Vernon Ehlers

Mr. EHLERS

Mr. EHLERS. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise today in support of H. Res. 1360, which would honor and commemorate the selfless acts of heroism displayed by the late Detective John Michael Gibson and Private First Class Jacob Joseph Chestnut of the United States Capitol Police. It is hard to believe that it has already been 10 years since the tragic chain of events that took the lives of two heroes, Jacob Joseph Chestnut and John Gibson, who were killed in the line of duty when a deranged gunman stormed this very building on July 24, 1998. And how well I remember that day. I had just left the Capitol, gone to the airport to fly back to Michigan, and as I entered the airport building, I saw on TV the ambulances, the gentlemen being carried out, and what a sad event that was. Jacob Joseph Chestnut, who was affectionately known as ``J.J.,'' was an 18-year veteran of the Capitol Police force, just months away from retirement. A husband and father of five and a Vietnam vet, Chestnut was remembered at the time of his passing to have been extremely proud to be able to continue to serve his country by working in the United States Capitol. After a 20-year career in the Air Force, he carried his discipline and military training with him to Congress when he joined the Capitol Police in 1980, but was also known for his big smile and warm demeanor. John Gibson, who was stationed outside the office of then House Majority Whip Tom DeLay, was also a husband and father of three and an 18-year veteran of the Capitol Police. He was a die-hard fan of all of Boston's sports teams and often requested a copy of the Boston Globe from the whip's office to see how his teams had done. He had become extremely close to Representative DeLay's staff and in the end saved their lives through his selfless act of heroism. He was remembered for tirelessly accompanying the Congressman even when the day would stretch into night, until his job was done. This bill is only a small tribute to those two exceptional men who gave their lives in defense of their country. We owe them a great debt, and in honoring their memory, we honor all those Capitol Police officers who routinely put themselves in harm's way to protect us each day. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting H. Res. 1360. Madam Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. EHLERS

Mr. EHLERS. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of H. Res. 645, which expresses the gratitude and appreciation of the House of Representatives for the professionalism and dedication of the United States Capitol Police. As long ago as 1801, when John Goldman, the Capitol's first watchman, was appointed, there have been brave men and women charged with risking their own lives to protect Members of Congress. With the passage of time, the threat to the Congress has evolved, and with it so too have the Capitol Police become a world-class law enforcement body. Over the years the development of the Internet and various telecommunications devices that have proved revolutionary to all Americans have had the unintended consequence of providing new ways for criminals to communicate with each other in order to plan more elaborate attacks. As their attacks have become more sophisticated, the Capitol Police have had to adjust their protocols and skills to stay a step ahead of the perpetrators. As discussed with the previous resolution, tomorrow is the 10th anniversary of a tragic accident that took the lives of two heroes, Jacob Joseph Chestnut and John Gibson, who were killed in the line of duty when a deranged gunman stormed this very building. Their deaths are a stark reminder of the great peril that Capitol Police officers face each day. With the terrorist attacks of 9/ 11 came new threats and heightened awareness that there are those for whom destruction of the Capitol and its inhabitants would be cause for celebration. This sobering reality is one that the Capitol Police must live with each day. Yet even with the burden they carry, the Capitol Police greet members, staff, and visitors alike with a welcome demeanor and reassuring presence. They are often the first face we see when we a arrive at the beginning of the day and the last person we say goodnight to as we leave. This resolution serves as a tribute to each of those men and women who bravely stand between us and those who would do us harm. For these reasons I urge my colleagues to support H. Res. 645. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. EHLERS. Madam Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Mario Diaz-Balart), the sponsor of the resolution.

Mr. EHLERS. Madam Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. EHLERS

Mr. EHLERS. I thank the gentleman from western Michigan for yielding to me. And I certainly thank the gentlewoman from California for offering this amendment. As we discussed on the floor just a few weeks ago, I managed to get a bill passed a couple of years ago to strengthen the aerospace industry workforce just in order to help NASA, because they were having so many retirements. Many joined their workforce in the 1960s to respond to the call from President John Fitzgerald Kennedy that we go to the Moon, and those individuals are all now retiring, and as a result we have a serious shortage of workers in the aerospace industry. But there are many other industries, including the intelligence departments of this government, that have a desperate need of those knowledgeable about aerospace and other science and mathematics areas. As I suspect everyone in this House knows, I've worked very hard over the last 15 years trying to improve the math-science education of this Nation. It's beginning to pay dividends. Just at lunchtime today, we had a very large room full of young ladies, all of high school and college age, interested in getting into mathematics and science, so we are making progress on that. But we need much more progress if we are going to compete with China, with India, and with other nations in regard to a trained, intelligent workforce. That's especially true, of course, in the intelligence field and in the NASA. We have some very skilled, very knowledgeable, very bright people working there, but also, we are going to be losing a number of them to retirement, in the last few years. We have to beef up that force. And so this amendment will emphasize the need that we have to encourage more individuals to go into science and mathematics at all levels, ranging from high school graduates up through Ph.Ds. And we definitely need to work at that as a Nation. I appreciate that the amendment will direct the national intelligence effort in this direction as well. So thank you again to the sponsor of the amendment for offering this. It is a great help to our Nation, it's a great help to the intelligence service, and I'm pleased to be part of it.

Mr. EHLERS

Mr. EHLERS. Mr. Speaker, I simply want to commend Mr. Jones for writing this bill and submitting it. I'm very pleased that it has reached this point. I believe it is going to be very helpful to every Member of Congress, both in the House and the Senate, and I commend him for his work on this and I urge its passage. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. EHLERS. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 3032. This has an interesting history and it attracted my attention as soon as Mr. Jones spoke to me about it because I had worried myself about what might happen to my campaign funds if something should happen to me. And as a matter of fact, as I was getting wills prepared, I had an attorney draw up a letter that I might sign so I could designate who would be the person to make a decision about my remaining campaign funds. As you know, by law we are limited to certain dispositions of campaign funds, but the law does not specify how they must be disposed of and in what quantities. And when Mr. Jones approached me, I said, well, that's good because I solved it for myself, but we really should solve it for everyone. The bill, I think, is an excellent bill, which simply provides that each Federal candidate would be allowed to designate an individual who, in the event of the death of the candidate, would be authorized to make arrangements for the disbursement of campaign funds. He speaks from personal experience in his family, where his father passed away and there was some difficulty deciding how the funds should be disposed of, but also, all of us could face that possibility. Under current campaign laws, it is understood today that the treasurer can decide what to do with the money and hand it out willy- nilly, whichever way he or she wishes, without any consultation with the family. We think it's very important that the candidate, him or herself, specify very clearly precisely how they want their campaign funds disbursed. Also, we have made an additional provision in this bill because it is very well possible that a candidate's position may change, or the person he has designated may have passed away, and therefore, a candidate may propose at any time or file with the FEC a statement at any time changing the designation that he or she as a candidate may have made earlier. We have given a lot of flexibility in this bill. Individuals, candidates, or Members are not required to file such a statement if they don't wish to, but we're simply giving them the option of doing so and of changing it at any time they wish in the future. At this point, Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. EHLERS. Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize the author and sponsor of this bill, Representative Walter Jones, for as much time as he might consume.

Mr. EHLERS

Mr. EHLERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise today to support H.R. 6296, which would amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to extend through 2013 the authority of the Federal Election Commission to impose civil monetary penalties on political committees that file reports late or not at all rather than going through the traditional enforcement process. This bill is necessary because that authority, which they currently have, expires at the end of this year. This bill is not a glamorous one. It will not capture the attention of voters who look to Congress to lower the price at the pump, even though we would all like to do that. Nonetheless, it is an important program designed to protect our Nation's campaign process from being thwarted by insisting upon the utmost transparency if an individual chooses to seek public office. The administrative fine program, which was established in 2000, permits the FEC to assess fines if a candidate is found to be in violation of mandatory Federal campaign finance reporting requirements. Since its inception, the administrative fine program has proven successful in its two objectives: First, the program frees up commission resources for more complex and higher profile enforcement matters. This is especially important now that the commission has formed and its important work can continue in a bipartisan fashion. Second, it reduces the number of financial reports filed late or not at all, which furthers the goals of the commission as a whole. As of March 2008, the FEC had collected over $2.1 million in civil penalties for over 1,600 cases processed under the program. The fines collected are turned over to the U.S. Treasury, ensuring that there is no monetary gain to the FEC for applying such penalties. By implementing such a structure, there can be no calls of falsely using the fine program as a way for the agency to line its own coffers, thereby increasing confidence in the FEC's enforcement actions. Without this bill, as I mentioned earlier, this successful program is scheduled to end on December 31, 2008. I am pleased to be able to join with my colleague in the House Administration Committee, Chairman Brady, as a cosponsor of this bipartisan measure. I urge my colleagues to join us in supporting H.R. 6296 so that we may continue to monitor the success of this important program for the next 5 years. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. EHLERS. Mr. Speaker, I just will simply say it's a good bill. Let's support it. Let's vote for it. With that, Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. EHLERS

Mr. EHLERS. I thank the gentleman from Virginia for yielding, and I especially thank him for organizing this discussion together. My comments are going to be a bit different from some of the others because I'm going to talk about an event in my hometown this week which brought home to me how far we have strayed from our complete understanding of the Constitution of the United States. Let me quote the first amendment, and this amendment is first because the 13 colonies decided this was the most important amendment. ``Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press,'' et cetera. The event I'm going to talk about that happened in my hometown received extensive coverage. A graduating student at a local public high school was asked to give a speech. This is a model student. He had done well, he was respected, and he was asked to talk about his life experiences. And in that talk, which he had to submit for approval ahead of time, he discussed his life experience, including his religious life. That was judged improper, and he was removed from that particular duty that day. Now, I fail to understand how anyone reading the first amendment of the Constitution would think that the Supreme Court has ruled that a student discussing his life experiences could not mention his religious life. And yet that is how far we have come in this Nation in our misunderstanding of our origins and what it should be. I come from a religious community. In fact, our community is sometimes called the ``City of Churches,'' Grand Rapids, Michigan. Last week, we dedicated a Hindu temple; a few years ago, a Buddhist temple. And we also have a Muslim mosque, actually, fairly close to my home. We meet the test of the first amendment. We do not prohibit the free exercise of religion and the founding of various religious establishments. But I have to say, with this particular high school, I would not be able to give a commencement speech there because I would not be able to give a commencement speech without speaking about my life experiences and what I thought the students were going to face, and what they would need to face their life experiences. I find it fascinating in the Capitol, we start with prayer every day, we have a chaplain, we have a Prayer Breakfast once a week, we have Bible studies in the Capitol. No one raises a feather against this and says this is wrong, this is unconstitutional. And if it's permissible in the Capitol of the United States, why is it not permissible across the Nation? It should be. Everyone should be free to discuss their beliefs and their religion and their faith in God. That's what the first amendment is all about. And let's not get hung up about Supreme Court decisions, ACLU lawsuits, et cetera. Let's recognize the clear language of the first amendment and let's let our citizens have the freedom that the founders of this Nation intended in the area of religious belief and the government's role therein.

Mr. EHLERS

Mr. EHLERS. I will be pleased to yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. EHLERS. As has been stated, this is a labor of love for me for many years. But a few years ago I began noticing or realizing that we were approaching a major inflection point that we should be worried about. As you heard from the principal author of this amendment, that it was in the 1960s that John Kennedy asked for us to go to the moon, proposed this advanced and wild notion, and that inspired a whole generation of Americans to become involved in aerospace. Those individuals are now retiring. And because we hired so many in NASA at one time, they are all retiring at about the same time, which is going to leave us bereft of talent if we don't take action. Because of this, 2 years I introduced a bill which was passed which established an interagency aerospace revitalization task force within the Federal Government. I would have liked to have it be more broad, but I couldn't persuade my colleagues to make that giant leap at that point. But since then that task force which involves, I believe, 17 different Government agencies has worked together. The 2008 report of the Interagency Aerospace Revitalization Task Force was released earlier this year. I spoke at the release. And I was astounded at the number of people in the room. It was a local hotel. The room was overflowing with people concerned about aerospace employment and how we keep the aerospace effort going. This amendment is intended to reinforce what we've talked about for the past 2 years, but it does something very important. As I mentioned, my bill simply addressed the interagency governmental work. But we also have to involve universities. We have to get students excited about aerospace again, and that's what this amendment will do. It will require that NASA reaches out beyond Government agencies, beyond its own boundaries and work with everyone possible to improve STEM education in America, get the young people of today excited about the opportunities in science, particularly in space. So I thank the gentlewoman from California for initiating this amendment. I believe it's going to be very, very important to the future of NASA and for the future of our country, because if we don't get our kids back into math and science education, we are going to become a second-rate Nation. Twenty years ago the nation of China and the nation of India both decided that their economic futures lay in developing highly skilled workers who understood mathematics and science. It worked, and they have gone ahead with leaps and bounds, while our students are still mired where they were 20 years ago. At all levels, from kindergarten on up, we have it take note of that and we have to do a much better job of teaching our children mathematics and science, not just for the sake of NASA, although that's very important, but for the sake of our Nation if we wish to remain competitive with other countries. I will reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. EHLERS

Mr. EHLERS. I thank the gentleman from Virginia for yielding, and I especially thank him for bringing this issue to the floor. I also thank my colleague from California, who works with me on the House Administration committee, for her very perceptive comments on this problem. I would just like to add a little historical insight. I was asked by the new Speaker, Newt Gingrich, some years ago--in 1995 to be exact--to take charge of setting up the new computer system for the House of Representatives. It was a formidable task. And one issue I emphasized over and over was the need for adequate security. We did the best we could at that time. And I was very proud for a number of years that although the White House got hacked, the Pentagon got hacked, the Senate got hacked, we did not get hacked. Those days are over. And every Member of this House of Representatives has to recognize that. This is going to involve, first of all, the best possible technology fix. There's no question about it. But there's another aspect that was mentioned by my colleague from California, and that is training Members and staff on how to deal with this threat and this danger. That is not easy. When I computerized the House, I had to educate my colleagues about computers. It was hopeless. I eventually taught computer classes myself to my colleagues to try to get them interested and to begin using computers. We are going to have to be that direct, that formidable and persistent in ensuring that our colleagues and all our employees understand the threat and that they learn how to deal with the threat and especially learn how to prevent incursions by the actions that they take with their computers and the way they handle their equipment. This is a major issue. I will pledge, as my colleague from California does, that we will attempt our best to address this on the House Administration Committee, and we will certainly do everything possible to solve it. But it is going to require the vigilance of every employee of the House of Representatives and the Senate for that matter.

Mr. EHLERS

Mr. EHLERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise today in support of H.R. 5893, which will reauthorize the Library of Congress's Sound Record and Film Preservation Program. It is an important bill, which will preserve the images and sounds of our Nation's history and make those pieces of the past more accessible to future generations. The importance of this effort was illustrated just this weekend when Universal Studios in California had a mammoth fire in which some priceless films were lost, and all films, if they were recorded and in the Library of Congress, would not face this problem. The National Film Preservation Board was formed in 1993 following a study that revealed that America's film heritage was at serious risk due to the degradation of acetate film stock at an alarming rate. Funding for preservation programs had fallen drastically since 1980, creating an urgent need for action. A national plan to protect our Nation's treasures on film was created in 1994 to address the growing need for preservation and to make films more available for education and public exhibition. I must confess, Mr. Speaker, to some frustration that we have to come in and save the films that the film industry has not taken care of. Obviously they're making enough money when they pull down $300 million in one weekend for certain films. I would think they would have the wherewithal to preserve their own films. Nevertheless, since they have not, the Congress has had to step in to do it. In 1999 Congress created the Sound Recording Preservation Program modeled on the successful National Film Preservation Program. This new program would protect historic pieces of audio recordings from deterioration. These audio recordings are extremely important and should be preserved as well. Through the creation of this program, the Sound Recording Preservation Board was instructed to produce a report on the current state of sound recording archiving, preservation and restoration activities, encompassing standards for digital preservation and for access to preserved recordings. The program also includes research on current laws governing sound preservation and how the Library and other institutions can make collections more available to researchers digitally. This bill will continue the good work started by the Sound Recording and Film Preservation Program staff and their respective boards. Historians, scholars, and citizens will benefit from increased access to these important works, and the items themselves will be preserved for many more generations to come under these programs. I fully support this bill and thank Chairman Brady for his efforts to bring this matter to the floor. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. EHLERS. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, so I will attempt to conclude here. I just want to recognize the good work that the board has done, the importance of the preservation of both visual and audio recordings, as Mr. Davis has just said. And it may be that 100, 150 years from now, someone will resurrect Pavarotti, Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald, some of the great musicians of our time, and say look what we have lost in our culture, and we may see a rejuvenation of those. So I strongly support this bill and urge its passage.

Mr. EHLERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. EHLERS

Mr. EHLERS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 5972. While I would have preferred that we would have addressed these items in regular order, I am pleased that the proposed technical corrections in this bill will create a stronger operational framework for the Capitol Police. As often happens when language is tied to an appropriations bill in a hasty fashion, several requirements in the original legislation governing Capitol Police operations proved problematic under greater scrutiny and further use. This bill will bring clarity to the administration of the U.S. Capitol Police and will eliminate those provisions which are in conflict with one another or are antiquated and therefore unnecessary. I would also point out that this illustrates the importance of the appropriations subcommittees to work together with the authorizing committees, because virtually all the problems that have arisen in the past in this area resulted from a lack of cooperation between the authorizing and appropriating committees. The changes specified in this bill will also establish a transparent and decisive governance framework and create a clear reporting structure within the U.S. Capitol Police. The clarified language provides the Chief of the Capitol Police with explicit authority to perform all hiring and termination actions, which will assist the U.S. Capitol Police's legal staff in executing its duties regarding personnel matters. This bill also clarifies that the Capitol Police must notify this committee, as well as the Senate Rules and Administration Committee, of substantive administrative and operational actions, such as notices of personnel actions or deployment of personnel outside of the Capitol Police's jurisdiction. This language further strengthens this committee's function as an oversight body and allows us to address any such issues as they occur. I thank Chairman Brady for his work on this bill, which will, upon its passage, create a stronger law enforcement organization, and a safer, more secure Capitol complex. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. EHLERS. I have no further speakers. I will make some concluding comments. First of all, Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my chairman, Mr. Brady. He and I have worked very, very well together on a number of issues, and I believe that, if there were a competition, we would probably hold the prize among the committees of the House as to the best functioning committees who really try to get business done without a lot of partisanship. I commend my colleague for his great attitude on this. One other comment I will make in regard to the Capitol Police. The one area we did not examine, which I think needs examination at some point, and I hope our committee will take it up at some point, the duties of the Capitol Police Board are not as clearly outlined as they might be. The composition, I believe, is lacking. We have a GAO report of a few years ago which pointed out some severe shortcomings in the operations and decision-making processes of the Capitol Police Board, and I think we would be well-served in this institution to re-examine that issue. We have done so much in the past decade to modernize the police force; make them provide more ready responses to the trauma that we face today in this time of terrorism. I think we would be well-advised to look at the governing structure once again too, which to my knowledge, has not been examined for a long time. With that, I will yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. EHLERS

Mr. EHLERS. I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. EHLERS. One part about this bill that is probably worthwhile is the effort to reduce energy use, and in particular to reduce the carbon footprint, as it has come to be called, although I have always joked that I prefer ``carbon tire tracks'' because we produce a lot more carbon dioxide with our cars than from other common sources. Nevertheless, this bill allows schools to use funds to reduce the carbon footprint of their schools. As I perused this bill, I realized that it was entirely possible that the schools might decide to use the Federal funds to purchase carbon offsets or carbon credits. To me, that would make absolutely no sense whatsoever. Because schools are small, they do not emit huge amounts of carbon dioxide, and the money that they might want to use for that can much better be used to improve insulation in the schools, improve the insulation in the walls, improve the type of windows so that there's less energy escaping. There are many modifications that can be made that would reduce energy use, and by reducing energy use, you reduce the carbon footprint. I would also maintain that it is much more effective to reduce the energy use, whether it's by better insulation or by sealing the windows, or putting in the appropriate type of glass. It's much more cost-effective in reducing the carbon footprint than it would be to buy carbon offsets. So it seems to me that we should make certain that no school would ever attempt to use Federal funds, if this bill passes, for the purpose of buying carbon credits. This is not because I oppose carbon credits. I think this is something that in fact we will be facing shortly because the Senate is working on a bill on that issue, but I am simply for efficiency, not wasting money, making certain that the money that is in this bill, if this bill passes, will be used wisely and will be used to conserve energy, not to purchase carbon offsets. With that in mind, I offer this bill to make certain that money is not improperly used and to make sure that we use the funds efficiently. With that, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. EHLERS. I just wish to state that I appreciate the gentleman from Michigan, the other gentleman from Michigan accepting this amendment. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. EHLERS

Mr. EHLERS. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the achievements of the members of the 2008 United States Physics Olympiad Team. The International Physics Olympiad brings together top students from all over the world to compete in a rigorous routine of mental gymnastics. To be considered for the U.S. team, students must first take a challenging physics exam. I am proud to say that the top 200 semifinalists included 3 students from Michigan this year. This exceptional group is further reduced to 24 students currently participating in a 10-day physics camp hosted by the University of Maryland. As you might expect, this is not your ordinary summer camp but rather an intense boot-camp of teamwork, sharpening mental and communication skills. Five of these exceptional students will advance and represent the United States in a tremendous international competition in July in the 67th International Physics Olympiad July 20-29 in Hanoi, Vietnam. The 24 members of the 2008 team include: Kiranmayi Bhattaram, Tucker Chan, Sway Chen, Joseph, Zer-Yi Chu, Alesia Dechkovskaia, Yishun Dong, David Field, Edward Gan, Rui Hu, Gabriel Karpman, Brian Kong, Kevin Michael Lang, Dan Li, Andrew Lucas, Marianna Mao, Yoon Jae Nam, Anand Natarajan, Joshua Oreman, Thomas Schultz, Jack Z. Wang, James Yang, Alex Zhai, Danny Zhu, and Alex Zorn. I commend the American Institute of Physics, the American Association of Physics Teachers and affiliated sponsors for organizing this annual event and fostering a passion for science in these students. Integrating science with real-world problems is critical to our national competitiveness. These students will become even more excited about applying physics to national and international challenges after they participate in the Olympiad preparation. I know my colleagues share my pride in the achievements of these students. Their success is a testament to not only their individual determination, but also a group of exceptional teachers. These teachers often receive very little recognition for their work, so I hope each of the Olympiad finalists will make a point of thanking and recognizing the teachers that have guided them over the years. I am very pleased that these students take time away from their purely scientific endeavors to meet with their legislators in Washington. Understanding how science fits into culture and politics are very important skills for a future physicist to master. I also hope that some of these students will consider running for public office and add their expertise to the policy world. I am very thankful for these future leaders and ask that you please join me in congratulating them on their wonderful achievements. We wish the top five the best of success as they represent the United States in Vietnam.

Mr. EHLERS

Mr. EHLERS. Madam Speaker, I submit the following: Requesting Member: Congressman Vernon J. Ehlers Bill Number: H.R. 5658 Account: Ap,A Aircraft Procurement, Army; 020 Utility Helicopter Mods Legal Name of Requesting Entity: Army National Guard Readiness Center Address of Requesting Entity: 111 S. George Mason Drive, Arlington, VA, 22204 Description of Request: Provide an earmark of $5 million for helicopter modernization. The UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter is an essential capability of the National Guard. It provides units in every State with a multi-mission aircraft for search & rescue, utility lift, disaster relief and medical evacuation. The Army National Guard (ARNG) is authorized 782 Black Hawk aircraft, but is short of this authorization by almost 100 aircraft. This shortage requires ARNG units to loan or transfer Black Hawks in support deployments, training or State missions, resulting in a higher usage rate of available airframes. Additionally, more than 500 of the 782 National Guard aircraft are older UH-60A models, with an average age of approximately 25 years. The Army is procuring over 1,200 UH-60M Black Hawks for utility, special operations and MEDEVAC missions to replace the aging UH-60A from operational units by 2016. The Army acquired 33 UH-60M Black Hawks by the end of FY07, and from FY09 to FY13, the Army plans to procure an additional 300 UH-60M Black Hawks (70 of those aircraft are programmed for ARNG units). However, without an accelerated procurement of the UH-60M, the Army National Guard will be operating more than 400 UH-60A helicopters beyond 2020. The ARNG and the Active Army developed a program to support the continued modernization of the ARNG Black Hawk fleet. Unfortunately, this program is not fully funded. The ARNG plan is to accelerate the fielding of UH-60M Black Hawks by 10 aircraft per year. Although the Active Army has programmed UH-60A recapitalization for the ARNG with Operations and Maintenance (O&M) funds, which includes an airframe life extension, fleet-wide product improvements and the replacement of components, the UH-60A to L upgrade is not funded. The UH-60L Black Hawk is more economical to operate and has 1,000 lbs. of additional lift than the UH-60A. The desired rate of UH-60A to L upgrades is 38 per year. Funding the UH-60A to L upgrade will significantly improve the Black Hawk fleet, and assure that ARNG units are ready, deployable, and available to protect our national interests both abroad and at home. This ARNG aviation initiative has been identified by the Chief of the National Guard Bureau (CNGB) as FY09 ``Essential 10--Top 25'' unfunded priorities.

Mr. EHLERS

Mr. EHLERS. Madam Speaker, on rollcall No. 290, I stepped off the floor for a meeting, and returned to the floor just a few seconds after the voting board had been closed. Had I been present, I would have voted ``no.''