David Rouzer

Mr. ROUZER

Mr. ROUZER. Here is the situation. There is not a no-wake zone there because the Army Corps and the Coast Guard do not recognize it. The State passed a law requiring that there be a no-wake zone, but there is not one because Federal law, obviously, supersedes State law.

Mr. ROUZER. Mr. Chairman, I think the problem specifically is that it is Federal water. I would add, again to paint a mental picture here, you have State and local officials that want to have a no-wake zone; and the only reason why there is not a no-wake zone there is because the Army Corps of Engineers and the Coast Guard do not recognize it. Again, I would suspect that is specifically because it is Federal water. This amendment is narrowly tailored to address this specific public safety issue. Again, I would encourage my colleagues to support the amendment.

Mr. ROUZER. I yield to the gentleman from Oregon.

Mr. ROUZER. Mr. Chairman, reclaiming my time, I appreciate the comments of the ranking member. And to be quite candid, I don't understand why they won't follow it either, which is why I am here. I greatly appreciate the ranking member and his support, and I look forward to working to get this resolved. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. ROUZER

Mr. ROUZER. Mr. Chairman, we have an opportunity to do a great service for the country by passing H.R. 5303, the Water Resources Development Act of 2016, otherwise known as WRDA. By building off reforms made in the 2014 bill, WRDA 2016 reasserts congressional authority and oversight on critical infrastructure issues. I commend Chairman Shuster for his commitment to passing a WRDA bill each Congress. It helps to ensure that America's water infrastructure needs are continually addressed and reaffirms the will of the people on these very important infrastructure matters. Substantively, this legislation addresses the needs of America's harbors, locks, dams, coastlines, and other water resource infrastructure projects by authorizing U.S. Army Corps of Engineers activities. Passage of WRDA is vital to our Nation's economy and will help ensure continued flow of commerce through our Nation's ports and channels. Moreover, this bill also includes preventative measures that will help serve and protect our infrastructure. Along with these obvious benefits, WRDA 2016 is also fiscally responsible and fully offset. In fact, failing to pass this critical piece of legislation will cost the Treasury that much more. Mr. Chairman, the time to pass this bill is now, and I urge my colleagues to support this very important legislation.

Mr. ROUZER

Mr. ROUZER. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass bill (H.R. 845) to direct the Secretary of Agriculture to publish in the Federal Register a strategy to significantly increase the role of volunteers and partners in National Forest System trail maintenance, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. ROUZER. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.

Mr. ROUZER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise in support of H.R. 845, the National Forest System Trails Stewardship Act. In 2013, the Government Accountability Office released a report that recognized the importance of volunteers for trail maintenance and recommended taking steps to improve management of volunteers. The Forest Service is facing a whopping $500 million backlog in trail maintenance costs--$500 million. H.R. 845 would require the Forest Service to produce a national strategy to maximum use of volunteers and partners for trail maintenance. Using eager volunteers across the Nation in the remediation of our deteriorating national Forest Service trails is a cost-effective solution. More than 50 diverse recreation and conservation groups requested Congress act to enable volunteers to do more, from the Wilderness Society to the American Motorcyclist Association. I would like to thank my colleague, Representative Lummis, for sponsoring this bill, and my fellow committee members, Mr. Walz, Mr. Peterson, Mr. Thompson, and Ms. Michelle Lujan Grisham, for their support of H.R. 845. I ask my colleagues to join me in supporting this bipartisan legislation so we can utilize on-the-ground volunteer efforts to improve Forest Service trails and decrease the costly trail maintenance backlog. Refocusing on volunteers and partners to help the Forest Service is a commonsense way of making progress on the backlog and opening up these trails to public access. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time. House of Representatives, Committee on Natural Resources, Washington, DC, September 14, 2016. Hon. K. Michael Conaway, Chairman, Committee on Agriculture, Washington, DC. Dear Mr. Chairman: I write concerning H.R. 845, National Forest System Trails Stewardship Act, which was recently ordered to be reported by the Committee on Agriculture. As you are aware, the bill also was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, as the bill contains provisions within the Rule X jurisdiction of the Natural Resources Committee. In the interest of permitting you to proceed expeditiously to floor consideration of this very important bill, this Committee agrees to discharge from further consideration of H.R. 845. I do so with the understanding that the Natural Resources Committee does not waive any future jurisdictional claim over the subject matter contained in the bill which fall within its Rule X jurisdiction. I also request that you urge the Speaker to name members of the Natural Resources Committee to any conference committee to consider such provisions. Please place this letter into the committee report on H.R. 845 and into the Congressional Record during consideration of the measure on the House floor. Thank you for the cooperative spirit in which you and your staff have worked regarding this matter and others between our respective committees, and congratulations on this significant achievement. Sincerely, Rob Bishop, Chairman.

Mr. ROUZER. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from Wyoming (Mrs. Lummis).

Mr. ROUZER. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from Wyoming (Mrs. Lummis).

Mr. ROUZER. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. ROUZER

Mr. ROUZER. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 5883) to amend the Packers and Stockyards Act, 1921, to clarify the duties relating to services furnished in connection with the buying or selling of livestock in commerce through online, video, or other electronic methods, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. ROUZER. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.

Mr. ROUZER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise in support of H.R. 5883, the Clarification of Treatment of Electronic Sales of Livestock Act of 2016. The bill before us today makes simple, targeted reforms to an outdated statute in order to make it compatible with new practices that have come about because of advances in technology. The Packers and Stockyards Act was enacted to protect buyers and sellers of livestock from unfair, deceptive, and discriminatory practices. However, the statute has not undergone a thorough revision since being enacted in 1921, resulting in various outdated requirements. To account for the current practices that businesses use to buy and sell livestock, H.R. 5883 makes clarifying modifications, ensuring that the protections of the Packers and Stockyards Act apply to those who buy and sell livestock online on a commission or other fee basis. The Packers and Stockyards Act of 1921 references only two forms of payment methods acceptable under the act's prompt payment requirements--checks and wire transfers. To update this provision, the bill adds electronic transfer of funds to the list of acceptable methods of payment and gives the Secretary the flexibility to approve other new methods of payment as deemed appropriate. These commonsense changes are supported by the vast majority of the livestock community--in fact, we know of no opposition--and were unanimously supported by my colleagues on the House Agriculture Committee. I urge my colleagues to support these important modifications with their vote for this bill. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. ROUZER. Mr. Speaker, I want to again urge all of my colleagues in this Chamber to support this bill. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. ROUZER

Mr. ROUZER. I thank my friend, the gentleman from Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize the Farm Credit System for supporting agriculture and the rural communities in my home State of North Carolina for the past 100 years. Established in 1916, Farm Credit provides farm families across America with consistent and reliable credit to help finance our Nation's food production needs. Without Farm Credit Services of America, our farmers would not have the resources they need to grow their crops and their livestock--putting food on the tables of every American family. Let me underscore that--putting food on the tables of every American family. Farm Credit organizations provide more than a third of the credit that is needed by United States agriculture, accounting for more than $217 billion in loans, leases, and related services. In my home district, our local farm lender is Cape Fear Farm Credit, which operates in a 12-county territory and issues loans to more than 2,500 farmers and rural North Carolinians. I applaud them for supporting farm families in my district with real estate and farm improvement loans, equipment loans, operating loans, country home loans, life insurance plans, and appraisal services. Cape Fear Farm Credit also helps young, beginning, small, and minority farmers become successful by offering courses that provide not only them but their families with a unique set of tools to increase the quality and sizes of their operations. Without a doubt, Cape Fear Farm Credit is an incredibly valuable resource for our farm families and our rural communities in North Carolina's Seventh Congressional District. Our friends at Farm Credit should be proud of their great work. They have successfully delivered on their mission for the past 100 years, and I know they will continue to have great success. They are great and fine people who understand the unique needs of agriculture production, our farm families, and our rural communities. I am proud to stand with them.

Mr. ROUZER

Mr. ROUZER. I read somewhere not long ago that rules and regulations of the IRS and elsewhere have cost this economy $2 trillion in the last fiscal year--$2 trillion. If we got rid of the rules and regulations that are harming the economy and that are keeping our economy from growing at a robust pace, then the IRS would end up having a whole lot more money.

Mr. ROUZER. I yield to the gentleman from Oregon.

Mr. ROUZER. This bill is about accountability. Every Member of this Congress is held accountable every 2 years.

Mr. ROUZER. I thank my colleague and friend from North Carolina (Mr. Holding) for yielding time to discuss this bill. Mr. Speaker, I filed this bill, H.R. 1206, the No Hires for the Delinquent IRS Act, in response to reading news reports of more than 1,500 employees at the IRS who willfully failed to follow their own tax guidelines and, in a number of cases, were found to be seriously delinquent on their taxes. For starters, it is the height of hypocrisy for the very agency that is charged with collecting taxes to have employees who refuse to adhere to the standards and guidelines which the rest of us must follow and abide by. Of course, this is in addition to the egregious behavior and abuse of power some in the agency displayed when they targeted organizations for their political affiliations and beliefs. We all remember how the IRS misled taxpayers and the Congress in an effort to deny that such activity ever even occurred. Thankfully, the truth always has a way of being revealed, at least eventually. I think we can all agree that the American people deserve a government that works for them, not against them. Certainly, the IRS is one of the most cumbersome, customer-unfriendly agencies in the Federal Government, regardless of how much they are funded. Anyone who denies this hasn't been listening to the American people. Now, let me be clear. There are plenty of fine civil servants working hard at the IRS and in all other agencies of the Federal Government. It is the culture of arrogance and unchecked bureaucratic power that has developed within these agencies that is the problem and is the catalyst for the type of disregard and double standard this bill aims to help address. This culture starts with the leadership at the top. Mr. Speaker, this bill is very simple. It prohibits the IRS from hiring any new additional employees until the agency can certify that every one of their employees who are out of step with the tax requirements imposed on the American people have a plan to achieve compliance. Now, who can argue against this? For all the moaning and groaning I have heard from the other side of the aisle the past couple of days, this is not a bill that merits even one vote of opposition. This is a commonsense bill that will help encourage the IRS to clean up its act, and I encourage my colleagues to vote for it.

Mr. ROUZER. Mr. Speaker, there are several things that come to mind here. Number one, each Member of Congress is held accountable every 2 years by the voters of their respective district. The last time I checked, this is referred to as the people's House. We are either here to represent our constituencies and our people back home or we are representing the bureaucracy of the Federal Government. Now, I don't know what side my other colleagues, particularly on the other side of the aisle, care to be on as it relates to this, but I personally think it is important to represent our people back home, not the bureaucracies here in Washington, D.C. The other thing I have heard as it relates to this bill is it is mean. My goodness. What is mean about this? All it says is, when the IRS can certify that their employees who are delinquent have a plan to get back into compliance, they are able to hire again. Until then, there is a freeze on hiring. There is nothing mean about that. It is just good common sense. It is an encouragement, and it is an incentive for the IRS to clean up its act. Then we hear about the funding issue. I have never ever, ever once heard the other side say that there was plenty of funding for any Federal agency, the IRS or any agency. I will tell you what is mean and what is destructive is an obstructive, intrusive Federal Government that does not allow the individual American people and our families to do what they do best, and that is grow a business, make a profit, and create jobs.

Mr. ROUZER. Mr. Speaker, I have listened to this debate today and the discussion about inversions. There is a broader point that is missed here. Inversions aren't even an issue if America is the most attractive place to do business. Capital investment goes where it is welcome, not where it is unwelcome. Why do you hear about inversions today? It is because we have an outdated Tax Code that significantly needs reform. It is because we have more rules and regulations than we have ever had before that are stifling the economy to the tune of $2 trillion annually. It is because we have a healthcare law in place that is killing the economy and job growth. I can't tell you how many businesses I meet and go and visit all across the district that are sitting right at 49 employees. I wonder why. It is because of the healthcare law that is unworkable and destroying the American economy. Again, capital and investment goes where it is welcome. How do we make that possible again? We reform our Tax Code so that this is the most attractive place to do business in the world. We get rid of the rules and regulations that make it so difficult to do business, all the rules and regulations coming out of labor, EPA, and everywhere else. It is not just one, it is all of them. It is death by a thousand cuts. I can't tell you how many people I have talked to all across my district who say: David, do you know what? Business is just no fun anymore. And so they are plotting their exit strategy. They are not plotting the strategy of growth. They are plotting a strategy to exit and retire with what they have been able to achieve so far. Here is the fundamental question of this bill. Are we going to be on the side of the American people? Or are we going to be on the side of the bureaucracy? Are we going to defend the EPA? Are we going to defend the IRS? Are we going to defend the Department of Labor? Are we going to defend all these rules and regulations that are killing the American economy? Or are we going to stand with the American people? That is the question before us today.

Mr. ROUZER

Mr. ROUZER. Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 44, I was unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``aye.'' personal explanation

Mr. ROUZER

Mr. ROUZER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong opposition to the administration's most recent action that runs afoul of our Second Amendment rights. The President's executive orders could easily impact citizens' privacy and due process, all at the whim of a bureaucrat. Rather than putting in place new hurdles for citizens who chose to exercise their Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms, the administration's focus should be on the laws already on the books that they are not enforcing. The administration's actions are unconstitutional and simply are another attempt to distract from the real issues at hand, particularly the onward march of terrorism and the destabilizing effect the deal with Iran is having in the Middle East. It would serve the country better to focus our full effort on defeating radical Islamic terrorists.

Mr. ROUZER

Mr. ROUZER. I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I want to thank him for his leadership on this very important issue. As we near the 43rd anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision, there is a sad truth to be told: More than 57 million innocent lives have been terminated through abortion since that landmark ruling. To put that in perspective, that is more than five times the population of my home State of North Carolina. Again, that is more than five times the population of North Carolina. That is a sobering number. In God's word, it is written that life begins at conception. Recent advances in science support that fact. It is our moral obligation to fight for and protect the lives of those who cannot speak for themselves, the lives of those who are no different than our own. As millions of Americans prepare to travel here to Washington, D.C., to participate in the annual March for Life, my prayers are with them. I am proud to stand with them in their commitment and dedication to the pro-life cause.