Timothy Walz

Mr. WALZ

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

Mr. WALZ

Mr. WALZ. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I want to thank my colleague and friend from Colorado for his kind words and his work on the Veterans' Affairs Committee. I am proud to serve with him. I rise today in support of H.R. 3682, which designates the Department of Veterans Affairs Community-Based Outpatient Clinic in Mankato, Minnesota, as the Lyle C. Pearson Community-Based Outpatient Clinic. Lyle Pearson was the true definition of an American hero. Through his lifelong dedication of service, both in and out of uniform, Lyle left a profound and everlasting impact on southern Minnesota and this country as a whole. Lyle served in the skies over Europe as a B-17 pilot with the 15th Air Force during World War II. He completed 15 combat missions over occupied territory. In December 1944, Lyle's aircraft was shot down over Italy. Surviving the horrors of the shoot-down, Lyle was a prisoner of war from December of 1944 to May of 1945. For his actions in combat as a POW, Lyle was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal with Clusters, and the Purple Heart. Like so many of his colleagues, the distinguished service that he served in uniform might have only been outpaced by what he did after he came back home. After the war, Lyle rejoined his wife on their family farm, but his desire to serve was strong. Beginning in 1957, Lyle administered programs for the Nicollet County juvenile court and Nicollet County court services, first as the chief probation officer, then as the director of court services. He helped turn around countless lives of many troubled youth in his time with the Nicollet County juvenile courts, earning Minnesota Corrections Officer of the Year in 1969. One of Lyle's biggest impacts was helping his fellow veterans. He served his entire life helping other veterans and, as you heard from my colleague, he served as national commander of the Disabled American Veterans. He also spent 49 years as the adjutant of his local chapter. He dedicated over half a century of service to the St. Peter State Hospital, was a 4-H club leader, and was active with his church throughout his entire life. Through all of this, Lyle was a husband, a father of seven children, and a stalwart in his community. Lyle's dedication to duty, his community, and this country reflected upon himself and was in keeping with the finest ideals of service, selflessness, and giving, making him the ideal namesake for the Mankato Community-Based Outreach Clinic that will serve so many of our fellow veterans. With that, Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. WALZ

Mr. WALZ. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself as much time as I may consume. I rise in support of H.R. 4076, a commonsense bill. I would also like to thank the chairman for always striking the proper balance between safety and the smooth operation of commerce, and the gentleman explained it very clearly. For many of us, especially in rural areas of the Midwest, propane is the fuel of choice for heating their homes, and to get an idea of what happened here, regular folks on a regular budget would spend about $600 to fill up their tank during the winter. They got a refill, got a bill, and saw that it was over $1,900 in some cases. The shock to them was one thing; but then the situation, as the gentleman so clearly stated, was exacerbated by the inability to deliver when we needed it. And propane, while there are many factors at work here, is not like other commodities in terms of--it is not a nice-to-have thing. It is a necessity. So the chairman's bill, this bipartisan piece of legislation addresses one of the issues here, making sure we have the trucks on the road to deliver the propane, making sure the supply is enough to start making sure these things are filled until the end of winter, and doing so in a safe manner. I want to applaud the folks over at the FMCA that did do what they needed to do in issuing some of the waivers, but the gentleman is exactly right. A 30-day waiver is not long enough. Winter is still deep in the Midwest, and we don't need to have the waiver expire on March 15, go through it again, and have the uncertainty. So this piece of legislation simply does as the gentleman stated. It allows an exemption without sacrificing safety to allow for the movement of propane into the markets where it is most needed, specifically the rural Midwest. These trucks are coming from Texas. It keeps the people on the roads. It keeps the trucks running. It keeps the propane tanks full, as those things start to happen and the market starts to stabilize a little bit, and the prices will come down. I do think the gentleman hit on a bigger point here. The infrastructure for the delivery of propane is something we need to look at. This is a short-term emergency measure that will address the problem this winter. We need to look further down the road on some of the long-term solutions on this. So I encourage my colleagues to support this commonsense piece of legislation, support it for all the right reasons, and then join together as we move forward to look at some long-term solutions. With that, I reserve the balance of my time, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. WALZ. Mr. Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. WALZ. Mr. Speaker, I will continue to reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. WALZ. Mr. Speaker, once again, I thank the chairman for a smart piece of legislation. It is simple. It strikes that proper balance between safety on our roads and a smooth flow of commerce. This is a matter of life and death. It has been a bitter cold winter, as you have heard. 21 people in Minnesota have died as a direct result of the weather. We have 250,000 people who get their heat from propane. Many of them are in rural areas. I have been in homes across southern Minnesota. These are folks doing everything right, paying the bills, working hard. If they can afford to get the propane, that is one thing. They simply can't get the propane, in some cases. So this is one first step. Alleviate the crisis. Do it in a safe manner. Get it out there. Start to balance things out. Then move forward because, as we said, again, keeping stability in the heating oil markets is absolutely critical, and we can get this right. So with that, I congratulate the chairman. I thank him for bringing this, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. WALZ

Mr. WALZ. Mr. Speaker, thank you to the chairman and the ranking member for your incredible hard work. The folks of Oklahoma and Minnesota should be proud of the representatives that they have sent here. I am proud of this piece of legislation. I stand in support of it. It has been 2 years. I feel like we have been at it most of our lives. And while I hear people pointing out problems, I am certainly there. If we had each written this bill, it would look different. I hear people say it is not perfect. We had a former colleague once who said, Of course it is not perfect. If you want perfect, you will get that in Heaven. And at times, this place is closer to Hell. So this is a pretty good compromise that we have come up with. It certainly does things, and I am proud to say it makes bold new investments in clean and renewable, American-made energy. This is a tough decision in a tough budgeting time; and of the commitment of this committee to make that happen, I could not be prouder. It also takes bold steps moving the country forward on conservation measures. One piece in here, protecting our native prairies in the Midwest, is fabulous. And I want to thank the gentlelady from South Dakota (Ms. Noem) for her unwavering effort on this. I would say this: we reject the false choice that you have to choose between sportsmen's conservation and producing food on the land. You can have all things. And as the folks over at Ducks Unlimited said, this is one of the best pieces of conservation legislation in decades. We come out and do that. So we have struck a balance here, producing the food, feeding the world, clothing the world, and empowering the world, and at the same time providing for the heritage of our sportsmen and the pristine beauty of our country. So it can happen. As a veteran, I am proud that we took a bold step in here trying to figure ways to get returning veterans back on the land. The average age of a farmer in this country is 57 years old. We need new folks on the land, and that comes with high land prices and access to capital. Mr. Peterson, Mr. Fortenberry, and I worked on some beginning farmer and rancher legislation. Senator Klobuchar on the Senate side and the chairman made sure it happened here. It is going to work. It provides some of that access, and it keeps our family farms continuing on. So there are things to point out that you are frustrated with. I understand that. But there is a lot of good in this bill. It is a compromise. We came together. We tried to find and strike those balances. We continue to feed those folks who need the safety net, and we continue to make sure that our producers have the certainty that they need. I have to tell you, all across this country this morning, producers woke up and quietly went about their business feeding, fueling, and powering America. We can say ``thank you'' by passing this bill.

Mr. WALZ

Mr. WALZ. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the chairman and the ranking member of the full committee and the subcommittees for doing exceptional work, for putting our veterans first, for bringing a package of commonsense legislation to honor our Nation's veterans, and doing it in the best and smartest manner we can. If the entire Congress functioned like the VA Committee, I think the American public would be far better served. There is a provision in this bill that is very simple. It recognizes the service and sacrifice of members of the National Guard and Reserves. These are the men and women of our Reserve component. They take the same oath of office. They do the same training. They and their family sacrifice their time and energy and stand at the ready at all times. They assist flood victims in Colorado and Minnesota, fight fires across the Western United States, and stand ready to fight and defend this Nation at a moment's notice. They truly are the minutemen. I would guess that the vast majority of Americans and maybe even Members of this body don't recognize that you can serve 20 years doing that, and if you are not called to a specific title X service, you cannot be considered a veteran. You can go to the VA hospital, you can go use the GI Bill, you can be buried in a veterans' cemetery, but you are technically a military retiree. This may seem like a small thing, but it is not. The title of ``veteran'' means more than just a license plate you get from your State. It is something your neighbors know about. These people don't and should not have to explain that they are technically not a veteran. This piece of legislation--and I thank, again, the people who made this possible--simply corrects that. Very seldom do we get a chance to do this. It doesn't add any cost, and it does the right thing. So it is not an added benefit--which was earned, by the way. It simply corrects this, puts it in line, and honors. If you serve 20 or more years in uniform, you stand ready, you train people who went to war, we are going to give you the dignity and the honor of calling you a veteran. So I ask my colleagues to support this important package of legislation. This one small piece is the right thing to do. It is many, many years overdue. I ask for the support of H.R. 1405.

Mr. WALZ

Mr. WALZ. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the House bring up the Senate amendment to H.J. Res. 59, to open the American people's government and go to conference on a budget so that we end this Republican government shutdown.

Mr. WALZ

Mr. WALZ. Mr. Speaker, the one thing I hear from my constituents when I talk to them out in southern Minnesota: Is it so much to ask you folks just to do your job? As the drama swirls and the brinkmanship goes and it's deja vu all over again, certain things shouldn't be that difficult. As we are doing this, my farmers and ranchers and millions of them across the country are going about their work, every day getting up before dawn, doing their work, feeding us, clothing us, and powering this country. They've asked us to pass a farm bill. Four months ago, the Senate did it. Four months ago, the House Ag Committee did it. That wasn't good enough. We came to the floor, we created drama, we tried to make being hungry a sin, and now you've got a monstrosity. Do you know what? The Constitution makes it very clear: bring the two together, conference the bill, and pass something that's good for America. I get it--you don't like the Senate bill. I get it--the Senate doesn't like this bill. But do you know what? Let's get together and get something we can both equally dislike, but at least it serves the people and moves something forward. The time is now. The farm bill is waiting. People are hungry and producers are going food. Pass the farm bill.

Mr. WALZ

Mr. WALZ. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the heroic efforts of Lieutenant Colonel Alfred Velazquez Rascon of the United States Army. Lieutenant Rascon was a medic with the 173rd Airborne and was awarded the Medal of Honor for extraordinary courage in action on March 16, 1966, in Vietnam. The following is directly from his commendation: Disregarding heavy enemy fire, Lieutenant Colonel Rascon rushed to the aid of wounded machine gunners and placed himself as a shield between himself and the enemy. After saving two men, he entered the line of enemy fire to retrieve an abandoned machine-gun, allowing for suppressing fire while he treated the wounded. When the sergeant of the platoon went down with injuries, Lieutenant Colonel Rascon once again placed himself as a shield between the wounded man and the enemy. Although sustaining multiple wounds himself, Lieutenant Colonel Rascon refused to leave the field until the last had been treated. Lieutenant Colonel Rascon came out of retirement and joined the United States Army Reserves and served this Nation in both Iraq and Afghanistan in our recent conflicts. It is for his amazing valor and heroism that I am proud and humbled to honor and remember the actions of Lieutenant Colonel Alfred Velazquez Rascon.

Mr. WALZ

Mr. WALZ. Mr. Speaker, I have a simple question: Why are we going home in August? It's really not a rhetorical question. All across southern Minnesota and across this country, farmers and ranchers have been up for hours quietly going about their business of feeding, clothing, and powering the world; and here we sit a year later without a farm bill to give them the certainty they've asked for. We disagreed on how the farm bill was done here, but this House passed one, the Senate passed one; and just like that Saturday morning cartoon, ``I'm just a bill sitting on Capitol Hill,'' we have to get together to finish that. That's called a conference. The Senate appointed their conferees. All you have to do, Mr. Speaker--very seldom do you get this simple choice--is appoint conferees and finish our business for America or go on vacation. That's the choice you get today. I taught sixth grade for many years. The rule in our class was you don't go to recess until you finish your work. I often hear from my friends that we need to run government like a business. What business owner shuts the door and goes home before finishing critical work? Appoint conferees, finish the farm bill, give certainty, do your work that we're being paid for, and finish the farm bill.

Mr. WALZ

Mr. WALZ. Mr. Speaker, I thank the ranking member. I come from a proud agricultural family, I proudly represent a strong agricultural district in the heartland in southern Minnesota, I'm a proud ranking member on the subcommittee in the House Agriculture Committee, and I'm proud to call both the ranking member and the chairman my friends. I am not proud of what you are seeing here today. The disrespect shown to this hallowed ground by hatching this abomination in the middle of the night and forcing it here because of extremist elements is the reason that the American people think higher of North Korea than they do of this body. I can tell you, as people listening today, Mr. Speaker, they are going to say it is more of the same. They said, he said--Democrats or Republicans or whatever--don't listen to me. Listen to this book full of people who said this is wrong: American Farm Bureau Federation; National Farmers Union; American Soybean Association; National Association of Wheat Growers, National Milk Producers, National Rural Electric Cooperative, Ducks Unlimited, Pheasants Forever, AgriBank, AgStar Financial Services, Izaak Walton League, National Catholic Rural Life Conference, Renewable Fuels Association, First Farm Credit Services, Advanced Biofuels, AgGeorgia, AgHeritage, AgriBank, Agriculture Council of Arkansas, Agriculture Energy Coalition, AgCarolina, AgCountry, AgFirst, AgStar Financial, AgTexas, Alabama Dairy Producers, Alabama Farmers Cooperative, American Agriculture Movement, American Association of Crop Insurers, American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians, American Bankers Association, American Coalition for Ethanol, American Crystal Sugar, American Farmland Trust. I may need more time. I am on the A's. American Fruit and Vegetable Processors, American Forest Foundation, American Honey Producers, American Public Works Association, American Sugarbeet Growers, American Agriculture Coalition, Arizona Farm Bureau Federation, Arkansas Farm Bureau, Arkansas Farmers Union, Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges. It goes on and on and on. Listen to the public, listen to your constituents, reject the extremism. I am one of the 24 who put my money where my money is and voted for a bipartisan bill. This is wrong.

Mr. WALZ

Mr. WALZ. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate Kaitlyn Kirchner, a constituent of mine from Madelia, Minnesota. She created the winning recipe in the White House's second annual Healthy Lunchtime Challenge and won an invitation to today's Kids' State Dinner hosted by the First Lady. Yesterday, I had the honor of meeting Kaitlyn and her family, and what an impressive young woman. At age 9, she created not only a healthy recipe that would make any chef proud, she did it making it healthy with 100 calories or less in the dish. Since she's been 3 years old, Kaitlyn has been helping her mother handpick vegetables and cook seasonal dishes. Her recipe for the competition was a garden stir fry featuring Minnesota homegrown carrots, broccoli, yellow summer squash, sugar snap peas, red bell peppers, and onions. There's no doubt that Kaitlyn has a bright future ahead of her in whatever she decides to do. It's an honor for me to meet Kaitlyn and her family and congratulate her on this high honor and her contribution to making America a healthier Nation.

Mr. WALZ

Mr. WALZ. Mr. Chairman, dairy farming is risky business. You've heard that from them themselves. These are the folks that are up at 4 a.m., rain, shine, snow or sleet--doesn't matter--7 days a week, 365 days a year milking cows, and then they do it again 12 hours later. They don't get rich off this. They don't get sick time, and they don't get paid holidays. They get no time off if you want to get to it. The one thing we can provide them is certainty and take the volatility out of the market to make sure that when they have a bad year, we don't end up liquidating these, consolidating into large dairies and harming the very people that the people who support this amendment claim to support. I ask my colleagues to reject this amendment and do the right thing for these hardworking Americans.

Mr. WALZ

Mr. WALZ. Madam Chairman, I, too, want to thank the chairman and the ranking member, who not only have worked unwaveringly to craft a great piece of legislation, but collaborating, shepherding this thing through, saving taxpayer money, supporting jobs, streamlining for efficiency, and eliminating burdensome programs. I'd also especially like to say they've done it with dignity, they've done it with grace, and they've done it with the respect and thoughtfulness for this institution. And I'll tell you, the American people need a lot of that. Last week, we had a poll that showed us at a 10 percent approval rating. The North Koreans are at 17 percent. That ought to tell you something here. It would be funny if it wasn't so dang disappointing. The sacrifices that went into us doing the basic needs, the American public did not believe we could fulfill the basic needs. Well, you know what, they're wrong on this count because we're going to do it in here with the leadership of these two gentlemen who have spoken before. We need to make sure that this piece of legislation goes through the process, it's amended by the Members of this House in an appropriate manner, and we move it forward. I can tell you, for those who say we would be better off just doing an extension, that's not what my dairy folks are telling me when they've watched drought, flood, and winter kill. They're struggling day to day to try and feed their herds and facing liquidation. To them, no farm bill means no funding for livestock disaster programs. Tell that to my youth in my district, where the average age of a farmer is 58 years, where we lose all these good programs to put people on the land. So I urge all my colleagues: take a look at this. Do what you're hearing people say. This is reform. This is savings. This is smart policy. And it also gives the American people food security. It's a national security issue. We feed 316 million Americans--our farmers do--and billions worldwide. I ask my colleagues, look over our shoulder, in this quote by Daniel Webster. Let us try and develop something worth being remembered for. I urge passage of this bill.

Mr. WALZ

Mr. WALZ. I have an amendment at the desk, Madam Chair.

Mr. WALZ. Madam Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Sergeant Chuck Luther joined the Army after the 9/11 attacks. He served in Iraq until a mortar round hit near him, knocking him unconscious. What followed were classic symptoms of traumatic brain injury--blurred vision, chronic pain, and trouble concentrating. Liz Luras served this Nation honorably as a soldier in the United States Army. She survived a rape at the hands of her fellow servicemember. She did her best to continue her military service with the dream of attending West Point. She was raped two more times, with police reports and hospital visits to prove it. I know each of my colleagues here would expect that both of these warriors would receive the best care this Nation could provide. Sadly, the reality is far from that. Along with Liz and Chuck, since 2001, over 31,000 of our warriors have been discharged from the military, without benefits, because they were determined to have had a personality or an adjustment disorder. These are considered preexisting conditions, which means they should never have been allowed to enlist in the first place. Even though Sergeant Luther had multiple mental health evaluations and served honorably for a decade, it was only after the mortar attack that the military determined he had a preexisting condition, casually threw him away and denied him benefits and health care. A 2008 GAO study concluded that at least 40 percent of these personality discharges were handed down without going through the proper Department of Defense process, which means without the servicemember's being diagnosed by a licensed mental health professional, without the servicemember's receiving notification of his discharge and without the servicemember's receiving any formal counseling. Five years after this report, Congress has done nothing to ensure that these servicemembers' records are reviewed or corrected, or to ensure that they receive the care that they earned serving this Nation. This week, the gentleman from California (Mr. Denham) and I presented an amendment to this bill that would have allowed these warriors the basic appeal process to determine if they were improperly discharged. This amendment is the same as a bill I have, H.R. 975. This would only afford these warriors basic rights and due processes--the same ones that they put their lives on the line for that we have. That amendment was not allowed to come to this floor for debate or for a vote. Shame on us. A second amendment I offered would have simply put a moratorium on this process until we understood why it was being done and what was happening. That amendment was not allowed to come to this floor to be debated or voted on. Shame on us. Now, I want to be clear: the chairman and the ranking member of this committee had nothing to do with those decisions, and I am appreciative that they allowed the amendment that I'm debating today to be brought here. That's going to allow us to do another GAO study to determine if the problem is still there. Fine and good, but I'll tell you what: Chuck Luther doesn't want a study--he wants justice. Liz Luras doesn't want a study--she wants justice. The American people don't want another study--they want justice for their warriors. I would ask each of my colleagues to go home this weekend and ask your constituents if they think this is fair and if they want a study, or if they'd rather do what's right and take care of these warriors. I'd also challenge my colleagues to ask the questions: Why wasn't the amendment made in order? Why couldn't we debate other than have a study? So I ask my colleagues to support this amendment. It's something. It will let us know what the scope of this self-inflicted injury and tragedy to our Nation is. It's not enough. It's not nearly enough. We should be ashamed that we've not shown Liz and Chuck the same respect and courage that they showed us as a Nation to serve in uniform. I, for one, am not going to rest until justice is served, our warriors are cared for and this wrong is made right. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. WALZ. I rise once again to thank the chairman. I thank him for understanding this. As I say again very clearly, this was not the chairman's decision. He was gracious enough to bring this down, and I appreciate his support-- the same to the ranking member. I would just say to my colleagues: don't let this issue drop. Get this right. We owe it to our warriors. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. WALZ

Mr. WALZ. I thank the ranking member for the time. I also thank him for his longtime commitment to American energy independence. I, too, share that. I have been the supporter of a bipartisan energy bill that brought environmental groups and The Heritage Foundation together and said maybe we can find some solutions to this. I have been a supporter of this project from the beginning. The problem is, today, this bill has nothing to do with that. It has to do with politics. Today is an example of why this body is less popular than hepatitis amongst the American public. It's not only not going to do anything; it's going to set us back. Many of us want this project done, but I have to tell you that the worst thing we can do is build this and have a problem with it. We hear about the number of pages of regulations that are there. Maybe we needed a couple more with BP, and we wouldn't have been cleaning up after that mess. You don't have to choose between building it and compromising safety. You do it right if we're going to do it. Unfortunately, that's not what we're doing. You deem it, and you give away those rights. It's personal for me. I grew up in the Nebraska Sandhills. It was the good people of Nebraska and the Republican Governor who told us to step back, to slow down, and to pick a different route--and finished it in January of this year. So when you hear about all of the process, process gets it right. I have to tell you--and I do agree with my colleague on this--that there are jobs to be created here. We send $1 billion a day for oil to countries that hate us. They'll hate us for free. Keep it here. We don't have to do this. There have also been delays in this project. This bill is a bridge way too far. Be honest with the people--this is not by building it is going to lower gas prices. It's not the long-term solution to our energy needs. There is no guarantee we'll even get the oil in this country. But we can come together, build a piece of it, and expand our portfolio. We shouldn't be muddying it up with wedge issues. The last time we had this vote, I voted with it all these times; but one time the political arm of my friends sent a notice out to my hometown newspapers asking why Tim Walz wants to raise your gas prices and isn't with America. They forgot and got it wrong. I voted with them. That press release today is already written, and they're sending it back. It's not going to do anything except to hurt the American people's faith in our democracy. You're not going to get cheaper gas prices. You're not going to have this thing built overnight; you risk danger. The American people aren't stupid. Don't treat them that way.

Mr. WALZ

Mr. WALZ. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the memory and sacrifice of Walter ``Finch'' Kwiecinski of Duluth, Minnesota. Walter's story is the story of his generation and should make each of us reflect on the sacrifices that were made to allow us the precious gift of democracy and self-government. Born in 1914 on a farm near Duluth, Minnesota, to Polish immigrants, Walter enlisted in the Army at Fort Snelling, Minnesota, on February 6, 1941. After basic training, he was sent to Fort Mills on Corregidor Island in the Philippines. Walter manned a 12-inch mortar on Battery Way and fought valiantly to repel the Japanese invasion of Bataan and Corregidor. Standing until the very end with his unit sustaining 77 percent casualty rates, Walter fought on until May 6, 1941, when Corregidor fell and General Wainwright cabled these words to President Roosevelt: There is a limit of human endurance, and that point has long passed. Walter was taken prisoner by the Japanese and survived hellish conditions in POW camps and transport on the ``hell ships'' to be slave labor in Japan. His family presumed him dead. He was liberated in August 1945 and returned home December 5, 1945. He then humbly set about going back to work as a mechanic. Marrying Mary Anne Krebs, he raised a beautiful family and lived a life of dignity. Yesterday, May 8, marked the 25th anniversary of Walter Kwiecinski's death. We should all be thankful for his life.

Mr. WALZ

Mr. WALZ. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the 150th anniversary of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, North America's oldest rail labor union. Since its founding on May 8, 1863, the BLET has always played a critical role in the transportation of people and goods throughout our Nation. As America expanded westward, locomotive engineers and trainmen led the way. Our men and women on the railroads connected two oceans and opened up the new frontier. Today, U.S. railroads transport 2.5 trillion metric tons a year. As we expand into new technology and high-speed rail, locomotive engineers will continue to propel the American economy forward. The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen now counts 55,000 active and retired members among its ranks. These are the men and women who work around the clock to literally make the trains run on time. In recognition of the 150th anniversary of the Brotherhood, I ask my colleagues to join me in passing a resolution to honor them for their contributions in growing this great Nation.

Mr. WALZ

Mr. WALZ. Mr. Speaker, each year, the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association recognizes one co-op whose dedication to increasing energy access in rural America has made a significant difference in their community. The 2013 winner of the NRCA's Community Service Award for Community Investment hails from a small town called Welcome, Minnesota. Federated Rural Electric has created jobs and helped to improve the quality of life in rural Minnesota by improving access to electricity in a cost effective and efficient manner. Federated Rural Electric helped AGCO Corporation, a worldwide manufacturer and distributor of agricultural equipment, in their efforts to expand its Minnesota facility and add over 200 jobs. Last April, I had the opportunity to visit AGCO and see the great work they are doing to create jobs and grow their local economy in Jackson, Minnesota. In addition to supporting AGCO, Federated Rural Electric has served over 9,000 residents of southern Minnesota. Federated has made invaluable contributions to rural Minnesota communities. Today, I'm proud to honor Federated Rural Electric for its support of reliable energy and dedication to Minnesota's rural population.

Mr. WALZ

Mr. WALZ. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Kellogg Middle School in Rochester, Minnesota. Named after the Honorable Frank Kellogg, a citizen of Rochester who served as Secretary of State under President Coolidge, Kellogg Middle School celebrates its 50th year of existence in 2013. As a social studies teacher at Mankato West, I know how important it is to develop our next generation of leaders. The shared dedication of teachers, staff, and parents at Kellogg Middle School has produced grade-A education for the past half-century and will continue to nurture students for years to come. Secretary Kellogg devoted his life to the cause of peace and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1929. Kellogg Middle School carries on his legacy by teaching students to work together so everyone can achieve their full potential. That's a lesson for us all. Over the last half century, the Frank B. Kellogg Middle School has instilled its proud tradition of education and excellence into their students today. The Kellogg Middle School is the oldest middle school in Rochester, and remains to this day the choice for students, parents, and teachers alike. Just as Secretary Kellogg serves as an inspiration for southern Minnesotans, I am confident that Kellogg Middle School provides its graduates with the skills they need to succeed and maybe even one day win a Nobel Prize. Mr. Speaker, please join me in honoring Kellogg Middle School for its 50 years of service to the students of Rochester.

Mr. WALZ

Mr. WALZ. Mr. Speaker, this year marks the 65th anniversary of the Air Force Reserve, created by President Harry S. Truman on April 14, 1948. Since the founding of the United States, citizens have answered the call to arms, accomplished their mission with professionalism and honor, and returned to their civilian lives to await the next call. Truman envisioned a new Reserve Component to continue this tradition of service--``being ready when called upon''--that was founded by the Army Air Service reservists of the First World War who flew wood and canvas biplanes. The forerunner of our modern Air Force Reserve was authorized by Congress and the National Defense Act of 1916. Today, Air Force reservists, known as Citizen Airmen, perform leading roles in military operations, humanitarian crisis and disaster relief around the globe. The Air Force Reserve consists of officers, enlisted and civil servants who are tasked by law to fill the needs of the armed forces whenever more units and people are required than are in the Regular Air Force. More than 860,000 people make up the Ready, Standby, Retired and Active Duty Retired Reserve. This includes 70,000 Selected Reservists who are ready-now and participate in every job specialty and on the front lines of daily military operations around the globe. The creation of the Air Force Reserve followed the birth of the Air Force itself about seven months earlier on Sept. 18, 1947. The newly created Air Force had gained its independence from the Army, tracing its roots back to the Aeronautical Division of the U.S. Army's Office of the Chief Signal Officer which took charge of military balloons and air machines in 1907. Ten years later, the first two air reserve units were mobilized, and one of them, the First Aero Reserve Squadron from Mineola, N.Y., deployed to France as the United States entered World War I in 1917. The new ``Air Service'' reserve program provided the war effort about 10,000 pilots who had graduated from civilian and military flying schools. Later, reservists played a critical role in World War II when 1,500 reserve pilots along with 1,300 non-rated officers and 400 enlisted Airmen augmented the Army Air Corps in the war's early days. This included the legendary Jimmy Doolittle who was ordered to active duty to work in Detroit to convert automobile manufacturing plants into aircraft factories and later went on to lead ``Doolittle's Raiders,'' the first American bombing attack on the Japanese mainland. After World War II ended, the young Air Force Reserve was barely two years old when it mobilized nearly 147,000 reservists for the Korean War from 1950 to 1953. In the 1960s, five Air Force Reserve C-124 aircraft units along with 5,613 reservists were mobilized for a year to support the Berlin Crisis. By 1962, an additional mobilization of 14,220 reservists and 422 aircraft were supporting operations during the Cuban Missile Crisis. During the Vietnam War, the Air Force Reserve provided strategic airlift as well as counterinsurgency, close air support, tactical mobility, interdiction, rescue and recovery, intelligence, medical, maintenance, aerial port and air superiority until U.S. involvement ended in 1973. For the most part, the nation was at peace for the next few years with the Air Force Reserve periodically engaged in emergency-response missions. This included the rescue and return of American students from Grenada in 1983, aerial refuelings of F-111 bombers during the El Dorado Canyon raid on Libyan-sponsored terrorists in 1986, and Operation Just Cause which ousted Panama's General Noriega in 1989- 1990. Also, Air Force Reservists supported humanitarian and disaster relief efforts, including resupply and evacuation missions in the aftermath of Hurricane Hugo. More than twenty years of continual combat operations began with Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm in response to Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait in 1990. In the aftermath of coalition victory, Air Force reservists continued to serve and were heavily involved in enforcing the no-fly zones over northern and southern Iraq as well as in humanitarian relief missions to assist the uprooted Iraqi Kurds. In 1993, Air Force Reserve tanker, mobility and fighter units began operations in Bosnia and in 1999 were also supporting Operation Allied Force over Serbia and Kosovo. When terrorists attacked the United States on Sept. 11, 2001, Air Force reservists responded in full measure. Air Force Reserve F-16 fighter aircraft flew combat air patrols to protect American cities while KC-135 tankers and AWACS aircraft supported security efforts. In October 2001, Operation Enduring Freedom began as U.S. military forces entered Afghanistan to combat the Taliban and terrorist sanctuaries. In March 2003, Operation Iraqi Freedom began in order to end Saddam Hussein's regime. Air Force Reserve units and reservists played key roles in all combat operations as Air Force Reserve MC-130 Combat Talon aircraft became the first fixed-wing aircraft to penetrate Afghan airspace while Air Force Reserve F-16 crews performed the first combat missions. In recent years, Citizen Airmen have supported every Air Force core function and every Combatant Commander around the world. Air Force reservists were engaged in surge operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. They supported combat and humanitarian missions in Haiti, Libya, Japan, Mali and the Horn of Africa. Also, they've provided national disaster relief at home in the U.S. after Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy, the gulf oil spill and the wildfires in the western states. Throughout their history, Citizen Airmen have volunteered continually, allaying concerns that reservists would not be available when really needed. Since its inception in 1948, the Air Force Reserve has evolved from a unit-mobilization-only force into an operational reserve that participates daily in missions around the globe. Today, Air Force reservists safeguard nuclear weapons and guide Global Positioning Satellites. From bases in the United States, reservists fly remotely piloted aircraft in combat half a world away. They track hurricanes out at sea and bring medical supplies and food into disaster areas to save lives around the world. Spanning six and a half decades--with the last two decades of continuous combat--the Air Force Reserve has fulfilled the legacy of early air pioneers and exceeded the potential seen by the visionaries who created it in 1948. Congratulations to all Citizen Airmen, past and present, on the 65th Anniversary of the Air Force Reserve on April 14, 2013.