Don Young

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hastert), the great Speaker of this House. I deeply appreciate his efforts in getting this legislation passed. (Mr. HASTERT asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Thomas), the chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means, who worked very hard on this legislation.

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, I urge passage of this legislation, a unanimous vote, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Duncan), chairman of the great Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment.

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume to acknowledge the presence of the ranking member, my good friend, the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Oberstar). He has been absent from the floor because he was stuck in traffic. What better thing could happen to him today as we pass this magnificent bill. As we can see, he is here. I welcome him here, and we will be discussing this a little later on. Welcome. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Flake).

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Gary G. Miller), a member of the committee.

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Gingrey).

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Transportation Infrastructure, the Committee on Science, the Committee on Ways and Means, and the Committee on Resources be discharged from further consideration of the bill (H.R. 3512) to provide an extension of administrative expenses for highway, highway safety, motor carrier safety, transit, and other programs funded out of the Highway Trust Fund pending enactment of a law reauthorizing the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century, and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks on H.R. 3.

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. May I remind the gentleman, Mr. Speaker, that this was asked for by the administration. This was the length that they wanted to have it, 14 days. To in fact have this extension any longer has not been requested by the administration, and I believe this can do the job. The President has to make the decision. If he wishes to veto the bill, he can do so. But this has been a request by the administration. This is the eleventh extension we have had on this legislation, and I will be right up front with everybody that I think it is the last one we should be doing. This is very important to the States themselves. The President will make that decision on the merits of the gentleman's argument, and I understand those merits. I will not disagree with what he said. I am just suggesting respectfully that this is action for the bill itself and for the rule. But for the extension, this has been a request made by the administration, by the other body, and of course the leadership of this House.

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. If the gentleman will continue to yield, I am confident that the President of the Senate has communicated with the White House. All through this process they have been very much involved in the process of passage of this legislation. I have not asked his opinion on that part of the legislation. I know that this is a request, and I am trying to fulfill that request.

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, the Committee on Science, the Committee on Ways and Means, and the Committee on Resources be discharged from further consideration of the bill ( H.R. 3512) to provide an extension of administrative expenses for highway, highway safety, motor carrier safety, transit, and other programs funded out of the Highway Trust Fund pending enactment of a law reauthorizing the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, this is a very simple extension which is necessary once we pass H.R. 3 to give time for an enrollment and delivering the package to the Senate, which we hope to do tonight, and then after being enrolled on to the President, and that will take some time. If we do not do this, the Federal Government and the transportation system will be shut down. This has been requested by the administration and by the other body.

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, I offer a concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 226) providing for a correction to the enrollment of H.R. 3, and ask unanimous consent for its immediate consideration in the House.

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, the Committee on Ways and Means, the Committee on Science, and the Committee on Resources be discharged from further consideration of the bill (H.R. 3453) to provide an extension of highway, highway safety, motor carrier safety, transit, and other programs funded out of the Highway Trust Fund pending enactment of a law reauthorizing the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the Committees on Transportation and Infrastructure, Ways and Means, Science, and Resources be discharged from further consideration of the bill (H.R. 3377) to provide an extension of highway, highway safety, motor carrier safety, transit, and other programs funded out of the Highway Trust Fund pending enactment of a law reauthorizing the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman will continue to yield, I can agree with the gentleman. As the gentleman knows, we have to deal with what we have, and we will try to make this a little less painful tonight and, as I hope will happen on Thursday, so we can pass this legislation and have it on the President's desk before we go home for the August break.

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, the gentleman is correct. As far as I am concerned, I would not like to have any extension, period. But we are dealing with a 2-bodied monster here, and we have to work with the other side as much as we possibly can and salvage as much as we can. Hopefully, this will be the last one. This is our ninth extension on this legislation. I feel a little bit chagrined about that as chairman. I thought we could do better; but, again, I underestimated the lack of foresight of the other body that does not understand the importance of this legislation. But, hopefully, this will be the last one we have.

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman will yield, it is my understanding this is a simple extension of 2 days until midnight, Thursday coming, and that, in fact, there will be monies to run the Department; and it is also my understanding that there will be some monies, 2 days' worth, disbursed to the States. This is not our idea; this was at the Senate's insistence. This is an attempt, for those who may be just now listening, to finalize the TEA-LU bill, the transportation bill. The agony that the gentleman and I have gone through in the last 34 days is something that I do not want to write about. Maybe we should have been stationed at Guantanamo; it would have made it a lot easier. But we are very close now to a solution, and this is an attempt again to keep the pressure on and make sure we do finalize this Thursday night so we can have a transportation bill that will do a partial job for the Nation, better than what we have, but not nearly as good as we need. Maybe in the future we will get everything we want.

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the Committees on Transportation and Infrastructure, Ways and Means, Resources, and Science be discharged from further consideration of the bill (H.R. 3332) to provide an extension of highway, highway safety, motor carrier safety, transit, and other programs funded out of the Highway Trust Fund pending enactment of a law reauthorizing the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, I am pleased that today the House is considering the Water Resources Development Act of 2005. In this bill, we have been able to get past the rhetoric, identify real issues, and come up with workable, bipartisan, solutions that will actually help the Corps of Engineers carry out its missions. This negotiation involved a lot of give and take. The result does not represent my initial positions, or Mr. Oberstar's. That is the nature of a compromise. The compromise language gives the Corps of Engineers the tools it needs to improve and expedite water resources projects. These provisions earned the support of all the members of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, received the support of 412 Members of the House last Congress, and deserve the support of all the Members of the House this Congress. Now that the debate over ``Corps Reform'' is past us, both the Congress and the Corps of Engineers can focus on meeting the Nation's navigation, flood control, and environmental restoration needs to provide economic and national security and to improve our quality of life. Some complain about the cost of Corps of Engineers projects, but these investments are critically important to our economy. Over 13 million American jobs are dependent on trade, but our harbors are not ready to meet the increasing demands of international trade. Our farmers and our electric utilities depend on efficient waterways to move grain and coal, but over half of our locks are over 50 years old and two have been operating since the 19th century. Many communities along rivers and shores are not protected from hurricanes and flooding, even though the cost of recovering from a flood is on average six times greater than the cost of investing in the infrastructure needed to prevent those damages. Finally, there are worthwhile environmental restoration projects that provide both environmental and economic benefits. The Water Resources Development Act of 2005 addresses these needs in communities all over the country. I want to thank the ranking member of the committee, Mr. Oberstar, for his help in resolving some very contentious issues and I appreciate his willingness to work together in a bipartisan fashion. I want to commend Mr. Duncan and Ms. Johnson and the Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee for their hard work in crafting this legislation. I urge all Members to support H.R. 2864 and join me in encouraging the other body to act expeditiously once this bill has passed the House.

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Chairman, the gentleman's amendment relates to the many projects that make up Title 8 of the bill, the Upper Mississippi River and Illinois Waterway System. The amendment has two parts. The first part requires that the Secretary report to Congress on his determination of whether the projects are being carried out at comparable rates. I have no objection to the Secretary reporting to Congress on his findings. The second part of the amendment has no meaning since it suggests that the Congress shall be making adjustments to annual funding requests for the various projects under this Title. Congress does not make funding requests. Therefore, the only operative part of this amendment is the report to Congress, and on that point, I have no objection.

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong support of this legislation. I want to thank the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Duncan) and the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Eddie Bernice Johnson) for their hard work. This is a bill that has been from very bipartisan work together, which made it, in fact, a great bill. And I urge everybody to vote against the Flake amendment. Keep that in mind. The Flake amendment is not a good amendment for this bill. If we want to relieve our congestion on our highways, we have to use our waterways.