Pete Sessions

Mr. SESSIONS

Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, as the calendar year comes to an end, America's small businesses and taxpayers are looking to Congress for certainty before they file their taxes in April of 2015. While far from perfect, the Tax Increase Prevention Act will provide certainty by extending for 1 more year a number of tax relief provisions that simply would have expired at the end of this year. Put simply, this bill will prevent tax increases on millions of families that would happen if we were not bringing it to the floor today. And to Mr. Kingston, I thank you for your years of service to this body on behalf of the American people and the people of Georgia. In an ideal world, Mr. Speaker, the House would be debating a more comprehensive approach to tax reform. We would be worried and focusing our activities on growing jobs in America and giving the American people more of their hard-earned money back so they could invest either in their family or in their business--an opportunity to grow our economy to keep America strong--but our Tax Code is holding back America from being competitive and from providing America with more jobs. American taxpayers deserve what we are doing today, which is an opportunity to work incrementally on a better, simpler, easy-to- navigate Tax Code with certainty, but only for 1 more year. We should be making long-range plans by working with the United States Senate and the President to make sure the American people come up winners. The United States tax rate is currently the highest in the world, and I would prefer to be debating reform, but we are here today for 1 more year's worth of opportunity to keep America where she and her citizens are prepared for the future. Thanks to the leadership of the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, Dave Camp from Michigan, we almost had a chance to fix these issues today, but he came to the rescue and said, ``I am going to work with Republicans and Democrats and anybody who will work with me''-- meaning the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee--``on helping American business be stronger.'' The bottom line is that I believe we are going to work together, and it starts in the House of Representatives to get that work done. So just like the deal that Dave Camp started, we are here for the process today of jump-starting American business for yet another year. Sadly, reports tell us that the President's veto threat undermines these bipartisan negotiations. The things Chairman Dave Camp is working on to make American jobs stronger and a reality--and working on in a bipartisan effort--the President of the United States is threatening to veto that very legislation. So, today, despite the veto threat, we are here to do our work. Today, you will see, Mr. Speaker, Republicans and Democrats certainly have things in the bill which are special and important to them but that, more importantly, are about the American people and opportunities to save and grow jobs. Earlier this year, and certainly last year, the House passed a number of permanent extensions of these policies on a bipartisan basis. That means, Mr. Speaker, Republicans and Democrats tried to work together. But the failure of leadership on the Senate side meant those bills were not ever even brought before the Senate to debate them. Worse yet, the President of the United States opposes those efforts. We are here for one simple reason today. By taking the leadership opportunity, we think we can gain the ability, on a bipartisan basis in the House of Representatives, to give the Senate and the President one more whack at it. Let me be clear. Even if this legislation is not as ambitious as it could have been, it is still vitally important. I think what we are doing here, under the leadership of John Boehner, is to say to the American people that we know what our job is, even if we are not as wildly successful as we want to be. America's small businesses and families actually need, and rely upon, Congress to do its job. Mr. Speaker, as the Representative of the 32nd Congressional District of Texas, which is essentially Dallas, Texas, and some suburbs, I regularly meet with small businesses--important businesses--that employ people. Earlier in the year, I met with Jamey Rentfrow of Ascend Custom Extrusions in Wylie, Texas. Jamey's company manufactures and designs custom aluminum extrusions for industry. It was a most interesting visit. They call this manufacturing in America. On the same day, I also met with JoAnn Gardner, a young woman who owns Savage Precision Fabrication. They make parts for military aircraft. They count on us to be able to get our job done to buy the newest and best equipment. It goes to help not only aerospace and military but other civilian needs also. They know that if we do this, the option for them to expense 50 percent of the purchase price of their assets can be taken care of. They can write it off when they want to rather than when the Tax Code wants. In March, I met with Frank Millsap. It was a most interesting visit. He runs a rod car store called Sachse Rod Shop. He explained to me how our onerous Tax Code prevented him from employing more people. Mr. Speaker, that is why we are here today. We are here to make sure we take care of the people in our home districts, many of them companies that are small mom-and-pop shops, but others that employ hundreds of people. The bill would also affect a minority-owned business called Aluma Graphics, which is located in Wylie, Texas, and owned by Randall Williams, a young man who played professional football. When he got out, he decided he was going to go into business. He is realizing how tough it is to manufacture labels and decals for industrial products. This bill would help him and his employees. These businesses, not just in the 32nd Congressional District but all over our country, are important, as they provide people the honesty of hard work and the return of continuing to come to work the next day because their company can make the money to get it done. What we are doing today will extend for only 1 more year the tax provisions, but it will help millions and millions of people. Additionally, Mr. Speaker, this rule contains a great bill that's called the ABLE Act, which represents, I believe, what our country can do best when Republicans and Democrats and people who care in the United States Congress work together. Almost every single person in America, I believe, knows someone with a disability: a family member, a best friend, perhaps a brother or sister, or maybe even an aunt or uncle. But we all know that it is only fair that we pay attention to the people we dearly love. So, today is a game-changer. Today, we are removing what I think is a glass ceiling for disabled people who are held at a disadvantage in our Tax Code. The ABLE Act would make 529 tax-free savings accounts available so that families can cover important expenses such as postsecondary education, housing, career development, and medical expenses not covered by private insurance, Medicaid, or other benefits that might be available to them offered by government. These tax-free savings accounts will empower families so that their loved ones can have opportunities they have not had in the past. It is personal to me because as my father looks at all of his grandchildren, he can have the opportunity of helping out in their education, but not for Alex Sessions, his grandson with Down syndrome. He can help all the grandkids, but not Alex. This happens millions of times in our country. There are millions of people with disabilities who count on going into a program or being enrolled in something that the Federal Government pays for, but we discriminate against them. When this gets signed into law, my father, Judge Sessions, will be able to treat Alex as he does his other grandchildren. What is amazing is that Alex needs it more than all of them combined, but he is the one that we wanted to keep in his place because he has a disability called Down syndrome. Mr. Speaker, this bill is important. It is important to the people whom it impacts. It is important to our families. But more importantly, it is important to our country. The gentleman, Ander Crenshaw from Jacksonville, has worked on this bill for 8 years. We are finding a way to put it into a piece of legislation. To help millions of people with their jobs, it needs to pass. Mr. Speaker, that is why we are here today. We are here doing important work for millions of people. It does matter, and I think we make a huge difference. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, at this time I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Jackson County, North Carolina (Mr. Meadows).

Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, in reply to the gentlewoman, I will let her make her closing arguments, and then I will do the same.

Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, we are going to take the gentleman from Vermont up on, really, his issues. We are going to have a Republican House, a Republican Senate, that is able to effectively work with each other, look each other in the eye and find progress for the American people. So I promise the gentleman, he is going to get what he wants and more so that we can grow our economy. Mr. Speaker, I would like to have as our next speaker a gentleman who, for 8 years, has toiled on the ABLE Act. He is the chief sponsor. He is the young man who has made so many conversations and discussions, not just among our Members here, but also among people all around this country, disability groups. I earlier accused him of being from Texas. He is actually from Jacksonville, Florida, so I am sure I will get lots of cards and letters about that. We wish he were a Texan, but he is from Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Crenshaw).

Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. A number of people who asked to speak today are on their way here, and we will do that. I really want to stand up for just a few minutes, pending those several Members coming here, to say to you and to the American people, Mr. Speaker, that this country--America--is a great, great, great country. It is great because of its people. There is a lot that has been said today and on other days about some of our frailties, about some of our warts, about some of the problems that we have. I think what Mr. Crenshaw said in his remarks is most appropriate because you have a man who has a number of very important issues that he carries on behalf of his congressional district in Jacksonville, Florida. He spoke about also taking the time to be a voice for millions of people across this country, not just for those whom he saw specifically in Jacksonville. You heard the gentleman, Mr. Meadows, speak very plainly about two Down syndrome young women of our country who are key assets to our country. We weren't asking for anything else today through this ABLE Act that Mr. Crenshaw has so ably moved forward--it has taken 8 years-- than for people to have equity or fairness. In the larger scheme of things, as a parent of a Down syndrome young man, I looked at where we stood, and said, ``Why wouldn't we allow the fairness?'' Really, let's look at it another way. Why would we want to keep these disabled individuals from having fairness? Why do we want to keep them poor and in the same circumstances they are in? Why would we want everyone else to be treated under one set of rules and, because they are disabled, they are treated another way? These are questions and discussions that have been in my family now for 20 years. I don't know why Alex is my special gift. He is perfect. God made every child perfect in His image. We are the ones who struggle. Today, we are working together as the House of Representatives for a bill that Mr. Crenshaw saw a need for, and he had the fortitude and the opportunity today because of John Boehner. Yes, Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat Member of this body; yes, some United States Senators, including Senator Harkin of Iowa and, yes, Senator Casey from Pennsylvania; yes, Cathy McMorris Rodgers, a senior member of our Republican leadership team who, by the way, has a Down syndrome son, Cole--we all worked together. This is a special thing. I think, today, it ought to be a pat on the back for us, an opportunity for us to say this is important and this is good. That is what we should remember from today, in that we may not go to sleep knowing our job is done, but that we did something right by coming together as a body. My dear colleague Louise Slaughter, who is from New York, very clearly understood a long time ago, as she put her name on the bill, that this is a good bill. Members of the Rules Committee, who typically don't put their names on bills, put their names on this bill--380 Members of this body. See, there are good things that happen. I do want to thank my colleague, Ms. Slaughter. I do want to thank people because this is a bipartisan effort. This is a chance for us to work together, and I think we did a good job today. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, I yield the gentleman an additional 1 minute.

Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. It has been mentioned a couple of times today, but I also want to thank you, Mr. Speaker, the gentleman from Georgia, for your distinguished service, not only to the people of Georgia in your district, but also to the people--your friends--who are in this body, who have benefited from your service on the Appropriations Committee and who knew that you took time, just as we are doing here today, to deal with the intricacies of NIH, to deal with the intricacies of cancer, to deal with the intricacies of disabilities, to deal with the intricacies of our working together as a country and as a body and as Americans to make life better for people. Mr. Speaker, your years of service here--some 20 years of service that you have given--have been of distinguished service. I have known you for a long time and have admired you. I want to thank the gentleman, Jack Kingston, for his great service to America, which is exactly in line with what we are doing today. Thank you, sir. I appreciate your hard work. Your being in the chair as we do this is not by accident. It is on purpose. With the distinguished opportunity that you have of serving as the Speaker pro tempore today, I appreciate your great service. Mr. Speaker, we have made the case today of what we are trying to do. We are on the floor to bring certainty to the Tax Code for one more year. It is not perfect--the gentleman from Vermont noted that--but it is an opportunity as best as we can do in the environment that we are in, and that is what this is about. It is the knowledge that we are going to wake up and do the best that we can for the American people. Today is about the American people and their Tax Code. Today is about the ABLE Act and about millions of people with disabilities who are attempting as best as they can to make due with what they have but who, tomorrow, can get fairness and equity in that process. It is about an opportunity for families not to question why but to dig in and help. Today is yet another opportunity when not only the gentlewoman, Ms. Slaughter, and I may work together in our tutelage as chairman and ranking member of the Rules Committee but when we can have a common sense of purpose. This is not perfect, but the world can be better today and tomorrow. I would ask my fellow Members to understand that we are here asking for everybody to vote ``yes'' on the rule. They can do what they want to do on the underlying legislation, but today is an opportunity to give thanks for the opportunities that lie ahead of us that are about others instead of ourselves. Mr. Speaker, I move the previous question on the resolution, and I yield back the balance of my time. The previous question was ordered.

Mr. SESSIONS

Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the Critical Infrastructure Protection Act. Over the past 10 years, the United States has seen an unprecedented expansion of electronic communication and commerce that boosts our economy and facilitates entrepreneurship. However, this technology is also susceptible to new types of potential threats, such as Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP), that could dramatically disrupt electronic activity or severely damage our electrical grids. Due to the potential of an EMP threat, I joined Congressman Trent Franks in introducing H.R. 3410--the Critical Infrastructure Protection Act. This legislation directs the Department of Homeland Security to enhance our nation's threat assessments of EMPs and to plan how to best protect and recover after an EMP occurs. The Critical Infrastructure Protection Act is the first step towards getting the U.S. closer to protecting ourselves from a potentially catastrophic nationwide blackout. It is my hope that this legislation will promote a national dialogue about the threat of EMPs and ensure that we are adequately prepared to protect our nation's critical infrastructure. I want to thank Chairman McCaul for his important work on this legislation, as well as my dear friend, Congressman Trent Franks for his leadership. Additionally, I want to thank Frank Gaffney, the Founder and President of the Center for Security Policy, for his policy expertise and much needed efforts to educate and spread awareness regarding the potential threats posed by an Electromagnetic Pulse. I strongly support the passage of this important legislation.

Mr. SESSIONS

Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to give thanks to the men and women of the Armed Forces and their families on this upcoming Thanksgiving Day. Let us remember all of those who are now separated by death, distance, and in hospital beds across our Nation. Say a prayer of thanks for them all. I submit this poetic tribute to them, written by Albert Carey Caswell. Be Thankful Be Be thankful Be thankful on this Thanksgiving Day, when with your families you sit down to pray Please, please say a prayer for all those who gave All so with your families you may break this bread And what their selfless sacrifice has so said Who for all our freedom paid All throughout the generations the ones who gave And be thankful Be thankful for our freedom so very bright Be thankful for all of these heroes who fought the fight Who all so live and died in valor's light All out across the deep blue seas Who all gave so selflessly And now lie all in deep dark quiet graves Showing us all how to behave Whose families still cry still this day Who live all in the kind of pain only Heaven can allay Until they are all reunited one fine day So be thankful to all those who gave All of their strong arms and legs Who must now live without them each day And gave their eyesight away Who'll not see another beautiful sunrise today And be thankful for all those who carry the scars of war Who with PTS no longer sleep peacefully anymore And as you look upon your children's faces And see all of their warm smiles in place this Remember, remember, remember to say in your grace this A prayer for all those children with tears upon their faces Because their mommies or daddies aren't coming home no more As each new holiday this heartache they must endure And all those families separated by distance and war Who on this Thanksgiving Day each other so long for And all they ask Is for your thanks to stand by them all steadfast Be thankful this Thanksgiving Day, for all of their most precious gifts the Armed Forces and families gave And on this Thanksgiving sitting around the table You, this Thanksgiving you for all our freedoms so bright thankful for our freedom so bright, be thankful for all of those heroes who fight the fight

Mr. SESSIONS

Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, for the purpose of debate only, I yield the customary 30 minutes to the gentleman from Colorado, Mr. Polis, my friend, pending which I yield myself such time as I may consume. During consideration of this resolution, all time yielded is for the purpose of debate only.

Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks.

Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, for the past 6 years, President Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Secretary of State Kerry, and Senate Democrats have made sure that the American people would continue to wait for the Keystone pipeline. The Keystone pipeline provides jobs, energy security, and perhaps most of all a closer and better relationship with our friends from Canada. Mr. Speaker, quite honestly, the bottom line is we need to do business with our friends in Canada rather than friends in other places around the world who may be using that money that they receive for reasons that are not in America's best interest. We trust the Canadians. Today we have a bill on the floor because we believe that House Republicans, being led by Dr. Bill Cassidy, can lead us to a way to construct the Keystone pipeline, provide us with a closer relationship with Canada, and make sure that the TransCanada application to construct the Keystone XL pipeline will be done. That is why we are here on the floor of the House of Representatives today. With that said, I rise in support of not only this rule that will provide the context for the bill but also the legislation. Let me be perfectly clear today: this bill to approve the Keystone pipeline is a jobs bill. Over the last few years, too many Americans have been out of work, not always in the right places where jobs were available, but too many Americans are out of work, and this is an area where people are out of work and need the work and can get it. Wages have been stagnant, and median incomes for American families have fallen because this administration and the policies of the Democratic Party have led to a stagnation of the free enterprise system, and an opportunity in particular in the area of energy has been a political issue rather than a jobs issue for the American people. The Keystone pipeline would support tens of thousands of great-paying jobs and help resolve some problems in this area and across a multistate area of the West. Yet President Obama, Secretary Hillary Clinton, and Senate Democrats have stood constantly and consistently in the way of job-creating, shovel-ready projects. For 6 years we have known that the impact of the Keystone pipeline would be positive on the American economy, with positive benefits that it would provide for the American people. For 6 years, we have known that the pipeline would add over a billion dollars of revenue to a tepid economy, a billion dollars in places where people are out of work, need work. And it can be done through efficiency and effectiveness of this pipeline. Americans have been looking for leadership to secure energy independence, energy independence to where we no longer have to go across the oceans to receive the energy that we need. With this pipeline, it is an important step, I believe, in the right direction. When completed, the Keystone pipeline will transport over 800,000 barrels of oil every single day. That is equivalent to half of our daily oil imports from the Middle East. Mr. Speaker, that is competition with the current system. That is how you get prices lower at the gas pump, by having competition, competition with the Middle East for the oil that we will use in this country. This will further help lower energy costs for American families while helping to bolster our national security by weaning us off oil from nations that sometimes do not have our best interests in their own mind. Instead of partnering with countries in the Middle East, the Keystone pipeline lets us work together with our dear friends from Canada. By approving the Keystone pipeline, the Federal Government will reduce our dependency overnight while creating much-needed jobs and providing billions of dollars in economic opportunity in the USA. We all know that Keystone can accomplish what the American people want, and that is that we need to work together. Mr. Speaker, we need to work together. Finally, what has happened is that the Senate Democrats are asking for this bill. Regardless of the reason, what we are doing here today is to work together on ideas that we have been trying to push for a long, long time. In September of 2008, TransCanada submitted their application to the Department of State to construct the Keystone pipeline. Yet the Obama administration has blocked and delayed construction of the pipeline at every single turn. Excuse after excuse after excuse rather than getting it done. The State Department, led by Secretary Hillary Clinton and Secretary Kerry, has stood firmly in the way of jobs created by this project. They have held dozens of meetings and issued study after study, each of which confirms what Republicans have said all along, and that is, the pipeline will create jobs and inject billions of dollars into the American economy while doing so in a safe and limited environmental impact way. Beginning in 2011, with Republicans, as soon as they won this body and became the majority, we started passing laws to jump-start the pipeline. Time after time I have been on the floor of this body--and, Mr. Speaker, you have stood faithfully in your chair to listen to the debates. It is you, Mr. Speaker, who has been behind this idea to make sure that we would keep it as a part of our objective. An objective for the American people, opportunities for the American people, and a friendship with the Canadians. Sadly, Senate Democrats have refused to allow even a vote. Yet just yesterday the Keystone pipeline suddenly became a hot topic on the Senate floor. A hot topic because they want to get it done now. Well, so what has changed? Last week, after 6 long years, Members of the Senate finally decided to listen to the American people. The House has been listening and acting for 4 years now, but now that the Senate is prepared to join us, we are here to work together. The House is prepared to pass this bill from Dr. Bill Cassidy, oh, yes, from an energy State called Louisiana. A dear friend of not only this body but a dear friend of consumers and families who understand that we need to reduce even further costs at the gas pump, that we need to be concerned about where we buy our oil and our energy and to make sure we are doing business with the friends and people we know. So they can pass it and they can send it to the President's desk. We are going to send the same bill. Same bill they are doing in the Senate is the same one we are going to do here. We are going to get it to the President. No more delays, no more excuses. It is actually time to make the Keystone pipeline a reality. Said another way, the election is over; let's get our work done. I am proud that the House has led on this issue. I look forward to the Senate joining us. I hope the President will do the same thing. I hope we will sign another jobs bill that has been passed by the House of Representatives. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, just so we really are a little bit clear, the President indicated last week what he might do on this exact issue of Keystone pipeline. He said that he would consider signing the bill if it creates jobs. So, Mr. President, the study from your own State Department said that construction on Keystone would create over 42,000 jobs, so there is one answer to our President. Another one, the President said he would consider signing the bill if it was good for the American people, good for their pocketbooks, if it were to reduce gas prices. Now, that is what the President said. Once again, I have good news. Good news. Keystone pipeline will move up to 830,000 barrels of oil a day through an efficient process. Instead of it coming from halfway around the world, which adds cost to the transportation, it will come through a pipeline and be here real efficiently, so I think we are in good stead there to meet the test for the President. Mr. Speaker, at this time, I would like to let you know that I have got five or six speakers that are here who are excited about this opportunity for jobs, a jobs bill that is on the floor today and the creation of legislation to have the XL pipeline. I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Raleigh, North Carolina, Congressman Holding.

Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, I think we are seeing the same heresy take place here on the floor, and that is trying to scare people. It is Republicans who are trying to move a job bill, and jobs, the American people understand. Let's keep this thing right in the center of the table. It is about jobs. It is about energy independence. It is about a working relationship with our friends. It is about lessening our dependence upon giving people in other countries in foreign lands our money that they don't always use in our best interest. It is about national security, and it is about a lot of things that make common sense. What makes common sense is not to scare people, but give them the facts of the case. Mr. Speaker, at this time, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from North Dakota, Kevin Cramer. He served on the commission up in North Dakota before he came to Congress, and he is a great young man.

Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Colorado, and I will tell you, we are trying to keep the stage set that we in the Republican majority are leading for jobs for America. We are leading to help gas at the pump be less than what it has been. It doubled under President Obama's watch because they have not done the things that would allow more energy to be gotten. Sure, it is being gotten now on private lands, but on Federal lands, we need to do the same. Once again, the same old worn-out rhetoric standing in the way of jobs in this country. That is why Republicans are now here on the floor again today. Our last bill is about jobs, too, before we leave. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Gainesville, Georgia (Mr. Collins), a member on the Judiciary Committee.

Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, at this time, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Ennis, Texas (Mr. Barton). As the former chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, he knows about as much as anybody in the United States Congress about not just the needs of jobs and energy in this country, but, as the distinguished former chairman of the committee, he led this fight for many, many years. (Mr. BARTON asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. SESSIONS. I object.

Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask how much time I have remaining?

Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, thank you very much. Mr. Speaker, once again, we heard our friends on the Democrat side talk about special interest money. They were talking about green energy: $18 billion a year is spent, money that would be spent like what was spent on Solyndra, sole-source contracts to companies that have gone belly up. Those are the ideas of the Democrat Party and the ideas of this President. The ideas of this President are they have taken over 6 years--2,246 days--the President of the United States, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Secretary of State Kerry, an administration that stands in the way of the operation of getting people jobs, of doing the things that the American people want and need. That is why what happened this first Tuesday in November, the American people said: We have had enough. I, as a Republican, don't take it that we are just outstanding and they elected us. What they said is: We are sick and tired of the direction we're headed. We want serious things to happen. We have a brand new Governor in Maryland and a brand new Governor in Illinois. There is a lot of information that is out there, ready for us. We Republicans came right back to work. The Senate is doing the same. They are trying to pass this. We are trying to take the exact same bill that we were asked to do, with the expectation and understanding it can pass this body. It is a well-understood bill. It hasn't taken us 6 years--2,246 days--to figure it out. If this administration can't figure the dang thing out, they need to admit they do not know how to read or lead. And I don't know which one it is, but either they can't read or they cannot lead. They need to know that the American people expect us to go get the work done. That is what you heard Mr. Collins say. The Republican Party is up to the task. The Republican Party, through the leadership of John A. Boehner and the leadership of what will be Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, is going to do exactly that. We are going to take all the issues, including the one the gentleman talks about all day and every day--and that is immigration--and we are going to have an immigration bill. And we are going to do the right thing. But today we are talking about jobs: jobs and opportunities for people that need them. We need competition for the price of energy. We need to make sure we don't depend as much on the Middle East and that we work with our friends from Canada. And it does not take the Republican Party 6 years, or 2,246 days, to try and make a decision. The Republican Party is here today. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this rule and the underlying bill. I yield back the balance of my time, and I move the previous question on the resolution. The previous question was ordered.

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

Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I call up House Resolution 748 and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. SESSIONS

Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of a fallen American hero, United States Navy SEAL Lieutenant Michael Murphy with a tribute to his most heroic life. On October 22, 2007 The Medal of Honor was presented to his family by President George W. Bush at The White House. This Veterans Day let us remember all of the Fallen like Lt. Murphy who have given That Last Full Measure to protect us. I submit this poem penned in his honor by Albert Carey Caswell. But, Where Our Honor Lies (By Albert Carey Caswell) All . . . All in our darkest days of night! As all around us the most wicked of evil casts its light! When before us death so lies! While, all out there on that road of life! When, all in the throes war realized! All in those moments of truth comprised! Are but all of those defining moments of light! Which shine so very bright! Are but a true reflection of one's soul and might! Which shines like gold this sight! Comes the most precious of all things! Above all else which surely rings! As lies the proof of ones most inner being! Is But, Where Our Honor Lies! When all between life and death comprised . . . When one's courage comes to rise! All in those moments when who lives or dies! So all depends on you comprised! But comes only America's Best! Is But Where Our Honor Lies this test! When, uncommon valor is extolled! And with clenched fist we see the greatest of all virtues, behold! Coming from all within one's soul! To our world as now exposed! Is But Where Our Honor Lies! As we lose so lose our breath! As we so reflect upon all of this and those . . . Most Christian acts as so! Now carried deep in our souls! All in hearts to have and hold! Could we but live by such an honor code? Would we ever see such light as have all of those? With such Uncommon Valor who into that darkness did go! What all their fine hearts emote! To win that day and night! All in those darkest of all fights! All in this brilliance, As when one's soul ignites! Shinning All In The Brilliance of Honor's Light! Now In Hearts To Hold! Of which all our children must be told! Will we so be the ones? With such uncommon courage, And grace as you Murph on earth as it is in heave they will be done! And shine as bright as the midday sun! While all in the face of evil, For your Brothers In Arms to death look upon . . . To Follow! To Lead! To help them succeed! But, Where Our Honor Lies! To evil to erase! As with your fine heart they could not keep pace! Out On Point! All In Your Strength In Honor! No one could take your place! As you heard death's haunting call! And the face of death Michael you saw! And yet you did not hesitate! Standing Strong and Standing Tall! As our Lord and his Angel's watched you fall . . . With tears upon their face! How proud of you they must have been that day! Watching you all in Honor's way! Standing back all in such awe . . . As your fine soul up to Heaven would ascend . . . With you new life as an Angel to begin . . . In The Army of Our Lord, to watch over us and defend! This Congressional Man our Nation has so blessed! For Heaven could not wait for one of its best! As we lower you fine body down to rest! With but tears upon our face, as Michael you showed us how to behave! As these word in our hearts At East we made! But Michael, we will hear you in the night! Upon gentle breezes so slight . . . And we see will see your face and realize . . . You are an angel to watch over us both day and night . . . In life, moments are all that we so have! As our time begins To Make A Difference to grab! To Crush Hearts! To But Find Where Our Honor Lies!

Mr. SESSIONS

Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that it be in order at any time on the legislative day of November 13, 2014, or November 14, 2014, for the Speaker to entertain motions that the House suspend the rules as though under clause 1 of rule XV.

Mr. SESSIONS

Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the proceedings had during the recess be printed in the Record.

Mr. SESSIONS

Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I call up House Resolution 727 and ask for its immediate consideration.