people of the commonwealth of pennsylvania, americans having unelected bureaucrats take their rights away. Its an attack on Pennsylvania Energy and American Energy. At a time when residential Natural Gas Prices are near record highs, it creates significant inflation. Cost of living increases for our constituents and empowers our unmes abroad. Instead of taking action to stop this unconstitutional seizure of state authority as my other amendment that was not made in order would have done, or better yet dissolving the compact altogether this bill as it currently exists rewards the radical commissioners with money from the very taxpayers that Delaware River Basin Commission is attacking. Providing funds to such an out of control radical commission is a step in the wrong direction that incentivizes others like it to follow. This amendment that im offering would rescind this money and move it to the spending reduction account, ensuring that we do not further incentivize this commission to attack American Energy and the rights of pennsylvania while trying to pay off some of our 33 trillion of debt. I urge my colleagues to do the right thing and send a message to these unelected bureaucrats by supporting this amendment and i reserve the balance. The chair the gentleman from pennsylvania reserves. For what purpose does the gentlewoman seek recognition . I rise to speak on the amendment, in opposition to the amendment. The chair the gentlewoman is recognized. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I rise against this amendment. This amendment would remove 715,000, funding i secure through the Community Project funding process. This amount is mere pennys within the entire federal budget. Mrs. Watson coleman and provides an outsized return on investment for millions of americans who rely on the Delaware River basin for water and recreational use. It provides Drinking Water to over 14. 2 Million People and contributes approximately 22 billion in annual Economic Activity. The Delaware River basin provides immense value to the region and value to the region. And the federal governments small role in the resources is vital to the commissions work. This is an assault on the communities that rely on the resources and the economy of the basin and it is an attack on those who have fought to secure this necessary funding for the next fiscal year. Therefore i urge my colleagues to oppose this amendment. Mr. Chairman, i yield back. The chair the gentlewoman from new jersey mrs. Watson coleman i reserve. The chair the gentlewoman reserves. The gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized. Mr. Perry i thank the chairman. My colleague says it costs mere pennies. These mere pennies add up to mere dollars. These mere dollars add up to thousands, eventually millions, and eventually billions which is where we are right now. This talks about return on investment. Talks about it but doesnt say what the return on investment is because there isnt any return on investment. It provides immense value, it is claimed. But yet the value cannot be described. It cannot be quantified. No one knows what the value is. Would the Delaware River basin go away if the commission were not there . Are you saying without the commission there would be no safe Drinking Water . The actions that this commission has taken are unfounded, unjustified, and happening nowhere else. Yet there is clean Drinking Water across the rest of the commonwealth of pennsylvania without this commission banning public and private activity. It says, my colleague says its necessary funding. Necessary for what . What are we getting for this . Somebody is getting something. But the people of pennsylvania, they are getting the shaft. I reserve the balance. The chair the gentleman from pennsylvania reserves. The gentlewoman from new jersey is recognized. Mrs. Watson coleman thank you very much. Needless to say i disagree with the premise of my wonderful colleague across the aisle. But id like to yield three minutes to my chair, congresswoman kaptur. The chair the gentlewoman from ohio is recognized. Ms. Kaptur yes. I rise in strong opposition to this amendment. Lets be clear. This amendment reduces funding for the army corps of engineers investigations account by 715,000. With the amounts description stated intent of eliminating funding for the Delaware River Basin Commission. Ill note that the actual bill language of the amendment only reduces funding for the account. It does not in any way eliminate funding for the Delaware River Basin Commission. However, i vigorously oppose its stated intent behind this amendment, especially since the Delaware River basin, which flows into the delaware bay, and then into the atlantic ocean, covers over 13,000 square miles in four states. As established by law through the Delaware River basin compact that went into effect in 1961, the commission consists of the army corps of engineers and the four basin state governors. Those states include delaware, new jersey, pennsylvania, and new york. The corps of engineers in these states work as equal partners for planning, development, and regulatory actions for the river basin. And frankly, all across the country we are facing issues that deal with very large water sheds and basins in the past centuries and decades didnt face what we face today with water flows. With the commissions work while the commissions work could be further discussed, my strongest reason for opposition to this amendment is that the underlying bill provides 715,000 to the Delaware River Basin Commission as Community Project funding on behalf of two members of this body. The Community Project funding process allows members of congress to request funding for their community to be urgent needs they identify. There is a rigorous process for vetting and influential of inclusion of Community Project funding including strict transparency and accountability rules. And im shocked that one member would target another Members Community project funding through an amendment on the floor. I strongly urge my colleagues to vote against this amendment. I yield back the time to the gentlelady and reserve any time i might have on my own. Thank you. The chair the gentlewoman from new jersey reserves. The gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized. Mr. Perry i thank the chair. I would say i dispute the claim that they work in collaboration. The Delaware River Basin Commission itself in contravention of the pennsylvania legislature, has banned the practice that is practiced all over northern pennsylvania. Hydraulic fracturing. Banned it. In contravention of the will and wishes of the elected members of the pennsylvania legislature. I would say this as well the corps of engineers can do this work whether there is a commission or not, whether this money is here or not. The corps of engineers has wide latitude to do work all across the country. They dont need our involvement. Finally, the individual states involved in this compact, thats why they got into the compact. They charge people in the individual states all kinds of permit fees and regulatory fees to pay for this commission. Yet somehow the commission cant survive without more money from the federal government. Its ridiculous. Its duplicative. Its costly. Its unaffordable. Its unnecessary. And it needs to end. I yield the balance. The chair the gentleman from pennsylvania yields. The gentlewoman from new jersey is recognized. Mrs. Watson coleman thank you, mr. Chairman. I simply want to say as we finalize this discussion that there are 14. 2 Million People who are being affected, who will be affected who think this is important. There is a 22 billion Economic Activity that would be impacted. Needless to say i have chosen this as a project that i support because in the time that i have had the opportunity to serve the district, the 12th Congressional District in the state of new jersey, this is an issue that i find very important. I do hope that my colleagues will oppose this amendment. With that i yield back. I thank you. The chair the gentlewoman from new jersey yields. The question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from pennsylvania. So many as are in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. The aye vs. It ayes have it. Mrs. Watson coleman i will request the yeas and nays on this. The chair does the gentlewoman request a recorded vote. Mrs. Watson coleman i do demand a recorded vote. The chair pursuant to clause 6 of rule 18, further proceedings on the amendment offered by the gentleman from pennsylvania will be postponed. It is now in order to consider amendment number 12 printed in part b of house report 118242. For what purpose does the gentleman from colorado seek recognition . Mr. Neguse i have an amendment at the desk. The chair the clerk will designate the amendment. The clerk amendment number 12, printed in part b of house report number 118242. Offered by mr. Neguse of colorado. The chair pursuant to House Resolution 756, the gentleman from colorado, mr. Neguse, and member opposed the, each will control five minutes. The chair recognizes the gentleman from colorado. Mr. Neguse thank you, mr. Chairman. I rise to offer my amendment which would allocate additional funding to the bureau of reclamation for the Colorado River compliance account and support the upper colorado and san juan. Let me just say, mr. Speaker, id like to mr. Chairman, express my gratitude to the Ranking Member who has serve with such distinction in this body representing northwestern ohio, toledo, sandusky, doing her part to build a Better Future for the people of ohio and our country. In particular her service as Ranking Member of this particular august subcommittee and always trying to find a way to bridge the divide and build bipartisan path forward. Its unfortunate that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have chosen not to that with respect to this bill. With respect to this amendment the upper colorado and San Juan River basin recovery programs provide us with an opportunity to chart a bipartisan path forward. They are a model of Successful Partnership and collaboration across agencies, states, and with both federal and nonfederal partners. In my state of colorado in addition to utah, wyoming, and new mexico. I have been leading legislation over the past several years to reauthorize these programs, including Bipartisan Legislation in the Previous Congress which was signed into law, and legislation this year that would extend the programs for an additional seven years. The programs work to recover and protect for species of endangered and threatened fish, while providing endangered species act compliance for over 2,500 Water Projects. This account provides critical federal support for these programs. My amendment would increase the bureau of reclamations funding to direct additional federal resources to these programs. I hope its an amendment that my colleagues on both sides of the aisle can support. Its common sense. With that, mr. Chairman, i reserve. The chair the gentleman from colorado reserves. For what purpose does the gentleman from tennessee seek recognition . Mr. Fleischmann thank you, mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, i rise to claim time in opposition, although i will not oppose the amendment. The chair the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Fleischmann thank you. The upper Colorado River and San Juan River endangered Species Program enjoys bipartisan support in the region. Providing for a collaborative approach to species management, avoiding a heavyhanded e. S. A. Listing. This program enables robust Power Production in glen canyon dam, and i support the gentlemans amendment. I yield back. The chair the gentleman from tennessee reserves yields. The gentleman from colorado is recognized. Mr. Neguse thank you, mr. Chairman. I want to say thank you to the chairman of the subcommittee for his support and his words with respect to this amendment. Would now like to yield 1 1 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from ohio, the distinguished Ranking Member of the energy and Water Development subcommittee, ms. Kaptur. The chair the gentlewoman from ohio is recognized. Ms. Kaptur i thank congressman neguse for yielding and compliment him on his hardworking representation of the people of colorado. There could not be a more complex water system than the one that your community is part of. Most of america has no idea about the plumbing of the west. I want to really compliment you. We know that funding provided in this bill will help advance or complete projects to protect the hump back chubb, bonney tail, and pike minnow, and razorback succor feeling the impacts of drought while allowing Water Development projects to proceed. We know many reports, including one from the United Nations a couple years ago, talked about the extinction of natural species across our country and world. We must combat these efforts to prevent biodiversity loss, particularly in areas like the Colorado River, which was diverted for the first time in American History recently. That is a showstopper by anyones measure. We need to provide the resources necessary to continue this collaborative work in the upper colorado and san juan basin. I want to thank my colleague for his leadership on this. I want to thank the chair of the full committee for of the subcommittee for his great effort to try to accommodate as many members as possible. I thank you. I yield back. The chair the gentlewoman from ohio reserves. Mr. Neguse i yield back. The chair the gentleman from colorado yield. The question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from colorado. So many as are in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. Mr. Neguse i request a recorded vote. The chair pursuant to clause 6 of rule 18, further proceedings on the amendment offered by the gentleman from colorado will be postponed. It is now in order to consider amendment number 13, printed in part b of house report 118242. For what purpose does the gentleman from colorado seek recognition . Mr. Neguse mr. Chairman, i have an amendment at the desk. The chair the clerk will designate the amendment. The clerk amendment number 13, printed in part b of house report number 118242. Offered by mr. Neguse of colorado. The chair pursuant to House Resolution 756, the gentleman from colorado, mr. Neguse and a member opposed, each will control five minutes. The chair recognizes the gentleman from colorado. Mr. Neguse i thank the chairman. I want to assure the chairman of the subcommittee that i wont be asking for a recorded vote on this amendment. It is a similar amendment to the amendment just offered essentially. It directs funding rather directs the allocation of funding from a different account, again, to support this Important Program for alt reasons that have been stated by, of course, the Ranking Member of the subcommittee as well as the chairman previously. The headwaters of the Colorado River are in my district. As the Ranking Member so eloquently stated, we face a complex set of challenges in the west as relates to the Colorado River, which i continue to work to address in my state of colorado. Of course working with our colleagues in the upper basin and lower basin states. This program, the upper colorado, and San Juan River basin endangered Species Program, i think is a great and salient example of a way in which we can chart unique solutions to really pressing challenges. In this case, of course, the potential for endangered species in our communities. In our water basins. All that being said, mr. Chairman, without belaboring the point would simply say its a Program Worth investing in. Its why im pursuing this particular amendment. I hope my colleagues can support it. With that i reserve. The chair the gentleman reserves. For what purpose does the gentleman rise . I rise to claim time in opposition though i will not oppose the amendment. The chair the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Fleishchmann similar to my colleagues Previous Administration this enjoys broad bipartisan support and supports hydropower to provide electricity to benefit the entire region. I support the gentlemans amendment and yield back. The chair the gentleman from tennessee yields. The gentleman from colorado is recognized. Mr. Neguse i thank the subcommittee chairman again for his indulgence and support on this particular amendment. I yield back the balance of my time. The chair the gentleman from colorado yields. The question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from colorado. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. The amendment is agreed to. It is now in order to consider amendment number 14 printed in part b of house report 118242. For what purpose does the gentleman from arkansas seek recognition . Mr. Chairman, i have an amendment at the desk. The chair the clerk will designate the amendment. The clerk amendment number 14 printed in part brveg of house report 114 report 118242, offered by mr. Westerman of arkansas. The chair the gentleman from arkansas, mr. Westerman, and a member opposed each will control five minutes. The chair recognizes the gentleman from arkansas. Mr. Westerman i yield myself such time as i may consume. I want to commend the chairman fleishchmann for the hard work and the in the Appropriations Committee and this particular subcommittee and the good product they put out. I do have a slight adjustment i would like to make to it even the even though the subcommittee was generous in working with the Natural Resources committee and other committees in getting the base text. I rise in support of westerman amendment number 14. This is an amendment i would describe as an intentionally punitive amendment but with a just cause. To protect the integ thoif legislative branch and more specifically the house of representatives. My amendment reduces funning for the bureau of reclamations policy and administration account to 2022 levels. At the bureau of reclamation it finances the agencys centralized management and functions that are not chargeablable directly to a specific proct or program. This includes the office of the commissioner, the administrations Political Leadership of the agecy. You may be asking why the chairman of the committee on Natural Resources is here asking for an administer administrative funding cut to an agency urn our jurisdiction. One of congress most vital responsibilities is oversight of the executive branch. Maybing sure they are accountable to the American People. Congressional hearings are an important tool which we use to engage directly with Administration Officials and to conduct oversight on policy objectives, openly debate legislation, and spot waste, fraud and abuse occurring in agencies. These officials have an obligation to be responsive to congress. Engage in the oversight process. And be accountable to the American People. However, this administration, like many others, from the past on both sides of the aisle, chose to blatantly disregard this responsibility when they specifically refused to participate in a congressional hearing earlier this year. There we considered h. R. 215, congressman valadaos water for california act. This legislation addresses the operation of the Central Valley project which is a federal Water Project owned and operated by the bureau of reclamation. This legislation is critical not only to the Central Valley but to our entire countrys food supply. The legislation was important enough that it was included in the base text of this bill. However, even with ample notification, with an inviation sent two weeks prior to the hear, the bureau of reclamation failed to appear at the hearing. The bureau of reclamation employs roughly 5,000 employees so they clearly had the ability to send a representative. While written testimony was submitted the day before the hear, this was a poor substitute for engaging with the committee members. Nonfederal witnesses who appeared at the hearing repeatedly mentioned the bureau of reclamation which daylighted the missed opportunity for dialogue between the agency and people they serve. I urge my colleagues to support this amendment and i reserve the balance of my time. The chair the gentleman reserves. For what purpose does the gentlewoman from ohio seek recognition . Ms. Kaptur i claim time in opposition. The chair without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized. Ms. Kaptur i have Great Respect for the gentleman who offering this amendment. I do find myself in the position of opposing it. In step with the myriad amendments offered by republicans to reduce leadership salaries, this amendment seeks to reduce funding for the bureau of reclamations policy and administration account by 5 million, ostensibly to fund it at the f. Y. 2022 enacted level. However, in f. Y. 2022, 64. 4 million was presented for policy and administration so this amendment reduces this fund big 4. 321 million below the f. Y. 2022 enacted level. Reclamation brings water to 31 Million People and is the second largest producer of hid rough collectic hydroelectric power in the United States, producing enough electricity to serve 3. 5 million homes. This account funds the daytoday reclamation management administrative and policy functions necessary to ensure effective and efficient implementation of all reclamation programs and that 31 Million People receive water and 3. 5 million homes receive electricity. That is a big jump. This account also funds the office of commissioner and regional offices. This leadership is critical for ensuring that one in five western farmers have Irrigation Water Irrigation Water for 10 million acres of farmland that produce 60 of our neighs vegetables and 25 of fruits and nuts. According to the United States census bureau, my colleague comes from a district of approximately 751,000 people, of which approximately 1. 5 are in occupations related to farming, fishing and forestry and i dont think the gentleman benefits his district in any case from the bureau of reclamation. With the west reeling from the historic megadrought, the worst in 1,200 year, where weve just had to divert the Colorado River for the first time in American History, why would any of my colleagues wan to hamstring reclamations management and the direction and guidance necessary to achieve reclamationwide program and mission accomplish. This is a moment in American History when we need to help them. I urge my colleagues to reject this amendment and i yield back. The chair the gentlewoman from ohio yields. The yell from arkansas is recognized. Mr. Westerman i would like to again point out that this funding is for the administrative part of the bureau of reclamation. It has nothing to do with functions that are chargeable directly to a specific project or program. Bureau of reclamation does oversee many Important Programs. We want to see those programs function properly. And we also want accountability from the executive branch. And the executive branch clear pattern of disregard for congressional oversights or overindicates or oversight indicates lack of accountable to the taxpayer. Its not my goal to have to come to the floor and cut the budget of an agency because they refuse to respond to congress but what tools do we have when they will not even come to a hearing that is directly related to the work they do and when they just act like congressional oversight is an annoyance to them and its nothing serious . My amendment will send a clear message to the executive branch that blatant disregard for congressional oversight is unacceptable. I hope this is a bipartisan sentiment and i yield back the balance of my time. The chair the gentleman from arkansas yields. The question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from arkansas. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair the ayes have it. The amendment is agreed to. For what purpose does the gentlewoman from ohio seek recognition . Ms. Kaptur i demand a recorded vote on that please. The chair pursuant to clause 6 of rule 18, further proceedings on the amendment offered by the gentleman from arkansas will be postponed. It is now in order to consider amendment number 15 printed in part b of house report 118242. For what purpose does the gentleman from virginia seek recognition . Mr. Griffith mr. Chairman, i have an amendment at the desk. The chair the clerk will designate the amendment. The clerk amendment number 15 printed in house report 118242, offered by mr. Griffith of virginia. The chair pursuant to House Resolution 756, the gentleman from virginia, mr. Griffith, and a member opposed, each will control five minutes. The chair recognizes the gentleman from virginia. Mr. Griffith mr. Chairman, my amendment just plain common sense. It addresses the importance of all types of research and development, r d, funding at the department of energy, d. O. E. Specifically the Energy Research conducted at the office of fossil energy and Carbon Management at the office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. I believe we need a plan that is closer to parity between Renewable Energy and fossil fuels and research on ways to reduce the environmental and Climate Impact of the use of fossil files. In the underlying bill, 2. 994 billion is appropriated for Energy Efficiency Renewable Energy while only 857. 9 billion is appropriated for fossil fuel energy and carbon mitigation. Im arguing we should be closer to parity between the money appropriated for fossil energy and carbon Mitigation Research and d. O. E. s office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. My amendment increases the fossil energy and carbon mitigation account by 600 million along with a reduction of 1. 1 billion from the renewables account. Now, this year alone we have seen that these concepts that we are going to get rid of fossil fuels are just not realistic. Not realistic, mr. Chairman. We saw a plant open up or at least the plans for it for a panasonic plant in kansas that was going to do electric vehicle batteries. The problem was in order to get the plant, they needed more electricity. So the electric utility in kansas, evergy, decided they needed to keep one of the coalfired power plants they thought they were going to do away with to close down. They needed to keep it open because we couldnt build electric vehicle batteries without the fossil fuel powered coal powered plant. This is not the only place we see that. What we see is, in india, theres about 300 Million People that dont have electricity. A little bit less than the population of the United States. They dont have a steady source of electricity. So if youre a leader in india, mr. Chairman, i would submit, and you have coal which they do, youre probably going to build some coalfired power plants because their people deserve and want the same kind of electricity we have in our country, at least for now. And they want that. So theyre going to build coalfired power plants. China has been building coalfired power plants left and right. Some of the numbers indicate the energy con sums or Energy Production of those plants is equal to about two new plants every week last year. Theyre also funding more coalfired power plans in subsaharan africa. Heres what weve got. While we want to clean up the environment the world is going to continue to use fossil fuel, particularly coal. Not just in the United States. People say well, we can be completely pure. But thats my ypic. We cant be. Because when we look at the air supply in the world, according to a nasa study a few years back, it takes about 10 days from air to travel from the middle of the gobi dez et in china to the Eastern Shore of virginia. When all these other places are using fossil fuels isnt it smart on our part if we want to clean environment, mr. Chairman that we find better wryways to use that coalfired power that we find better ways to use gas pawer because were going to continue to use it whether we think we are or not and the rest of the world is going to continue to use it. We can export that money, export that research. With the money we spend here, get some of the money back maybe. More importantly we can clean up the air for the entire world instead of thinking that were living in some kind of bubble in the United States and if we get rid of coalfired power plants and fossil fuel plans everything will be hunky dourry. I reserve. The chair the gentleman from virginia reserves. For what purpose does the gentleman from tennessee seek recognition . Mr. Fleishchmann i rise to oppose my distinguished colleagues amendment. But i thank him. The chair the gentleman is rick niced. Mr. Fleishchmann i share some of my colleagues concerns about the excess spending at the e. R. E. , particularly in light of the billions in increased increased provided in past appropriations bill, the Inflation Reduction Act and infrastructure eere has billions in unobligated funds and exactly why this bill, the bill we have before the house, includes a large reduction to this account. However, in my view, respectfully, my colleagues amendment would go too far to practically eliminate the eere account and would impact the important work performed by the National Labs and universities to implement the research and Development Goals of eere. These goals include advancing Energy Solutions for the manufacturing of cement, steel and iron, creating and improving battery technologies, and developing critical mineral alternatives. While im a supporter of eere, i also recognize fossil fuels are going to be an important resource for many years to come. However, i dont believe these two accounts need to be at odds with each other. I prefer to meet the nations future energy needs which includes strategic reductions to eere that Prioritize Research activities like the goals i mentioned earlier. My distinguished colleagues amendment in my view upends that strategy and respectfully goes too far. For these reasons, i must oppose the amendment and urge my colleagues to do the same and i reserve the balance of my five. The chair the gentleman from tennessee reserves, the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Griffith i would say we disagree and heres why. Weve got to get to a point were in parity. Every time we look at it, the money for renewables is huge and the money for fossil fuel research where we can make things better for the whole world, is minuscule in comparison and would like to level it out. I would hope that would be the goal long term of our appropriators to level it out and why i brought this amendment. I, too, am for all the above and why i didnt zero out the account. But i think we have to Pay Attention whats happening in the world and not be myopic when it comes to recognizing well continue to use fossil fuels and we ought to do it cleaner and do it better and put more money in u. S. Research on fossil fuels from everything from using fossil fuels to come up with rare earth to making it cleaner when we burn it for electricity to build electric vehicle battery plants. The chair the gentlemans time has expired. The gentleman from tennessee is recognized. I yield to my Ranking Member, ms. Kaptur. The chair the gentlewoman from ohio is recognized. Ms. Kaptur i thank the gentleman for yielding. Thank you, mr. Chair. I rise in opposition to the gentlemans amendment. I hear what youre saying but i think that we have to work harder together to embrace the future and not just depend on the past. I agree with you on fossil fuels and rare earths. We visited the fossil fuel Energy Center in southwest pennsylvania. I was fascinated by some of the work going on there and i think we need to fund it, and we are. But this amendment reduces funding for the department of Energy Efficiency Renewable Energy account by 1. 2 billion. I dont think that that places america in the position i want her to be in, which is number one in the world. Now, that proposal is also on top of another 466 million in reduction in the underlying bill itself and the 1 billion Reduction Incorporated by the managers amendment, all right. So this Funding Provides for clean, affordable, and secure energy and ensures American Leadership in the transition to a global, clean energy economy. Ill tell you, this past year in my region of the United States, and it came here to washington ultimately, a very strange haze began floating down from canada into the United States due to the forest fires up there and the changing nature of the environment. Ive lived in the same place my whole life. And i never saw anything like that before. It ruined my roden drum rododendrum plant. And then my colleague said the winds took it all the way down to the panhandle of florida. And i said are you kidding me, it got that far . The earths ecosystem is changing and we have to catch up to Mother Nature. The account being targeted funds the office of energy, efficiency, and Renewable Energy, the office of state and Energy Programs that supports Important Services like the Weatherization Assistance Program to save energy, the office of manufacturing and Energy Supply chains, and the federal Energy Management program itself. Those programs focus on Energy Technology ranging from biofuels, first brewo fueled f16 flew out of the 18th fire wing in my district. That was a great moment. It was almost 15 years ago. And now biofuels have become a important part of our economy, hydrogen, solar, wind. A whole broad range of Energy Technologies to make america entering independent in perpetuity. Geothermal, building efficiency and weatherization. The list goes on. Without these programs, were jeopardizing u. S. Leadership across a range of possibilities. The world is set to invest a record of 1. 8 trillion in clean energy in 2023, and that is expected to climb to 4. 5 trillion by 2030. We want to be a leader. With 4. 5 trillion on the line, we have a choice to embrace American Leadership and invention. Let me just mention if the department of energys goals are achieved, the Hydrogen Energy will produce 140 billion in revenue and over 700,000 jobs by 2030. I strongly urge my colleagues to vote against this harmful amendment but im very happy to work with the gentleman to find ways we can reach accommodation and i yield back. Thank you. The chair the gentlewoman reserves . All time has been yielded back. The question therefore is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from tennessee excuse me, virginia, im sorry, just coming up here and changing things. From the gentleman from tennessee. Those in favor say aye. All those in favor say no. In the opinion of the chair, the noes have it. The amendment is not agreed to. Mr. Griffith mr. Chairman, i would request a recorded vote on the amendment. The chair pursuant to clause 6 of rule 18, further proceedings on the amendment offered by the gentleman from virginia will be postponed. It is now in order to consider amendment number 16 printed in part b of house report 118242. For what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition . Mr. Chairman, i have a amendment at the desk. The chair the clerk will designate the amendment. The clerk amendment d print inned house report 216242 offered by mr. Roy of texas. The chair pursuant to House Resolution 756, the gentleman from texas, mr. Roy, and a member opposed, each will control five minutes. The chair recognizes the gentleman from texas. Mr. Roy i thank the chairman. The amendment i have here fully defunds the office of Renewable Energy. The fy2003 omnibus gave it hads 2 billion and we believe we should defund it entirely coming on the heels of the 1. 2 trillion if you believe the reports of the impact of the so call Inflation Reduction Act that we believe is additional spending the market does not need. And if people want to go get electronic vehicles and people want to spend their money for something good for them, great. But to have this office continue to be funded and perpetuate this when the Offices Mission is to equityily translate to6 energy by 2030, were undermining our economy in the process making us beholden to china and undermining our ability to actually have a serious policy in the middle east, by the way. Right now we dont have sanctions in place, allowing iran to make billions, upwards of 6 60 billion, depending on the report you look at, on dollars theyre making on exporting oil to china and weve totally blown it with saudi which created the environment were dealing with in the middle east while this administration dumped the Strategic Oil preserve while pursuing this foolish policy undermining our own energy and economy. And were saying go ahead, lets appropriate another 2 billion for 9 office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. We dont need to be doing this. Let the American People sort this out. Were going to go subsidize wind and solar because it supposedly quote, enhanced reliability. Tell that to the people of texas. Texas has more wind than any other state in the country. Yeah, so thumbs up, thats great, say that to the people who wonder if theyll have power because the grid in texas is getting dangerously close not having the ability to sustain. The only reason were able to sustain it is because texas is trying to push and hold up the coal and gas fired plants that actually provide Reliable Energy and were subsidizing the unReliable Energy at the expense of the Reliable Energy. And instead of building Nuclear Power, instead of making sure the gas power plant is sitting there ready to roll, theres no investment in any of the projects going on to texas gas fired plants, american texas gas we should, by the way, be exporting around the world including to europe and instead are undermining our very grid, our own Reliable Energy and undermining our ability to compete in the world. I would suggest that this would be money that would be better spent, especially when, i dont know, last time i checked, 2 trillion of deficits. Like what are we spending our money on . Seriously . How are we going to balance our budget and eliminate deficits when we keep spending money on projects like this . I reserve. The chair the gentleman reserves. For what purpose does the gentleman from tennessee rise . Mr. Chairman, i rise to oppose the amendment. The chair the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Chairman, i thank the distinguished gentleman, mr. Roy of texas, for filing this amendment. I respectfully oppose the same. I do share some of my colleagues concerns about the excess spending at eere. Mr. Fleischmann i also would like to emphasize eere received over 16 billion from the infrastructure and investment and jobs act and many of these dollars are still unobligated. These reasons are exactly why the original bill reduced eere by 466 Million Dollars below the fiscal year 2023 level and why i offered further reductions in this bill of 1 billion. In total, these reductions would bring eere below the fiscal year 2016 level. However, my colleagues amendment goes too far in eliminating eere. Im a supporter of the eere program and the work they do to advance research and development on renewable technologies, advanced manufacturing, and battery improvements, including essential work on Critical Minerals that will help lay the groundwork for technology that will reduce our reliance on foreign supplies. I think this is an issue we all can support. I support strategic reduction to eere but not in favor of eliminating the account and walking away from its ongoing work. For these reasons, i must respectfully oppose the amendmentened urge my colleagues to do the same. The chair the gentleman from tennessee reserves. The gentleman from texas is recognized. Mr. Roy well, i think my friend and colleague, and i appreciate the fact that through his work and the work of republicans, we did reduce it by 1 billion but remains a 2 million in funding. I say to my colleagues on both side of the aisles, how will we balance the budget when we continue to fund things like this . Thats my question. Why dont we pay for this, then . Can we pay for this then . Why tonight we pay for this out of the Inflation Reduction Act or pay for it by some of the i. R. S. Agents that got expanded. Then go to the American People and say what would you like to give up to pay for that . Thats what id like to know from 9 American People, what would you give up in order to pay for 2 billion of more of this kind of subsidy. By the way, the Inflation Reduction Act, 90 of subsidies go to corporations making over 1 billion. 78 of vehicle tax credits are claimed by americans making over 100,000 or couples making up to 300,000 are still eligible. These subsidies could make wind or solar account for 60 of Electricity Generation by 2050 which might sound find in unicorn land but for people who need energy on a cloudy, windless day, we might want to have gas or coal or nuclear. By the way, all of this subsidizes the heck out of china. Were talking about making us not reliant on Foreign Energy sources, well, what about china . China is the one producing most of these solar panels, a lot of the about a battery elements, why are we continuing to do that . I suggest that that is a waste of taxpayer money and unpaid for and we shouldnt continue to perpetuate it and thats my time and i yield the chair the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. The gentleman yields back the balance of his time the gentleman from tennessee. Mr. Fleischmann i yield to my Ranking Member. The chair the gentlewoman from ohio is recognized. Ms. Kaptur i rise in strong opposition. The bill cuts the efficiency and Renewable Program by 42 below last year. There are a lot of people complaining about that. And i would be the first one to say that our country should not cede any market or qua pit you late. We have to keep our foot on the accelerating. And texas has been a leader in so many ways and not just wind energy. In terms of the solar energy and how do we pay down the debts that prior congresses and administrations racked up, we grew our economy. By growing our economy, our revenues are coming into the private sector and government and whole more people who arent paying fair share of taxes should be. That would help. This is not to kill economic growth. And one of the way we do is create jobs. We have to keep up our dominance in this country and for the solar energy and i represent the most important domestic manufacturer of solar in our country. Overall, the whole industry across our nation supports 330,000 jobs now. 20 years ago, they were in a different position. 40 years ago, they almost didnt exist. America is creating utility solar. And the invention of the American People is unstoppable. We cant give a signal we are going to a qua pit you late. Grids are worn out. And ask anybody in ohio in this. We will fibbed a way by growing an economy and it has allowed us to modernize grid. Lets connect the dots and choose to give up American Leadership in these technologies or put our foot on the accelerator and the gentlemans amendment moves america backwards and i cant support it. The chair the gentleman from tennessee is recognized. Mr. Fleischmann i yield back. The chair the gentleman from texas is recognized. Mr. Roy the im out of time. The chair the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from texas. Thaiferred. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair, the noes have it. For what purpose does the gentleman from texas rise . Mr. Roy request the yeas and nays. The chair does the gentleman request a recorded vote . Mr. Roy yes, sir. The chair pursuant to clause 6 rule 18, further proceedings on the amendment offered by the gentleman from texas will be postponed. It is now in order to consider amendment number 19 printed in part b of house report 118242. For what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition snr. Mr. Perry ive got an amendment at the desk. The clerk amendment number 19 printed in part b of house report 118242 offered by mr. Perry of pennsylvania. The chair punt to house he like 756, the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. Perry and a member opposed each will control five minutes, the chair recognizes the gentleman from pennsylvania. Mr. Perry this strikes 35 million in Clean Energy Demonstrations. Those unfamiliar with this office, it accelerates the market adoption, the market adoption of clean Energy Technologies and fills a gap on the path to 100 clean energy by 2035 and net zero emissions by 2050. Im going to characterize it a different way. Since the real market, the private market wont do it. And you will pay for it by your taxes and have less Reliable Energy as soon as possible and we can be less energy independent. Thats what it does, courtesy of your federal government. The project Long Duration Energy Storage and Energy Systems for electric vehicles, which are also being subsidized by your federal government under force of penalty of you not paying your taxes. The democrats continue to push this technology when the draw backs technology are clear. The actual grid is being powered by solar and Wind Energy Sources that are unreliable and dont work when the sun is not shining. Battery technology is not there and all that stuff that i talked about comes from china. And by the way, built with slave labor whether that is in the congo. Your tax dollars are supporting it under penalty of law. Try not paying your taxes and see what happens then. Vehicles powered by this grid are built largely using slairve labor and our reliance on the communist party of china since they control all the necessary components in the mineral supply chains. Not that we dont have them in aamerica. They say they are rare earth minerals. They are not rare. The left does havent allow it and we have to buy it from china and thats another story. Vehicles powered by this grid are built by largely using the slave labor and the supply chains. They have limited range. Lithium batteries catch fires and they are more difficult to extinguish than traditional fires. This office is managing 2. 5 billion for Carbon Capture and green technology. If these were so great, why isnt the market already adopting and innovating without taxpayer handouts. My friends on the other side of the aisle say this isnt going to happen. If we dont take your tax dollars, it aint going to happen. My goodness. Thank goodness this country didnt become the greatest without the federal government subsidizing all this stuff. I dont know how Ford Motor Company would have made it. Somehow they did it, mr. Speaker. I appreciate that the chairman did not approve additional funds for these clean demonstration products but my amendment strikes funds for this office. I urge support and reserve. The chair the gentleman from pennsylvania reserves. For what purpose does the gentleman from tennessee rise . Mr. Fleischmann i rise to oppose the amendment. The chair the gentleman from tennessee is recognized. Mr. Fleischmann i thank mr. Perry for filing this but i must oppose. The office of Clean Energy Demonstrations is primarily responsible for implementing and managing over 21 million provided by the infrastructure and jobs act. Im aware of the scale of that sum of money and importance of our oversight responsibility to ensure taxpayer funds are correctly administered. Thats exactly why the house bill includes no funding and i repeat no funding for the office to conduct no new demonstrations and includes funding for Program Direction for staff to provide project management oversight. My colleague would prevent the office from ensuring that our taxpayer dollars are being used effectively and efficiently and would impact the success of Important Programs within the offices jurisdiction like the advanced reactor demonstration program. That program enjoys strong bipartisan support. The program is essential to the deployment of advanced reactors ensuring our nations Energy Security and regaining u. S. Leadership in Nuclear Energy. We cant abandon our oversight responsibilities and risk the success of programs like these. For these reasons, i must oppose the amendment and urge my colleagues to do the same. I reserve. The chair for what purpose does the gentlewoman from ohio seek recognition . Ms. Kaptur i seek no time. The chair the gentleman from pennsylvania. Mr. Perry i respect the good the gentleman from tennessee and i thank him for the time. I dont know, seems like a lot of money still remaining for project management oversight doesnt seem to be billions of dollars of money for help me. I am proud to say in the district i represent, some of the fusion Reactor Research being done in france is being produced in the district i represent, which is awesome. We dont need to be paying for it. France is paying for it and we are providing expertise and some material. And oh by the way, the good the gentleman from tennessee, much of the home of nuclear fission, god bless america, i think its awesome. When we have built a nuclear reactor. One was just shut down. We are paying for this research. Tell me where it ends. What does it produce . It doesnt produce anything . Maybe i could see it, we are paying for them and putting the research on the shelf or giving it to france. Ladies and gentlemen, i dont care what it costs. It ought to end. I urge adoption and yield the balance. The chair the gentleman yields back the balance of his time the gentleman from tennessee. Mr. Fleischmann i yield. The chair the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from pennsylvania. Those in favor, say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair, the noes have it. Mr. Fleischmann i request a recorded vote. The chair pursuant to clause 6 of rule 18, further proceedings on the amendment offered by the gentleman from pennsylvania will be postponed. Now in order to consider amendment number 20 printed in part of house report 118242, for what purpose does the gentleman from South Carolina seek recognition . The clerk amendment number 20 printed in part b of house report offered by mr. Norman of South Carolina. The chair the gentleman from South Carolina and a member opposed each will control five minutes. The chair recognizes the gentleman from North Carolina. Mr. Norman what my amendment it alimb limb natures funding for advanced Research Projects projects energy. 470 million. What this advanced Research Project is designed to fund high risk, high reward projects on which the private sector wouldnt invest in. Since its taxpayers money, thats what this amendment is proposed to cut. The propose is that arpa doesnt seem to follow its own guidelines. The federal government has offered grants to companies and projects that are neither high risk nor something that private industry cannot support. They dont need the crutch. These problems with arpa were identified by the g. A. Oomplet and department of Energy Inspector general and house science committee. Of the small and Mediumsized Company that received an award, g. A. O. Found that 18 received private sector investments for similar technology. Its a duplicate. G. A. O. Found 1218 Companies Used arpae funding to advance or accelerate prior funded projects. Im in the real estate business that is like paying me double to build you a house or shopping center. How much sense does that make . It doesnt. In your world, it pays double. How does that work out. It is taxpayers money and shouldnt have been funded. High risk and high reward programs are not necessary when there is a bias to fund technologies that have received technology to make funding on the surface to appear. Congress should conduct research that the private sector would never undertake and allow the private sector using private funds to tap into that research and federal labs should allow research to reach the market argue anically and we should defund arpa as the Trump Administration did. The market is the best place to determine the merit of the market and determine whether it is a good or bad investment. If the project cannot find private support, its a good indicator of its prospect for success. Certainly a lack of private investors alone does not justify using taxpayers money to support a project. Indeed, technologies that lose private financing as they move closer to commercialization are likely the worst bets for taxpayers money since professional investors have already determined them to be losers. And what you find out on grants such is as this, if you really analyze the line items, it goes to overhead. Whats overhead . Thats paying salaries of people with jobs that you cant determine you cant have an outcome for. Ive seen these. Thats why a lot of the grants that are written are vague and can use the money wherever. Its not like its a 50,000 investment, 470 million, at a time when our growing National Debt passed 33 trillion, we cant continue to use taxpayer dollars to fund this useless research. I think the last figure i heard that one of my colleagues mentioned were paying on the on the 33 trillion, 20,400 per second on just the interest, not counting the principal. As i mentioned, arpa does not follow guidelines and is loosely interpreted and can use the money wherever they want. And my question is, why are arpa funding and not private capital . If its that good of a project, let the private sector invest in it. They have sharp investors that know what theyre doing and can determine whether they want to risk their capital. So in short, this project should be defunded. Its at a time we cant afford it, and i would urge the for the cut of this 470 million project for something that yields no benefit to the taxpayers and urge adoption. I yield back. The chair the gentleman from South Carolina yields. For what purpose does the gentleman from tennessee rise . Mr. Fleischmann thanks, mr. Chairman, i rise in opposition to the amendment. The chair the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Fleischmann i thank my good dear friend and colleague, mr. Norman, from South Carolina for filing this but i must respectfully rise in strong opposition to the amendment. My colleagues amendment would eliminate the advanced Research Projects agency or arpae. Its mission is to Fund Projects not yet addressed in the private sector but can bring about transformational shifts in current Energy Technologies. Nearly 75 of arpae awards goes to Small Businesses and academia. Arpae projects have led to over 1,000 patents being issued and have attracted more than 11. 5 billion in funding from the private sector. These projects push the envelope on whats possible in the Energy Sector and will continue to play an Important Role in maintaining u. S. Leadership to develop the next generation of Energy Technologies. I believe these are goals all of us can support. I therefore must respectfully oppose the amendment and urge my colleagues to do the same. Mr. Chairman, i reserve the balance of my time. The chair the gentleman has the only time. The gentleman from tennessee . Mr. Griffith thank you, mr. Chairman. I yield to my Ranking Member, ms. Kaptur. The chair the gentlewoman from ohio is recognized. Ms. Kaptur i thank the gentleman for yielding and rise in opposition to this amendment. Im sure the gentleman offering it is well intentioned but i just want to say in many of the Energy Technologies that i have observed, unlike the Real Estate Industry, they always say real property, can you tangibly touch it and see that its there and measure it. Arpae focuses on that which is not yet measurable. You see the movie oppenheimer and loot the history of our country and how we moved into atomic energy, it was experimental and very dangerous. The government got involved, at that point in history we had to win a war. And we learned a whole lot about Nuclear Energy at that point, but part of it was uncontrollable. And i was at an event yesterday with companies that are working on unbelievable technologies which arent quite solved yet but where we can take metals like titanium and nickel and do things with them to carry current we never were able to do before. Theyre working with Research Labs because its so utterly complicated. So i would say to the gentleman, sometimes private enterprise doesnt invest because the research has to occur through a longer period of time and you need programs like arpae who do the most amazing work. Our tracking technologies and Drilling Technologies for natural gas came through not the private sector initially but came through the government of the United States because there wasnt any private Sector Company willing to up vest. I know my own district where we are known for the glass industry, some of the research thats been necessary to actually thinly layer different types of material in order to produce more efficient solar panels had to be assisted with government help because there was no there were no Angel Investors in my part of the country, so the department of energy, through voltaic research, followed investors doing great things in america to help move their Technology Forward so now we have the best producer of solar, not east coast or south but in the great lakes region. What ive seen out of arpae is high level basic research that most companies, frankly, arent dedicated to. Its very different than the Real Estate Industry and over a longer time horizon. I urge my colleagues to vote against this amendment and yield back, thank you. The chair the gentlelady yields back. The gentleman from tennessee. Mr. Norman i yield back. The chair for the amendment offered by the gentleman from South Carolina, say aye. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no, in the opinion of the chair, the noes have it. Mr. Norman i request a recorded vote. The chair the gentleman requests the yeas and nays. Pursuant to clause 6 of rule 18, the proceedings on the amendment of the gentleman from South Carolina will be postponed. The chair understands amendment number 22 will not be offered. The chair understands amendment number 24 will not be offered. In order to consider amendment number 25 printed in part b of house report 1182 22 118242, for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognitions mr. Escobar i have an amendment at the desk. The chair amendment 25 printed in part b of house report d of 242 offered by mr. Perry of pennsylvania. The chair pursuant to House Resolution 756, the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. Perry, and a member opposed, each will control five minutes. The the chair recognizes the gentleman from pennsylvania. Mr. Perry this amendment cuts 35 million in the appalachian Funding Commission lowering it to 165,000, the iija provided the Appalachian Regional Commission with an advanced appropriation of 200 million a year. The entirety of its authorization level for fy22 through 26 means every dollar provided by this bill is more than the authorization level. We authorize things here and then pay for them. Its authorized at a lower level and were paying much more. In other words, under this amendment, the arc would receive 365 million for the fiscal year rather than 400 million provided by this underlying bill. Even with this minimal cut under this amendment, the programs funding is extremely and still extremely bloated, and its effectiveness remains unclear, as do all the Regional Commissions. Moreover, this commissions programs are duplicative of other federal Economic Development programs and better addressed by state and local levels. In fact the fy18 budget justification identified the Appalachian Regional Commission failed to show a strong link between grants and a positive impact on the communities they serve. Worse, this year the commissions Inspector General identified the massive increase in the commissions funding in recent years as a threat to its variability to verify grant proposals, measure performance and conduct appropriate oversight. We talked about the last one we needed the money for oversight, this one we have so much money they cant oversee it. This is your federal government at work here. The spike in funding threatens to worsen an already tenuous link between funding and success, simply must bring the funding level for the arc, the Appalachian Regional Commission, down to ensure it has the capacity to ensure it meets its mission. With that, mr. Chairman, i reserve the balance. The chair the gentleman reserves. For what purpose does the gentleman from tennessee seek recognition . Mr. Fleischmann i rise to oppose the amendment. The chair the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Fleischmann thank you, mr. Chairman, and i thank my distinguished friend from pennsylvania for filing the amendment. My great state of tennessee which i represent, Third District of tennessee in our state and other states greatly benefit from the Appalachian Regional Commission. This amendment would eliminate the Appalachian Regional Commission which provides funding for hundreds of costshared projects partnering with private industry to bring needed jobs to this depressed region. The energy and water bill maintains funding for the a. R. C. At the fiscal year 2023 level of 200 million. These communities and many of which i represent cannot afford to lose millions of dollars in private investment this commission leverages. I respectfully urge a no vote on this amendment. The chair does the gentleman yield back . Mr. Fleischmann i reserve, mr. Chair. The chair the gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized. Mr. Perry i reserve. The chair the gentleman from tennessee. Ms. Fleischmann i yield to my Ranking Member ms. Kaptur. The chair the gentleman is recognized. Ms. Kaptur i rise in strong opposition of this amendment and in support of the Appalachian Regional Commission. Let me say the commission itself is a partnership between the federal government, 13 state governments focusing on 423 counties across the Appalachian Region. Residents in parts of pennsylvania, evidently the gentlemans area is not covered, is served by this commission. Since 1965, the Appalachian Region has been struggling. And they made progress. Significant progress. The number of high poverty counties in appalachia has been cut by 60 since 1960. Its a long road. And the regional poverty rate has been cut by more than half. God bless them. However, the region still lags behind the nation and continues to encounter challenges such as the severe Substance Abuse crisis as well as the downturn in the coal economy. So this is a part of america we have to lift up. Ive been very impressed with the work that theyre doing in terms of restoration of the Natural Environment and expanded tourism. Theyre working together collaboratively and strongly urge my colleagues to vote against this amendment. Lets help the American People who need it. Thank you and i yield back. The chair the gentlelady yields back. The gentleman from tennessee is recognized. Mr. Fleischmann i yield back. The chair the gentleman yields back. The gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized. Mr. Perry thank you, mr. Chairman. Just so happens i had a hearing about a week ago on the Appalachian Regional Commission and all the other commissions. Interesting that this has been around since the 196 0s. There is a map of the Appalachian Region of which the home i reside in looks on the South Mountain of the appalachian mountain range. So i live right in the center of this thing. What was interesting to me of the map i looked at provided by the commission since the 1960s showed counties that had reached attainment, counties that had reached attainment. Well, none of them had reached attainment. Been around since the 1960s. All the ones that hadnt reached attainment in the 1960s still havent reached attainment in 2023. Were spending all this money and not getting anything for it. Were getting some things for it, you might be able to get a theater in your community reconstructed with the help of the federal government or a trail, which is awesome. These are great programs. Im not here to argue theyre not. What im arguing is two things. Its not the job of the federal government, number one. These are things conby local communities and states and number two, this is above the authorization. This commission was authorized funding. We dont dispute that. I dont dispute that. But were spending money above the authorization and i we are some 30 trillion in debt with nothing in sight except more debt and people say there is nowhere to cut. We authorized this. This body authorized this at a lower level and we appropriated at a higher level. When you dont have anymore more money and borrowing money to pay your bills, it would be easy to say well pull back a little here and go to what is authorize d, which is a lot, hundreds of millions of dollars. But i guess thats going to be a problem here. This has no federal nexus. There are nice people working here and do nice things. This is a boondoggle. And spending money and duplication of services and this town has to realize the taxpayer doesnt have any more money and spent elsewhere on the same projects. I urge adoption and i yield the balance. The chair the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from pennsylvania. Those in favor, say aye. Those opposed, no. The noes have it. Pier per mr. Perry i request the yeas and nays. The chair does the gentleman request a recorded vote. Pursuant to rule 6 shall clause 6 of rule 18, further proceedings will be postponed. Now in order to consider amendment number 26. For what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition . Mr. Perry i have an amendment at the desk. The clerk amendment number 26 printed in part b of house report 118242 offered by mr. Perry of pennsylvania. The chair pursuant to House Resolution 756, the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. Perry, and a member opposed, each will control five minutes. The chair recognizes the gentleman from pennsylvania. Mr. Perry this cuts funding to the delta Regional Commission back to the f. Y. 19 level. They sought to cut funding by 3 million. The budgets all sought type to eliminate for the commission identifying it as duplicative of other Economic Development programs. Like i said, its the same thing here. I just had a hearing on it. The same arguments were made. The f. Y. 2021 that the delta Regional Commission is set aside for special designations rather than on objective criteria. Again, dont seem to be addressed even though we spend millions of dollars with 33 trillion in the hole. And i dont know if you looked at the economics and financials of how much more we have gone in debt in the last couple of months. Something has to shock the conscience of this congress because it is shocking the American People cant afford food, gasoline, credit card payments and you have to buy a new car or buy a new home. You cant allow for the rapid growth of commissions that duplicate, they literally duplicate other federal programs undeterred. And regardless of the duplication of the federal programs, most of it looks like it is local or state programs. Again, worthy things. The question is is there a federal nexus here and there is not. There is poor oversight and we dont have the money to do it. And timely before i reserve, this is not a partisan issue. Democrat president s and republican president s have called for the abolishment or decommission of these. It is a fiscal issue and responsibility issue. These things need to be dealt with. State and locals need to do it. And we dont have the money. With that, i reserve. The chair the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. For what purpose does the gentleman from tennessee rise . Mr. Fleischmann i rise to oppose the amendment. Once again, i thank my friend the gentleman from pennsylvania for filing this amendment but i must strongly oppose it. This bill provides 31. 1 million for the delta regional authority. This small investment targets hundreds of depressed communities in the mississippi delta region. These communities cannot afford to lose the millions of dollars in private investments this commission leveragees i respectfully urge a no vote and i reserve. The chair the gentleman reserves. The gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized. Mr. Perry i reserve. Mr. Fleischmann at this time i yield to the the gentlewoman from, my friend from louisiana, congratulations to the great state of louisiana and you have our great majority leader but ms. Letlow has been a wonderful member of the Appropriations Committee and been great to have her on the committee representing louisiana. I yield two minutes to her. The chair the gentlelady from louisiana is recognized. Ms. Letlow i rise in opposition to amendment number 26 which will slash funding by 6. 1 million this federalstate partnership is a lifeline to my district and state to address vital infrastructure, work force for rural towns. These towns have little to no tax base to be able to raise the funds themselves to replace aging infrastructure systems. Rural communities do not have the resources to hire grant writers. And because of this, these towns miss out on National Grant competition. The funding supports the Pilot Program to help these communities and provide assistance to write applications while cutting 6. 1 million may not seem like a lot, i see what it can do to grow a rural town. It has had minimal a cut in funding this deep would be a step in the wrong direction. In behalf of rural towns across the delta regions, i urge my colleagues to oppose this amendment. The chair the gentlelady yields. The gentleman from tennessee. Mr. Fleischmann i reserve. The chair the gentleman reserves. The gentleman from pennsylvania reserves. The gentleman from tennessee is recognized. Mr. Fleischmann i yield back. The chair the gentleman yields back the balance of his time the gentleman from pennsylvania. Mr. Perry i will be quick to close here and congratulate for the gentlelady of the success of all the house of representatives and their contribution. On this occasion, i must disagree. As i said, i just had a hearing with the delta Regional Commission and she is right it targets hundreds of communities as do all these commissions. They target hundreds of communities. One of the things fascinating i asked the metrics by what anything is mered . Is there some standard or to know where all these millions of dollars that are being spent get us anywhere and fix anything and do anything other than we make sure the grants got out and we helped with the grant writing and we fixed up the sidewalk or theater. Those are allah some things that are provided by someone else, by the way and what was the metric you measured your success . Close your eyes, what do you see, because thats what i got back. There is no measure of success here. Ladies and gentlemen, this is well intended and well meaning and unaffordable and unnecessary. I yield. The chair the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from pennsylvania. Those in favor, say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair, the noes have it. Mr. Perry i request a recorded vote. The chair pursuant to clause 6 of rule 18, further proceedings on the amendment offered by the gentleman from pennsylvania will be postponed. It is now in order to consider amendment number 27 printed in part b of 118242. For what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition . Mr. Perry i have an amendment at the desk. The clerk amendment number 27 printed in part b of house report 118242 offered by mr. Perry of pennsylvania. The chair pursuant the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. Perry and a member opposed each will control. Mr. Perry this reducing commission to the Denali Commission. Providing job training and other services in rural alaska can be better served by the 29 other federal program in which it duplicates the very same efforts. The Obama Administration sought to eliminate funding in 2012 because it was duplicative back then and did not select. Say it aint so, but it is so. In 2013, the Inspector General called for the elimination. Perry, you are just mean. You dont want to help poor people or rural people. I came from a house no plumbing. We had an outhouse and no insulation and the roads werent paved and i made it to congress. It wasnt the federal governments job to fix my moms house or get me to work. In 2013, the Inspector General for the commission called for the elimination of the program stating that he recommended that congress put its money elsewhere. The Trump Administration likewise sought to eliminate the commission in f. Y. 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021. Seems imprudent to fund another commission in the face of two administrations, one democrat and one republican and the Inspector General recommendation that we crease cease funding. And we should keep it flat at its precovid level. Im not asking to eliminate it but two administrations said it ought to be eliminated and the Inspector General said it should be go. Im just saying save money here because we have a debt that we cant afford. Ladies and gentlemen, i have been to places where the country can no longer. You walk through shells of buildings, walked away by the workers that are there once funded by their government. I have watched that in this town right across the river. St. Elizabeths and couldnt afford it anymore and walked away. It is a tragic sight. Its not going to be just this place. If we afford the things we want, we have to make difficult choices. We are taking in 5 trillion and spending 7. 2 trillion. Im not a math ma tissue and but its not adding up. I reserve. The chair for what purpose does the gentleman from tennessee seek recognition . Mr. Fleischmann i rise to oppose the amendment. The chair the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Fleischmann thank you, mr. Chairman. My colleague has been opposition to these Regional Commissions. I respectfully disagree. The amendment would reduce funding for the Denali Commission, which is funded at 17 million in this bill, the same as fiscal 2023. It helps distressed communities with basic infrastructure with water and sewer systems. I urge a no vote on this amendment. And i yield back. The chair the gentleman yields back the balance of his time the gentleman reserves. The gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized. Mr. Perry i reserve. The gentleman from pennsylvania has the only time remaining. Mr. Perry ill close quickly here. And i appreciate the good the gentleman from tennessee. He has a lot to work with and not easy and we appreciate this. This is a Regional Commission. Regional Commission Like the other ones, like the and latch indiana and delta regional and this one exists in this one exists in only one place, alaska. Wonderful place. Part of the United States of america. But tax dollars from across the country, including pennsylvania, tennessee, or ohio, shouldnt go to pay for local projects that can be handled by state and local governments, especially when youre borrowing money to do it. We are out of money, ladies and gentlemen. Were out. So i would urge adoption of this amendment and i yield the balance. The chair the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from pennsylvania. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair the ayes have it. Mr. Fleishchmann i request a recorded vote. The chair the gentleman requests a recorded vote. Pursuant to clause 6 of rule 18, further proceedings on the amendment of the gentleman from pennsylvania will be postponed. It is now in order to consider amendment number 28 printed in part b of house report 118242. For what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition . Mr. Perry im going to speak on behalf of mr. Norman of South Carolinas amendment, number 28. Chip the gentleman rises as the designee of the gentleman from South Carolina in. Mr. Perry i do. The chair the clerk will designate the amendment. The clerk house report 118242, offered by mr. Perry of pennsylvania. The chair pursuant to House Resolution 756, the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. Perry, and a member opposed, each will control five minutes. The chair recognizes the gentleman from pennsylvania. Mr. Perry thank you, mr. Chairman. Apparently i was the reasonable one in the room because this amendment offered by mr. Norman would eliminate funding for the deal Lee Commission Denali Commission and i can support that as well. Unlike other commissions, the denall lee the deal tl Lee Commission serve onls one state. This has led to questioning of the need for the commission since federal funds handled by the commission could be distributed to the state of alaska an other local entities without going through the step of one more burachcism after all, state and local governments are more knowledgeable and better equipped than the federal government to address the needs of local communities. I think we all would recognize that. Both the Government Accountability office and Congressional Budget Office have raised concerns about the need for the Denali Commission as have i. Eliminating fund for the Denali Commission was also suggested by the Obama Administration and the Trump Administration. At a time when our growing National Debt has surpassed 33 trillion we cannot continue to use taxpayer dollars to fund wasteful, unnecessary and duplicative programs with the Denali Commissions own o. I. G. , office of Inspector General, highlighting how wasteful the agency is, why dont we just listen and eliminate this unnecessary federal agency . I yield correction, i reserve the balance. The chair the gentleman from pennsylvania reserves. For what purpose does the gentleman from tennessee seek recognition . Mr. Fleishchmann i rise to oppose the amendment. The chair the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Fleischmann i thank the gentleman from pennsylvania for bringing this motion on behalf of my distinguished friend from South Carolina. Like the prevet amendment, though this one is a bit more draconian, i respectfully rise in opposition to it for the reasons i alluded to earlier and i urge a no vote. I thank the gentleman. The chair does the gentleman yield . Mr. Fleischmann yes, i yield. The chair the gentleman yields. The gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized. Mr. Perry well, mr. Chairman, i thank the kind gentleman from tennessee for averring or implying im the reasonable one in the debate here. On behalf of the gentleman from South Carolina i urge adoption, i yield the balance. The chair the gentleman yields. The question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from pennsylvania. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair the noes have it. The amendment is not mr. Perry i request the recorded vote. The chair the gentleman requests the recorded vote. Further proceedings on the amendment offered by the gentleman from pennsylvania will be postponed. It is now in order to consider amendment number 29 printed in part b of house report 118242. For what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition . Mr. Perry ive got an amendment at the desk. The chair the clerk will designate the amendment. The clerk amendment number 29 printed in part b of house report 118242. Offered by mr. Perry of pennsylvania. The chair pursuant to House Resolution 756, the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. Perry, and a member opposed each will control five minutes. The chair recognizes the gentleman from pennsylvania. Mr. Perry thank you, mr. Chairman. I rise to offer this amendment to reduce funding for the northern border Regional Commission or the ndrc, to fiscal year 2019 levels. Like other Regional Commissions, the ndrc provides Economic Development, assistance to projects in various states in this case, maine, new hampshire, new york and vermont. These commissions simply serve as a slush fund though for parochial and regional projects with little to no National Nexus as described in the other ones. Lets take a look at some of the funded programs taken from the 2022 annual report which is the latest report available. 304,000 to purchase a sound system and auditorium in new hampshire. Over 345 over 354,000 to repair a railyard in upstate new york. At 350,000 for a Sailing Center on lake champlain. Im sure theyre awesome prompts, im sure their constituents love them. I dont understand why people in texas, california, georgia, you name it, i dont know why theyre paying for this especially when they cant afford the bills they already have as evidenced by a 33 trillion debt and a 2. 2 trillion deficit this year. Furthermore, the Biden Administrations aims to inject their misguided diversity, equity and inclusion and accessibility and climaterelated goal into these prompts are not only unaffordable, theyre completely unnecessary. Instead of pandering to special Interest Groups we must pare back these funds that only serve as a boondoggle for america this amendment does not zero out the commissions funding, it reduces the funding to precovid, prebiden spending level which is everybody on this side of the aisle voted against last december. Voted against those last december so we were against them last december. Getting pretty close to this december. I dont think a whole lot has changed. We were against them then, we should be against them now with that, i reserve the balance. The chair the gentleman reserves. For what purpose does the gentleman from tennessee seek recognition . Mr. Fleischmann i rise in opposition to the amendment. The chair the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Fleischmann this bill provides 40 million for the northern border Regional Commission, the same as last year. This Commission Seeks to create jobs in distressed communities of the fourstate northern region. While the impact to overall spending in this bill would be small, the impact felt by these communities would be large. I respectfully urge a no vote on this amendment. The chair does the gentleman yields . Mr. Flishman i yield. The chair the gentleman yields. The gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized. Mr. Perry thank you, mr. Chairman. I agree with my good friend if tennessee. I agree with the gentlelady, my friend from ohio. It does seek to create job. Thats awesome. Its not the role of the federal government. Number one. Number two, its unaffordable. Number three, we have no way to measure the success. You know how i know . Because i asked the folks that run these things. I asked them. What Standard Measure what metric do you use to measure the success by which you use this money and what we get out of it . Blank stares, unfortunately. With that i urge adoption. I yield the balance. The chair the gentleman yields back. The question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from pennsylvania. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair the noes have it. Mr. Perry i request a recorded vote. The chair pursuant to clause 6 of rule 18, further pr seed option the amendment offered by the gentleman from pennsylvania will be postponed. It is now in order to consider amendment number 30 printed in part brveg of house report 118242. For what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition . Mr. Perry ive got an amendment at the desk. The chair fancy that. The clerk will designate the amendment. The clerk amendment number 30 printed in part b of house report 118242 offered by mr. Perry of pennsylvania. The chair pursuant to House Resolution 756, the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. Perry, and a member opposed each will control five minutes. The chair recognizes the gentleman from pennsylvania. Mr. Perry thank you, mr. Chairman. I rise to offer this amendment to reduce funding for the southeast crescent Regional Commission, the scrc, fiscal year 2019. I want to i dont want to leave anybody out here. I listened to them all. Yet again this commission serves as a due public to us slush fund, this time for projects in alabama, florida, mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and virginia. Literally, by the way, in counties bordering this washington, d. C. Literally in counties bordering were talking about distressed counties. Some of the richest counties in the country. Right here. Are included in this Regional Commission. From f. Y. 2010 to f. Y. 2020 the scrc received 250,000 annually all without having an appointed federal cochair. You got that . Nobody in charge but theyre getting money. Thats awesome, only in the federal government. After a cochair was appointed in december of 2021, unfortunately, whether you like it or not, just conveniently related to it, influential politician in this body that number is now a whopping 20 million in this bill. Now im sure theres no coincidence. Just want to rely on everybodys integrity here. But theres absolutely no reason for the dramatic increase in funding. Especially when these project funds, they Fund Projects like electric vehicle charging stations. If you want those this in your community, god bless you. Go pay for them. Its not the federal governments job to pay for those. How about storm water management. An important issue. I come from pennsylvania. Weve got a lot of storm water. Im not asking the federal government to deal with it. We should deal with that at home. And green infrastructure. According to the scrcs 2023 through 2027 Strategic Plan. Our constituents do not have money for these projects that have no impact on their lives and in many cases drive up inflationary spending. Sure they have an impact where you live if you live in one of these places but if you dont you get to pay anyhow. This is why we have state governments. This is why we have local governments. Federal government supposed to be there obviously. But its not the job of the federal government and so again i ask my colleagues to consider reducing, not ending, not end, reducing the funding for this Regional Commission. With that, i reserve the balance. The chair the gentleman reserves. For what purpose does the gentleman from tennessee seek recognition . Mr. Fleischmann i rise to oppose the amendment. The chair the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Fleischmann i thank my distinguished colleague and friend from pennsylvania. He has been consistent and very thorough in all of his investigations. I do really appreciate this. This has been insightful. But once again, i must respectfully rise to oppose the amendment. The energy and water bill includes flat funding for the southeast crescent Regional Commission. The amendment would reduce this amount by 99 leaving only 250,000 not even enough to cale costs. This Commission Seeks to create jobs in some of the most poverty stricken arias of our nation and funding should not be decimated. I respectfully urge a no vote on this amendment. I yield back. The chair the gentleman yields back. The gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized. Mr. Perry thank you, mr. Chairman. I again say, this commission includes alabama, florida, georgia, mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and virginia, awesome places. Ive been to every one of them. Every one of them. Many of the residents of pennsylvania are moving to those states because theyre doing pretty well we lose population compared to these states every single 10 years which is why we lose a seat in Congress Every 10 year. Were spending money in pennsylvania on these states. Were not spending it in pennsylvania. Were spending it in these states so our residents then move to these states. For all the great things and when i asked, just so you know, the Regional Commissioner, i asked how much money has been spent in the counties surrounding washington, d. C. . Because as you recall virginia is included. How much money is spent on the counties right around washington, d. C. . Some of the most wealthy counties in the country. Yeah, you know it. I couldnt get the answer to that. I dont know if they dont have the answer or dont want to give me the answer. But thats unacceptable. The counties around washington, d. C. Can afford the amenity they was and they dont have to ask all these other states to pay for them and with that, i urge adoption and i yield the balance. The chair the the question is e amendment offered by the gentleman from pennsylvania. Those in favor, say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair, the noes have it. The gentleman requests a recorded vote, pursuant to clause 6 of rule 18, further proceedings on the amendment offered by the gentleman from pennsylvania will be postponed. It is now in order to consider amendment number 31. For what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition . Mr. Perry i have an amendment at the desk. The chair the clerk will designate the amendment. The clerk amendment number 31 offered by mr. Perry of pennsylvania. The chair the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. Perry and a member opposed each will control five minutes, the chair recognizes the gentleman from pennsylvania. Mr. Perry we are getting to the end here, but this amendment would be to haive the funding for the southwest Border Commission. This pentagon commission had its chairman in 2022 and started in 2021 funds in the southern Border Regions of arizona, california, new mexico and texas. Incidentally, the first chairman was the director of Economic Development and special initiatives for senator martin im rick who is chairman of these commissions. I know that folks on both sides of the aisle care about the border. I believe that. The answer to solving border problems is to enforce our nations immigration lawing laws and not give 5 million that has not published a Strategic Plan or even a website. I would think they could have a website with 5 million. It is now being funded at 5 million for f. Y. 2024 for literally no results. That is a lot of money and 5 million is more. I can see inflation and cost of living going up and people i represent, grocery costs and like that cost, not 250,000 to 5 million. Again this amendment simply strikes this figure in half to a still ex hosh ant 2 andahalf million. I reserve. The chair the gentleman reserves. For what purpose does the gentleman from tennessee rise . Mr. Fleischmann i rise to oppose the amendment. The chair gentleman is recognized for five minutes. Mr. Fleischmann my frnd and colleague from pennsylvania has been consistent in his opposition to these Regional Commissions. This amendment seeks to cut funding for the southwest border Regional Commission in half. This Commission Seeks to create jobs in some of the most povertystricken areas of our nation. This bill provides 5 million equal to fiscal year 2023. This amount ensures this commission can continuities work and cutting it in half would do knowing compared to the overall spending in the bill. I respectfully urge a no vote on this amendment and i reserve the balance of my time. The chair the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. The gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized. Mr. Perry i reserve. The chair the gentleman reserves. The gentleman from tennessee. Mr. Fleischmann at this time, i would like to yield to my dear friend, the gentleman from arizona, a fellow member of the Appropriations Committee, mr. Ciscomani as much time as he wishes to consume. I rise today in respectful opposition to this amendment by my good friend. The southwest border Regional Commission encompasses all five counties that i represent. In addition to 88 other counties in arizona, texas, new mexico and california. While i appreciate the sentiment of this amendment to bring in federal funding, cutting funding from the commission is not the way to do so. Of the 35 Million People the commission serves, nearly five million live in poverty. Additionally, of all the Regional Commissions, the southwest Border Commission has the largest population of 2. 4 Million People living in most economically distressed counties dealing with drought, economic downfall and overstressed resources as we see high levels of illegal immigration along the southwest border. Many of the people live in shortage areas and lack access to clean water and other necessities. The southwest border Regional Commission received its First Federal cochair last december. It has recently allowed to begin convening and to begin activities. It will be a shame to reduce funding that is so needed to promote Economic Development in our counties along the southwest border. I urge my colleagues to vote no. And i yield back. The chair the gentleman yields back the balance of his time the gentleman from tennessee is recognized. Mr. Fleischmann i yield back. The chair the gentleman yields. The gentleman from pennsylvania. Mr. Perry i appreciate the gentlemanfrom arizona and the gentleman from tennessee and the work they have done. Only in washington can you go from 250,000 to 2. 5 mill i dont know and call it a cut. Im not saying 250,000 is too much but 5 million is too much and spend 2. 5 million which is still too much and i get it and to the gentleman from arizonas point, he is right. Their states being ravaged by the federal governments refusal to follow the law and allowing people to flow across the border in their communities and destroy their communities. It cant be afforded by them or anybody else. But the solution is not to spend more money there to provide more services and encourage more people to come illegally while this administration refuses to enforce the law. The gentleman would agree with that sentiment. I understand he is trying to do right by his citizens and his and he has no control over it, neither does anybody in this body is to enforce the law. The president can do that and clear up this disagreement on this side of the aisle and that side of the aisle. Thats not going to happen. You know what else . We are not going to quit putting our country in debt and bankrupting it. Taking 5 trillion in revenue but spend 7. 2 trillion and my friend says it will not have an impact. 2. 5 million is a huge amount of money that most people dont have. While it might have impact in this town, it has a huge impact in my town. I yield back. The chair the gentleman yields back the balance of his time the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from pennsylvania of the. Those in favor, say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair mr. Perry i request a recorded vote. The chair for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania rise . Mr. Perry i request a recorded vote. The chair pursuant to clause 6 of rule 18, further proceedings on the amendment offered by the gentleman from pennsylvania will be postponed. It is to consider amendment 32. For what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition . Mr. Perry you will be happy to know i have the last amendment i have at the desk. The chair the clerk will designate the amendment. The clerk amendment number 34 offered by mr. Perry of pennsylvania. The chair the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. Perry and a member opposed each will control five in any events. Mr. Perry i dont want to leave anybody here on the abuse and waste i will keep it short. The Great Lakes Authority has only been authorized since 2022 and does not have a federal cochair and no website and no programs funded and yet strangely it is receiving federal dollars to the tune of 5 million for proper scrects in the watershed of illinois, michigan, minnesota, ohio, pennsylvania and wisconsin and i said pennsylvania and im from pennsylvania. But when you cant afford things and wasting money, you have to Say Something about it. We have seen how the other commissions. President trump urged the elimination of three of them and president obama offered cuts for the Denali Commission. With that level of bipartisan criticism, i dont see why we need to dig ourselves with yet another one. There is not a lot that we agree with in our town but there is some agreement on this and forge ahead with that agreement. I know people in this building with will scoff between 2. 5 million and 5 million. Where i come from, that is a lot of money. Where i come from thats a lot of money and that 2. 5 million isnt going towards a commission to begin operations. It shouldnt be going for that. There is nobody there to administer. All of us here know its not going to stop the 5 million. This is the beginning. The commission will balloon the tens of millions of congress using the power of its purse doesnt put its foot down. They say, they have one, they have one over there. Why dont we have one . And its going to go. I just remind everyone we are in a little bit debt, 2. 2 trillion this year, 33 overall. Somebody has got to say no. Somebody has to say no. I urge adoption and reserve the balance. The chair for what purpose does the gentleman from tennessee seek recognition . Mr. Fleischmann i rise in opposition to the amendment. I thank my friend from pennsylvania and colleague for his very thoughtful work on this entire project and covered all of these regions. This amendment seeks to cut funding of the Great Lakes Authority in half and i oppose it. This is a newly authorized Regional Commission intended to create jobs in communities that need it most. As we crafted this bill, mr. Chairman, we actually listened to members and got members requests. The Great Lakes Commission received a tremendous amount of bipartisan support for it. It is newly created and one of the reasons it had has never had funding because it is brand new. In that regard, in terms of the strong bipartisan support for this bill and for this commission, i urge a no vote and i yield back. The chair the gentleman yields back the balance of his time the gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized. Mr. Perry i understand and recognize the good intended efforts of heartfelt efforts of the people on the committee on both sides of the aisle and the members representing the states involved. I understand and i recognize that. There is no one there to administer there. But we are going to give them the money. We are borrowing money to give to a program with nobody there to administer on projects we havent seen it. I dont know about you, but it seems like we are borrowing an old phrase, putting the cart before the horse. Well, we need the money to set it up, problem is we dont have the money. We dont have any money. Number one, one. If you are showing me that crosses state lines building a highway between pennsylvania and ohio or Something Like that and we have a conversation going and already administrations and agencies to do that. Talked about that. Multiple agencies doing the same thing. Not just a couple, couple dozen. If that isnt enough, just go with your bosses cannot afford this. I urge adoption. The chair the gentleman yields back the balance of his time the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from pennsylvania. Those in favor, say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair, the noes have it. Mr. Perry i mr. Perry i request a recorded vote. The chair pursuant to clause 6 of rule 218 further proceedings on the amendment offered by the gentleman from pennsylvania will be postponed. It is now in order to consider amendment number 34 printed in part b of house report 118242. For what purpose does the gentlewoman from florida seek recognition . Mrs. Cammack i have an amendment at the desk. The chair the clerk will designate the amendment. The clerk amendment number 34 printed in part b of house report 118244, offered by mrs. Cammack of florida. The chair pursuant to House Resolution 756, the gentlewoman from florida, mrs. Cammack, and a member opposed, each will control five maines five minutes. The chair recognizes the gentlelady from florida. Mrs. Cammack i rise today in support of my amendment, which would restrict funds at the department of energy and related agencies from being used to finalize any rule or regulation that have an annual effect on the economy of 100 million or more. Under this administration, the Regulatory Environment or regime as i like to call it has never been worse. For too long, the everincreasing regulatory costs have harmed consumers and businesses across the country. Since President Biden took office, the regulatory landscape has detieror ated by numerous new rules and regulations that impact all aspects of our economy. Quite frankly, consumers bottom line. These are the regulations that have added hundreds of billions of dollars more in new regulatory costs that are ultimately passed down to our consumers who are our constituents. Recently, we have seen new outlandish regulatory proposals from agencies including the department of energys new regulations that were implemented under the guise of efficiency standards. In reality, these efforts are part of the administrations efforts to use every opportunity to implement the green new deal. Just look at the efficiency fan discards standards that take aim at banning gas stoves and furnaces. These regulations are absurd, unnecessary and make these alliances unobtainable or unaffordable. Particularly in this economy or biden economics as we have been told this is my amendment would rein in the actions of the department of energy and related agencies covered by this bill and restore accountability. Congress, not the executive branch is the sole legislative body in this country. It is time that we restore the accountability and transparency to our constituents. By reasserting our article 1 authority. Congress makes the law. Not the white house. This amendment would limit the overreach of these agecis and prevent costly regulations from going into effect that ultimately impact our constituents negatively. Its time we stand up for our constituents and rein in the overgrown bureaucratic government. I encourage all my colleagues to support this amendment and i reserve. The chair the gentlewoman reserves. Does any member seek recognition . For what purpose does the gentlelady from ohio seek recognition . Ms. Kaptur i seek recognition to oppose the amendment. The chair the gentlewoman is recognized for five minutes. Ms. Kaptur yes. This amendment is one more controversial poison pill policy rider that sadly shows extremist republicans are not interested in bills that can gain bipartisan support and become law. Lets have a little math. In 2012, before the bush tax cuts, the Congressional Budget Office showed revenues exceeding primary spending for the next 65 years. And that debt as a percentage of g. D. P. , our Gross Domestic Product, everything that we make in a year, would decline indefinitely. How about that. That was 2012. Since then, tax cut extensions and the trump tax cuts have added 10 trillion to the debt to date. And their costs will increase enough other time to account for the entire longterm growth in debt ratio. The trump tax cuts are costing us 2 trillion per year. Just look at it. Its unbelievable. Remember, those benefits are disproportionately enjoyed by the most wealthy. If we truly want to protect the american taxpayer, we should be marking up bills at levels agreed to between the president , speaker mccarthy, and signed into law in the fiscal responsible act, rather than bringing the government to the verge of a shutdown and now marking up bills that dont just break the deal, but obliterate it by cutting critical domestic investments. I cant wait for the Debt Commission to actually get the facts out there for the American People because ive been listening to this all evening. Its very much off the mark. So lets get serious. About passing bills that can gain bipartisan support and become law. And i strongly urge my colleagues to vote against this harmful amendment and yield back. The chair the gentlewoman yields. The gentlewoman from florida is recognized. Mrs. Cammack thank you, mr. Speaker. Im confused. My colleague across the aisle said that this is a controversial poison pill. Just this year, this exact same language was passed off of this floor in this chamber, not just with republican support, but democrat support. This is not a partisan issue. Reasserting the will of the people, empowering the people that hired us to do this job, that is not a controversial issue. Nor is it a poison pill. And none of our constituents sent us to washington to cede power to an unelected, nameless, faceless bureaucrat in a basement somewhere in washington. So i disagree tremendously that this piece of legislation, this amendment specifically, would be a poison pillle to the very thing that we are trying to accomplish here, one of our critical appropriation bills. I would also say that today, because of the Biden Administrations overreach and aggressive Regulatory Environment, we now spend more than 2 trillion a year in our economy on compliance and additional costs. Families are paying more than 14,860 a year in additional regulatory costs and burdens on them. I dont know many families, certainly not in my district, that can afford an additional 14,860 a year in additional cos. I agree with my colleague, however, it is time to get serious. And when i say serious, it means reasserting our authority as representatives of the people. This amendment does just that. With that, i reserve. The chair the gentlelady has the only time remaining. Would you like to yield . The gentlewoman from florida is recognized. Mrs. Cammack i yield. The chair the gentlewoman yields. The question is on the amendment offered by the gentlewoman from florida. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair the ayes have it. The amendment is agreed to. It is now in order to consider amendment number 35 printed in part b of house report 118242. For what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition . Mr. Fallon mr. Speaker, i have an amendment at the desk. The chair the clerk will designate the amendment. The clerk amendment number 35 printed in part b of house report 118242, offered by mr. Fallon of texas. The chair pursuant to House Resolution 756, the gentleman from texas, mr. Fallon, and a member opposed, each will control five maines. The chair recognizes the gentleman from texas. Mr. Fallon thank you, mr. Speaker. I rise today to offer an amendment that prohibits funding for the department of energys new rule on gas purr gases furnaces. Its a regulation that would drastically impact consumes for the a negative way. Under this rule manufacturers would only be allowed to sell furnaces that convert at least 95 of fuel into heat within six years. The department of nnch is forcing consumers to choose between an electric heat pump or expensive home renovations. Once again, unelected bureaucrats are gaslighting and yes, pun intended, congress, and the American People, about what they can do under the law. Under the guise of improving Energy Efficiency as prescribed by the environmental policy and conservation act, or epca, this administration has attacked every single affordable appliance on the market this gas furnace rule is just the latest salvo. We have been having hearings on the eversigh committee about this thing. Are we going to have gas stoves . Things like that. Epca states that any standard must result in significant Energy Conservation and be quoteunquote technologically feasible and quoteunquote, economicallyoffable. We have the authority to question the extent of these proposed standards to determine whether they can be construed as both technological feasible and economically justifiable. Like many of the Home Appliance standards rammed through by this administration this rule falls short of these falls short of this cry tier yasm the National Propane Gas Association sphiments estimates that this would impact 40 of gas furnaced homes and would remove up to 60 of current residential furnaces off the market. Additionally the department of energy estimates affected homes will have to pay 2,300 for Renovations Plus thousands of dollars for actual, additional dollars for actual furnaces. Propane customers in texas have already faced a 37 increase over the last three years and this Administration Quite frankly should focus on lowering costs and not increasing them. The Agency Actions that remove consumer choice, operating on the assumption that the federal government knows whats best for its citizens even more sew than the citizens themselves. Thats why ive always been a big limited government person. For a reason. I trust you, mr. Speaker, more so than i would trust the federal government to see what kind of stove or gas fur nats how do you want to heat your home . News flash. You know. Bureaucrats dont. If we want to have something that severe it should be legislated. Theres 435 of us here for a reason. We come here and if we want to change the law, want to create laws, last process for that. Shouldnt be unelected nameless, faceless bureaucrats with that kind of power this amendment is a check on arrogant bureaucrats who think that they know best. For you, mr. Speaker, me, our constituents, and Everyday Americans across the country. And with that, i reserve the balance of my time. The chair the gentleman reserves. Do members seek recognition on this amendment . For what purpose does the gentlewoman from ohio seek recognition . Ms. Kaptur i rise to oppose the gentlemans amendment. The chair the gentlewoman is recognized for five minutes. Ms. Kaptur the department of energy is charged with implements congressionally directed Energy Efficiency standards. So when the gentleman bleethly says not he doesnt like unelected bureaucrats, the people who work in these departments are trained and they actually help consumers. Frankly, i think its helpful for consumers to know when theyre going to buy a blouse, lets say, whether its cotton or rayon. Its sort of nice to have the label on there. Or if youre driving a car how many miles per gallon the car is going to get. You knowing, you sort of get a sense of will you buy this one or another one. With refrigerators, i think its great that you see how much energy it uses so you can buy a more efficient refrigerator so you have your electricity bill go down. So i dont know why the gentleman is objecting to helping the American Consumer make better choices. In accordance with the statutes we have passed, the department of energy has published regulations in the code of federal regulations, in other words not by some whim, for more than 60 categories of appliance and equipment types. That helps consumers make good choices. The department of energy drafts the Energy Efficiency regulations with the full participation of equipment manufacturers and the public at large. The process includes for roe consideration of all comments and concerns. In following the law, the department of energy has issued proposed or final standards for 24 product categories so far this year. And again these actions are by congressional direction. They just dont pick them out of the air. But actually its a process of law. These actions result in direct Energy Savings while also improving the reliability and performance across Household Appliances and commercial and industrial equipment. Theres a quote from Daniel Webster in this house that tells us, in our time and generation, may we perform Something Worthy to be remembered. Thats a really good quote to think about. I think its safe to assume that virt chally all american, let alone the people in this room, have benefited from these types of efficiency standards over the course of their lifetimes. And the benefits are real. As a result of the department of energys efficiency actions, cost savings for American Families and businesses are projected to reach nearly 2 trillion by 2030. The department of energy estimates that this is a that this specific rule would slash household utility costs by 1. 5 billion annually, something the American People want to do. And to save consumers 24. 8 billion on their energy bills over 30 years. Wow. Thats a big deal. If congress doesnt like these standards that should be through the energy and commerce committee. I would suggest to the gentleman he might want to go before that committee. And stopping from finalizing or enforcing standards will only create uncertainty for manufacturers and consumers. With respect to the Energy Efficiency standards for furnacees if they are concerned about the rules to increase costs to consumers they shouldnt be rescinding the rebates which will help many hardworking americans and save them money on their utility bills. I urge my colleagues to reject this amendment. The chair the gentleman yields. The gentleman from texas. How much time do i have left . The chair one minute. I thank my colleague its not unelected bureaucrats. They are on the Technical Support that overstate the climate benefits in order to justify more stringent Energy Efficiency standards and did the same rule with gas stoves and she said it is not on some whim. The department of energy uses random assignment modeling and ignores economic consideration. The rules state that it is not fuel neutral. This is president the case. But we have a fiveminute time limit and i yield back. The chair the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from texas. Those in favor, say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. The amendment is agreed to. For what purpose does the gentleman from tennessee seek recognition . I move that the committee do now rise. The chair the question is on the committee do now rise. Those in favor, say aye. Those opposed, no. The ayes have it. The motion is adopted. Accordingly, the committee ri rises. The chair the committee of the whole house on the state of the union having had under consideration h. R. 3394 directed me to report there is no resolution. The speaker pro tempore the chair of the committee of the whole house on the union has had under consideration 4394 and come to no resolution there on. For what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition . I ask unanimous consent that when the house adjourns today it adjourn to meet at 10 00 a. M. Tomorrow. The speaker pro tempore without objection. For what purpose does the gentleman from seek recognition . I move that the house do now adjourn. The speaker pro tempore the question is on the motion to adjourn. Those in favor, say aye. Those opposed, no. The iefers have it and the motion is adopted. Accordingly the house announcer today in the house louisiana congressman mike johnson was elected as the 56th speaker of the house. The final vote tally was 2202 09. Members pass a resolution condemning to hamas attack on israel and reaffirm support for israel and calls on hamas to release all hostages. Tomorrow house lawmakers will continue work on 2020 for energy and water legislation, and you can watch live coverage of the house when members return on cspan. Tonight at 11 00 eastern, President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden hosted a state dinner in honor of the australian Prime Minister. Watch as the bidens welcomed the Prime Minister to the white house, guest arrivals, dinner toasts anymore. Watch the white house state dinner tonight at 11 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan, cspan now app, our free mobile video app, or online at cspan. Org. Announcer i healthy democracy does not just look like this. It looks like this where americans can see democracy at work. When citizens are truly informed, our republic drives. Get informed straight from the source on cspan, unfiltered, unbiased, word for word from the nations Capitol Building to wherever you are because the opinion that matters the most is your own. This is what democracy looks like. Cspan, powered by cable. Announcer after 22 days the u. S. House of representatives has elected its 56th speaker, republican congressman mike johnson of louisiana. In the for about the final tally was 220 four mike johnson and 2094 Hakeem Jeffries. It comes following the removal of former speaker Kevin Mccarthy on october 3. Representative Elise Stefanik gave the nominating speech for mike johnson. Order. The chair now recognizes the gentlewoman from new york, ms. Stefanik. Ms. Stefanik speaker pro tempore, madam clerk, colleagues, on behalf of the House Republican conference, i rise today to nominate the gentleman from louisiana, mike johnson, as speaker of the peoples house