Hal Rogers

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to the 2011 Hazard High School Football Team, who captured the Kentucky High School Athletic Association Class 1-A State Championship Title for the first time in history. This group of student-athletes should be proud of this remarkable achievement and I am honored to recognize them as champions. The State Championship title has been a highly coveted achievement for the Hazard Bulldogs. After their third appearance in a Class 1-A title game in four years, the Bulldogs tenaciously took the field with experience, heart and determination, earning every yard to lead them to a well- deserved victory and their first-ever State Championship. The Hazard Bulldogs defeated a tough team from Mayfield, winning 24- 6. More than five thousand fans filled the Houchens Smith Stadium in Bowling Green, Kentucky to witness these focused young men put their athletic ability and knowledge of the game to the highest test. Redeeming themselves from last year's 47-6 loss to Mayfield, the Bulldogs dominated the majority of the game and put an end to Mayfield's state-best 29-game winning streak. Holding the Cardinals to just 237 yards offensively, the Hazard Bulldogs forced five Mayfield turnovers and sealed their victory with an interception returned for a touchdown in the last two minutes of the game. This season, Coach Mark Dixon led the Bulldogs to a near perfect 12-2 season. Despite defeat in last year's title game, the Bulldogs persevered and came back this season with unwavering determination to bring the state title home to the mountains of eastern Kentucky. These experiences and life lessons learned on the field will be carried on after the game and continue to shape these football players into men of promise and outstanding character. Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring Coach Dixon and the Hazard High School 2011 Football Team as the KHSAA Class 1-A State Champions. This team has successfully carried on a sports tradition of pride in the mountains and I wish them all the best in the years to come.

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to a great leader, professor and advisor, Dr. Scott Alexander Marshall. His passing is a great loss to his family and the education community. Although he isn't a native Kentuckian, Dr. Marshall immediately offered his expertise to enhance the field of education in our rural region of southern and eastern Kentucky. He made a difference in the lives of hundreds of college students and took great pride in their success. In fact, he was a strong advocate and supporter of Phi Theta Kappa, the official national honor society for two-year colleges. Scott received his M.S., M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Alabama. He retired after 33 years of teaching Business and Economics at Jefferson State Community College in Birmingham, Alabama. After moving to Somerset, Kentucky in 2000, he continued as an Adjunct Professor of Economics at Eastern Kentucky University. He was involved in numerous civic and political activities, serving as a member of the Adanta Board of Directors and Co-Chair of the Finance Committee. He also was a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Somerset where he served as an Elder and Co-Chair of the Worship Committee. Dr. Marshall leaves behind a devoted family: his loving wife, Dr. Jo Grimes Marshall; their children, Kristin Marshall Henderson and Dr. Scott Alexander Marshall, Jr., along with four grandsons. On behalf of my wife Cynthia and myself, I want to extend our deepest heartfelt sympathies to the Marshall family. Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring a dear friend and champion for community colleges, the late Dr. Scott Alexander Marshall.

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. I want to say a special thanks to my friend from Washington, Norm Dicks, for being a hardworking, cooperative ranking member. We worked together on this bill, and we will continue to do that. And I also want to thank the staff. You know, they don't get enough thanks. These are the people that do practically all the work, day and night, weekends included, holidays included. So thank you to all of the staff, majority and minority, for producing this work. Let me close, Mr. Speaker, by emphasizing that this conference report is only the first step toward finishing fiscal '12, and I urge my colleagues to support this conference report. Let me also remind our colleagues that there are no earmarks in this bill. A lot of people said, you cannot pass a bill without earmarks. Well, this bill has no earmarks, not one, not a single one. It also reduces dramatically Federal spending. And when we finish--and I want my colleagues to hear this plainly and clearly--when we finish all 12 bills, we will be at $1.043 trillion, not a penny more. We will be at $1.043 trillion, as provided by the cap under the Budget Control Act. I guarantee that number. I guarantee that number, hear me. So I urge an ``aye'' vote on this first step towards fiscal sanity. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. May I inquire of the time remaining.

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Mississippi, a member of our committee and a very valued member, Mr. Nunnelee.

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to a member of the conference committee, the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Bonner).

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Florida, a member of our committee, Mr. Diaz-Balart.

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia, the chairman of the Agriculture Subcommittee, a very important part of this bill, Mr. Kingston.

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to a very distinguished member of our committee, Oklahoma's Mr. Cole.

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas, a member of the conference committee, Mr. Carter.

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, could I ask the remaining time?

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio, a member of the conference committee, Mr. LaTourette.

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I am the last remaining speaker on my side, so I will yield to the gentleman.

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 467, agreed to earlier today, I call up the conference report on the bill (H.R. 2112) making appropriations for Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies programs for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2012, and for other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New Hampshire (Mr. Bass).

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. And in that H.R. 1, the fiscal year '11 omnibus bill, as you recollect, we had some 500 amendments.

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. I yield myself an additional 1 minute. I am proud, Mr. Speaker, that your Appropriations Committee is presenting to you the first Appropriations Conference Report since 2009 and the first conference report of this Congress. Your Appropriations Committee is working. In closing, I strongly urge my colleagues to support this bill. It's vital we pass this bill to prevent a government shutdown, rein in overzealous regulations, and help put our budgets and our economy on track. [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH17NO11.001 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH17NO11.002 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH17NO11.003 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH17NO11.004 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH17NO11.005 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH17NO11.006 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH17NO11.007 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH17NO11.008 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH17NO11.009 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH17NO11.010 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH17NO11.011 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH17NO11.012 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH17NO11.013 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH17NO11.014 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH17NO11.015 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH17NO11.016 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH17NO11.017 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH17NO11.018 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH17NO11.019 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH17NO11.020 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH17NO11.021 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH17NO11.022 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH17NO11.023 I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include tabular and extraneous material on the conference report to accompany H.R. 2112.

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Everybody.

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Iowa, chairman of the Transportation and HUD portion of this bill, a very vital part of the bill--the chairman has handled it very, very well--Chairman Tom Latham.

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. I yield the gentleman an additional minute.

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the chairman of the Commerce, Justice, Science Subcommittee, a very hardworking chairman who also happens to be a colleague of mine in the class of 1980, the so-called Reaganauts, Chairman Frank Wolf.

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 5 minutes. I rise today to present the conference report on H.R. 2112, the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act of 2012. The House passed H.R. 2112, the bill making appropriations for the Department of Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration and Related Agencies, on June 16. The bill has since been amended to include the Commerce-Justice-Science and the Transportation-HUD appropriations bills as well as a continuing resolution to keep the rest of the government operating until December 16. With the help of our ranking member, the gentleman from Washington, Norm Dicks, we successfully negotiated with our Senate counterparts to craft this agreement, which is the first appropriations conference report to hit this floor since 2009. This report is the next step in meeting the spending targets set by the Budget Control Act, which will save the taxpayers billions and help continue the effort to bring the Nation's deficit under control. In fact, this bill keeps us on track to cut regular discretionary spending by $98 billion compared to the President's fiscal year 2012 request and some $47 billion below the fiscal year 2010 level. When all appropriations work this year is completed, it will be the second year in a row that we have reduced total discretionary spending, a remarkable and historic achievement. Yet while we've made significant cuts, we were also able to fund important priorities, such as food and drug safety, Federal law enforcement, agricultural and scientific research, trade, infrastructure, and economic growth. Additionally, we're helping communities, States, businesses, and families deeply affected by a record-breaking year of destructive natural disasters and catastrophes. We scrubbed the information from the agencies and were able to reduce the disaster spending in this bill by $850 million compared to the Senate-passed bill. These funds are only for disaster assistance and do not grow the baseline budgets or the scope of the Federal agencies. This bill, Mr. Speaker, is the next step in breaking the status quo of excess Federal spending that's throwing our budgets out of whack. Our House conferees thoroughly examined each and every program and agency to ensure that we are reducing spending wherever possible. In this bill, this includes terminating wasteful, poorly planned and controversial programs such as high-speed rail, NOAA's Climate Change Office, and the Livable Communities program. In fact, Mr. Speaker, we have terminated 20 programs for a savings of $456 million. This legislation also reins in executive branch overreach by including several important policy items. These provisions kill job- killing regulations that create economic uncertainty and limit government involvement in issues of life and liberty, including several provisions protecting human life and the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. Finally, this legislation includes a continuing resolution that will keep the remainder of the government operating until December 16, allowing us an appropriate amount of time, I think, to finish negotiations on the remaining nine appropriations bills so that we will have all 12 out of the way, leaving the Appropriations Committee clear sailing in January to bring to the floor of the House 12 separate appropriations bills. I'm very pleased that we were able to reach agreement on this bill. It has become all too rare a thing in this Congress to come to an agreement such as this, and I'm proud to say that this conference report was approved by all but one of the 38 House and Senate conferees from both parties, which goes to show us we work best when we work together. While there are no doubt items where Members might disagree in the bill, there are many achievements in this bill of which we can be justly proud. However, we could not have done this without the tremendous help from our ranking member, Norm Dicks, as well as the dedicated conferees on both sides of the aisle from both Chambers. Chairman Wolf, Chairman Kingston, Chairman Latham, Ranking Members Farr, Fattah, and Olver, as well as our dedicated staff, have worked tirelessly over the last few weeks to bring this bill to completion, and they have all of our sincere thanks and appreciation for a job well done.

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the managers on the part of the House have until midnight tonight, November 14, to file the conference report to accompany H.R. 2112.