Lynn Westmoreland

Mr. WESTMORELAND

Mr. WESTMORELAND. Further parliamentary inquiry.

Mr. WESTMORELAND

Mr. WESTMORELAND. Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not present.

Mr. WESTMORELAND. Mr. Speaker, I move that the House do now adjourn.

Mr. WESTMORELAND

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

Mr. WESTMORELAND. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of this bill designating the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 20 Sussex Street in Port Jervis, New York, as the E. Arthur Gray Post Office Building. A native of Port Jervis, Arthur Gray spent a lifetime serving his community, State, and country. He was well-known in the community, first as a high school basketball star, then as a veteran of the Second World War who later became a local funeral home director. Mr. Gray accomplished a lot by the time he was elected to his first term as mayor of Port Jervis in 1978. Described as generous and always willing to lend a helping hand, Mayor Gray was the longest serving mayor in the history of Port Jervis, maintaining his position for five and a half terms until 1988, when he was elected to represent the 34th District in the New York State Senate. His commitment to the community extended far beyond his office doors. He was a former member and chairman of the Port Jervis Community Development Agency, a former member of the Orange County Economic Development Agency, former chairman of the National League of Small Cities Advisory Council, and participated in numerous local boards and organizations. Sadly, Arthur Gray died on April 10, 2007, at the age of 82. A loving husband, father of two, grandfather, and truly dedicated public servant, Arthur Gray exemplified civic duty and social responsibility. His contributions to his community and beyond will not soon be forgotten, and I urge that we accept this bill memorializing the tremendous life of this man. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. WESTMORELAND

Mr. WESTMORELAND. Madam Speaker, volunteers who work on behalf of public safety officers thicken and strengthen the Thin Blue Line. Tens of thousands of police officers daily risk the ultimate sacrifice in order to serve a greater good. These public servants have a friend behind the scenes working on their behalf in the Law Enforcement Assistance Connection Inc. Today, I call the House's attention to Jacqueline Konopka, a 25-year- old constituent from Newnan in Georgia's Third Congressional District. Jackie has gone above and beyond to aid the Law Enforcement Assistance Connection. A flight attendant for AirTran Airways, Jackie became involved with LEAC after meeting the organization's founder and leader on one of her flights. Terry Hunt's description of his work on behalf of law enforcement on that fateful flight won over a new and tireless volunteer. But Konopka says she's an easy sell when it comes to aiding public safety officials. ``As a flight attendant,'' she says, ``public safety is my No. 1 priority.'' Today, Hunt sees Konopka's work as integral to his organization's mission: ``Jacqueline Konopka has shown me the true meaning of life and inspired me to achieve and overcome personal and professional obstacles. A loyal friend and adviser, Jackie is someone I admire for her perseverance, leadership skills, drive and dedication in all she has done and continues to do. She is extremely special to me--in fact, it's not a stretch to say that had it not been for her willingness and selflessness to advance LEAC's goals, this organization would not function.'' LEAC takes part in various activities to promote the welfare of law enforcement authorities, including the Annual Benefit for the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund Gala in Washington, the Annual Charitable Golf Classic to support the Law Enforcement Assistance Connection; and A Matter of Honor Annual Golf Event and Gala for the National Law Enforcement Museum in Washington. Konopka helps plan and organize these events, but she describes her efforts on behalf of the LEAC as mainly ``serving as a support for Terry.'' Nevertheless, she's breaking new ground on her own by spearheading a ``night out'' for victims of violent crime. Konopka says she wants the event, planned for 2009 in Washington, to call attention to the fact that 1 out of 3 in this country are sexually assaulted at some point in their lives. Madam Speaker, I hope the House will join me in thanking and congratulating Jacqueline Konopka and the Law Enforcement Assistance Connection Inc. for all that they give and all that they do to support the public servants who do so much for all Americans.

Mr. WESTMORELAND

Mr. WESTMORELAND. Madam Speaker, I yield myself as much time as I may consume. I rise today in support of this resolution expressing support for the designation and goals of National 9-1-1 Education Month. Every day across this great Nation, lives are saved thanks to this simple, yet vital, support service. Recommended in 1967 by the President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice and established a year later by AT&T, 9- 1-1 has continued to evolve as an integral part of America's vital emergency response and homeland security. Each year over 200 million calls are received by the 6,000-plus public safety answering points across the country. These calls come from people of all walks of life, young and old, wealthy and poor. As this service is a vital access point for the public to reach a public safety official during a time of need, it is critical that we continue to educate our citizens on the services 9-1-1 provides and the appropriate uses of the number. We must also continue to modernize this vital tool. There is a growing population of citizens, otherwise unable to communicate clearly, who are learning to communicate through new technologies such as text, video, and instant messaging. We should strive to connect the use of emerging technologies to the 9-1-1 system. Madam Speaker, once again, increased awareness and understanding of this service will help save lives and increase national security. For this reason, I support this resolution and ask that my colleagues do the same.

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

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

Mr. WESTMORELAND

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

Mr. WESTMORELAND. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. In his hometown of Lebanon, Missouri, Steve Allee was known not just as a rural postal carrier at the Lebanon Post Office, but also as a dear friend and loving family man. He came from a family of letter carriers. His father was a highway contract driver, and his cousin is the postmaster in Stoutland, Missouri. Mr. Allee was a dedicated post office employee for over 15 years until the tragic loss of his life while on the job on August 20, 2007. On that tragic day, Mr. Allee was going about his daily routine of delivering mail until a torrential rainstorm began. He was attempting to cross a bridge over what is normally a dry creekbed, but due to the rainfall, the creek had become flooded. Mr. Allee perished as his vehicle was washed away in the rush of water. This serves as an example of how public servants in the course of their everyday duties are sometimes thrust into dangerous and, in this case, deadly circumstances. We acknowledge Mr. Allee's service and his sacrifice. He will be deeply missed by all the people's lives that he touched. With this, I ask my colleagues to join me in support of this fitting tribute to a dedicated postal employee who lost his life in the line of duty. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. WESTMORELAND

Mr. WESTMORELAND. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. WESTMORELAND. I want to ask my colleague, the ranking member of the Select Intelligence Committee of the House, if I understand it correctly, after 9/11 the President called in his national security advisers, the CIA, the FBI, all of our intelligence agencies, along with representatives of some of the telecommunications companies, and got together to find out what their assets were for doing surveillance and gathering intelligence, I guess. After they came up with that, if I understand you correctly, you're telling me that a bipartisan group, which included the now-Speaker of the House, were informed of this and that there were some adjustments made to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to cover these new groups and new methods of gathering intelligence, but what I hear you saying now is, because this thing has expired, that we're back to September 10, 2001, on our ability to gather intelligence on these new groups.

Mr. WESTMORELAND. The gentlelady brings up a good point. But the Republicans, the minority here, we've tried to bring it to the floor on over a half dozen occasions. We tried to bring it to the floor again today. We tried to bring it to the floor yesterday. And this is the same bill that passed the Senate. And the gentlelady from Tennessee was taking about, it's a hard issue and it's an issue that needs to be discussed. There is no slower body in the world than our colleagues across the hall. I mean, they've been working on a farm bill for a year now. So, I mean, it's a very deliberative body, and they passed this overwhelmingly 68-29. And as the gentleman from Georgia said, there are 21 Members that have said they would vote for this bill. So we tried to bring it to the floor to see if it would pass, but through parliamentary procedure they refused to let us vote on it. And, you know, Mr. Price, if we don't vote on issues, our constituents don't know how we really feel about it. So, you can go home and say, yes, I'm for the security of this Nation, I'm for the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, but if you don't have an opportunity to vote on it, it's just words, it's simple words. And so we're ready for some action up here. I mean, we want to see some action on our intelligence to make sure our intelligence community has the very best tools that they need. And not only that, but our corporations, who have been so generous and willing to go along with some of the things that our government has asked them to do to keep our people safe, we need to make sure that they're protected. And so, you know, we're not the party of the trial lawyers; we're the party of the people. And so, I think if we quit trying to protect some of these special interests and start trying to protect this whole country, we would be a lot better off. And I want to applaud our leadership for staying consistent and being constant that we keep this in front of the American people and that we are trying to give the Members of this people's House an opportunity to vote on it.

Mr. WESTMORELAND. I want Mr. Hoekstra to have a chance, but I do want to say this: We had a bomb go off in Times Square this morning, fortunately, it didn't do a lot of damage, at the recruiting station right in the middle of Times Square in the middle of New York City. And we also have had a bombing in Jerusalem today. So, the terrorists are still at work. People that want to terrify this country are still at work, and we've let our guard down.

Mr. WESTMORELAND. Because we can't surveil them. And so, rather than us taking the action, they're taking the action. And that is unconscionable that this body is letting that happen.

Mr. WESTMORELAND. Mr. Speaker, I was listening to Mr. Price and Mrs. Blackburn talk, and I was wondering if we had the time to do this. So I went back to the day that the FISA failed, which was February 13, and I looked at it and said this is a complicated bill and there are some issues and things to be worked out and have we had enough time to do it and how much time are we spending on discussing this FISA. And so after listening to you all, I went back and got the schedule for February, and after February 13, on February 14, we did eight suspension bills, which are bills that have very little discussion, and two motions to adjourn. So we were in session that day about 5 hours, but nothing about FISA. And then it seems, too, that we were gone for about 8 days. And then, Congresswoman, when we got back the week of the 25th, we worked 4 days for a total of 15 hours and 5 minutes with no FISA legislation. We did three suspensions on the 25th. We did the public housing on the 26th, which was withdrawn. We did the energy tax on the 27th. And then we did three suspensions on the 28th. And so, that was for February. And if you look at what we've done in March, we did three suspensions yesterday. We did six suspensions the next day. Then we did the mental health, which was a total of about 10 hours that we spent on that. And then today, it's 4 o'clock and we're already out and didn't do anything today. So, I guess my question, then, is, what are we doing? I mean, we, the 109th Congress, was called the ``do-nothing'' Congress. What can this Congress be called? Does anybody have a good name, Congresswoman, that we can call this Congress?

Mr. WESTMORELAND. And what we're doing is we're giving an opportunity for the terrorists to act.

Mr. WESTMORELAND. Do you know why those attorneys general wrote the letter? Because it's affecting the local governments' ability to do surveillance on people from Mexico who are in this country illegally, drug lords and others. It's affecting our local governments' at-home ability to do this surveillance. It's not just al Qaeda and the terrorists. This is affecting our local law enforcement too.

Mr. WESTMORELAND

Mr. WESTMORELAND. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize an essay written by Brooke Edwards, a fourth grader from Flippen Elementary School in McDonough, Georgia. Her school sponsored a writing contest in which students answered the ever patriotic question, ``Why I'm Proud to be an American.'' It is stories like these that inspire all citizens. I am proud to report to the U.S. House of Representatives that Brooke won first place in the contest, I would like to submit her essay into the Congressional Record for all Americans to read. Why I'm Proud To Be an American My name is Brooke Edwards and I'm a fourth grader. I go to Flippen Elementary School in McDonough, Georgia. I'm proud to live in Georgia because it is in the United States and I'm proud to be an American. What do I like about America? I like our freedom, military, and our 4th of July. My first reason why I'm proud to be an American is freedom. I like our freedom because we don't have kings or queens bossing us around. For example, England has a queen. We can vote for our presidents. In America we have a choice that other countries don't have. My next reason is our military. Brave men and women fight everyday all around the world for our freedom. We wouldn't be free if we didn't have the military. We have men and women who are veterans. They served our country and made me feel proud. My final reason is our 4th of July. On the 4th of July, we celebrate our freedom and have fun too. We also celebrate our flag on the 4th of July because it stands for America. I love the 4th of July! There are many reasons I like being an American. I like our freedom, military, and our 4th of July. These are my favorite parts of America.

Mr. WESTMORELAND

Mr. WESTMORELAND. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize Calvary Christian School in Columbus, Georgia, for their recent ``Celebrate America'' presentation, and their patriotic commitment to their country.

Mr. WESTMORELAND

Mr. WESTMORELAND. Further parliamentary inquiry, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. WESTMORELAND. Mr. Speaker, is it not true that if indeed this motion passed, the bill could be reported back from the respective committee from which it came and that the bill could be reported back as soon as tomorrow?

Mr. WESTMORELAND. Isn't it true that the majority can make the rules up as they go?

Mr. WESTMORELAND. Mr. Speaker, parliamentary inquiry.