Brian Bilbray

Mr. BILBRAY

Mr. BILBRAY. Madam Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Colonel Christopher O'Connor, Commanding Officer of Marine Corps Air Station, Miramar (MCAS, Miramar) which I have the pleasure of representing. Colonel O'Connor has served his country with distinction for over twenty years and I wish him nothing but the best as a new chapter in his life begins. Colonel O'Connor was born and raised in New York where he received his commission through the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps (NROTC) at the University of Rochester in May of 1979. Since then, he has participated in humanitarian relief operations while deployed to the Republic of the Philippines, served as the Aviation Department's action officer for Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) issues and aviation training range systems and reported to the Office of Asian and Pacific Affairs in the Office of the Secretary of Defense where he served as the Country Director for Australia and New Zealand. In August 2006, Colonel O'Connor took over as Commanding Officer of MCAS, Miramar where he has excelled in working with local leaders while representing the Marine Corp with professionalism and distinction to communities surrounding the base and San Diego County as a whole. Colonel O'Connor's decorations include the Legion of Merit, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal with gold star, Joint Service Commendation Medal, Navy Commendation Medal, and Navy Achievement Medal. I applaud the good service that Colonel O'Connor has provided this country. He has been an absolute pleasure to work with throughout his tenure and I urge my colleagues to join me in celebrating this great American.

Mr. BILBRAY

Mr. BILBRAY. Madam Speaker, I submit the following: Requesting Member: Congressman Brian Bilbray Bill Number: H.R. 1105, the FY2009 Omnibus Appropriations bill Account: Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, Interstate Maintenance Legal Name of Requesting Entity: City of Encinitas, CA Address of Requesting Entity: 505 S. Vulcan Avenue, Encinitas, CA 92034 Description of Request: I secured $285,000 in the FY 2009 Omnibus Appropriations bill for the Encinitas Boulevard/Interstate 5 Interchange Project Study Report, Project Report, and Environmental Review. The City of Encinitas is contracting with an engineering consultant to prepare a Project Study Report, Project Report and Environmental Document for the Encinitas Blvd/I-5 Interchange. The consulting firm (Dokken Engineering) is working with CALTRANS and the City of Encinitas staff to study and develop viable alternatives for four Interstate 5 interchanges, including the Encinitas Boulevard interchange. Unless the City can fund this study, Caltrans will move ahead with an environmental review and design on their ``minimum build'' alternative for this interchange, which assumes no under crossing widening and some roadway improvements, while maintaining the existing diamond interchange configuration. Encinitas Boulevard must be widened as part of the North Coast Interstate 5 Corridor (widening) Project or the City will suffer significant traffic congestion at this location by 2030 and probably much sooner. If the City is to have any hope of later integrating its alternative, we need to keep pace with the Interstate 5 widening project. Requesting Member: Congressman Brian Bilbray Bill Number: H.R. 1105, the FY2009 Omnibus Appropriations bill Account: Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, Interstate Maintenance Legal Name of Requesting Entity: City of San Diego, CA Address of Requesting Entity: 202 C Street, San Diego, CA 92101 Description of Request: I secured $475,000 to fund relocation of fiber optic cable that is obstructing a major interstate highway interchange improvement project to connect I-5 with S.R. 56 in San Diego. The I-5 corridor is the primary link between Southern California--San Diego, Los Angeles, Orange County--and Mexico. The route experiences extensive traffic congestion, with average daily counts at the interchange site of 261,000 vehicles, including 10,000 trucks, projected to reach 430,000 daily vehicles within 20 years. The project is consistent with the authorized purpose of the Department of Transportation Interstate Maintenance account, which includes funding for the addition of new interchanges. Local and State matching funds will provide at least 20% cost share.

Mr. BILBRAY

Mr. BILBRAY. Mr. Chairman, I appreciate the bill here today, and I would just like to highlight the issue that, as we commit taxpayers' funds to addressing the environmental issues that face this country, that we recognize that outcome is what really matters when we talk about spending money to clean up the environment. Chairman Oberstar has worked with me for years on a problem that we have got to address, and I am not saying we as my district, I am saying nationally; that we have sent funds all over the country and looked at process, rather than how a city or a community may impact the environment. A good example is the fact that you may have a city of Chicago that was outrageous in saying they were worried about polluting Lake Michigan, because they were polluting their own water. But they built a canal so they can dump the water into the Illinois River and pollute all the waters of the Mississippi. I think one of the things that we have got to recognize is being smart with our money and addressing the fact that these funds should go to where is the best environmental benefit. And a good example would be the fact that there are certain areas where the treatment of the sewage at its existing level has no net negative impact, but there are other areas which have highly sensitive environments that are being polluted, even though the Federal law technically is being protected, things like the secondary mandate, where we should be putting our resources into tertiary and reclamation, where you end up having areas like deep-water discharge places, where right now scientists will tell you there is no net degradation. So I would just ask the majority to take a look at when we focus these funds, that we focus it where the most benefit to the environment can be given, much like we have done in California. We have gone beyond the process issue and gone to the outcome- based environmental review, the Clean Oceans Project, so that we spend every cent in a manner that protects the environment and not just fulfill a regulatory problem. And so I think it is absolutely essential that we avoid situations like we have run into in southern California, where the environmental impact report says that----

Mr. BILBRAY. The example is, Mr. Chairman, where you have got an environmental impact report that says that if you execute the letter of the law, you would be hurting the environment. And no one ever meant that to happen. I want to make sure that as we move forward that the letter of the law reflects protection for the environment first, not just following a regulation blindly. The law should always be reminded that it is here to protect the environment first, not just blindly move forward in spending taxpayers' funds. And that is where I would ask that the committee take a look at these situations. I think Hawaii is in a situation where we may be sending funds to Hawaii to build facilities that do not have a net positive impact on the environment. I don't think any of us ever meant for clean water funds to be diverted into an area that is not helping the environment when you have areas that desperately need these funds. And that is one of those things I think we have to recognize, the environmental community, the days of just caring being enough, are over. It is essential that those of us who want to protect the environment need to be smart and make sure that every cent spent, both local and Federal, go toward helping the environment, not just fulfilling a regulatory guideline and not just providing a threshold that somehow looks good on paper but doesn't protect the environment. And I look forward to working with the chairman and making sure that every dollar spent in this program helps the environment, cleans up the environment, and does it in a manner that we maximize the benefit, because there are not enough funds to go around to waste it. And that is why I look forward to working with the chairman in making sure that every dollar does the best it can for the American people and the environment we live in.

Mr. BILBRAY. Mr. Chairman, I am not in opposition to the amendment. I think the amendment is actually appropriate. My concern about it is, and I will say this to the chairman of the committee, I totally, coming from local government, totally support the openness here. I think at a time when we still have storm water diversion going over and polluting our rivers, it is crazy that we don't do more. But I would ask the chairman to be aware of the fact that although we will be able to tell the public, and the public will be able to know, where their money is going and how it is being spent, there is still that issue the American people are very upset about, what the Senate did to the stimulus package, and that is the issue that the public will not know: Are the people who are getting the jobs legally in the country? Do their Social Security names and numbers match? And will the public be able to know how many legal residents and Americans got this job as opposed to somebody who is in violation of our immigration status? The E-Verify was a great bipartisan effort here in the House. For us to abandon that as a minimum standard to allow the public to know, I disagree with that.

Mr. BILBRAY

Mr. BILBRAY. Madam Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to the North County Transit District and the successful completion of the first year of service by the Sprinter. The Sprinter is a light commuter rail line operating between Oceanside and Escondido, California, United States. The Sprinter is operated by the North County Transit District of Oceanside, the area's public transit agency and is the first passenger train service of any kind along the Escondido Branch since the Santa Fe Railroad discontinued passenger service in 1946. The Sprinter service has helped the San Diego region battle traffic congestion and pollution while providing a critical 22-mile route from Oceanside to Escondido, with 15 stops along the way. The light rail on average services 7,300 weekday riders and ridership is increasing steadily. The Sprinter had over 2.3 million passengers in its very first year and has maintained a 99 percent on time performance. I am especially proud of the Sprinter's success during these difficult economic times. My congratulations go out to the entire Sprinter family and the North County Transit District team!

Mr. BILBRAY

Mr. BILBRAY. Madam Speaker, pursuant to the House Republican standards on earmarks, I am submitting the following information for publication in the Congressional Record regarding earmarks I received as part of H.R. 1105. Requesting Member: Congressman Brian Bilbray Bill Number: H.R. 1105 FY 2009 Omnibus Appropriations Act Account: CDC, Public Health Improvement and Leadership Legal Name of Requesting Entity: County of San Diego, Public Health Services Address of Requesting Entity: 1700 Pacific Highway, San Diego, CA 92101 Description of Request: I received an earmark of $476,000 to implement a management system to allow the County of San Diego to track medications, vaccines, supplies, equipment and people used during a health emergency response. The County is vulnerable and at high risk for such incidents due to its status as a border community and military town. The Emergency Preparedness and Public Health Management System (EPPHMS) will provide real-time visibility in the day-to-day and emergency management of pharmaceuticals, vaccines, consumable and capital assets, materiel and human resources, program management and patient tracking. Many County and local programs and agencies will use this management system concurrently for daily and emergency management in single-site, multi-site or mobile facilities, while integrating with the County's main Emergency Operations Center. This HIPAA- and PHIN- compliant system will mitigate a gap in County readiness and infrastructure, as identified by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in 2007. Requesting Member: Congressman Brian Bilbray Bill Number: H.R. 1105 FY 2009 Omnibus Appropriations Act Account: Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, Transportation, Community, and System Preservation Program Legal Name of Requesting Entity: City of Carlsbad, California Address of Requesting Entity: 1200 Carlsbad Village Drive, Carlsbad, California 92008 Description of Request: I received an earmark of $237,500 to proceed with the design work to construct a replacement for the Encinas Creek Bridge. This is a critical section of the historic route Coast Highway 101 and it is the regional road alternative to Interstate 5. CALTRANS has indicated in two major reviews that this bridge must be replaced as soon as possible to meet seismic standards and repair the failing support structure. Bridge lanes have already been rerouted temporarily for public safety. This stretch of Coast Highway provides direct access to public beach parking, pedestrian access, coastal bicycle trails, state campgrounds, and several tourist serving commercial facilities. Public funding to support this very heavily utilized public road is vital to ensure traffic flow, safety, and the economic development of the region. 20% of funding will come from local or state sources, and this project is part of the State of California's transportation improvement plan and has been identified as an eligible project critical to the region. Requesting Member: Congressman Brian Bilbray Bill Number: H.R. 1105 FY 2009 Omnibus Appropriations Act Account: COPS Technology Legal Name of Requesting Entity: County of San Diego, Sheriff's Department Address of Requesting Entity: 9621 Ridgehaven Court, San Diego, CA 92123 Description of Request: Per my request, San Diego County has received $1.35 million for the ongoing upgrade of the San Diego County Sheriff's Department's Regional Communications System (RCS). This funding will be used for Phase 1 of migration to P25 capacity, which will move the County and its cities forward in the implementation of an effective, efficient regional interoperable communications system. This system will be critical both in terms of daily, routine communications and during disaster emergencies and other events that demand that all public safety agencies be able to communicate effectively. It will benefit California and other States and Federal agencies by providing voice radio interoperability with those entering into the region providing mutual aid. Ultimately, it will enable San Diego County public safety agencies to seamlessly integrate with surrounding Counties as it is built out to a ``network of networks.'' Requesting Member: Congressman Brian Bilbray Bill Number: H.R. 1105 FY 2009 Omnibus Appropriations Act Account: Army Corps of Engineers, General Investigations, Miscellaneous Legal Name of Requesting Entity: Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego Address of Requesting Entity: 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093 Description of Request: I received $500,000 for the Coastal Data Information Program/Southern California Beach Processes Study within the Army Corps of Engineers. Through this program, high-resolution wave data and forecasts are disseminated in real time via the internet to the National Weather Service and to tens of thousands of diverse users each day. Sea state and surf warnings are issued based on this information for the protection of life and property. In addition, beach elevations are monitored and analyzed, and this information is provided to coastal communities online where local governments and engineers use it for making educated policy decisions for protecting and enhancing local beaches. This request is consistent with the intended and authorized purpose of the Army Corps of Engineers, which has the federal responsibility for shoreline protection and uses this data for coastal dredging and construction projects. This program is critical to marine safety and operations for the coastal United States and there are no competitive funding sources available. Requesting Member: Congressman Brian Bilbray Bill Number: H.R. 1105 FY 2009 Omnibus Appropriations Act Account: Army Corps of Engineers, General Investigations Legal Name of Requesting Entity: The City of Solana Beach Address of Requesting Entity: 635 South Highway 101, Solana Beach, CA, USA 92075 Description of Request: I received $375,000 to complete the feasibility study for the Solana Beach-Encinitas Shoreline Protection Project. The protective beaches throughout the Solana Beach area are severely eroded, leaving residences, portions of Highway 101, and public access points susceptible to dangerous wave attacks and beachgoers subject to falling rocks as bluffs are destabilized by erosion. This Shore Protection Project will build up the protective beaches along the coast, preserving public access, recreational areas, and as well as public infrastructure and private homes.

Mr. BILBRAY

Mr. BILBRAY. Madam Speaker, I offer a resolution and ask unanimous consent for its immediate consideration.

Mr. BILBRAY

Mr. BILBRAY. Madam Speaker, I submit the following: Requesting Member: Congressman Brian Bilbray. Bill Number:H.R. 2638, Consolidated Security, Disaster Assistance, and continuing Appropriations Act, 2009. Account: RDT&E, Army. Legal Name of Requesting Entity: Burnham Institute for Medical Research. Address of Requesting Entity: 10901 North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, CA 92037. Description of Request: Recent world events have made abundantly clear the need for a deeper understanding of the molecular and cellular mechanisms employed by bacterial and viral pathogens that would facilitate the design of countermeasures to weaponized biological agents such as anthrax, ricin, smallpox virus, botulinum toxin or plague bacteria. Additionally, as evidenced by the ever-present threat of viral pandemics and the relentless rise of antibiotic-resistance, there is a clear and urgent need for the development of new families of therapeutic agents--antibiotics, vaccines, antitoxins and antivirals. Given the large and growing number of recalcitrant pathogens, the most useful new therapeutics are likely to have broad-spectrum efficacy; to target immutable elements of the pathogen or host; to be rapidly adaptable in the face of natural or engineered variants; and to be physically robust. To assist the United States Army in protecting our soldiers against these growing threats, I secured $2.4 million for the Infectious & Inflammatory Disease Center (IIDC) at the Burnham Institute for Medical Research, which will build on its studies of diseases that result from a broad range of human pathogens. The work will define and characterize host responses to infection, including innate and adaptive immunity and inflammation, providing a molecular understanding of host-pathogen interactions. Over the next ten years, many antibiotics currently prescribed to treat bacterial infections will no longer be effective owing to microbial resistance. Drug-resistant strains of some pathogens, such as the bacteria that cause tuberculosis, and MRSA, have already appeared. Several deadly viral agents have also emerged, threatening both our soldiers in the battlefield as well as large civilian populations; and, except for some vaccines, few treatments for viral infections exist to date. With regard to infectious diseases, a major goal of the IIDC is to discover, characterize and validate novel virulence factors and toxins from infectious agents, working closely with our bioinformatics group who annotate (attempt to assign function based on the DNA sequence) the rapidly expanding number of pathogen genome sequences. These combined studies facilitate the discovery of novel but conserved pathways that may be validated as targets for broad-spectrum antibiotics. Complementary strategies will be developed to produce drug-like compounds for further development, including High-Throughput Screening (HTS), `in silico' screening, and the development and application of NMR-based fragment approaches (the Institute hosts ``The San Diego Chemical Library Screening Center'', one of 5 such centers nationwide). The IIDC will continue its well-funded studies of the most likely agents of bioterrorism, including anthrax (Bacillus anthracis), smallpox (Variola virus), and plague (Yersinia pestis); but it will also expand its focus to the study of emerging diseases such as SARS, West Nile and Dengue Viruses, as well as preparing countermeasures to treat a possible influenza pandemic--should avian flu strain H5Nl gain the ability to transmit directly from person to person. A major new focus of the IIDC will be to understand and exploit host responses to infection. Human cells provide the never-ending backdrop in a contest between host-defense molecules and pathogen virulence factors that seek to subvert the host's innate and adaptive immune responses. Identifying the players and mechanisms of the natural host responses, many of which are common to a broad range of infections, may provide novel (host-targeted) leads for broad-spectrum therapeutics, the exciting possibility of naturally boosting innate immunity, as well as the discovery of novel adjuvants for vaccine design. Vaccine technology has developed little in the past 50 years. A high priority will therefore be the development of novel vaccine methodologies which employ robust single-chain antigen-adjuvant combinations that facilitate rapid production and modification in the face of engineered or mutant pathogens. The IIDC is well positioned in that it already has much of the infrastructure in place to generate novel therapeutic leads; shortly, with the opening of our new facility in Orlando, FL we will have the additional capability of developing these leads through medicinal chemistry and pharmacology to phase I trials, the latter in collaboration with our clinical partners in Florida. Additional funding made possible through this process to the IIDC will enable the expansion of our Center into a number of critical areas. Priorities include recruitment of new faculty members and their programs working in the fields of innate immunity, microbiology, and medicinal chemistry. Recruitment into these currently underrepresented areas within our Center will complement our existing expertise and further expedite the development of novel therapeutics. Leveraged Funds--Based on the Burnham Institute for Medical Research's past successful record of leveraging seed funds, we estimate that $3 million for additional scientists through this request will result in $30 million in additional grant funding for the next 10 years at the BIMR. Current/Future/Matching Funding--Private philanthropy for the San Diego, CA area has contributed to the current research work ongoing at Burnham's IIDC. Since BIMR scientists started focusing on the important area of research, the IIDC has secured nearly $40,000,000 in competitive federal grants from a number of sources including the DoD and the NIAID. BIMR researchers and their research are very well respected throughout these federal agencies. Researchers in the IIDC will continue to seek federal grants through the traditional competitive process. this year through funding opportunities available from the DoD and the NIAID.

Mr. BILBRAY

Mr. BILBRAY. Madam Speaker, I submit the following: Requesting Member: Congressman Brian Bilbray. Bill Number: H.R. 2638 (The Consolidated Security, Disaster Assistance, and Continuing Appropriations Act). Account: Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Predisaster Mitigation. Legal Name of Requesting Entity: The City of San Diego, CA. Address of Requesting Entity: 202 C Street, San Diego, CA 92101, USA. Description of Request: As you may know, San Diego County suffered through one of the worst fire storms in our nation's history last October destroying more than 1,500 homes at a cost of more than $1 billion. This funding would implement wildfire fuels reduction and brush management to create 100 feet of defensible space on 1,180 acres of open space property owned by the City, prioritized based on fire threat mapping by the Fire Chief. Recent history has proven that major wildland fire events have exceptional costs to all involved, including private property owners, local, state and federal governments. Major disasters such as the ones experienced in San Diego last fall cost the federal government significant amounts in response and recovery. While final expenditures are not known, FEMA received applications from thousands in the San Diego region. By thinning the brush in the wildland urban area interface, structures stand a better chance of being defended. By saving these structures, fewer FEMA and SBA dollars will need to be extended to property owners for recovery purposes. I secured a member's request of $1,000,000 to expedite City of San Diego completion of wildfire fuels reduction and vegetation management strategies in order to prevent future wildfires like those experienced in October 2003 and 2007. The project meets the intended and authorized purpose of the FEMA Predisaster Mitigation account, and FEMA program guidelines (June 28, 2008) explicitly cite vegetation management as an eligible mitigation project activity. The City of San Diego has approved $2 million from its general fund for this project during FY2009.

Mr. BILBRAY

Mr. BILBRAY. Mr. Speaker, 99 percent plus efficiency. Where else in the Federal Government can we claim that we have a program that is over 99 percent effective, efficient, and gets the job done? I am here to support this bill; and, sadly, I am here to support it at a 5-year extension rather than the 10-year originally proposed. And my big question is, those that did not want to extend it to 10 years, what don't you understand about 99.6 percent efficiency for the American citizens in the United States? Is it too efficient and that is why we are not today extending it 10 years? That is a question I think that every Member of Congress is going to have to answer to their constituency in the very near future. Mr. Speaker, the employee verification system is not a pilot program anymore. For over 5 years, it has been a national program not restricted to the five original States but universal throughout the United States. It has been so effective that judiciaries across this country, judges, have required that anyone caught hiring illegal has been required to use this system to make sure it doesn't happen again. The system is so effective that the executive branch and the legislative branch has made this the gold standard for hiring employees. Congress today does and has been required to make sure that Social Security numbers and names match before we hire them. The executive branch had asked for Congress themselves to do that. You haven't heard the horror stories and the end of the world because 99.6 percent is a number hard to argue with. The executive branch was confronted by this number, and now has mandated that any contractor and every government operation will use this system from now on. The question, Mr. Speaker, is why are we just maintaining the status quo for 5 more years? Two years ago, the American voters were very upset with the fact that the then Republican majority refused to confront the issue that the number one source of illegal immigration was illegal employment, and that there was a simple, easy way to stop the problem if there was a will in Washington to get it done, and that system was E-Verification. Today, we are confronted with a 5-year extension of what we have had for over 5 years rather than moving forward with a system that can address the number one source of illegal immigration, a simple system that can not only stop illegal immigration but stop a lot of problems related to that. The SAVE Act was introduced by a Democrat named Heath Shuler from the great State of North Carolina. It was supported by over 156 Members of the House of Representatives. It has actually received a discharge petition that is within less than 30 people to sign it to be able to bring it to a vote. That would make it a universal phase-in system to allow every employer and require every employer to not only use E- Verification before hiring somebody, but using E-Verification before-- are you ready for this?--claiming a tax deduction for employing somebody who may be illegal. I wish that Democrats and Republicans could have got together on that bill the way we did with this one. But sadly, the leadership of the Democratic Party in this House and Speaker Pelosi has blocked any legislation of substantive numbers that does not include an amnesty for the 20 million people illegally present. Mr. Speaker, there are those who talk about compassion about those who are illegally here. Well, let me give you another number. Three hundred-plus illegals are sitting in prison today because an employer in Iowa did not use the E-Verification system before hiring them. And if you don't care about illegal immigration, and you say you care about immigrants coming to this country illegally, and you want to be humanitarian, then require the people that are exploiting them to check through E-Verification as a mandate, not a voluntary, so that future illegals that come into this country are not put in prison because their employer didn't check that the name and the Social Security Number matched. I wish this town would act on its verbiage and its promises half as much as they expect the American people to respond to the responsibilities of citizenship. As Members of Congress, we are now placed at having to vote for a 5- year extension rather than a 10, and we are denied the ability by the Speaker of the House to vote on a bill that is bipartisan, and able to address this issue. And I would ask that the SAVE Act be brought forward as soon as possible so we can back up this voluntary program with a mandatory one that will take care of the problem.

Mr. BILBRAY

Mr. BILBRAY. Mr. Speaker, FDR made a statement about why he was giving aid to England to fight Nazi Germany, and that statement was, when your neighbor's home is burning, only a fool would not let them borrow your hose to put out the fire. Well, Mr. Speaker, our border is burning. Mexico is in flames with violence. We are not taking on a war on drugs down at the border; we are taking on the battle against narco-terrorism. Mr. Speaker, I have taken a lot of positions about the fact that the boarders are out of control, but now is the time the American people have to wake up and this Congress has to wake up and realize that the people in Mexico are fighting desperately for their republic. They are being murdered in the streets. Police chiefs on the day they do a press conference stating that they caught a cartel smuggling drugs into San Diego County through a tunnel, the day that they do that press conference, that night that police chief is murdered by the cartel. The head of their law enforcement, who is comparable to our FBI, was murdered in their capital. You may say, but is Mexico doing enough? I have a lot of disagreements with Mr. Calderon. The justification for ignoring the cartel when they smuggle aliens is one of them. But the same cartel that is smuggling aliens and drugs into the United States are killing law enforcement and judges and politicians in Mexico. And do not think that this is a problem far away from us. This problem is in our front yard, in our backyard, in our lap right now. Washington can ignore it, but they are already starting to kidnap and kill people in San Diego County in the south. We have an obligation to make sure that we fight this battle on Mexican soil before it becomes a battle in the main streets of the United States. I ask us to join now. The fact is if there is anything that we can do, we need to defend our American freedom and our security when and where we find the threat, and the threat today is in Mexico. Calderon has been brave enough to export criminals to the United States. He has judges being killed right and left down there. Mexico is willing to work with us on this and desperately asking for our help, and only a fool would not give them the help to fight the battle on Mexican soil before we are fighting it on U.S. soil.

Mr. BILBRAY

Mr. BILBRAY. Madam Speaker, I would like to bring to your attention today the many outstanding achievements of Kenneth Ryan, the outgoing president of the Carlsbad Hi-Noon Rotary Club. Kenneth's leadership during the 2007-2008 Rotary year has contributed significantly to the Hi-Noon Rotary Club and the community of Carlsbad. During his tenure, the Hi-Noon Rotary Club awarded high school scholarships, and partnered with the Carlsbad evening Rotary clubs to sponsor the annual Oktoberfest fundraiser, a community-wide event which provides financial support to the Carlsbad Women's Resource Center, The Boys and Girls Club of Carlsbad and Community Youth Services. In addition, during Kenneth's presidency, we had the most successful golf tournament in the club's history. The funds were earmarked for high school scholarships and to assist families of wounded marines. During his presidency, a number of other projects were completed. These projects included providing volunteers to help maintain public and private property, provide food and clothing for the homeless, and assist in the distribution of food, clothing and toys to needy Carlsbad families in conjunction with the Carlsbad Christmas Bureau. A Children's Christmas party and dinner for very needy elementary school students were also provided. In an effort to improve literacy, badly needed bilingual dictionaries were provided and distributed to English- and Spanish-speaking elementary school students. In addition a book a week was contributed to a school library, and mentors were also provided for the ``City Stuff'' program. This program promoted an understanding of the workings of city government for young Carlsbad school children. On the international front, Kenneth's leadership and his team of Rotarians joined with Habitat for Humanity to build a house for a needy family in Mexico. Through the Paul Harris Fellow Program, contributions were made to the Rotary Foundation, the purpose of which is to support international projects for the benefit of humanity, such as eradication of polio through out the world and to support the Micro-banking Project. In addition, there were numerous other projects which he led to completion during his tenure, too numerous to mention. I hope my colleagues will join me in recognizing the many fine achievements of Kenneth Ryan. Without question, his leadership and the fine work of the Carlsbad Hi-Noon Rotary Club are worthy of recognition by the House today.

Mr. BILBRAY

Mr. BILBRAY. Madam Speaker, I submit the following: Requesting Member: Congressman Brian Bilbray. Bill Number: H.R. 5658. Account: RDT&E, Army. Legal Name of Requesting Entity: Burnham Institute for Medical Research. Address of Requesting Entity: 10901 North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, CA 92037. Description of Request: Recent world events have made abundantly clear the need for a deeper understanding of the molecular and cellular mechanisms employed by bacterial and viral pathogens that would facilitate the design of countermeasures to weaponized biological agents such as anthrax, ricin, smallpox virus, botulinum toxin or plague bacteria. Additionally, as evidenced by the ever-present threat of viral pandemics and the relentless rise of antibiotic-resistance, there is a clear and urgent need for the development of new families of therapeutic agents--antibiotics, vaccines, antitoxins and antivirals. Given the large and growing number of recalcitrant pathogens, the most useful new therapeutics are likely to have broad-spectrum efficacy; to target immutable elements of the pathogen or host; to be rapidly adaptable in the face of natural or engineered variants; and to be physically robust. To assist the United States Army in protecting our soldiers against these growing threats, the Infectious & Inflammatory Disease Center (IIDC) at the Burnham Institute for Medical Research will build on its studies of diseases that result from a broad range of human pathogens. The work will define and characterize host responses to infection, including innate and adaptive immunity and inflammation, providing a molecular understanding of host-pathogen interactions. Over the next ten years, many antibiotics currently prescribed to treat bacterial infections will no longer be effective owing to microbial resistance. Drug-resistant strains of some pathogens, such as the bacteria that cause tuberculosis, and MRSA, have already appeared. Several deadly viral agents have also emerged, threatening both our soldiers in the battlefield as well as large civilian populations; and, except for some vaccines, few treatments for viral infections exist to date. With regard to infectious diseases, a major goal of the IIDC is to discover, characterize and validate novel virulence factors and toxins from infectious agents, working closely with our bioinformatics group who annotate (attempt to assign function based on the DNA sequence) the rapidly expanding number of pathogen genome sequences. These combined studies facilitate the discovery of novel but conserved pathways that may be validated as targets for broad-spectrum antibiotics. Complementary strategies will be developed to produce drug-like compounds for further development, including High-Throughput Screening (HTS), `in silico' screening, and the development and application of NMR-based fragment approaches (the Institute hosts ``The San Diego Chemical Library Screening Center'', one of 5 such centers nationwide). The IIDC will continue its well-funded studies of the most likely agents of bioterrorism, including anthrax (Bacillus anthracis), smallpox (Variola virus), and plague (Yersinia pestis); but it will also expand its focus to the study of emerging diseases such as SARS, West Nile and Dengue Viruses, as well as preparing countermeasures to treat a possible influenza pandemic--should avian flu strain H5N1 gain the ability to transmit directly from person to person. A major new focus of the IIDC will be to understand and exploit host responses to infection. Human cells provide the never-ending backdrop in a contest between host-defense molecules and pathogen virulence factors that seek to subvert the host's innate and adaptive immune responses. Identifying the players and mechanisms of the natural host responses, many of which are common to a broad range of infections, may provide novel (host-targeted) leads for broad-spectrum therapeutics, the exciting possibility of naturally boosting innate immunity, as well as the discovery of novel adjuvants for vaccine design. Vaccine technology has developed little in the past 50 years. A high priority will therefore be the development of novel vaccine methodologies which employ robust single-chain antigen-adjuvant combinations that facilitate rapid production and modification in the face of engineered or mutant pathogens. The IIDC is well positioned in that it already has much of the infrastructure in place to generate novel therapeutic leads; shortly, with the opening of our new facility in Orlando, FL we will have the additional capability of developing these leads through medicinal chemistry and pharmacology to phase I trials, the latter in collaboration with our clinical partners in Florida. Additional funding made possible through this process to the IIDC will enable the expansion of our Center into a number of critical areas. Priorities include recruitment of new faculty members and their programs working in the fields of innate immunity, microbiology, and medicinal chemistry. Recruitment into these currently underrepresented areas within our Center will complement our existing expertise and further expedite the development of novel therapeutics. Leveraged Funds--Based on the Burnham Institute for Medical Research's past successful record of leveraging seed funds, we estimate that $3 million for additional scientists through this request will result in $30 million in additional grant funding for the next 10 years at the BIMR. Current/Future/Matching Funding--Private philanthropy for the San Diego, CA area has contributed to the current research work ongoing at Burnham's IIDC. Since BIMR scientists started focusing on the important area of research, the IIDC has secured nearly $40,000,000 in competitive federal grants from a number of sources including the DoD and the NIAID. BIMR researchers and their research are very well respected throughout these federal agencies. Researchers in the IIDC will continue to seek federal grants through the traditional competitive process this year through funding opportunities available from the DoD and the NIAID.

Mr. BILBRAY

Mr. BILBRAY. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 2649, a bill that is looking at a precious resource that needs to be cleaned up and used. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank you in working and speaking with me about other challenges we have environmentally around this country, one of them being the fact the Federal Government is still mandating the polluting of our air and the picking of our pockets with the mandate of corn and ethanol going into our gasoline. I don't know about in your State, but in our State, that impact has reached $6 a comparable gallon untaxed ethanol being forced into our fuel system by the misguided approaches here in Washington. I look forward to working with you in eliminating that mandate and protecting our air and protecting consumers when we go to the pump. But as we talk about liquid gold, out west it is not just gasoline and ethanol that are liquid gold, but actually clean drinking water. This bill would address a problem that has actually been created by a well- intentioned but misguided application of the Endangered Species Act and other Federal regulatory activities. Where Lake Hodges had traditionally had a clean watershed kept clear from debris and undergrowth, because of the Federal agencies' misguided application of our environmental regulations, such as the Endangered Species Act, the local agencies and community were not allowed to clear the watershed while the water was low so that once the water did rise up we did not have rotting organic material in our water source. Sadly, Mr. Speaker, that has occurred, and the water quality of the lake is now in violation of the Clean Water Act, 303(d). This bill will allow us to give a portion of the money, probably around one-quarter of it, to allow the local community now to purify the water so that it can be compatible with 303 of the Clean Water Act. I hope that we will be able to work together, pass this bill, and be able to work with the local community. I look forward to working with you, Mr. Speaker, at not only cleaning up our water, but cleaning up our air and taking that ethanol out of our gasoline.

Mr. BILBRAY

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

Mr. BILBRAY. Madam Chairman, I move to strike the last word.

Mr. BILBRAY. Madam Chairman, I would like to thank and congratulate the gentlelady from the great State of Texas for this amendment. As she knows, it really reflects a strategy that has worked since 2000 when we did the original bill. And I want to thank her as the original author of this bill. And with this amendment, it brings in that cooperative effort between the local government and the Federal Government. Both the gentlelady from Texas and my background show that that kind of cooperative effort has been essential for the success of the BEACH bill for these last 7 years, 8 years now. The bill really does, with the amendment, talk about the fact that the best people to take care of the local environment are the local people, that Washington needs to be here supporting and encouraging local people to take control of their own environment. I think of the old statement that we used back in the sixties and seventies of ``acting locally.'' It was essential for any success that we're going to have with environmental activities. This bill actually builds on that success that we have had in the past. A note of personal interest, Madam Chairman, is that you never know when and how your own legislation may affect you. And as the author of this bill from 2000, it was interesting to see that when my children were on the computer, they were not just checking out the water quality and if the beaches were open. They were also looking at real-time cameras to see how the surf was that day. How we would have loved to have had that in the sixties when we were growing up that you could actually look out on the water to see not only how good the surf was, but to also see how clean the water was. And with this bill, that is possible. And so I appreciate the amendment by the gentlelady from Texas. I strongly support it. And hopefully we will be able to get this bill back to the President and get it signed as soon as possible.

Mr. BILBRAY. Madam Chairman, this is an amendment that we've worked out with Chairman Oberstar and the gentlelady from Texas. It is really an implementation for the new step for the BEACH bill, and that is to go beyond the existing system we used in the last 7 years where public health officials have to wait 3 days to be able to know if a beach has a water quality problem or does not. Scientists all over the world have been working on what is very close to a real-time response to this concern and be able to empower our local health officials to be able to know, within a few hours, rather than a few days, if it is safe for water contact activity along our beaches. My amendment just simply allows the administration to do a study within the next 2 years to be able to develop the system that local governments can use to implement the BEACH bill so we don't have to wait 3 days in New Jersey or 3 days in California to know if our beaches are polluted or if they are clean. With this study, with cooperation between the Federal Government, the local governments and the private sector, we can actually make this system effective so our children and our families know if it is safe to go in that day and not have to wait 3 days to find out if there is a problem. So, Madam Chairman, my amendment 13 stands. I would ask for support for it. And I think in the spirit of bipartisan cooperation that this bill has carried since the year 2000, I think we can move forward with a system that keeps our families safe and our waters clean. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. BILBRAY

Mr. BILBRAY. Mr. Speaker, the gentlelady from California pointed out rightly that a barrel of oil has come up to $100. But what if I told you of an industry or a group that wanted the consumer to have to pay $330 for a comparable barrel of oil? Mr. Speaker, this rule is protecting an industry and a plot to pick the pockets of the American consumer, while polluting our air. And what I am talking about is the fact that in California today, the Federal Government is mandating that we put an additive into our gasoline. We're being required to have corn ethanol put into our gasoline, what is costing a comparable $6 a gallon. So when someone stands on the floor and says they're outraged at the price of gasoline, let me just ask you, you either have to confront the fact that this rule is protecting a bill that is protecting the picking of our pockets and the polluting of our air with corn ethanol. And everyone knows that it's a sham. They know that it's out there costing more. And those of us that have worked on the air pollution issue, as myself, the California Air Resources Board is telling you, not only don't mandate this stuff, outlaw this stuff. It is polluting our air and costing a comparable $6 a gallon. So I hope the American people remember, when someone stands up here and says, this is a green bill, this bill stinks to high heaven. It's polluting our air and picking our pockets under the guise of protecting the environment and protecting the consumer. The group that is working together to cause this rip-off and this pollution is the United States Congress. The blame goes on both sides. But the majority has the chance now to address this issue. Now I understand those who may have corn producers in their district justifying this kind of action. But what about all of us that don't have that? I ask you today, stand up for the environment, stand up for the consumer, vote against this rule and bring it back without corn subsidies.

Mr. BILBRAY

Mr. BILBRAY. Mr. Speaker, Agent Aguilar, like myself, was born and raised on the border. He knew the challenges that faced the border. He understood the risks, and sadly, his life, as documented, was the price he paid for out-of-control borders. I just hope that everyone today, when they vote on this bill and support this bill, recognizes that for all too long Border Patrol agents have not only faced the threat of life-and-death situations along the border while they're enforcing our laws, protecting our neighborhoods, and protecting the lives of illegal immigrants crossing the border every day. A story that's not told enough about when somebody crossing the border illegally needs to be saved while they're dying in the desert, drowning in rivers, being attacked by coyotes, it's the Border Patrol agents who are the last straw of survival for so many of these illegals. Border Patrol Aguilar proved his loyalty to America with his life, and sadly, I just ask all of us to remember that there are Aguilars up and down the border, north and south, all over this country, doing a tough job and, frankly, not getting very much credit, in fact, getting attacked personally and viciously just because they're doing the tough job that the American people want. I just hope that we understand that our job today is to recognize the sacrifice of the Aguilar family and remember that when Mrs. Aguilar passed away after finding out about her son, I'm sure she would want to send a message of do what you can, Congress, to make sure my other son is safe, protected, and well-provided for in his duties of serving the American people. So, Mr. Speaker, I'd ask that we recognize the service of not only Agent Aguilar but his mother, his brother, and his entire family, and by doing that, let's be brave enough to send them the resources, both in physical equipment and in the proper laws, that the Border Patrol agents have been asking us to do for a long time so that they do not have to continue to function in this killing zone that we call the border area. And so I ask strongly the Democrats and Republicans to join together and let's do what we can to avoid this situation in the future. That may mean taking some hits from our friends about building fences or cracking down on illegal employers, doing all those things that we have not done enough in the past, and that, Mr. Speaker, would truly be a good recognition of the service of Agent Aguilar and an appropriate memorial by this Congress.

Mr. BILBRAY

Mr. BILBRAY. Mr. Speaker, thank you for the opportunity to speak in favor of H.R. 3179, the Local Preparedness Acquisition Act. I am pleased to serve as the original cosponsor of this legislation. I also want thank Congressman Towns for his leadership in sponsoring and advancing this important idea. H.R. 3179 will allow State and local governments to purchase homeland security products and services at more reasonable prices by providing them access to the General Services Administration schedules. Following the attacks on September 11, our local and State governments have taken on more responsibility for emergency preparedness and homeland security. With this added responsibility, these local governments need to purchase a wider array of goods and services. Under this legislation, these localities will be able to purchase many products such as access control and perimeter security systems, fire detection and suppression equipment, firefighting clothing and marine craft from the GSA schedules. With this option, the cost of many of these products will be less than the cost of purchasing them from State-approved purchasing lists or the open marketplace, saving these local governments valuable tax dollars. Importantly, this legislation does not impose any requirements on States and localities to utilize the GSA schedules, instead offering an additional voluntary purchasing method. This legislation has strong bipartisan support and was passed out of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee by voice vote. Additionally, it has gained the endorsement of the National Association of Counties and many other outside organizations. Mr. Speaker, thank you for the opportunity to speak in favor of this bill. I urge my colleagues to support this commonsense legislation.

Mr. BILBRAY

Mr. BILBRAY. Mr. Speaker, I want to say I appreciate the bipartisan support for the concept that people should not be rewarded for breaking our immigration laws. I appreciate the ranking member and the chairman agreeing on this. I would just ask both of you to take a look at the leadership that the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Shuler) has made with a piece of legislation that I feel should be the enforcement part of this direction, and that is that the e-verification be used before people benefit from public funds. That is a very simple system to allow anyone to check that Social Security numbers and names match. It's not an onerous check system to use, and it is one that many of us are looking forward to not only Federal Government but all employers using in the future. I just ask that you consider the fact that to fulfill the intent of this motion, that the e-verification specifically try to be considered here as the vehicle that before anyone gets these benefits that we check that they are legally here as verified by the e-verification. If anybody has any questions about that, I am sure Congressman Shuler can brief you extensively on it. But it is sort of the consensus of most of us working on these issues that this is a simple, clear way to allow everyone, including those who are providing public benefit, the assurance that those benefits are not going to somebody who's not qualified to be able to provide it. So I would raise that as a discussion, that the e-verification be used to verify this motion.

Mr. BILBRAY

Mr. BILBRAY. I thank the gentleman. It's Solano Beach, California. I know one beach is like the other. I was raised in one, but live in Carlsbad. But I would just like to clarify. This resolution is recognizing the men and women who were fighting on the front line. And I think there are two big advantages we had in San Diego. San Diego County lost over 1,500 homes. Many of those homes could have been saved under all kinds of different theories. But the fact is we had one great advantage that we did not lose more. And it was not just the men and women who were fighting on the line that you saw on television, but it was the men and women who serve in a very unique California experience called the Unified Disaster Council, where San Diego County itself houses the chairman of the county, and every mayor, police chief and fire chief in a system of networks, with a common communications system, with a common planning system toward the local providers who were able to provide the base and the foundation for State and Federal agencies to come in and build upon. And that was essential. And if there was any lesson that I would hope the people of the United States would take from our tragedy that we had in our county was that preparedness starts at the local level, and that you can never expect a State or Federal agency to replace the needed foundation and the networking that you have at the local level. So get your act together locally, communicate and build a system, because a crisis in one way or the other is coming your way. And San Diego, I was very proud, as the former chairman of the Disaster Preparedness Council, I was proud to see how far they have come along and how well they are organized. A lot of people may not know that a lot of the great savings we had, when the fires were moving towards my home in Carlsbad, my mother got the call over her phone through a thing called ``Reverse 911'' that notified her that she was in a warning area, needed to pack up and be ready to leave at a moment's notice. She was assured that if her area was becoming a danger zone, she would be notified by the same phone communication that had told her to prepare for that. This is the kind of local networks that we need to continue to build, not just in California, where we have historically done it through the county system, but throughout this Nation. I would ask, Mr. Speaker, that we also recognize that this infrastructure gave our men and women, the firefighters not just from San Diego County or Southern California, but from the entire State, from the north down to the south, gave us the capability to respond to this crisis in a way that I think those of us in California should be very proud of. The crisis has not passed totally; we still have threats out there. But the fact is I think we can build on building better communication between the Federal, State and local community. But the foundation has been set. And I would invite anyone who is interested in preparing their community for their crisis to try to learn from our mistakes and our successes in California and San Diego so that we can all build for a safer neighborhood. And when we do that preparation, we not only make ourselves safer, we protect those men and women that are firefighters to avoid their exposure to risk by us doing the right thing ahead of the fires.

Mr. BILBRAY

Mr. BILBRAY. Mr. Chairman, in San Diego County today, the consumers are paying over $3.50 for gasoline, and people point fingers at the oil companies when, in fact, Washington, DC, has mandated that we put in our gasoline corn-based ethanol that costs $4 a gallon. And considering that you need 1\1/2\ gallons of ethanol to equal the mileage you get with gasoline, that equals $6 a gallon that is mandated by the Congress of the United States for a product that not only is driving up the price of gasoline but is polluting our air, as identified by the Air Resources Board of California. Now, if you are a constituent that is making money off of corn-based oil, that's fine. But do not allow anyone who claims to be an environmentalist and claims to be a consumer in California to support the corn-based ethanol proposal here. I do not agree with Mr. McCain of Arizona very often, but, as quoted by Mr. McCain all the way back in 2003, he stated that the corn-based ethanol mandate that Congress is perpetuating on the United States is highway robbery perpetuated on the American people by Congress. Please let's eliminate the corn-based mandate, save the environment, and save the consumers.