C. Ruppersberger

Mr. RUPPERSBERGER

Mr. RUPPERSBERGER. Madam Speaker, I rise before you today to honor the memory of Lieutenant Jacob Beser, the only United States Army Air Force Officer to serve on both the mission of the Enola Gay to Hiroshima and Bock's Car to Nagasaki. Jacob Beser was born on March 15, 1922 in Baltimore Maryland and graduated from Baltimore City College in 1938. He then studied mechanical engineering at Johns Hopkins University but left the day after Pearl Harbor to enlist in the Army Air Forces. Because of his educational background and training, Beser was sent to Los Alamos, New Mexico to work on the Manhattan Project in the area of weapons firing and fusing. Lieutenant Beser was the radar specialist aboard the Enola Gay on August 6, 1945, when it dropped the ``Little Boy'' atomic bomb on Hiroshima. ``Little Boy'', the first atomic bomb to be used in warfare, was to detonate over the city triggered by radar calculations that measured the bomb's distance from the ground as it fell. Lieutenant Beser's job was to monitor those calculations and also to ensure that no other radars interfered with the radar frequency, which could have caused a premature detonation. Three days later, Lieutenant Beser was aboard Bock's Car when ``Fat Man'' was dropped on Nagasaki. He was the only person to have crewed the attack aircraft of both missions. Madam Speaker, I ask that you join with me today to honor the memory of Lieutenant Jacob Beser. It is with great pride that I recognize a fellow Baltimore City College graduate on being the only United States Army Air Force Officer to serve on the crew for both the historic missions of the Enola Gay and Bock's Car.

Mr. RUPPERSBERGER

Mr. RUPPERSBERGER. Madam Speaker, I rise before you today to honor the memory of W. Stuart Symington III, the Nation's first Secretary of the Air Force. W. Stuart Symington was born in 1901 in Massachusetts. After graduating from Baltimore City College in 1918, Symington enlisted in the Army as a private and at age 17 became one of the Army's youngest second lieutenants. After World War I, Symington entered Yale University and graduated in 1923. In 1938, after several years in the iron and electric manufacturing businesses, Symington accepted the presidency of Emerson Electric Company. During World War II, Symington transformed Emerson Electric into the world's largest builder of airplane gun turrets. Symington resigned from Emerson Electric in 1945 to join the administration of President Harry S. Truman. When the Office of the Secretary of the Air Force was first created in 1947, Symington became the first Secretary of the Air Force. During his tenure, Symington worked hard to give the new United States Air Force (which had previously been part of the Army) respect, championing the United States Air Force Academy, and the success of the Berlin Airlift. He served as Secretary of the Air Force from September 18, 1947 to April 24, 1950, after which Symington ran for and served four consecutive terms as a Senator from Missouri. - Madam Speaker, I ask that you join with me today to honor the memory of W. Stuart Symington, III. It is with great pride that I congratulate a fellow Baltimore City College graduate on his significant contributions to the United States Air Force and the Nation.

Mr. RUPPERSBERGER

Mr. RUPPERSBERGER. Madam Speaker, I rise before you today to honor Marine Captain Jesse Melton, III, who died serving his country on September 9th, 2008. Captain Jesse Melton, 29, of Randallstown, Maryland, died as a result of multiple traumatic injuries sustained while conducting combat operations in Afghanistan. Captain Melton was assigned to Headquarters Battery, 12th Marines, 3rd Marine Division, Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii. Jesse graduated from Randallstown High School in Baltimore County, Maryland, where he played lacrosse and baseball. He then attended Messiah College in Grantham, Pennsylvania, where he studied communications. After his freshman year, however, Jesse decided to join the Marine Corps Reserve and attended Boot Camp in South Carolina, an experience his family says changed his life. Upon completion of his basic training, Jesse's drill sergeant recommended him for Officer Candidate School, training Jesse completed while earning his degree in communications from Messiah College. Jesse was commissioned as a second lieutenant in June of 2000 and served two tours in Japan. He was promoted to the rank of captain and deployed for a tour in Iraq. In March, Captain Melton was deployed again, this time to Afghanistan. He was supporting combat operations in the Parwan province at the time of his death. The Randallstown High and Messiah College alumnus is survived by his mother, Mrs. Janice Chance, his younger sister Jenine Melton and brother Joshua Melton, and stepfather Charlton Chance, all of Owings Mills, Maryland, as well as his stepsisters Christine and Laura Chance, and his grandmother Ethel Matthews of Baltimore. Madam Speaker, I ask that you join with me today in honoring the life of a man truly dedicated to serving his country.

Mr. RUPPERSBERGER

Mr. RUPPERSBERGER. Madam Speaker, I rise before you today to honor Pastor Kenneth L. Barney, Sr., upon the celebration on his 30th pastoral anniversary. In July 1978, Pastor Barney and his wife, Sister Ellen Barney, accepted a pastorship at the Oakcrest Community Baptist Church in Laurel, Maryland. At the time, their congregation consisted of approximately seven members. As time went on, the membership began to grow, with worshippers coming from areas across the region. As an increasing number of members hailed from Baltimore, Pastor Barney and the congregation relocated to Randallstown in Baltimore County. In March 1988, 10 years after becoming pastor at the Oakcrest Community Baptist Church, Pastor Barney and his congregation officially changed its name to the New Antioch Baptist Church. New Antioch Baptist Church is currently ministering to over 4,000 members through Pastor and Sister Barney and other church leaders. In addition to his pastoral duties, Pastor Barney has delivered addresses at national councils and participated as a ``Discussion Leader'' in the 2008 Oxford Round Table held in Oxford, England. In addition, Pastor Barney traveled to Morocco as part of a 2004 U.S. delegation invited by King Mohammed VI. Along with his fellow delegates, Pastor Barney participated in a Muslim-Evangelical Christian dialogue with Moroccan heads of government and university students to help develop a friendship between the Muslim community in Morocco and the Christian community in the United States. Madam Speaker, I ask that you join with me today to honor Pastor Kenneth Barney on the occasion of his 30th pastoral anniversary. The small congregation with whom he began his pastorship thirty years ago has multiplied into a membership of over 4,000 under his guidance. It is with great pride that I congratulate Pastor Barney on his significant contributions to the faith community in Maryland and around the world.

Mr. RUPPERSBERGER

Mr. RUPPERSBERGER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 6083, a bill to authorize the Ernest F. Hollings National Advocacy Center in Columbia, South Carolina. The Ernest F. Hollings National Advocacy Center in Columbia, South Carolina is the largest and most productive national training facility for prosecutors. The National District Attorneys Association has provided training at the National Advocacy Center for over 23,000 State and local prosecutors since the center's inception in 1998. The National Advocacy Center is a state-of-the-art facility for prosecutors to learn the art and science of trial advocacy from a faculty of experienced prosecutors. At the National Advocacy Center, district attorneys learn about new trends in law enforcement and trial advocacy and are taught by experts in specific subject areas. Authorizing the National Advocacy Center will help ensure that these important programs continue and that our district attorneys have the resources they need to get the job done. I urge my colleagues to support the bill.

Mr. RUPPERSBERGER

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

Mr. RUPPERSBERGER. I will close. First, I thank the gentleman from Louisiana and the other sponsors of H.R. 6545 for introducing this important piece of legislation. Energy and the availability of fuel affects every aspect of our lives. It impacts our security. It impacts our economy, and it impacts our wallets. We need the best information available and the best analysis possible on energy security. The intelligence community is in a unique position to give it to us. I urge all my colleagues to support this legislation. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. RUPPERSBERGER. How much time do I have remaining?

Mr. RUPPERSBERGER. I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Rhode Island (Mr. Kennedy).

Mr. RUPPERSBERGER. I yield an additional 30 seconds to my friend.

Mr. RUPPERSBERGER. I reserve.

Mr. RUPPERSBERGER. How much time remains on each side?

Mr. RUPPERSBERGER. I yield the gentleman an additional 30 seconds.

Mr. RUPPERSBERGER. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I want to respond to my good friend, who I respect. Former law enforcement. I am not mad at the oil companies. I am disappointed in the oil companies on behalf of the American people. I think you have talked about where we buy our oil. It seems to me that this administration has been in office for about 7\1/2\ years, have set the oil policy, and now we are paying for it. And we are attempting to do whatever we can on this side of the aisle to resurrect it. And to come up with an issue of drill, drill, drill. We keep saying, and the facts are there, we have 83 million acres that the oil companies have under license, and they have not chosen to put money into the drilling of those 83 million acres, both onshore and offshore. That is number one. What really concerns me, and what I am upset about though is the fact that we, this Congress, when the Republicans were in the majority, that we gave oil companies billions of dollars of grants to do research. And yet I haven't seen any of that money go to drilling or doing what you are suggesting that we should do now. What I see is what I read in that article in the Sun paper about the fact that the oil companies are making outstanding, the highest profits they have ever made in their history. And you know why? Because they are putting the money, the grants that we gave them, the American dollars, not in to drilling and trying to help bring the oil prices down, but to the bottom line of their stockholders and also to really having the American people suffer because of that strategy. So I would just say that this is an issue we must move forward with. We are talking about drilling when this is an intelligence bill, and we should stand behind this bill, as Americans, as Republicans and as Democrats. Now I yield 3 minutes to my friend from Rhode Island, Congressman Kennedy.

Mr. RUPPERSBERGER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. First, I understand the issues that my friend from the Intelligence Committee has raised. I just want to point out that this issue we have with the oil crisis and energy crisis did not occur in the last couple of years. This administration has been in office now close to 7\1/2\ years, and this is a policy we should have started 8 years ago. And now we are attempting to resolve it. I want to respond to one of your issues, though, about the drilling. The oil companies should explore the more than 68 million acres of Federal land that we have already leased to them. It just boggles my mind, this has not been used. But maybe I found a reason why they don't want to do this. In today's Baltimore Sun, July 22, an Associated Press article, Big Oil Big on Dividends and Buybacks, and this is a quote: ``Giant oil companies such as ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips are set to report what will probably be another round of eye-popping quarterly profits. Which raises the question: Just where is all that money going? ``The companies insist they're trying to find new oil that might help bring down gas prices, but the money they spend on exploration is nothing compared with what they spend on stock buybacks and dividends. ``It's good news for shareholders, including mutual funds and retirement plans for millions of Americans, but no help to drivers making drastic cutbacks to offset high fuel bills. ``The five biggest international oil companies plowed about 55 percent of the cash they made from their businesses into stock buybacks and dividends last year, up from 30 percent in 2000 and just 1 percent in 1993, according to Rice University's James A. Baker III Institute For Public Policy. ``The percentage they spend to find new deposits of fossil fuels has remained flat for years, in the mid-single digits.'' Is this why we are not drilling, they are not drilling the 68 million acres? Based on this article, and based on the evidence before us, they have not drilled. They have improved their profits. They have done it for their stockholders, but it has hurt the American public as a result of that policy. Mr. Speaker, I would now yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Cazayoux) the sponsor of H.R. 6545, the National Energy Security Intelligence Act.

Mr. RUPPERSBERGER. Mr. Speaker, may I ask how much time is left, please.

Mr. RUPPERSBERGER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I thank the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Cazayoux) for sponsoring this important and timely piece of legislation. Gas prices are at a record high at more than $4 a gallon. As a result, the price of our everyday needs are going up as well. Things like food and consumer goods need to be transported long distances before they reach store shelves in our neighborhoods. Moreover, high fuel costs strain our military operations and increase the taxpayer dollars required to move our troops, ships and planes around the world. The recent escalation in prices serves as a reminder of the fact that the United States relies on the global energy market. About 65 percent of our oil is imported from other countries, and the price of oil fluctuates with global events. Although much of the oil we import comes from Canada and Mexico, our western hemisphere allies, our oil consumption impacts the global oil market. Many other oil-producing countries are hostile to the United States and are plagued by corruption or instability. The list of the top ten holders of oil reserves includes Iran, Iraq, Venezuela, Russia and Nigeria. For the past few years, 20 to 30 percent of Nigeria's oil output has been disrupted by rebel attacks; Iraq's production hovers below pre-invasion levels and is by no means stable; and Iran's nuclear activities have raised concerns around the world. In addition, over the past few years global oil reserves have declined while global demand for oil has increased. Some estimate that global demand will increase by 46 percent over the next 25 years. If supply cannot keep pace with demand, the market becomes increasingly volatile and disruptions have a much greater effect. We must understand the national security implications of the global energy market. Some countries are beginning to use energy as a leverage to achieve their foreign policy goals. For instance, 40 percent of the world's oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf. Would Iran try to block the Strait of Hormuz in the event of a foreign policy crisis? The Intelligence Committee should analyze the impact of such a crisis. The National Intelligence Assessment required by this legislation will allow the intelligence community to work with the best minds in the country, from academia to industry, much like the National Intelligence Assessment on global climate change. The intelligence community will collect data from various sources and then assess the geopolitical aspects. I also note that the report required by this bill is the same one that would have been required in the motion offered by the ranking member of the Intelligence Committee last week. However, the form in which he offered it would have killed the entire intelligence authorization bill. Unfortunately, when asked, he refused to agree to allow the House to simply adopt this amendment on the spot which would have saved the bill. That forced Members into the uncomfortable position of choosing this report over authorizing full funding and other critical legislation that our intelligence agencies need to do their jobs of keeping us safe. I am pleased that we passed the intelligence authorization last week, and I will vote to support this legislation. This report will be an important tool for policymakers to understand the current energy crisis and plan for the future. I urge my colleagues to vote for the bill. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. RUPPERSBERGER. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous material on H.R. 6545.

Mr. RUPPERSBERGER. Would the gentleman yield?

Mr. RUPPERSBERGER. Just to answer that question, it was the language chosen by Ranking Member Hoekstra.

Mr. RUPPERSBERGER. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 6545) to require the Director of National Intelligence to conduct a national intelligence assessment on national security and energy security issues.

Mr. RUPPERSBERGER

Mr. RUPPERSBERGER. Madam Speaker, I rise before you today to honor the life of a soldier who died honorably serving his country in Afghanistan as a part of Operation Enduring Freedom. Staff Sergeant William Ryan Fritsche made the ultimate sacrifice for our country and we honor him for his service. Staff Sergeant Fritsche joined the U.S. Army under the delayed entry program at the age of 17, two weeks after the September 11, 2001 attacks. He was first stationed with the Old Guard, the 3rd United States Infantry Regiment, the Army's official ceremonial unit and Escort to the President, which is based in Arlington, Virginia. In January 2007, Staff Sergeant Fritsche left the Old Guard and joined the 1st Brigade, 91st Calvary regiment, 173rd Airborne unit based out of Vinceca, Italy. With this new unit, he left in March for a 15 month deployment to Afghanistan. In July of 2007 at the age of 23, Staff Sergeant Fritsche was killed in action while leading a dismounted patrol in Kamu, Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. He was awarded the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart, a NATO citation, an Afghanistan Campaign Ribbon and the Combat Infantry Badge. I commend Staff Sergeant Fritsche for his commitment to our country and his courage to fight for freedom in an unsettled world. Without doubt, his bravery gives his mother, Mrs. Volitta Fritsche of Martinsville, Indiana, and his widow, Mrs. Brandi Nicole Fritsche of Maryland's 2nd Congressional District, great pride. In honor of Staff Sergeant Fritsche's commitment to preserving the freedom of our nation, friends and relatives have established an ongoing scholarship in his name, the SSG W. Ryan Fritsche Memorial Scholarship Fund. Madam Speaker, I ask that you join with me today to honor the patriotism and dedication of Staff Sergeant William Ryan Fritsche. His love of country and willingness to serve will forever reverberate in our memories. It gives me great pride to honor one of our nation's fallen heroes.

Mr. RUPPERSBERGER

Mr. RUPPERSBERGER. Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 509, unfortunately, I am getting a medical procedure done and cannot vote. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea.''

Mr. RUPPERSBERGER. Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 510, if I were present I would have voted ``yea.'' Unfortunately, I am getting a medical procedure done and cannot vote today.

Mr. RUPPERSBERGER

Mr. RUPPERSBERGER. Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 511, unfortunately, I am getting a medical procedure done and cannot vote. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea.''