Buck McKeon

Mr. McKEON

Mr. McKEON. I thank Chairman Hastings for yielding. Mr. Speaker, it is a great privilege to speak on my bill, H.R. 5742, the Soledad Canyon Settlement Act. I appreciate the opportunity to appear before the House, and I want to thank Speaker Boehner, Majority Leader McCarthy, and Chairman Hastings for their steadfast support of this legislation. Without their support, we wouldn't be standing here today on the floor with this bill. I would also like to thank the gentlewoman from California, Senator Boxer, for her efforts in finding an agreeable solution for the inclusion of language that brought the score of the bill to zero. And I second the remarks of Chairman Hastings and hope that she will be able to bring this to a conclusion in the final days that the Senate is in session. One of the things that Senator Boxer added to this bill was introducing legislation that brought the cost of this bill to zero. Crossing that hurdle has moved us to this point now in solving this intractable issue. Finally, I would like to thank the gentleman from California, Congressman Sherman, for his support of my legislation. I continue to believe in bipartisanship as the way to address critical issues for our constituents, and we have shown time and again that we can find common ground if we try. Mr. Speaker, the Soledad Canyon mine, operated by CEMEX, is located just outside the city of Santa Clarita, California, in the 25th Congressional District that I have had the opportunity to represent now for the last 22 years. Under two current contracts held by CEMEX, they are authorized to extract approximately 56 million tons of sand and gravel over a 20-year period, with two 10-year contracts. Residents of my congressional district and city leaders have been expressing their concerns for the past 24 years about a large mine operating in close proximity to where they live. And, as the chairman mentioned, this has become much closer over the years. They fear the effects of pollution, increased truck traffic, and environmental health issues on their families and the community. Throughout my 22 years in Congress, I have worked endlessly to find a solution. I have engaged with civic leaders, residents of my district, environmental leaders, the county of Los Angeles, CEMEX, BLM, the Department of the Interior, Chairman Hastings, and the leadership of our conference. Mr. Speaker, allow me to give just a bit of background on the situation that has arisen in my district. In 1990, two privately held valid Federal contracts were awarded to Transit Mixed Concrete. Southdown, the parent company of Transit Mixed Concrete, was acquired by CEMEX in 2000, resulting in CEMEX holding the Federal contracts. The Bureau of Land Management approved a mining plan of operations and prepared a draft environmental impact statement with respect to the Soledad Canyon mine, which was released on May 6, 1999. The environmental impact statement was subsequently modified to address the growing concerns among Santa Clarita residents about the impact that mining operations in Soledad Canyon have on air quality and health, truck traffic, and declining property values in Santa Clarita. The final environmental impact statement was released to the public on June 2, 2000, with a list of eight alternatives for mining the Soledad Canyon site. Under the California Environmental Quality Act, the county of Los Angeles completed the environmental impact report in 2001 and subsequently voted in 2002 to deny the permit, citing the right and responsibility of the county to impose reasonable environmental and resource protection and regulation on mining in Soledad Canyon. Numerous lawsuits were filed between 2002 and 2004 involving the city of Santa Clarita, the county of Los Angeles, the Center for Biological Diversity, and CEMEX. A consent degree resulted from the settlement of CEMEX, Inc. v. County of Los Angeles in 2004. The consent decree contains the mitigation agreement between CEMEX and the county of Los Angeles, which lists 40 conditions that CEMEX is required to meet in order to mitigate the environmental, health, traffic, endangered species, and safety concerns raised by the county, local residents, and the city of Santa Clarita. Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned before, I have worked throughout my entire congressional career to bring all parties together to work out a deal that is mutually beneficial. I have introduced eight bills on this issue over the years, each of which took a different approach to dealing with the mine as new issues arose. In the 106th Congress, I introduced H.R. 3060, which would have withdrawn specified lands from the operation of Federal mining and mineral leasing laws and would have nullified any existing permits issued on those lands. The same bill was introduced as H.R. 679 in the 107th Congress. In the 108th Congress, I introduced H.R. 3529, the Soledad Canyon Mine Lease Cancellation Act. This legislation would have canceled the two mining permits for the Soledad Canyon mine and would have prohibited the Secretary of the Interior from issuing permits for mining above historical levels in Soledad Canyon. In the 109th Congress, I introduced H.R. 5471, the Soledad Canyon Mine Leases Adjustment Act. This legislation would have canceled the two mining permits for the Soledad Canyon mine, directed the Secretary of the Interior to provide additional financial and mineral production opportunities in exchange for the economic value invested to that date on the two permits, and would have prohibited the Secretary of the Interior from issuing permits for mining above historical levels in Soledad Canyon. In the 110th Congress, I introduced H.R. 5887, the Soledad Canyon Mine Act. This legislation would have authorized the Secretary of the Interior to cancel the two mining contracts, prohibited future mining in Soledad Canyon, provided a means for CEMEX to recover just compensation for the cancelation of the contracts, provided the Bureau of Land Management with the necessary tools to verify the expenses incurred by CEMEX, provided relief to CEMEX for such expenses, and provided for a dispute resolution process. In the 111th Congress, I introduced H.R. 4332, the Soledad Canyon High Desert, California Public Lands Conservation and Management Act of 2009. This legislation had a similar set of actions as H.R. 5887, but added two notable ones: it provided a mechanism to offer for sale, by competitive bidding, lands identified for disposition near Victorville, California; and to acquire environmentally-sensitive land and collect the proceeds of the sale of lands near Victorville, California. Finally, in the 112th Congress, I introduced H.R. 6469, the Soledad Canyon Mine Mitigation and Relocation Act of 2012. This legislation would have begun a study of the legal and administrative steps-- including obtaining sufficient funding--necessary to carry out the goals of the Soledad Canyon High Desert, California Public Lands Conservation and Management Act of 2009, H.R. 4332. I mention each of these in order to illustrate how the tug and pull of all parties influenced the legislative process. Each party gave ideas to further perfect legislation that would finally solve this vexing issue that affects the residents of my district. I believe because of all our joint efforts, we have reached a critical mass on this issue. It is time for a solution once and for all. I am looking forward to the full House acting on H.R. 5742 today, a solution that would take the mine out of commission and lift this two decades' long burden off the backs of my constituents. This is a solution borne from the great compromise between the city of Santa Clarita and CEMEX, who each offered to put up the difference in cost to bring the cost of the bill to zero. This zero score is critical to the bill's success and couldn't have been achieved without the partnership that has developed over the many years of action on this matter. The bill achieves all the aims of my previous legislation, particularly H.R. 4332, with the solution to the vexing issue of how to ensure there is no cost to the Federal Government. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation. I thank the gentleman again for allowing me the time to explain this critical issue in my district and thanks again to our House leadership and Chairman Hastings for bringing this legislation to the floor.

Mr. McKEON

Mr. McKEON. Mr. Speaker, I send to the desk a concurrent resolution and ask unanimous consent for its immediate consideration in the House

Mr. McKEON

Mr. McKEON. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. McKEON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. I would, at the outset, like to thank Mr. Smith. I agree with probably about everything he said. He has been a tremendous partner to work with. He just had hip surgery a few weeks ago, and in these last few weeks with all these meetings and all the time and all the effort he has had to put forth in great pain, I really commend you for your integrity, for your steadfastness in your commitment to serving your district, the members of our armed services, and this Nation. It has been a great experience working with you, and I enjoyed just about every minute of it. There are times when we have disagreed, but we have really done that at a high level and tried to keep it always on the issue, never, never personal, and it has been great. I want to join him in thanking our staff. We get all the credit; they do all the work. Both sides of the aisle, frankly, most of the staff, I don't know if they are on the minority or the majority side because they work so closely together. That is just the culture of this committee, and I am sure it will continue. As you have heard through other debate, this legislation addresses a wide variety of policy issues, including supporting operations in Afghanistan, funding the war against ISIL in Iraq and Syria, reinforcing our capabilities in the Pacific, and maintaining the Nation's nuclear deterrent. But many challenges remain. Next year, the Armed Services Committee will be in excellent hands. Mr. Thornberry and I have sat next to each other now for 20 years on the committee. He will be the chairman next year. Mr. Smith will continue to be the ranking member. They will have their work cut out for them, but they are more than up to the task. I wish them all the best because the security of our Nation lies in their hands, along with all of the members of the committee and all of the Members of this body. I hope sometime next year a compromise can come to the floor that will end sequestration. There isn't a magical solution that Republicans can support and the President can sign without sacrifice on both sides. When that solution comes, it will be a tough vote on both sides. I pray that our colleagues will hold this one thought in their heart when that vote comes: remember the great sacrifice that our troops and their families and loved ones at home are making around the world. Right now, they are walking in the mountains of Afghanistan. They are at sea, within missile range of Iran. They are flying wingtip-to- wingtip against Russian bombers over the North Sea. They are nose-to- nose with the North Koreans. They are sweating in the equatorial heat of Africa, fighting a horrible disease. They are standing on the sands of Iraq, risking everything against a brutal enemy. They take those risks and they make those sacrifices because of you. They do it for you. They do it for us, for their families, for their flag, and for our freedom. How have we repaid them? With equipment that is falling apart, by laying them off while they are off in war zones, by docking their pay and their medical benefits, by throwing them out of the service and onto a broken economy. I have met our forces on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan, dirty and sweaty from fighting. I have watched too many families, as have all of you, spend long months waiting for those returning from deployment. I have seen too many heroes put into the ground. They never failed us, not once, so shame on us if we are unwilling to pay back the debt we owe them. Shame on all of us, from the White House down, if we cannot make far less a sacrifice than we ask of them on their behalf. My road in Congress is coming to an end. It will be up to the next Congress and the President to make these injustices right. Please show our troops the respect they deserve. Give them the tools they need. Help keep them safe. Honor their sacrifice with your service. I know that you will do the right thing. I am in the twilight of a 22-year career here in Congress. It has been mentioned that we passed this bill 53 times. I want to tell you I was not here for all 53 of those, nor was Adam. He is much younger than I am. You might think that I have been here 53. It has been the history of the committee to get this done every year because it so important. I have come to know many of you as friends and family. To the Armed Services Committee staff, once again--that is, minority and majority-- you are all veterans, you are professionals, you are tireless, but I just think of you as the best. To my personal staff, I did not want to give this speech, not because I have any regrets, but I just have this problem. Thankfully, the Speaker has it a lot worse than I do, and he gets all the attention, but I have the same problem. We hear a lot about government workers and how we spend money on government workers and they don't do anything. I just want to tell the people of America that all of these people that work here spend countless hours, and they do so much for so many people. I have some constituent workers at home that have helped thousands of people, and every one of these government workers here deserve our gratitude and thanks for all that they do. I want to thank all my colleagues for the many wonderful things they have said. I made a comment the other day that my funeral is going to be somewhat anticlimactic. I have heard speeches saying what a wonderful person I am. Fortunately, I am old enough that I don't take any of that personally or too seriously. I understand that this is a responsibility that was given to me by colleagues. I have enjoyed it. It has been a great experience, but I know it is not about me. It is about what we do here. I want to thank my family. People say, ``Boy, we love your Christmas card.'' We have 6 children, 30 grandchildren, and now one great- grandchild, and they are all great. I am going to spend a little bit more time with them. I think I would like to teach some of my grandchildren how to fish, if somebody will teach me how to fish. My wife has stood by my side for 52 years now. She is a tremendous person who I look up to so much. Now, I am a McKeon, so that means I am of Irish heritage. I would like to part with an Irish blessing for all of you: May the road rise up to meet you. May the wind be ever at your back. May the Sun shine warm upon your face and the rain fall softly on your fields, and until we meet again, may God hold you in the hollow of his hand. To this great body and to our troops, wherever you may be, may God bless you and keep you. May God bless America. Now, for hopefully the last time, Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. McKEON. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Missouri (Mrs. Hartzler), a member of the Armed Services Committee.

Mr. McKEON. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Hastings), the chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee.

Mr. McKEON. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Wittman), my friend and colleague, a member of the Armed Services Committee and the chairman of the Readiness Subcommittee.

Mr. McKEON. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Nevada, Dr. Heck, General Heck, Joe Heck, my friend and colleague, a member of the Armed Services Committee and chairman of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee.

Mr. McKEON. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Turner), my friend and colleague. He is a member of the Armed Services Committee and chairman of the Tactical Air and Land Forces Subcommittee and the sponsor of the child protection amendment that he has worked on for 7 years.

Mr. McKEON. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Wilson), my friend and colleague who is a member of the Armed Services Committee and the chairman of the Military Personnel Subcommittee.

Mr. McKEON. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Forbes), my friend and colleague who is a member of the Armed Services Committee and is the chairman of the Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee.

Mr. McKEON. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Sanford).

Mr. McKEON. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Rogers), my friend and colleague, a member of the Armed Services Committee and chairman of the Strategic Forces Subcommittee.

Mr. McKEON. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Byrne), a member of the House Armed Services Committee.

Mr. McKEON. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Thornberry), my friend and colleague, the incoming chairman of the House Armed Services Committee and chairman of the Intelligence, Emerging Threats and Capabilities Subcommittee.

Mr. McKEON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise today in support of the fiscal year 2015 National Defense Authorization Act. The NDAA is how Congress fulfills its constitutional responsibility to provide for the common defense. This year will mark the 53rd consecutive year that we have completed our work. What makes this bill such an important piece of legislation are the vital authorities contained within. It provides resources for the mission in Afghanistan. It funds our military operations against ISIL in Iraq and Syria. It pays our troops and their families. It keeps our Navy fleet sailing and our military aircraft flying. It maintains a strong nuclear deterrent. The NDAA is much broader than this, but I will close in the interest of time. Before I do, I would like to thank Ranking Member Smith, all of the members of our Armed Services Committee, and my colleagues in this body for all of their efforts to get us to this point. Every year for the past 52 years Congress has passed an NDAA. I am grateful for the hardworking chairs and ranking members of the HASC, but also to all Members of the body for recognizing the importance of this vital piece of legislation. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. McKEON. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on H.R. 3979.

Mr. McKEON. Mr. Speaker, I have a motion at the desk.

Mr. McKEON. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 770, I call up the bill (H.R. 3979) to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to ensure that emergency services volunteers are not taken into account as employees under the shared responsibility requirements contained in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, with the Senate amendment thereto, and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. McKEON

Mr. McKEON. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the question of adopting a motion to concur in the Senate amendment to H.R. 3979 with an amendment may be subject to postponement as though under clause 8 of rule XX.

Mr. McKEON

Mr. McKEON. Mr. Speaker, I send to the desk a concurrent resolution and ask unanimous consent for its immediate consideration in the House.

Mr. McKEON

Mr. McKEON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor a young lady from California's 25th district who is making a lasting difference in our community, one friendship at a time. I've been blessed with the honor of serving in Congress for nearly 22 years, and I've had the pleasure of meeting many extraordinary people. However, today, it is a privilege to share a few words about the inspiring work of Sarah Kennedy. Sarah is a 14-year old student from Santa Clarita, California. I had the joy of meeting Sarah and her family not too long ago. It was evident from our brief conversation that Sarah is a person who can transcend boundaries, and her honest and sincere personality lights up a room. Sarah is the type of person you want to know and befriend. Actually, friendship is her secret weapon. Sarah is behind a growing anti-bullying movement that recognizes the good in everyone. Through the power of relationships, Sarah breaks down the boundaries that often divide students in our schools. Upon meeting someone, Sarah offers the individual a gumball, and soon they are fast friends. I wouldn't be surprised if every student in Santa Clarita has a gumball by now. Too often in our busy lives, we forget about the power of the simple things in life. A simple ``hello'', a modest ``how are you'', these humble words make a difference. Through Sarah's inspiring and wise actions, she is bringing students together. Adults should stand ready to learn from her as well. We all have time in our busy days to make a friend. As a father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, I am grateful for the noble pursuit Sarah has undertaken. Mr. Speaker, we know that Sarah is fighting the good fight. I know that her family is proud of her, and I stand here today to congratulate Sarah on her progress. I hope everyone has the chance to have a true friend like Sarah Kennedy. Sarah is an inspiration to all of us, and she has a friend in me.

Mr. McKEON

Mr. McKEON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I want to thank Adam Smith, my ranking member and partner for the last few years in this effort. I think he was very eloquent. He did a good job in working this debate. I think we have heard from both sides of the aisle, both positions, and it has been a strong debate. I want to thank Mr. Thornberry. He has been my vice chairman, sidekick, for the last couple of years, carried a heavy load. He is a vice chairman of the committee, but he is also chairman of a subcommittee and also serves on the Intelligence Committee and a strong, strong Member, as you can see. He did a great job of explaining the bill, laying it all out in summary form after this long debate. There is just one other point I want to mention, and that is that there is no new money in this bill. The President did not need additional money, and any money that is needed will be reprogrammed from money that already exists. They have to come back to the Congress and go through the process to make that change. But there will be nothing added to the top line. I want to thank our staff who worked so hard on this. This came late in the process. The President sent us language last week. It wasn't something that we could support. I want to thank leadership for giving us the time to work this issue, that, instead of voting on it last Thursday, we had time to work. The staff worked all weekend, both sides of the aisle. Thank you. Thank you for your strong work. We hear sometimes about government workers and they are kind of just at the government trough. I want to tell you, these people work hard, long hours, and they are devoted to their jobs. Most of them could leave here and make more money, but they are committed to what they are doing, and I want to thank them for it. Finally, I would just like to say, as a final wrap-up, this letter that I put in earlier, where Ambassador Crocker, Ambassador Ford, who have spent years in this area, really understand the people, understand what is going on in that area, and then General Keane, General Petraeus, who both have spent a lot of time on this issue, the four of them have signed a letter that they sent over to us this morning that they support this amendment. I agree with, I think, probably everybody that spoke that this will not do everything, but it is an important step at this time, and I urge our colleagues to support this amendment to give our Commander in Chief the authority that he needs to protect us in this area. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. McKEON. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. McKEON. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentlewoman from Tennessee (Mrs. Blackburn), my friend and colleague.