Buck McKeon

Mr. McKEON

Mr. McKEON. Mr. Speaker, my friends are asking, Where are the jobs? It's a good question because we were told in February, when the stimulus package was passed, that four or five million jobs would be created. Since then we've lost 1,963,000 jobs. It's not bad enough that we're not doing anything to create jobs from the administration's side. But we're actually doing things to kill more jobs. I just left a markup for the Education Committee where the majority is killing a program that has been very successful since 1965, has helped millions of students go to college and provided an education for them, and now they're eliminating that program, along with it, 40,000 jobs. I have constituents at home that are really suffering. They're asking, Where are the jobs? It's about time you started doing something to produce them.

Mr. McKEON

Mr. McKEON. Madam Speaker, pursuant to the Republican Leadership standards on earmarks, I am submitting the following information for publication in the Congressional Record regarding Member priority requests I received as part of H.R. 3183, the ``Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010.'' Requesting Member: Congressman Howard P. ``Buck'' McKeon Bill Number: H.R. 3183, the ``Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010'' Account: Army Corps of Engineers--Construction Legal Name of Requesting Entity: Castaic Lake Water Agency Address of Requesting Entity: 27234 Bouquet Canyon Road, Santa Clarita, CA 91350 Description of Request: I requested and received a Member priority request totaling $1,100,000 to help implement the fully authorized cleanup of perchlorate groundwater contamination at the former Whittaker-Bermite site (a former U.S. military munitions testing location) in the City of Santa Clarita. This site has both soil and groundwater contamination from years of chemical exposure during ordinance testing. Requesting Member: Congressman Howard P. ``Buck'' McKeon Bill Number: H.R. 3183, the ``Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010'' Account: Department of Energy (DOE)--Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Legal Name of Requesting Entity: College of the Canyons Address of Requesting Entity: 26455 Rockwell Canyon Road, Santa Clarita, CA 91355 Description of Request: I requested and received a Member priority request totaling $500,000 for the College of the Canyons and its academic partners Alternative Energy Training Institute. The Institute would use the funding to create and expand degree and training programs focused on alternative energies and to coordinate economic and workforce development strategies with local and regional governments, universities, community colleges, workforce investment systems, and private industry. Programs would include solar and wind energy, green construction, energy management, and LEED certification. Requesting Member: Congressman Howard P. ``Buck'' McKeon Bill Number: H.R. 3183, the ``Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010'' Account: Department of Energy (DOE)--Science Legal Name of Requesting Entity: California State University San Bernardino Address of Requesting Entity: 5500 University Parkway, San Bernardino, CA 92407 Description of Request: I requested and received a Member priority request totaling $200,000 for California State University, San Bernardino to purchase scientific equipment (e.g., telescope) for a state-of-the-art teaching and research observatory. The observatory would help meet the need for an increase in science and math competency and education and teacher preparation. Additionally, as a minority- serving university, CSUSB's observatory would be fundamental to an innovative undergraduate physics and astronomy curriculum for improving minority access to careers in astronomy and astrophysics.

Mr. McKEON

Mr. McKEON. Madam Speaker, pursuant to the Republican Leadership standards on earmarks, I am submitting the following information regarding Member priority requests I received as part of H.R. 3170, the ``Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act, 2010.'' Requesting Member: Congressman Howard P. ``Buck'' McKeon Bill Number: H.R. 3170, the ``Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act, 2010'' Account: Small Business Administration (SBA) Legal Name of Requesting Entity: City of Palmdale, CA Address of Requesting Entity: 38300 Sierra Highway, Palmdale, CA 93550 Description of Request: I requested and received a Member priority request totaling $100,000 to assist the City of Palmdale and the South Valley WorkSource Center (SVWC) with their efforts to further develop and fully implement the second year of the Business Resource Network, an economic development support program that would connect area small businesses to available public and private business resources, which are designed to increase worker skills preparedness, reduce the potential for employee lay-offs and business closures, and promote continuing local economic development and growth.

Mr. McKEON

Mr. McKEON. By doing so, they will prevent veterans attending private institutions of higher education in California. Certainly, when my home State enacted free in-State tuition, they didn't anticipate the VA would use that to restrict our vets from attending private universities as they are allowed to do in 49 other States under the Post-9/11 GI Bill. It's important that we provide Californians parity by enacting legislation like H.R. 2474 that the gentleman from California and I introduced in May. This legislation, which has near unanimous support from our delegation, allows veterans in California to use their full fee benefit towards tuition and fee expenses. As the gentleman knows, it's important we act quickly, as this program begins implementation on August 1, 2009. Without action, many veterans could be unpleasantly surprised when they receive no tuition assistance. Can the chairman assure us that this exclusion of California veterans from this important benefit was not the intent of the Congress in the Post-9/11 GI Bill?

Mr. McKEON. I thank the gentleman for yielding. As the gentleman and I both know, this spring the VA released its Post-9/11 GI Bill tuition benefit rates. Unfortunately, the VA has misinterpreted the intent of Congress and by doing so will prevent veterans from attending private institutions in California.

Mr. McKEON

Mr. McKEON. Madam Speaker, pursuant to the Republican Leadership standards on earmarks, I am submitting the following information regarding Member priority requests I received as part of H.R. 3082, the ``Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Act, 2010.'' Requesting Member: Congressman Howard P. ``Buck'' McKeon Bill Number: H.R. 3082, the ``Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Act, 2010'' Account: MILCON, Navy Legal Name of Requesting Entity: U.S. Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center Address of Requesting Entity: U.S. Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center, Bridgeport, CA, 93517 Description of Request: I requested and received a Member priority authorization request totaling $6,830,000 for a new commissary at the U.S. Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center. This project would construct a permanent commissary at the U.S. Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center. Due to the remote location of the base outside Bridgeport, California, military members and their families travel dozens of miles over steep and sometimes impassable roadways to buy groceries and supplies. This project would eliminate that drive and provide an improved quality of life on base, especially during the winter months.

Mr. McKEON

Mr. McKEON. I would just like to second what the chairman was saying and thank all of those men and women in uniform and the civilian employees. He was very sincerely wanting to thank all of them. With that, Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. McKEON. May I inquire as to the time remaining?

Mr. McKEON. Mr. Chairman, I am happy to yield to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Gingrey) such time as he may consume.

Mr. McKEON. Mr. Chairman, I rise to claim this time, but I am not in opposition to Mr. Connolly's amendment. Although I do support the gentleman's amendment to clarify the purported intent of section 526 of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, I believe it does not do enough. The Department is aggressively seeking alternative fuel sources for their aircraft, vehicles, and naval vessels, and section 526 poses a serious barrier to these efforts. We need to encourage the Department to continue these efforts, not shackle them with greenhouse gas emission limits that are set from arbitrary and ambiguous standards. With that, Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. McKEON. Mr. Chairman, I claim the time in opposition.

Mr. McKEON. Mr. Chairman, this is probably the last time where I have enough time to thank the staff. I would like to thank all of the members of the staff. I said when I was on the Education Committee, we used to have everybody's names written out; and so I turned to Tom, and he said, We don't do that, sir. We give all of the credit to the Members. So rather than list all of their names on both sides, I would like to thank you en bloc, all of the staff, for doing such a tremendous job to get me ready in very short time to do this work. They have done a yeoman's job, and it has been a real pleasure working with the chairman and working with the staff on this bill. I look forward to many more years to do it. Hopefully, we will change off chairman, but I won't get into that. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. McKEON. We have no further speakers, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. McKEON. Mr. Chairman, I yield now to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Bilirakis) 2 minutes.

Mr. McKEON. Mr. Chairman, I yield now 1 minute to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Garrett).

Mr. McKEON. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. McKEON. Mr. Chairman, we have no further speakers, and I would be happy to yield 2 minutes to the chairman.

Mr. McKEON. I yield, at this time, Mr. Chairman, to the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Davis) 4 minutes.

Mr. McKEON. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith). (Mr. SMITH of New Jersey asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. McKEON. Reclaiming my time. This will work to improve the process by which our men and women in uniform who are serving outside the United States register and vote in State and local and Federal elections. I understand that Congress is already working to improve this process. I also understand that the Federal Voting Assistance Program, which is responsible for assisting our troops with the voting process, has a newly appointed director who will begin his duties next month. With that, I support efforts to increase the opportunities for our servicemembers to vote. I congratulate the gentlelady from New York for bringing forth this amendment, and especially while they are serving in combat. I know we have had questions during elections whether their votes were counted, whether they got back in time. So I really appreciate the effort she makes on their behalf and, therefore, I support and urge all of our Members to support this amendment. I yield back the balance of our time.

Mr. McKEON. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, this amendment would establish an overseas advisory board. Now, that will not be to tell people how to vote?

Mr. McKEON. Mr. Chairman, I rise to claim time in opposition, although I won't oppose the amendment.

Mr. McKEON. Mr. Chairman, the mid-level official is a lieutenant colonel. I think that is fairly high-ranking, field officer, and I think the record, as he stated, stands for itself. He is a legislative officer with the department. The lieutenant colonel will not state on the record something that opposes his higher rank. I think we all know that. With that, I urge all us to defeat this amendment. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. McKEON. I yield the gentleman 30 seconds.

Mr. McKEON. Mr. Chairman, just to again reiterate what the Department of Defense has told us, this is a statement that we received yesterday afternoon from the Department of Defense. I would like to read just a couple of things from it: ``The Department of Defense strongly opposes the provision because it would severely restrict the collection of intelligence through interrogations, undercut the Department's ability to recruit sources, and impose an unreasonable administrative and logistical burden on the warfighter. ``A statutory video recording requirement will be a matter of public record. Detainees will, therefore, know through counter-resistance training that anything they say will be recorded and may be used against them publicly, in a courtroom, or to gain leverage with other detainees. This will inhibit detainees from cooperating with interrogators and undercut the interrogators' most effective technique, establishing rapport with the detainees. Moreover, if a video recording is, in fact, released to the public and it becomes known that a detainee has collaborated with U.S. intelligence, the safety of the detainee and his family would be jeopardized. ``Even if a detainee agrees to be recorded, there is a tendency for both the detainee and the interrogator to `play to the camera,' creating an artificiality to the questioning, thereby degrading the quality of the intelligence information.''