John Garamendi

Mr. GARAMENDI

Mr. GARAMENDI. Mr. Chairman, I don't intend to take 5 minutes, but this issue is rather important. In the long history of the United States Navy, we have always built our ships in America. The Ready Reserve Fleet is part of our national defense system. It provides ships that are necessary for the hauling of cargo that are always ready and available for the military to move its equipment--men, supplies, women--wherever they may need to go across the oceans. That reserve fleet is going to need to be recapitalized and replaced over the next several years. The question before us is whether that fleet and those new ships will be built in America or in China or Japan or Korea. This amendment would simply require that they be built in America, as they have in the past. With that, I yield back the balance of my time. Point of Order

Mr. GARAMENDI. Mr. Chairman, the United States Government maintains a series of ships that are standby, available to the Navy to be used in our national defense. Historically, these ships have been crewed, owned, and operated by American citizens. There may be an attempt underway to change that to allow these ships to be crewed, owned, and operated by foreign entities. This amendment would preclude that. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. GARAMENDI. Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

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

Mr. GARAMENDI. Mr. Chairman, I wish to be heard on the point of order.

Mr. GARAMENDI. The point of order issue has been rather flexible, as we have seen in previous appropriation bills that have been on this floor. When the majority wants to change the law, it seems as though a point of order isn't appropriate. But when someone else wants to address a crucial national issue, such as making sure our shipyards have the work and our Navy and the Ready Reserve Fleet is American built, then I suppose a point of order seems to have some further power. Therefore, I don't think a point of order is appropriate.

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

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

Mr. GARAMENDI. Mr. Chairman, I understand the point of order. We are going to be facing that with my other six amendments, but I would like to speak to this issue and also to the others at the same time, and I will drop the other amendments. Yesterday, I had the pleasure of driving across San Francisco Bay on the brandnew east San Francisco Bay Bridge, a multibillion-dollar project. The steel of that project in its main section was built in China. It was fabricated in China. The Chinese steel company built a new steel mill, the most advanced in the world. There were 3,000 Chinese jobs and zero American jobs. The way they are able to get around the Buy American provisions is that the State of California segmented the multibillion-dollar project into 20 different pieces, therefore avoiding the Buy America provisions on this crucial center span of that bridge. This amendment would prohibit that from ever happening again. The other amendments speak to the $50 billion that is going to be spent by this bill and would require, in various ways, that that money be spent here in America on American-made goods, American steel, American products, and on American workers. We ought to buy in America. We ought to make this other national policy. We ought never have another Bay Bridge. We ought to do what we did in the American Recovery Act that required that some $800 million for Amtrak locomotives be spent on 100 percent American-made. Indeed, Siemens, a German company, has established a manufacturing plant in Sacramento to manufacture those locomotives. One of the other amendments I will not be taking up tonight deals specifically with the rolling stock for public transportation, that it, too, be American-made and that we increase the percentage of American content from 60 percent to 100 percent. This is American taxpayer money. That money ought to be spent in America. American taxpayers should demand it. The Members of Congress should demand that their taxpayers' money be spent on American-made equipment, goods, and services. This is part of the Make It In America agenda. It is most specific here at this time, as we are about to, in the next day, spend $50 billion of American taxpayer money. Are we going to spend it on American-made equipment, American goods and services? Or are they going to be coming from China or somewhere else in the world? The question is very straightforward for all of us. Unfortunately, because of the point of order that will be raised on this and the other six amendments, we will not have a chance tonight, tomorrow, and perhaps in the days ahead, to really do something for America in rebuilding our manufacturing sector by requiring that our taxpayer money be spent on American-made goods, services, and on American workers. With that, I yield back the balance of my time. Point of Order

Mr. GARAMENDI

Mr. GARAMENDI. Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the people of California's 3rd Congressional District, I want to congratulate the AP Government students and their teacher Mr. Paul Heaney at Rio Vista High School for completing a class report on three major policy issues: welfare reform, health care, and unequal access to education. The students, Victor Aguilera, Frederick Alvarez, Jamie Moe, Dylan Coito, Alexandra Correia, Hannah Cronin, Christina Curiel, Eric Del Aguila, Diana Elisea, Tyler Gomes, Jonathon Heaney, Alexis Johnson, Rebekah Kinser, Chace Marlowe, Alexa Martinez, Melanie Oakes, Lily Roberts, Christina Rutledge, Alyssa Schneider, Caroline Schulz, Kimberly Scneder, Maria Silva, Brady Swing, Dora Uribe, Raven Vance, Elizabeth Ventura, Antonio Wright, and Emily Zepeda demonstrated hard work in this inspiring program. Education is about developing knowledge and critical thinking skills. These students are civically engaged, reaching their lawmakers with policy recommendations on key issues facing our nation. I was honored to learn more about their recommendations during a class visit on Tuesday, May 28. They engaged in a robust debate and succeeded in finding compromise on complex issues. Their willingness to work together in good faith and to build consensus is laudable and a lesson for us all.

Mr. GARAMENDI

Mr. GARAMENDI. Mr. Speaker, it brings me sadness and honor to pay final tribute to Lieutenant Colonel James Warren, USAF (Retired). He died Saturday, May 17, 2014, of cancer in Vacaville, California. He was 90. James served 35 years in the United States Air Force during World War II, Korea and Vietnam as a Tuskegee Airman, the first African American aviators in the United States Armed Forces. During his distinguished career, James flew over 12,000 hours and 173 combat missions. He was the first navigator to bring home a group of American POWs from North Vietnam aboard ``Homecoming One,'' and flew the Apollo 14 crew from splashdown near American Samoa back to the Manned Space Center in Houston, Texas. Throughout this extensive career James was awarded numerous medals for his exceptional service, including the Distinguished Flying Cross with two Oak Leaf Clusters, three Meritorious Service Medals, the Air Medal with eleven Oak Leaf Clusters and the Air Force Commendation Medal. James Warren was a man of humble beginnings, born on August 16, 1923, into the racially segregated world of Gurley, Alabama. His mother worked hard to save enough money to buy him a bus ticket to Highland Park, Illinois, when he was 15 years old. After graduating from high school, he enlisted in the aviation cadet program, arriving at Tuskegee Army Air Field, Alabama in November of 1942. Soon after in March of 1943, James was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Army Air Force, later graduating from Hondo Navigation School in August of 1944 and assigned to the 477th Bombardment Group, Medium. Unfortunately despite his extensive military accomplishments, James' biggest battles were to break down the barriers of segregation. In 1945, James and his fellow African American members of the 477th attempted to integrate an all-white Officers' Club at Freeman Army Air Field. The incident led to the arrest of 102 officers, including one of its instrumental leaders, Lt Col Warren. This incidence is generally regarded by Civil Rights historians as a seminal moment in the drive toward full integration of the Armed Forces and later as a model for civil disobedience of the Civil Rights Movement. For seven decades, Lt Col Warren was a living legend as a proud American, a decorated veteran, and as both a member and representative of the valiant Tuskegee Airmen. Even in retirement James continued his selfless service, tirelessly promoting the accomplishments of the Tuskegee Airmen and all African American participation in armed conflicts across the globe and sharing his infectious passion for flight with the next generation of Vacaville youth. The challenges he faced, fought for, and overcame are a true inspiration. I invite my colleagues to join me as I offer my condolences to his loving family, Xanthia, his wife of 61 years, and sons, James, Stewart and Dwayne and daughter, Sharron. He will be greatly missed. His legacy will live on as a source of inspiration for generations to come. I wish Lieutenant Colonel James Warren ``high flight.''

Mr. GARAMENDI

Mr. GARAMENDI. Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the people of California's Third Congressional District, I want to congratulate the AP Government students and their teacher at Rio Vista High School for completing a class project on three major policy issues: welfare reform, health care, and unequal access to education. They demonstrated hard work in this inspiring program. Education is about developing knowledge and critical thinking skills. These students are civically engaged, reaching their lawmakers with policy recommendations on key issues facing our nation. I was honored to learn more about their recommendations during a class visit on Tuesday, May 28. Their willingness to work together in good faith and to build consensus is laudable and a lesson for us all.

Mr. GARAMENDI

Mr. GARAMENDI. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the rather elucidating discussion on the way in which the committee system is supposed to work. Unfortunately, in the Armed Services Committee, the most expensive single project was never allowed to be discussed, and that is the war in Afghanistan--$79 billion in the NDAA for Afghanistan and not 1 second of discussion about the role of America in Afghanistan and about the ongoing war. The committee structure did not work. Therefore it is to this floor, it is to the membership of this House to take up this critical issue of what is the role of America in Afghanistan. Are we to continue this war or not? If we are to continue it, how are we going to do that? That is our business. That is the business that we were elected to do, and we have been prevented by the actions of the majority in the committee and on this floor to even deal with this issue, to even discuss it for one moment, except in this issue of how the rule is to be written. This is not right, it is not fair to those of us who want to have a legitimate debate on the role of America in Afghanistan, and it is not in the interest of this country that this House forsake and forgo its responsibilities.

Mr. GARAMENDI

Mr. GARAMENDI. Mr. Chair, I ask unanimous consent to withdraw my request for a recorded vote on amendment No. 5 to the end that the amendment stand rejected by the earlier voice vote.

Mr. GARAMENDI

Mr. GARAMENDI. Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. GARAMENDI. Mr. Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. GARAMENDI. Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent that my amendment be modified with what I have placed at the desk.

Mr. GARAMENDI. Mr. Chairman, for some time, like more than an hour today, this House debated and discussed the issue of Boko Haram and the terror that they are enacting throughout Nigeria and the southern Sahel of Africa. This is not a new issue. This is an issue that has been ongoing among several violent extreme organizations operating in that area. We have seen this in Sudan. We have heard about the Lord's Resistance Army. We know this problem also of violent extreme organizations in the Somalia area. The question arises: How do these organizations finance themselves? Well, over the years previously it was blood diamonds and things of that sort. In recent years, it has now become an issue of killing elephants and selling their tusks. This amendment deals with the violent extreme organizations and attempts to deal with the way in which they have been able to finance themselves, that is, illegally poaching animals, particularly elephants in Africa. If we are going to deal with this, we are going to have to use some of the assets that are available through the American military. AFRICOM has shown that they can provide ISR assets. This happened in Mali with the violent extreme organization that eventually was dealt with in Mali. AFRICOM provided the use of the ISR Global Hawk to identify and to support the French troops. What this amendment would do would be to authorize the military, the Department of Defense, to work with African countries to provide support as they attempt to deal with these violent extreme organizations that are illegally poaching animals and using that revenue from that poaching, particularly the sale of ivory, to support themselves. The amendment also provides for the opportunity for the African Union forces to receive assistance from the American military in how to position themselves to have the correct military units in place, how to use various intelligence sources that are available. It also provides for the Department of Defense to become part of the organization that we now have in place to deal with illegal poaching throughout Africa. That is basically what it is. Had this been in place for the last couple of years, would Boko Haram have been successful? Well, they would be less successful. They would have less opportunity to poach the very valuable elephants and their tusks. So I ask for support of this amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. GARAMENDI. Mr. Chairman, the gentleman from Texas makes a very useful and interesting argument, but neglects to focus on one of the principal ways in which these organizations do support themselves, and that is with illegal poaching, particularly of elephants, and the use of their tusks to support themselves. It is about an $8 billion business. This does not in any way deter the current power that the Department of Defense has, but rather, it allows them to engage with those organizations in these governments that deal specifically with the conservation of the species in those countries. It does not prioritize. It simply gives an additional role and augments the military's use of their equipment, particularly the ISR equipment, to focus specifically, but not only, on the poaching issue. It is very clear from studies that have been done by conservation organizations throughout the Sahel of Africa and in other parts of Africa, that this is a significant source of revenue for these violent extreme organizations. We ought not ignore that. I would ask for a positive vote on this matter in that it does not deter in any way from what the gentleman from Texas says the military is already doing, but adds to it. With that, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. GARAMENDI. Mr. Chairman, congratulations to the chair of the committee and the ranking member for putting together a unanimous bipartisan bill. There is much to say in this bill that is good, and I would like to say about two things. One, the ISR capabilities of the military, particularly the Air Force, are maintained in this bill. The U-2 and the Global Hawk will continue to operate and provide critical intelligence to our military, operating now in the Sahel of Africa, chasing off Boko Haram. This bill also provides us with the continuability to get to where we need to go. The KC-10 will remain in the force for the foreseeable future, until it is fully replaced by the KC-46s. All of this is good. You need to know what is going on around the world, and you need to be able to get there, and this bill provides for that. However, there are issues in this bill that we need to spend some time working on. It has been some 20 years since we have taken a hard look at the nuclear triad, an extraordinarily expensive and extraordinarily dangerous part of our military apparatus. We are talking nuclear weapons here and the triad--the bombers, the ICBMs, and the submarines. How do they fit? What do we need? How much do we really need to spend upon them? Also, the nuclear weapons that go with them. The rebuilding of our nuclear weapons is a 20- to 30-year process, and we are talking about tens of billions of dollars. Too much? Enough? Maybe. Too much? Probably. We also have to dispose of some 43 tons of unnecessary plutonium. How is that going to be done at the Savannah facility? There is money in this budget to continue a dead-end process. We ought to take a new look at that. And there will be amendments that will be proposed. And finally, the big elephant in the room. We are talking about Afghanistan. $74 billion in this bill not debated, not discussed. We must do that. It is our obligation as Members of the House of Representatives and the representatives of the people of the United States to talk about what we are going to do in Afghanistan, and that needs to be done.

Mr. GARAMENDI. Mr. Chairman, I took up an amendment a moment ago and people were talking about how we use our resources to keep these missile silos open when they are not needed and questioning whether missiles are needed. We are talking about billions and billions of dollars. So if we are really, really concerned about how we deploy our precious money, then we ought not be doing this amendment.

Mr. GARAMENDI

Mr. GARAMENDI. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Rahall and I would like to also compliment the chair for the great work on getting this bill together--obviously, bipartisan. For my district this is extremely important. First of all, one of the reforms that came out of this is a ``3x3,'' which is now going to move across the country so that projects get done--at least the early studies--$3 million, 3 years done, and question then before the House whether we are going to move forward with that project. The Sutter project, providing critical protection for Yuba City and that area. Also Notomas--I notice my colleague from Sacramento is here--providing critical protection for part of Sacramento. The harbors, being able to use the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund to deepen the harbors, all critically important. This is an important bill. When we couple this with the Buy American/ Make It In America, we have an opportunity to really move forward the American economy, not only with the infrastructure jobs, but also with the manufacturing that could follow along. Congratulations to the chair and the ranking members and the subcommittee chair and ranking members.

Mr. GARAMENDI

Mr. GARAMENDI. I would like to close with a statement of hope and a statement of opportunity. Here is what happens when you spend money on research and on treatment. Breast cancer is down 2 percent, as well as deaths from these other cancers. Prostate cancer is down, heart disease is down, stroke is down, and HIV has a 42 percent decline. That is what research and treatment will do. Alzheimer's is up 68 percent. That is what happens when you spend this kind of money. Cancer, over $5 billion a year. The result, a decline in cancer. HIV/ AIDS, almost $3 billion a year. You see the extraordinary success of that. Cardiovascular illnesses, $2 billion. Again, a decline in each and every one of these causes of death. With Alzheimer's, right around half a billion dollars. The result is this: increased deaths. So we have a way of answering this question of what to do with this, and that is turn our focus on the research and the care and the support for the families. That should be our watch word. I think that is a bipartisan way of going at this. That is something that we can focus on as 435 Members of this House and our colleagues over in the Senate. This is a bipartisan issue, a bicameral issue, with a known path to a solution. With that, we are out of time this evening. I want to thank my two colleagues in a bipartisan hour, my Republican colleague from Kentucky and my friend who is often on the floor with me, Mr. Tonko. We are going to come back and do this for another hour in the last half of the month of June. I know that there are several of our Republican colleagues that wanted to be here tonight. And I know the Democrats do, also. We will see if we can go move forward with a solution. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. GARAMENDI. Thank you so very, very much. Thank you for being part of what, to my knowledge, is the first bipartisan hour. We ought to do this more. This issue isn't a Democratic or Republican issue, a left or right issue. This is a true American tragedy--and one that is also going to be a true American financial as well as a family problem. One of the gentlemen that has been involved in this from the very early days is my friend from New York (Mr. Tonko). Thank you for joining us, Mr. Tonko. I know you have had a very difficult evening with one of our colleagues who lost her spouse this evening. Thank you for caring for her and joining us this evening.

Mr. GARAMENDI. Thank you very much, Mr. Tonko. I know Mr. Guthrie may have some additional remarks. We have got about 7 minutes. I am going to take maybe 3 minutes and talk about some of the legislation that is here. I am going to go through this very quickly. Mr. Markey, who is now a senator, introduced H.R. 1507 when he was here in the House. This deals with the Social Security and Medicare diagnosis. Of course, we have the Accountability Act you have introduced, Mr. Guthrie. There is H.R. 489, the Global Alzheimer's Resolution. Next month is Global Alzheimer's Month. This will be part of that effort to talk about this issue around the world. We have H.R. 4543, the PACE Pilot Act, to keep elderly people in their homes, which was introduced by Chris Smith, who will join us the next time we come out on this issue. And also, H.R. 2975, the Alzheimer's Caregiver Support Act, was introduced by Representative Maxine Waters and, again, deals with the kind of support that you and Mr. Guthrie were talking about. One more. We have H.R. 2976, the Missing Alzheimer's Disease Patient Alert Program, dealing with the issue both of you have talked about with elderly or people with Alzheimer's that wander off. All of these are bipartisan pieces of legislation. All of them in one way or another deal with this problem. The one thing that is not among these is specific money for research, which I would hope comes from our efforts to talk about this and make this a major issue. Mr. Guthrie, I know you have some additional comments.