Ed Perlmutter

Mr. PERLMUTTER

Mr. PERLMUTTER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to celebrate the life of Major General Robert Scott Frix, and recognize his 34 years of service in the United States Army. General Frix will be interred May 11, 2012 at Arlington National Cemetery. Major General Frix served in the United States Army for 34 years as a combat infantryman, Ranger instructor, master parachutist, and master aviator. He served tours in the Vietnam War, Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, and was deployed to Pakistan, Afghanistan, Kenya, and Somalia. Among Major General Frix's decorations are the Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Distinguished Flying Cross, Bronze Star Medal, Air Medals for valor, Meritorious Service Medal, and the Army Commendation Medal. Major General Frix passed away Thursday, December 15, 2011, at his home in Sequim, Washington. He is survived by his loving wife, Maureen; his sister, Joanna; his brother-in-law, Andrew; his son, Alexander; his daughter-in-law, Kathryn; and his daughter, Michele. Major General Frix lived his life in dedication to his Country, and he has passed that down to his family. Major General Frix's life serves as an inspiration to all of us on living a life dedicated to service to our country and to our fellow man.

Mr. PERLMUTTER

Mr. PERLMUTTER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize and applaud Erika Solis for receiving the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. Erika Solis is a 12th grader at Jefferson Senior High and received this award because her determination and hard work have allowed her to overcome adversities. The dedication demonstrated by Erika Solis is exemplary of the type of achievement that can be attained with hard work and perseverance. It is essential students at all levels strive to make the most of their education and develop a work ethic which will guide them for the rest of their lives. I extend my deepest congratulations to Erika Solis for winning the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. I have no doubt she will exhibit the same dedication and character in all her future accomplishments.

Mr. PERLMUTTER

Mr. PERLMUTTER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize and applaud Ditza Perez for receiving the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. Ditza Perez is a 12th grader at Arvada Senior High and received this award because her determination and hard work have allowed her to overcome adversities. The dedication demonstrated by Ditza Perez is exemplary of the type of achievement that can be attained with hard work and perseverance. It is essential students at all levels strive to make the most of their education and develop a work ethic which will guide them for the rest of their lives. I extend my deepest congratulations to Ditza Perez for winning the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. I have no doubt she will exhibit the same dedication and character in all her future accomplishments.

Mr. PERLMUTTER

Mr. PERLMUTTER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize and applaud Denis Anghel for receiving the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. Denis is a student at Drake Middle School and received this award because his determination and hard work have allowed him to overcome adversities. The dedication demonstrated by Denis Anghel is exemplary of the type of achievement that can be attained with hard work and perseverance. It is essential students at all levels strive to make the most of their education and develop a work ethic which will guide them for the rest of their lives. I extend my deepest congratulations to Denis Anghel for winning the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. I have no doubt he will exhibit the same dedication and character in all his future accomplishments.

Mr. PERLMUTTER

Mr. PERLMUTTER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize and applaud Elizabeth Blue-Norton for receiving the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. Elizabeth Blue-Norton is an 8th grader at Moore Middle School and received this award because her determination and hard work have allowed her to overcome adversities. The dedication demonstrated by Elizabeth Blue-Norton is exemplary of the type of achievement that can be attained with hard work and perseverance. It is essential students at all levels strive to make the most of their education and develop a work ethic which will guide them for the rest of their lives. I extend my deepest congratulations to Elizabeth Blue-Norton for winning the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. I have no doubt she will exhibit the same dedication and character in all her future accomplishments.

Mr. PERLMUTTER

Mr. PERLMUTTER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize and applaud Edwin Saenz for receiving the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. Edwin Saenz is a 10th grader at Jefferson Senior High and received this award because his determination and hard work have allowed him to overcome adversities. The dedication demonstrated by Edwin Saenz is exemplary of the type of achievement that can be attained with hard work and perseverance. It is essential students at all levels strive to make the most of their education and develop a work ethic which will guide them for the rest of their lives. I extend my deepest congratulations to Edwin Saenz for winning the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. I have no doubt he will exhibit the same dedication and character in all his future accomplishments.

Mr. PERLMUTTER

Mr. PERLMUTTER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize and applaud Edite Maloku for receiving the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. Edite Maloku is an 11th grader at Jefferson Senior High and received this award because her determination and hard work have allowed her to overcome adversities. The dedication demonstrated by Edite Maloku is exemplary of the type of achievement that can be attained with hard work and perseverance. It is essential students at all levels strive to make the most of their education and develop a work ethic which will guide them for the rest of their lives. I extend my deepest congratulations to Edite Maloku for winning the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. I have no doubt she will exhibit the same dedication and character in all her future accomplishments.

Mr. PERLMUTTER

Mr. PERLMUTTER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize and applaud Driszelle Richardson for receiving the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. Driszelle Richardson is a 12th grader at Jefferson Senior High and received this award because her determination and hard work have allowed her to overcome adversities. The dedication demonstrated by Driszelle Richardson is exemplary of the type of achievement that can be attained with hard work and perseverance. It is essential students at all levels strive to make the most of their education and develop a work ethic which will guide them for the rest of their lives. I extend my deepest congratulations to Driszelle Richardson for winning the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. I have no doubt she will exhibit the same dedication and character in all her future accomplishments.

Mr. PERLMUTTER

Mr. PERLMUTTER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize and applaud Donovan Nichols for receiving the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. Donovan Nichols is a 12th grader at Jefferson High and received this award because his determination and hard work have allowed him to overcome adversities. The dedication demonstrated by Donovan Nichols is exemplary of the type of achievement that can be attained with hard work and perseverance. It is essential students at all levels strive to make the most of their education and develop a work ethic which will guide them for the rest of their lives. I extend my deepest congratulations to Donovan Nichols for winning the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. I have no doubt he will exhibit the same dedication and character in all his future accomplishments.

Mr. PERLMUTTER

Mr. PERLMUTTER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize and applaud Emily Carruthers for receiving the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. Emily Carruthers is an 8th grader at Oberon Middle School and received this award because her determination and hard work have allowed her to overcome adversities. The dedication demonstrated by Emily Carruthers is exemplary of the type of achievement that can be attained with hard work and perseverance. It is essential students at all levels strive to make the most of their education and develop a work ethic which will guide them for the rest of their lives. I extend my deepest congratulations to Emily Carruthers for winning the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. I have no doubt she will exhibit the same dedication and character in all her future accomplishments.

Mr. PERLMUTTER

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

Mr. PERLMUTTER. Mr. Speaker, the House has heard this before. It's very simple, sweet and direct, and I will take a moment and just read it so that everybody has a chance to understand it again. What we're doing is avoiding and prohibiting an employer, as a condition of employment, from demanding a confidential Facebook password--Twitter, Tumblr--or any social media of the like. It reads this way: Nothing in this act or the amendments made by this act shall be construed to permit an employer, a prospective employer, or the Federal Government to require the disclosure of a confidential password for a social networking Web site or a personal account of an employee or job applicant without a court order; or permit the Federal Government to establish a mechanism to control United States citizens' access to and use of the Internet through the creation of a national Internet firewall, similar to the ``Great Internet Firewall of China'', as determined by the Director of National Intelligence. So what this amendment does is two things. It is the final amendment to this bill. There are no more amendments to this bill. I know some people voted against this amendment when it was brought up a couple of weeks ago; and for those of you who regret voting against it, you're going to get a chance to correct that vote. This is something I've been working on with Mr. Heinrich and Mr. McHenry. It just says we're not going to allow as a condition of employment the requirement of a Facebook password or the like. Now, there is a reason for this. One, there is all sorts of personal information that I may have or that somebody else may have with respect to Facebook or Twitter or LinkedIn, whatever it might be; and they're entitled to have an expectation of privacy, a sense that their freedom of speech--their freedom to peaceably assemble, in effect--is not violated. So that's the first reason. The second reason is if an employer or the Federal Government poses as somebody, by having their Facebook passwords, then they can impersonate; they can become imposters. It is a two-way exchange of information so that somebody who is completely unrelated to the employment now is communicating with an impostor. That's another reason for this. The third reason is for the employers, themselves, to avoid liability by learning information that may then cause them to take actions that would violate a protected group. So there are at least three good reasons to do this. We have precedent in our law, and it is the Employee Polygraph Protection Act of 1988. We said we're not going to allow as a condition of employment the use of lie detectors. You can use background checks, and you can use references. There are plenty of vehicles by which to check out somebody's employment references; but we're not going to allow lie detectors, and we should not allow that the Facebook passwords be given up as a condition of employment. So we have precedent in the law. We don't allow polygraphs or lie detectors as a condition of employment. Let's use what we already have--background checks, references, et cetera. The second piece of this is that we will not allow the command and control of the Internet or access to the Internet by the United States Government, saying that which is similar: that we want to avoid what has happened in China, that we want to avoid what has happened in Iran. We don't want the Internet taken down and our access, individuals' access, to the Internet broken. So there are two pieces to this. One is not allowing the demand of a confidential password and not allowing the government to have the command and control and the ability to take down the Internet, an action similar to what we've seen in other countries. This is a very simple amendment. It's very straightforward. We've had a lot of amendments that have garnered the support of virtually every Member of this House. This should be one of those. This is the final amendment. I would hope that we would uphold the Constitution by passing this amendment, as well as by making sure that the Internet is available to anyone who wants to use it at any time. With that, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. PERLMUTTER. In its current form, I am.

Mr. PERLMUTTER. Mr. Speaker, I have a motion to recommit at the desk.

Mr. PERLMUTTER

Mr. PERLMUTTER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize and applaud Crystina Holency for receiving the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. Crystina Holency is an 8th grader at Oberon Middle School and received this award because her determination and hard work have allowed her to overcome adversities. The dedication demonstrated by Crystina Holency is exemplary of the type of achievement that can be attained with hard work and perseverance. It is essential students at all levels strive to make the most of their education and develop a work ethic which will guide them for the rest of their lives. I extend my deepest congratulations to Crystina Holency for winning the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. I have no doubt she will exhibit the same dedication and character in all her future accomplishments.

Mr. PERLMUTTER

Mr. PERLMUTTER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize and applaud Daniel Kohen for receiving the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. Daniel Kohen is a 12th grader at Pomona High and received this award because his determination and hard work have allowed him to overcome adversities. The dedication demonstrated by Daniel Kohen is exemplary of the type of achievement that can be attained with hard work and perseverance. It is essential students at all levels strive to make the most of their education and develop a work ethic which will guide them for the rest of their lives. I extend my deepest congratulations to Daniel Kohen for winning the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. I have no doubt he will exhibit the same dedication and character in all his future accomplishments.

Mr. PERLMUTTER

Mr. PERLMUTTER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize and applaud Chesle Parson for receiving the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. Chesle Parson is a 7th grader at Mandalay Middle School and received this award because his determination and hard work have allowed him to overcome adversities. The dedication demonstrated by Chesle Parson is exemplary of the type of achievement that can be attained with hard work and perseverance. It is essential students at all levels strive to make the most of their education and develop a work ethic which will guide them for the rest of their lives. I extend my deepest congratulations to Chesle Parson for winning the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. I have no doubt he will exhibit the same dedication and character in all his future accomplishments.

Mr. PERLMUTTER

Mr. PERLMUTTER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize and applaud Chloe Grossetete for receiving the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. Chloe Grossetete is an 8th grader at Moore Middle School and received this award because her determination and hard work have allowed her to overcome adversities. The dedication demonstrated by Chloe Grossetete is exemplary of the type of achievement that can be attained with hard work and perseverance. It is essential students at all levels strive to make the most of their education and develop a work ethic which will guide them for the rest of their lives. I extend my deepest congratulations to Chloe Grossetete for winning the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. I have no doubt she will exhibit the same dedication and character in all her future accomplishments.

Mr. PERLMUTTER

Mr. PERLMUTTER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize and applaud Carlos DeLaCerda for receiving the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. Carlos DeLaCerda is a 10th grader at Jefferson Senior High and received this award because his determination and hard work have allowed him to overcome adversities. The dedication demonstrated by Carlos DeLaCerda is exemplary of the type of achievement that can be attained with hard work and perseverance. It is essential students at all levels strive to make the most of their education and develop a work ethic which will guide them for the rest of their lives. I extend my deepest congratulations to Carlos DeLaCerda for winning the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. I have no doubt he will exhibit the same dedication and character in all his future accomplishments.

Mr. PERLMUTTER

Mr. PERLMUTTER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize and applaud Darlene Chavez for receiving the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. Darlene Chavez is a 7th grader at Oberon Middle School and received this award because her determination and hard work have allowed her to overcome adversities. The dedication demonstrated by Darlene Chavez is exemplary of the type of achievement that can be attained with hard work and perseverance. It is essential students at all levels strive to make the most of their education and develop a work ethic which will guide them for the rest of their lives. I extend my deepest congratulations to Darlene Chavez for winning the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. I have no doubt she will exhibit the same dedication and character in all her future accomplishments.

Mr. PERLMUTTER

Mr. PERLMUTTER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize and applaud Cristina Meraz for receiving the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. Cristina Meraz is a 12th grader at Jefferson Senior High and received this award because her determination and hard work have allowed her to overcome adversities. The dedication demonstrated by Cristina Meraz is exemplary of the type of achievement that can be attained with hard work and perseverance. It is essential students at all levels strive to make the most of their education and develop a work ethic which will guide them for the rest of their lives. I extend my deepest congratulations to Cristina Meraz for winning the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. I have no doubt she will exhibit the same dedication and character in all her future accomplishments.

Mr. PERLMUTTER

Mr. PERLMUTTER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize and applaud Casey Southwick for receiving the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. Casey Southwick is a 7th grader at Drake Middle School and received this award because his determination and hard work have allowed him to overcome adversities. The dedication demonstrated by Casey Southwick is exemplary of the type of achievement that can be attained with hard work and perseverance. It is essential students at all levels strive to make the most of their education and develop a work ethic which will guide them for the rest of their lives. I extend my deepest congratulations to Casey Southwick for winning the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. I have no doubt he will exhibit the same dedication and character in all his future accomplishments.

Mr. PERLMUTTER

Mr. PERLMUTTER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize and applaud Chevelle Dassow for receiving the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. Chevelle Dassow is a 7th grader at Mandalay Middle School and received this award because her determination and hard work have allowed her to overcome adversities. The dedication demonstrated by Chevelle Dassow is exemplary of the type of achievement that can be attained with hard work and perseverance. It is essential students at all levels strive to make the most of their education and develop a work ethic which will guide them for the rest of their lives. I extend my deepest congratulations to Chevelle Dassow for winning the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. I have no doubt she will exhibit the same dedication and character in all her future accomplishments.

Mr. PERLMUTTER

Mr. PERLMUTTER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize and applaud Carlos Lopez for receiving the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. Carlos Lopez is a 9th grader at Jefferson Senior High and received this award because his determination and hard work have allowed him to overcome adversities. The dedication demonstrated by Carlos Lopez is exemplary of the type of achievement that can be attained with hard work and perseverance. It is essential students at all levels strive to make the most of their education and develop a work ethic which will guide them for the rest of their lives. I extend my deepest congratulations to Carlos Lopez for winning the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. I have no doubt he will exhibit the same dedication and character in all his future accomplishments.

Mr. PERLMUTTER

Mr. PERLMUTTER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize and applaud Brian Soukup for receiving the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. Brian Soukup is a 12th grader at Arvada Senior High and received this award because his determination and hard work have allowed him to overcome adversities. The dedication demonstrated by Brian Soukup is exemplary of the type of achievement that can be attained with hard work and perseverance. It is essential students at all levels strive to make the most of their education and develop a work ethic which will guide them for the rest of their lives. I extend my deepest congratulations to Brian Soukup for winning the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. I have no doubt he will exhibit the same dedication and character in all his future accomplishments.