mr. flores: mr. chairman, i rise to offer a simple amendment today that makes technical and clarifying corrections to of h.r. 2728. my amendment also calls on state regulators to provide their hydraulic fracturing and chemical disclosure requirement regulations for public disclosure. states have the expertise in carefully crafting hydraulic fracturing regulations to meet the needs of their states this bottoms up regulatory relationship between the states and federal government is one of the reasons we're able to enjoy the vast economic benefits of the shale energy boom. these changes will ensure that the cooperative and transparent state-driven regulatory approach to energy activity will continue. the energy shale boom is driving our economic recovery and we need to keep the federal government from sloge down energy production on taxpayer owned federal lands with duplicative regulations and unnecessary red tape. i reserve -- mr. hastings: will the gentleman yield in mr. flores: i yield to the gentlem

mr. flores: mr. speaker, this will put the people on record in support of the shale energy boom, lower energy prices, which is the result of hydraulic fracturing technology. the shale energy boom meant $1,200 per family and lower -- in lower energy bills. during our low economic recovery, this created the most new jobs, both in energy and manufacturing. states have been effectively regulating fracturing on federal, state and private lands over 50 years and the states oppose the federal government from trying to overrule their expertise. there's no demonstrated need for the federal government to waste taxpayer money by duplicating and complicating states' efforts. the only reason for the federal government to get involved is to placate those who oppose the shale energy revolution and the jobs that's come from it. here are their arguments. first, they say that states might have insufficient regulations. the facts are that states that produce oil and gas have comprehensive rules and regulations to ensur

but i yield back to my friend, mr. flores. mr. flores: i appreciate the -- mr. speaker, i appreciate the comments of mr. gohmert and he raises an issue all americans need to be concerned about, the invasion of privacy we expect to have under the constitution. when you have an i.r.s. that's looking into your personal records. mr. speaker, i was -- i did get a letter from think i.r.s. about six weeks after i wrote my letter to the i.r.s., demanding an answer for what they were doing to the waco tea party. i think they're targeting everybody, they don't care who they target. it seems like they're on a mission to try to squelch opposition to this administration's policy. now i'd like to recognize a brand new freshman member from florida, mr. desantos from florida 6. he's going to share some stories bt what his constituents have experienced with the i.r.s. >> i thank the -- mr. desantos: i thank the gentleman from texas. the power to tax is the power to destroy. when you have the government using that taxing power to target individual americans based on their exercis

mr. flores: thank you, mr. speaker. i appreciate the words that were shared with us from the gentlelady from tennessee, from one of her constituents. we hear firsthand the agonizing feelings of her constituents as they've experienced the abuse of an overreach of federal power by this feared agency, the i.r.s. i'm now pleased to recognize another one of my good friends, representative lankford of oklahoma, will share what some of the folks in oklahoma 5 think about what the i.r.s. has done. mr. lankford: thank you. thank you to my colleague for hosting this. mr. speaker, about 3 1/2 years ago, americans started getting more and more frustrated. it was really a product of several years building, this sense of helplessness as they struggled and watched the nation -- i don't know how to begin to describe the emotions that welled up about four years ago when americans watched their health care beginning to slip away. this absolute divide that happened as a nation between republicans and democrats, when they used to try to wo

flores of texas, as well as the chairman of the natural resources committee, mr. hastings, as well as the chame of the science committee, the gentleman from texas, mr. smith. these are significant pieces that will move our nation forward and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from utah reserves. the gentleman from colorado is recognized. mr. polis: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for as much time a as he may consume. mr. polis: i thank the jelled from utah for yielding me the customary 30 minutes. nor body to spend the final week baffer week-long break, one of the final weeks of the year, third to last week of the legislative year, considering messaging bills that aren't going anywhere is a disservice to this country and one of the reasons this institution is as unpopular as it is. rather than taking on immigration reform, rather than protecting americans from employment discrimination, both bills that passed the senate with strong majorities including many republ

the chair recognizes the gentleman from texas, mr. flores, for five minutes. mr. flores: madam speaker, i rise today to honor the 75th anniversary of the city of college station texas. college station has been and is the home to tens of thousands of texas families, students, businesses, and residents throughout the years. and i'm proud to offer my congratulations on this milestone. college station was an unincorporated community for over 60 years before officially being incorporated as a city on october 19, 1938. in 1869 the houston and texas central railway was built through the area and in 1871 college station was chosen as the location for what would eventually become one of the largest public universities in the nation, texas a&m university. the city got its name because the a&m campus was the focal point of community development at the time. in 1877 the area was designated college station, texas, by the postal service, deriving its name from the train station located to the west of the campus. since incorporation in 1938, college station's population has grow

and finally, mr. president, the story of maria flores who frankly didn't make headlines when she died over the summer along with her daughter elizabeth gomez. they died in las vegas when man well matta, her boyfriend, with a history of domestic violence shot and killed maria, his girlfriend, shot and killed his teenage daughter, and he wounded a four-year-old before turning the gun on himself. family members said that matta had financial troubles. he drank often, he displayed jealousy and constantly accused his girlfriend of cheating. his girlfriend, maria flores, who died that day threatened to move out weeks earlier but was convinced by matta to stay. the daughter who was killed was scheduled to graduate three days after the murder took place. i tell these three stories for this reason. first, in the wake of the t.s.a. shooting, a lot of people, a lot of folks from the gun lobby made the argument that the way to fix this problem was to disarm t.s.a. agents. just like people made the argument that th