Richard Pombo

Mr. POMBO

Mr. POMBO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate Aliya Robin Deri's exceptional showing in the Scripps National Spelling Bee. The sharpest young minds in America gathered to compete in this contest with 278 students competing in the 78th annual spelling bee. Overcoming a litany of complex vocabulary, Aliya tied for second place after 18 rounds of careful spelling and concentration. A resident of Pleasanton, California, Aliya is a champion of many skills. She plays violin, viola, and piano and is a member of two orchestras. She also swims competitively and also enjoys diving, Indian dance, and Tai Chi. While most contestants in the spelling bee were from the United States and its territories, fourteen were foreign students from Canada, Bahamas, Jamaica and New Zealand. Aliya misspelled ``trouvaille,'' meaning windfall, in the 18th round, but I want her to know that our windfall is to have such a gifted and talented individual in California's 11th Congressional District. Mr. Speaker, please join me in congratulating the outstanding efforts of this bright and gifted young woman. I would also like to include the following article for the record. [From the Associated Press, June 2, 2005.] Kashyap Spelled ``Appoggiatura'' Right To Win Washington.--Bursting into tears, eighth-grader Anurag Kashyap of California became the U.S. spelling champ Thursday, beating 272 other spellers in a tough two days of competition. He said he felt ``just pure happiness.'' Anurag, 13, of Poway clinched ``appoggiatura,'' a melodic tone, to take home some $30,000 in prizes. He won in the 19th round of the 78th Annual National Scripps Spelling Bee. Anurag, a straight-A middle-school student whose favorite subject is science, tied for 47th in last year's spelling bee. That experience ``helped me to know what I should study to . . . like, win this thing,'' he said afterward, repeatedly hiding his face behind his cardboard number. Tied for second place were 11-year-old Samir Patel, who is home-schooled in Colleyville, Texas, and Aliya Deri, 13, a Pleasanton, California student. Aliya was tripped up in the 18th round by ``trouvaille,'' meaning windfall. Just after, Samir fell to ``Roscian,'' meaning skilled in acting. Two years ago, when Samir tied for third place, bee winner Sai Gunturi predicted that he would be a force to be reckoned with in future contests. When the sixth round ended in the early afternoon of the second day, only 27 spellers remained, including a half dozen home-schoolers. Home-schooled students have won twice before, in 1997 and 2000. After the 14th round, only three spellers still stood-- Anurag, Aliya and Samir. During the day, Anurag whizzed through relatively easy words such as prosciutto, an Italian dry-cured ham, and more difficult ones like hodiernal, meaning ``of this day.'' Needing only one more correct spelling to win, he began methodically, going faster and faster as he finished the long word: ``A-P-P-O-G-G-I-A-T-U-R-A.'' He covered his face and rushed to hug his father. Most of the contestants at the bee's start were from the United States and its territories, but 14 were foreign students. There were 11 from Canada and one each from the Bahamas, Jamaica and New Zealand. It was in the fourth round Wednesday that Dominic Errazo got a word he could relate to, ``emetic,'' which means inducing one to vomit. ``It sounds like the nervousness I get up here,'' said the seventh-grader from Goose Creek, SC. He spelled it correctly. Each speller wins at least $50. The first-place winner gets $28,000 in cash, scholarships and bonds, plus books from Encyclopedia Britannica. That's about $10,000 more than in previous years. The contest is administered by E.W. Scripps Co. The youngsters all won local contests sponsored by newspapers.

Mr POMBO

Mr POMBO. Mr. Chairman, I reserve a point of order against the amendment under rule XXI, clause 2.

Mr. POMBO

Mr. POMBO. Mr. Chairman, I make a point of order against the amendment. The amendment constitutes legislation on an appropriations bill. Under the amendment, the limit on funds does not apply to roads under construction on the date of enactment of this bill Making this determination is far from simple. The Tongass National Forest is 16 million acres and access is basically limited to boat and plane. Compliance with this provision would require Forest Service personnel field visits to numerous locations where road contracts are in effect to determine if or when road construction has begun. Therefore, determining the construction status of roads in the Tongass would take considerable effort on the part of the Forest Service. This new substantial duty makes this amendment legislative in nature. I ask the Chair to sustain my point of order.

Mr. POMBO. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

Mr. POMBO. Mr. Chairman, I realize that the gentleman is correct when he talks about authorizing an appropriations bill and the effect that my amendment would have. But I would urge the Chair to rule the amendment in order because what I am trying to do is strip out and put fencing around appropriations for unauthorized programs. It seems kind of ironic that my amendment that goes after unauthorized programs would be ruled out of order for the very reason that I have been going after those programs. I urge the chairman to rule the amendment in order.

Mr. POMBO. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Appropriations without authorizations or that exceed authorized levels violate House rule XXI, clause 2. This amendment enforces this rule by not allowing moneys to be spent for 10 specified programs within the Committee on Resources' sole jurisdiction which are not authorized to be funded in fiscal year 2006 until the Committee on Resources authorizes them. The money remains in the bill but cannot be obligated by the agencies until the authorizing committee authorizes them to do so. Because the Interior appropriations bill often combines both authorized and unauthorized programs in a single number, such as funding for survey activities of the U.S. Geological Survey, the amendment assures that these programs which are authorized by fiscal year 2006, their funding cannot continue. For those programs which are authorized but the amount appropriated exceeds the authorized level, such as in the case for the Council on Environmental Quality, then the amendment restricts the funding to the authorized level. The purpose of this amendment is to give us the ability to go back and authorize a number of these programs that have not been authorized for years and in some cases in excess of a dozen years. One of the major problems that we have is the Committee on Appropriations gets in the position of having to continue to appropriate money on these unauthorized programs because they are important programs. But in this case what we are talking about is $5.3 billion that is being appropriated. So this is a fiscal issue. I believe that the taxpayer demands that we do our job in authorizing these programs and make sure that the public is getting their money's worth out of these different programs. Currently, I do not believe that is the case. And it gives us the ability to go back and authorize those programs. I believe this is something that is extremely important. The gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Taylor) and the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Dicks) have worked with us on a number of different things that are in this bill over the past year. But when it comes to some of these major programs that we have not been able to get an authorization on, I believe the time is now for us to move forward and begin to fence off those moneys until we can get an authorization done. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time. Point of Order

Mr. POMBO

Mr. POMBO. Mr. Chairman, today I rise to speak in favor of H.R. 366, the Vocational and Technical Education for the Future Act. Vocational education is an extremely important component of secondary education for millions of students. It is too often neglected at the State level and does not receive adequate funding or attention. Many students do not go on to an undergraduate university for their post-secondary education. Only about 40 percent of high school students who pursue post secondary education enroll in a college program. One third (over 5 million people) enroll in a vocational education program. There are many good paying jobs available to students interested in vocational training, but not enough students are being prepared for these types of jobs. However, we do have the ability to encourage more schools and their students to participate in vocational education. We can get businesses involved with the education of the skilled workers of tomorrow by helping them train the students of today. Among other things, H.R. 366 includes provisions to make funds available to eligible recipients for local education and business partnerships, including the establishment and operation of special arrangements with industry partners that allow qualified industry professionals to serve as faculty in postsecondary programs. It also makes funds available for leasing, purchasing, upgrading or adapting equipment, including instructional aides and publications. This bill also emphasizes teacher preparation programs that address the integration of academic and vocational and technical education and that assist individuals who are interested in becoming vocational and technical education instructors, including individuals with experience in business and industry. I have supported increasing the number of these kinds of public/ private partnerships because I believe that is one of the best ways to get students to learn current skills and get hands-on experience. I recently introduced H.R. 2008, the Public-Private Vocational Partnership Act. It would establish a tax credit for companies that donate equipment or resources for vocational education training. In addition, it establishes a tax credit for companies hiring full-time students who work as interns in fields relating to vocational education. I hope my colleagues will join me in strengthening vocational education.

Mr. POMBO

Mr. POMBO. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may use. I congratulate my colleague, the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Inslee) for bringing this amendment forward. I think this is an important amendment. It is very consistent with the rest of the bill. When we look at royalty relief, we know that that does spur investment in a particular industry. It helps to build domestic energy in this country, and it is all part of the effort of the overall bill to gain greater energy independence from foreign countries. I believe very strongly in wind energy. I think it is a positive move. It is something that has moved dramatically in the last 20 years in this country. But we do know that royalty relief is something that spurs investment in a particular industry. I look forward to working with the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Inslee) further on wind energy, but also on increasing the amount of investment we have on energy independence in this country, things like we are doing on deep drill and deep water drilling and other things that we are doing in the bill. I am glad that he recognizes that royalty relief is a way to spur greater independence in this country. Mr. Chairman, I yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Barton), the Chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee.

Mr. POMBO. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. POMBO. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I urge support of the amendment. The Resources Committee accepts the amendment. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. POMBO. Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent to claim the time on our side.

Mr. POMBO

Mr. POMBO. Madam Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Nevada (Mr. Gibbons), the subcommittee chairman.

Mr. POMBO. Madam Chairman, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from New Mexico (Mr. Pearce), the subcommittee vice chairman.

Mr. POMBO. Madam Chairman, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Peterson).

Mr. POMBO. Madam Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Gene Green).

Mr. POMBO. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Burgess).

Mr. POMBO. Madam Chairman, I yield 2\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from Wyoming (Mrs. Cubin), the full committee vice chairwoman.

Mr. POMBO. Madam Chairman, may I inquire as to how much time is remaining.

Mr. POMBO. Madam Chairman, I yield the balance of my time to myself. I guess here we go again. You know, we have had the opportunity in the House four or five times to debate the energy bill. And I look at the history of energy policy in this country and the efforts of Congress to try to deal with the very real energy demands that we have today in this country. We are not providing enough energy to meet the demands that we have. You know, you go back 30 years ago, and the United States was dependent on foreign energy about 30 percent. About 30 percent of our oil came from foreign sources. We did very little to deal with that. There was a pledge made by then-President Carter that we were going to become independent. The President and succeeding Presidents have talked about becoming independent from foreign oil. But we did not adopt the kind of policies that we had to to increase the amount of domestic production so that we were not so dependent on foreign oil. I look at it today and nearly two-thirds of the energy that we consume in this country comes from foreign countries. And that is a direct result of the failure on the part of Congress to pass a national energy policy. We have not addressed that. I look at what we are doing wrong in terms of producing additional energy in this country. And I think if you listen to the debate from some of my colleagues, you know what we are doing wrong. Yeah, you know, we did not have a lot of dinosaurs die under Yosemite or Yellowstone, you are right; but we had a whole heck a lot of them die in the Arctic plains. There is oil and gas in Alaska. It is there. We all know it is there. And yet we still have the same people year after year after year coming down, whether gas is $20 a barrel or $60 a barrel they are still opposed to doing it. We have the same people come down here year after year after year that opposed putting a pipeline to move that gas from Alaska to the lower 48 States. We have the same people who come to the floor year after year and oppose every single attempt that is made to increase the amount of energy produced in this country. Year after year they oppose it. Last year we had an amendment to make it easier to site renewable energy on Federal lands. And the same people that are down here today opposing this bill opposed that bill on renewable energy. Yeah, you know, it all sounds great. You can come down here and talk about how we need more renewable energy. But when you have a chance to vote for it, you vote no; and you do it every single time. You know, we hear this over and over again. You know, when the bill moved through the committee, we had 20 or 25 amendments. Not a single one of those amendments was a partisan vote, a party-line vote. Every single one of them we had members of the minority and majority that joined together to either pass or defeat the amendment. There was so much support for this bill coming out of the Resources Committee, it passed on a voice vote. Every time that we get this bill up before the House, it passes with both majority and minority votes. There is support for doing this. I ask my colleagues with $55 a barrel oil, do you not think it is time that you did something? If you do not like this bill, where is your alternative? Because as of yet all you do is the same old rhetoric.

Mr. POMBO. Madam Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Barton), chairman of the Committee on Energy and Commerce. (Mr. BARTON of Texas asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. POMBO. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. POMBO. Madam Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Nevada (Mr. Gibbons). (Mr. GIBBONS asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. POMBO. Madam Chairman, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Alaska (Mr. Young), chairman of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.

Mr. POMBO. Madam Chairman, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Nunes).

Mr. POMBO. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.