the gentleman from texas reserves. the gentleman from texas. mr. neugebauer: kind of confusing, isn't it. i rise and claim time in opposition although i am not opposed to the bill. the chair: without objection, the gentleman is recognized. mr. neugebauer: i want to thank my friend from texas. i think this is a commonsense amendment. i think if you are going to do this program, certainly i don't support the underlying program, but if we are going to do it, we are going to put this capital into some of these banks for lending, certainly ought to be in areas where they have the highest unemployment. that makes sense. i still think we could do better for small businesses by providing an environment where there is less uncertainty, more certainty on what the tax situation's going to be. less uncertainty about what the regulatory environment's going to be. but i think the gentleman's amendment makes the underlying bill better. we do not object to this. i yield back my time. the chair: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from

al green of texas. the chair: pursuant to resolution 1436, the gentleman from texas and a member opposed each will control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from texas. mr. green: thank you, madam chair. madam chair, this amendment is one that will add additional language to the requirement that there be minority outreach in this program. it's important for me to state that i have a district that i represent that is currently about 36% african-american, 31% latino, 21% anglo and 12% asian. it's important to note that in my district the ballot is printed in three languages. it's printed in english, spanish and vietnamese. this amendment furthers the notion that persons who speak languages other than english will have an opportunity to have materials that are sensitive. this amendment would require that appropriate materials when published be in languages that are culturally and linguistically sensitive. it also requires that advertising receive the same sort of consideration, given that we

committee from texas, mr. edwards. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas, mr. edwards, is recognized for as much time as he might consume. mr. edwards: i want to thank chairman ortiz for the time today and most importantly, not only for his service in the u.s. army as a soldier, but for his leadership as a key subcommittee chairman of the house armed services committee. the gentleman from texas works every day to support our soldiers, not just with his words, but with his deeds. and i'm deeply grateful for that. madam speaker this resolution honors the 235th anniversary of the united states army and i rise today on behalf of a grateful nation to say thank you to every army soldier, past and present, for their service to our nation. we express our gratitude with the humility of knowing that we could never fully repay the debt of gratitude we owe our soldiers and their families, that the sacrifices they have made to protect our nation. when i drive past arlington cemetery each morning on my way to th

the gentleman from texas. mr. neugebauer: i appreciate the gentleman. i still go back to the point and i think that's where we get kind of in a -- we live in wally world here in washington, d.c., where you still have to have $33 billion if you're going to go loan -- or invest in the preferred shares of these banks, you still got to find the $33 billion. and the truth of the matter is, for every dollar we're going to appropriate or allocate in this country this year, we're going to have to go borrow 42 cents of it. so i just guess the question -- begs the question, should we go out and hawk another $33 billion for a program that many people think that there's adequate capital and liquidity already in the banking industry? some people have quoted as saying, well, 42% of the small businesses have been turned down for loans in this country. well, you know, i was in the loan business and everybody that came into my -- to borrow money from me when i was a loan officer wasn't credit worthy or it wasn't in their best inte

the gentleman from texas. mr. nye: mr. chairman. i would like to make unanimous consent request that both sides be allocated an additional two minutes for debate. the chair: is there objection? without objection, the gentleman is recognized. mr. nye: i'd like to yield to the distinguished ranking member of the committee, mr. graves. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. graves: i thank the gentleman. thank you, mr. chairman. i rise in support of the amendment offered by the gentleman from virginia. under the program, the way it was reported out of the financial services committee, the bill bases lending on the size of loans and assumes that loans under $250,000 and $1 million will be made to small businesses. however, there's no such assurance in the bill and loans of those sizes could be made to large businesses but count as small business lending. if this is a small business lending program then it should use the definition of small business used throughout the government and that is the one in the small business act. and th

bean: i yield two minutes to the gentleman from texas. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. hinojosa: mr. speaker, i rise in strong support of h.r. 5297, the small business lending fund act of 2010. i ask unanimous consent to insert into today's record letters of support for h.r. 5297 from the national association of realtors, from the independent community banks of america and from the conference of state bank supervisors. the chair: the gentleman's request is covered by general leave. mr. hinojosa: this legislation will help small businesses survive and thrive in the current economic climate by providing the secretary of the treasury temporary authority to make capital investments up to $30 billion to banks and savings associations with assets of less than $10 billion and to their parent holding companies provide -- provided they also have assets of less than $10 billion. mr. speaker, h.r. 5297 increases the availability of credit for small businesses. it provides funding to eligible institutions that serve small

the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. sessions: thank you, madam speaker. at this time i'd like to yield one minute to the gentlewoman from kansas, congresswoman jenkins. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from kansas is recognized for one minute. ms. jenkins: thank you, madam speaker. over the past six weeks, over one million americans have demanded action and house republicans have listened. unfortunately the majority in the house has not. and while there are many issues that these people in this body disagree on, there are some issues that we should all agree on. we should agree that skyrocketing debt is a priority. we should agree that we cannot continue spending money that we don't have. we should agree that it's wrong for taxpayers to pay for salaries of employees who answer to unions instead of the american people. and we should agree on this very simple bill that says union activities should be funded by unions. i urge my colleagues to stand with the american people, to vote to save $1.2 billion and to end t

the gentleman from texas has 10 1/2. and the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. sessions: if i could answer his question first, madam speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas. mr. perlmutter: please. mr. sessions: at your question how many more speakers, i have three or more speakers. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from colorado. mr. perlmutter: i'd reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from colorado reserves. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. sessions: thank you very much, mad speaker. madam speaker, at this time i'd like to yield three minutes to the gentlewoman from charleston, west virginia, mrs. capito. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from west virginia is recognized for three minutes. mrs. capito: thank you, madam speaker. i'd like to thank mr. sessions from texas, and i'd like to thank mr. frank, the chairman of our committee, for the work that we've done on the underlying bill, the f.h.a. reform bill. it is an important bill and we'll debate that and talk about that quite a bit through the next two da

gohmert of texas. under the speaker's announced policy of january 6, 2009, the gentleman from texas, mr. carter, is ecognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader. mr. carter: thank you, mr. speaker. i appreciate being recognnzed this hour. i'm pleased to be joinee by several of my colleagues. and i want to raise an issue that is of real concern to the people of the state of texas, state of alabama, state of %% florida. those who for now for generationn been invested in and proud of that great american accomplishment of our space program. you know, we are an exceptional people and there is an awful lot of people that seem to be ashamed of our exceptionalism. but one of the things we have been exceptional in our inception is our space program. i can remember as a young teenager when the russians put sputnik over the roof of my house and we watched that thing, this little flashing light and thought, oh, my lord, the russians are in space and we aren't there. what are we going to do? bein

we had a job fair in my district in marshall, texas, at east baptist texas university. we had one previously at another university, texas work force commission. they did a great job. we partnered with them at long view and many others. we partnered with angelina college and this one was in marshall. and on one end, any time you throw a party and a lot of people show up, you're thrilled. this will worked out great. but on a very human basis, you know that every one of the people that come seeking jobs vr broken hearts. most of them have families who need them to get jobs. so many of them, you know long time employee somewhere and we have not done them any favors by the work that's been done here in congress going back to failing to reform freddie mac and fannie mae which put us to the brink of economic collapse. complete failure to do that. and then in september, october of 2008 as a potential meltdown began, many people don't know, but there are more homes sold in september of 2008 than in any month in the last five years before that. but of course, once the secretary o

for what purpose does the gentleman from texas rise? mr. poe: i ask permission to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. . mr. poe: four christians were arrested because they were peacefully handing out the gospel of john outside an arab cultural festival. it was not a private or muslim event. it was an arab festival free and open to the public. a video shows the christian group that included a former muslim outside a block away from that event. they were standing quietly on the corner handing out bibles when they were arrested by no less than eight police officer. under shari'a law it is forbidden to preach christianity to muslims. but, madam speaker, these arrests against christians did not occur in a minimums limb country. they occurred in dearborn michigan. the first amendment safeguards freedom of speech and religious expression even for christians. maybe the police in dearborn, michigan haven't read the constitution. these arrests are shameful. whether the police like it or not. that's just t

community banks represent the lifeblood of texas. i know this because i know a number of the banks and the people not only who lend with them but the people who rely on them day by day. i'm one of those persons. they're worried about what's happening here in washington, and once again they were given a reason to have fear by what has happened over the weekend, and this bill becoming even closer to law. the consumer financial protection bureau and the office of financial research, two brand new federal agencies created in this bill, once again, two brand new federal agencies created in this bill will give unelected bureaucrats unprecedented power to track financial activities without citizens' approval. and these are not the only new regulatory components of the bill. this legislation allows for 355 new rule makings, 47 studies and 74 reports and potentially dozens more as implementation begins. but what should we expect from this democratic congress? the goal of regulatory reform should be to help, not hinder. it should be there to h

cuellar from texas, mr. plltts. mr. cuellar, who is a fellow member of our blue dog task force, for introducing this bill, and his fellow member, mr. todd platts. i want to thank chairman towns and ranking member issa and the house leadership for their support of this initiative. the congress is taking strides to instill a greater sense of fiscal responsibility over the last year including enactment of the pay-as-you-go language and a commission. this bill seeks tt ensure that we are acting as responsibly as possible as stewards of our taxpayer dollars. our efforts do not stop here, however. my blue dog colleagues and i have unveiled a 15-point blueprint for responsible fiscal reform. may i have an additional 10 seconds? 15? ms. watson: i will add what is requested, an additional 15 seconds. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for 15 seconds. mr. boyd: my blue dog colleagues and i have unveiled a 15-point blueprint for responsible fiscal reform. we will continue to eliminate wasteful spenged and move to

the gentleman from texas. -- the gentlelady reserves her time. the gentleman from texas. mr. neugebauer: thank you, mr. chairman. i yyeld myself such time as i may consume. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. neugebauer: my opposition not to question whether i support small businesses. it's a question of whether this bill will help small businesses. unfortunately, my conclusion is that this bill will not help them but cost taxpayers another $33 billion, by the way, $33 billion that we don't have. as a former small business owner as well as a former lender, i understand firsthand the need for small businesses to have access to credit, access to credit is tightened but demand for credit for worthy borrowers has also declined. what small businesses really need more than anything in the current economic environment is certainty so they can invest and plan for the future. what they have gotten from congress is more and more uncertainty. small businesses will face a costly tax penalty if they can't comply with the added cost of the new health care law. one business owner in

i went to austin, texas. when i was in austin, i was at the barber jordan airport and the baggage area on the ground floor there's a statue of barbara jordan, what a great member of the naacp she was. and a great american. with that i yield back the balance of my time and ask -- ms. watson requests some time. we'd be pleased if she'd contribute. i yield her as much time as she needs. spoim the gentlelady is recognized. ms. watson: mr. speaker, and to the authors and co-sponsors of this resolution, i just want to add to the testimonies that you have already heard in support of this resolution, commending the naacp, that many of us would not be here if not for the work and the support of others of the naacp. i am a case in point. i remember being elected as the first african-american woman to the second largest school board in the united states, that's l.a. unified school district, and in the california state senate as the first ever. and i was so proud that members came to me to show me their membership in the

. >> we thank the gentleman from texas. the chair now recognizes the chairman of the oversight and investigations subcommittee, that gentleman from michigan, mr. stupak. >> thank you for you and mr. waxman for holding this hearing and for your leadership. on the oversight committee, we have been investigating the actions of bp. this provides the committee a chance to examine the practices of the other major oil companies. he could be so that bp is the one bad apppe in the bunch, but unfortunately they appear to have plenty of company. exxon and other "companies are just as unprepared to respond to major oil spill in the gulf as bp. i've been examining the oil spill response plan of exxonmobil, the largest oil company in the united states. this document is over 500 pages long. in many respects, is virtually indistinguishable from bp's response plan and the response plans of the other major companies. at this time, mr. chairman, i would ask unanimous coosent that this be been a part of the record. >> without objection, so ord

the gentleman from texas. mr. neugebauer: mr. speaker, i appreciate the democrats wanting to bring a little bit additional oversight, so i would ask unanimouu consent that we take the language from the motion to recommit that the secretary shall have to certify every transaction and make that part of the text of this bill. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman offered, the motion will have to withdraw and offer a new motion. mr. neugebauer: i guess my colleagues are not really serious about making this oversight stronger. we are going to go with the watereddown language which says the secretary will certify we are going to put together a little process here and we think that it will -- one it will be not based on politics or influenced from outside but we are not going to make himble accountable for each billion dollar investment or millions of dollars of investment of the taxpayers' money into these banks. so i wish my colleagues on the other side were actually serious about what we are doing here. i appreciate

sugarland, texas. he was assigned to the second marine regiment, second marine division, second marine expeditionary force, camp lejeune, north carolina. . he was a hocky player and first considered joining the marines while a junior in high school. he was known for his big personality, his sense of adventure and his tender heart. friends who knew him spoke of his never-ending positive spirit and ability to make the best of a bad situation. he always put others before himself and did so with the smile on his face and a kind word for those around him. look at that smile. garrett's mother michelle shared with me a powerful story she learned about her son after his death. she was told that when he was a freshman in high school, he took it upon himself to call the mother of a student he knew to tell her that he was worried about her son. he was concerned that her son was headed down a bad path and he wanted her to know. garrett never told his mom that he did that, but it made a difference in the life of an

when you look on the texas map that tells you the great things to come see in texas we highly recommend people visit the space center. we know great thinged were done by great men and women at that place and continue to be done there. and to drive a stake in the heart of the space program is a tragedy not only for the state of texas buu for the whole united states. i think i can effectively argue, the world. let's not outsource another of our industries. let's not give up on american exceptionalism. let's go back and reconsider the obama administration's desire to trash this prooram and let's go back to putting us on a path with a plan, as mr. bishoo pointed out, to go out and explore those new frontiirs we have left to explore. with that, mr. speaker, i thank you for the time and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. under the speaker's announced policy of january 6, 2009, the gentleman from ohio,,mr. ryan, is ecognized as the designee of the majority leader. mr. ryan: thank you, mr. ppeaker. i want to take this

my good friend from texas who lives in the heart of all -- of oil country, u.s.a., houston, texas is in my way of thinking, the center of the universe for the oil industry. my good friend, pete olson, is one of our members of our houston delegation, very knowledgeable in this area. he has some legislation and maybe other things he wishes to talk about so i yield to my friend, pete olson, the member from sugarland and all points south, talk to us about how he feels about what's going on today. mr. olson: thank you for hosting this special order tonight on such an important issue for the american people. i'd like to thank my colleague from florida for coming by and give his per spictive on how this disaster is affecting florida. i was in the navy for 10 years, naval officer. we're trained to lead. we -- in my aircraft, i was a crew of 12, five officers, seven enlisted folks, i was patrol plane commander. those 11 individuals depended on me to bring them, take them out, do a mission, and come back home safely. to sum it up in two words, the philosophy is, leaders lead. guess what, we're

refinery explosion in texas city, texas. 15 people were killed, 180 were injured. the government did not close all the refineries for six months in the united states to investigate the sins of b.p. then. that would have been foolish nonsense and would have destroyed jobs, the economy, and cause the loss of u.s. energy. so investigate the rig explosion. hold b.p. accountable for their conduct, but don't in a moment of political hysteria stop deep water drilling, wipe out jobs, american companies, and sabotage the u.s. economy. that's just the way it is. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from georgia rise? >> permission to address the house for one minute. revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. >> madam speaker, in georgia's ninth district there is a small town in elagy, known not only as the apple capital of georgia but also home to the mccutcheon pool small business coalition. the community leaders -- the reason is they are committed to creating an envir

city, texas. and a pipeline spill that released 200,000 gallons of oil into the alaskan wilderness. mr. hayward, why is bp's record on safety so spotty in what is equally as important is the knee jerk legislative reaction from this congress. right now the administration and the alleys in the house are more focus on the application of putting the oil and gas industry out of business than on solutions to the problem. instead of working in a bipartisan way to push for rigorous safety standards on all offshore rigs, the administration is exploiting this disaster to advance it's disastrous cap and trade energy policy, which won't stop the well from leaking, but serve as a national energy tax on the people. i believe congress should work towards implementing rigorous safety inspection standards for all offshore rigs. with nearly 30% of our nation's record and 11% of gas reserves located off shore, a ban on drilling will only put americans out of work. it will send energy and gas prices through the roof

know she is cricizing a texas company. ey have about 100 js in texaand they have ady mmitted to someone else that they're going to move those jobs fr texas to whe it mor politilly convenie. we're going tourn j oveo them. as neil armstrong said, it's matfor nation secity. not good idea. t a good idea. and asomeone ned, privatmeetings, let's face it, thoh, if space x ends up having problemin beingbleo effectuate space fght, no question, it wilbe so devastating, we'll have to il them out. we are setting priva companies that have never done what they're going take away from government entity that has been mt successful in al of mankind. this effort, give it to this private companand already kn that if they have the problem ancan'tget the pac flight going, they'll go broke and ve tbail them t. we know that going in. is that smart? itustakes no sense. . as time ns out that's allated, i want to finish with one other thing, going back to israelthe world needs to kno, make no mistake about it,srael isa clos ally. they belve in the

the corruption is so entrenched that the idiot from texas who apologized to bp -- that is how far it is. host: next, looking at what is going on in congress and some

literally from alabama back to brownsville, texas. this disaster has caused the oil and gas industry to shut down even if the moratorium does not last six months it will be too late for many of these folks, but these people are not the ones to blame. they're the hard working people with a work ethic like none other than take their responsibility on these rigs seriously. however, koording to the investigation this subcommittee conducted it's obvious many bp officials on and off the rig did not take their responsibility of this rig seriously. halliburton warned the decisions could lead to serious problem and now people are losing their jobs. they could have been prevented if bmplt p had not chosen exped yensy over say. which brings my next point. whether it's the fire where 15 people died, time after time, it's shown that bp chooses exped yensy over samplt yet, mr. hayward, in your testimony you write, none of us knows why it happened. yet this subcommittee uncovered five air years where bp made mistakes. i add up the hours that these e

in 2005, when bp's texas city operation blew up, 14 workers lost their lives n 2006, a bp oil pipeline in texas ruptured and spilled 200,000 gallons of crude oil n in 2007, the year you became ceo, the bp corporation settled a series of criminal charchgs not civil charge, krill unanimous charge and paid $370 million in fines. according to risk met tri, an independent okay, bp has one of the worst health, environment and safety records of any company in the world n only one year, the occupational safety and health administration found more than 700 violations at bp's texas ty refinery and bp paid a record $87 million in a fine. bp was charg with putting profits before safety. earlier this year, a refinery in toledo was fined $3 million for willful safety violations including the use of valves that contributed to the texas city blast. finally, of course, the deep water horizon catastrophe and more evidence that comes in, the more it's clear that that event was foreseeable and it was avoidable. after the explosion, bp said there was no o leaking, then it said there was 1,000 barrels a dye

is there a culture that led to disasters like the refinery explosion in texas city, texas and the alaska oil pipeline spill? >> i think we've acknowledged in 2005 and 2006 that we had serious issues and as a consequence set out to implement systematic change in the culture and safety of bp. i set the tone from the top by saying very clearly safe, reliable operations were our number one priority. we invested billions of dollars in the integrity of that plan. we've recruited many thousands of engineers and technologists into our company including many from other industries such as the nuclear industry and other parts of the chemical and oil and gas industry and we have changed fundamentally a whole approach to the management of our operations through the implementation of significant changes to our processes. >> doesn't seem like that. if you look at the reports on what happened on the deep horizon doesn't look like many safety procedures have changed much at all. mr. hayward, do you feel that your safety record compared to other major oil companies is comparable? >> as i said, it's clear

texas gov. rick perry said on tuesday that federal officials were trying to undermine state authority to determine how students are educated. and of virginia students drop out of rice to the top last week, citing similar concern. guest: the states still have to decide whether they want to follow the standards. in education, there is a connection that is very critical. you have to define the standards. you have to match the curriculum that actually teaches what you want to know based on the standards. the third leg of that stool that is so critical is the assessments that measures the right things. in two different places, one group decides the standards and sommone else to flights -- someone else decides with the standards is and someone else -- someone else decides what the assessment is. it is an important step for all policy makers to make. host: another of the colors of the rations was public money -- another of the caller's observations was vouchers for schools. guest: some of those public

i have asked the texas railroad commission and the texas u.s. geological survey what the largest onshore oil well in texas in its history of over 100 years has been. with the exception of the initial discovery at spindle top in 1901, we can't find a record of any well onshore texas which is the number one oil producing state in the country, with the exception of alaska for a few years, that flowed at 50,000 barrels a day. the latest estimates are that this well in this condition -- could be flowing as much as 50,000 barrels a day. if you strap hate that on an annual basis, that -- that is over 100 million barrels of oil a year. could you -- could you give us an assessment of why -- why b.p. and other companies go to such extraordinary measures to drill in these areas? what is it you think you found or were hoping to find in the gulf of mexico? >> in absence of this well, we believe that the -- that the discovery was of the order of 50 million barrels. >> 50 million. >> 50 million. that's the estimate of the discovery that this, the size of the d

for what purpose does the gentlelady from texas rise? >> i ask to address the house, revise and extend my remarks for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. ms. johnson: -- ms. jackson lee: mr. speaker, the house is not in order. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is right. will members please take their conversations off the floor. ms. jackson lee: mr. speaker, we have had a good week and i'm very grateful that we had the opportunity today to say to the doctors of america that we are committed to your practice, your medicine and your caring for our seniors. in addition we were able to say to iran, who has called for the extinction of israel, has caused the existence of a camp in iraq, and literally tried to destroy disdepartments and resisters -- dissidents and resisters for democracy, that we will not tolerate an iran that's nuclear armed. and so i'm glad that we passed iran sanctions act. but we have more to do and i'm grateful that the president saw fit to change command in afghanistan. it was unfort

plano, texas. liz on the democrats' line. good morning. and caller: good morning. i was thinking for every person out there working on a raiig, wouldn't it be nice if they were working on a wind farm? maybe doing work inland of the gulf. getting the science and technology education that provides that technology. we built the transcontinental railroad, why can't we have more efficient magnetically operated infrastructure? all of these things are possible. host: let's hear from gary in eureka, california. caller: just a comment about the miscalculation coming out of the callgulf. if that was fuel going into your gas tanks, they would know exactly how much it is and how much it costs. it is upsetting they keep adding more and more to the daily amount that is leaking into the floor of the ocean. host: as much as 60,000 oil perils may be slowing. and-- barrels may be flowing. to be on the republican line. -- judy on the republican line. and caller: to clean up oil and use something else besides oil, it would take forever. we still have to keep it in process. and another

for the record, texas uses just the state of texas 1.1 billion barrels of oil nobody is suggesting these numbers are going go down. there are economic risks. some national security risks in terms of less oil being produced domestically as well as environmental risk and that needs to be balanced. i know that youndand that. these companies have to go out of business or take bankruptcy or lay off thousands of workers. are you going ask bp to pick up their salaries and make them whole? >> the answer to that is yes we will. bp is responsible. and bp is responsible for all the damage and flow from the bp oil spill and these are some of the consequences from that oil spill. >> thank you. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. i have listened through the testimony. waiting to ask my question and no one else did until all of the issues i had in mind were just covered. i won't take my full-time. but simply, calling your attention to the comments made by the outside experts that you turn to. specifically the national academy of engineer iing and a group of them have signed a statement saying we were

i'm so pleased two yield two minutes to the gentleman from texas, and they only come that way in texas, judge poe, and our esteemed member of our foreign relations committee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas is recognized for two minutes. two minutes. mr. poe: thank you, madam speaker. i'd like to thank the gentlelady from florida for yielding some time. this is an important resolution. it puts the united states on record as to where we stand. and our part of the world when it comes to democracy and supporting our allies. colombia is an ally of the united states. when i was in colombia in april down in the jungle with the ppnarcotics police, with gerald fortuno, helping them fight the cartels and farc, i found out they like the americans. that's not universally true in south america. there are a lot of folks that don't care much for the united states. but the colombian people are our allies. not only politically but also they like americans for who we are. and they support us and we should support them. it's a good day for democracy when president santos was elected th

dwards of texas. thchair: psuant to house resolution 1424, thegentleman from texas, mr. edwards, and a member opposed, each will control five minus. the chair now recognizes the gentleman texas. mr. edwards: m spear, thank you. members, my amendment is a simple, commonsense prection for children and families. it requires anyoneeeking to befit from the term of f.h. mortgage to certify under penalty of perjuryhat they ve not beenonvicted after sex fense against a minor. this amendme ensures that taxpayers wil not be on the hook for loans made to convicted child sex offenders. there are 70000egistered sex offenders currtly living in our cmmit experts estimate a many as 100,000 convicted sex fenders are lost n theystem. recent research has shown that there is a higher repeat rate for sexual crimes and even high amongst those who commit these crimes against chiren. as a relt in the past few years congress has passed a series of la adopti the use of sex ofend registries and community notification systems. r sexually violent offenders and those committing offenses against child

host: independent line, texas. caller: i am an independent now, but what change of mind on republican -- when they voted on terry shaiva. she was not taken off life support. she was starved to death. the judge repeated the 10 commandments. that affected me a whole lot. i am no longer republican. host: what may we see in the battle over elena kagan? how significant is this going to be as we watch her confirmation process? guest: the oil spill is the biggest problem of the obama administration. kagan is a boring story, because there has not been a lot of conflict. i am sure she will get some yes votes. most -- the hearing starts next week. there will be a lot of pomp and circumstance. opening statements on monday. in a give-and-take. there will be some trauma there. the white house believes they are in pretty good shape on that nomination. it is looking pretty strong right now. host: queens, new york, democratic caller. caller: the medicare that obama pass, will the veterans get the figure as well? guest: i believe s

the gentleman from texas. for what purpose? >> i rise in opposition although i'm not opposed to the amendment. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. neugebauer: thank you, mr. chairman. i appreciate what the gentleman's amendment is trying to do. i think the intent if this bill goes forward is that all small businesses would be eligible under this program, but i think the gentleman's trying to show the fact that land developers and homebuilders in america are also small businesses and should be able to participate under this program. and as a former developer and builder myself, i'm sympathetic to the difficulties of many of these in the construction and housing business, i think we have to be careful here not to send a signal that would encourage an oversupply in the marketplace and further hurt the industry and job creation. also, would have to remind my colleagues, though, something we talked about yesterday is that this is a $30 billion lending fund. the united states treasury does not have $30 billion and that's the

i yield back. >> we thank the gentleman from texas. and that completes the period for opening statements from all of the members of the subcommittee. the chair does not see any other members. i will first make a -- before we go to the witnesses i will first make a unanimous consent chairman stupak and representatives blackburn, castor to get weiner and question witnesses following questions by members of the subcommittee. without ok generation, the chair -- without objection the chair hears no objections of the subcommittee so it is so ordered. it is the policy to swear you in before you testify, so i would ask each of you to please rise and raise your right hand. do you each solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? let the record reflect that each of the witnesses responded in the affirmative. now we turn to our first witness, in rex tillison, the chairman and chief executive officer of the exxonmobil corporation. he is also a member of the business roundtable and the american petroleum institute.

the r prtempore: the g from texas. . hinosa: i ask thathe yeas and nays be taken on this vote -- on this spension bill. the sakerro tporethe yeas ad na are rueed. althosavor of tang this vote by theeaand nays wilrisend remn standing until counted. ffientber having arisen, theeas and nays are dered. puuto clause 8 of rule and e chais prior announcent, fther proceedthis motion will ptponed. fhat purpe does th tleman from xas ek hinojosr. speaker, i movehat e hoe spend the rules and thel h.r. 55 spkeprtempore:he clerkl rert the tle of bill. the er h.r. 55, a to amehe effecti date of the ftard provisions oe credit caccotability esponsibitand disclosure t of 2009. e eapro tempore: pursuant the re, the gentlemrom xas, mr. a, a tgentlen fromenssee, mr. roach wiontr 20 minutes. the chair recognizes gelemaomexas mr. hinosa: mrspke i ask unanimous consehaall mbers may have five gislative days to visend ex theiremar on this gislaon and to exeous material thereon. e speakepro tempore: without objectio mr. hinojosa: mr. spear, i yid

e texas. forhat rpose he geleman from texas rise? >>'d ask unanimous consento oduce an artle inhe rd,ithout ction. the speaker prmpore: the ntman fr tssee has k to suit somhingo threrd,without jectn. >>t's rom the 10 nwildlife it tthe record. likto submi thank yo mr. speak. thepeak proemre: the gentleman from texas is mr. po rstermission s. toddress the house for five minutes. t spe p tempore: obctio misngtion on rd government serity. ur ineffecve border serity s to be of comssnate disterest or catcth if you n. lasteek, there wa neael paso, tas. isme a lonorder patr agted group mexan nationaroing the border ley. e agt to apehend s legal,but other i - r people attacked th ent. e defendedimself bue of theationals was killed. the mexican policowedp at e sce, did protect t sovereignty of the unid stas of america no, r boer patrol en retreated. th fled. d y? becae the federagovernment doesn't ck up borr patrol. e governnt hangshem out to dry, just k rderatl shion ges l andpean. service to secung t border. the governmel ours bder patro goo

waxman, rush and barton of texas. from the committee on the judiciary for consideration of sections 1101-e-2, 1104-i-5 and i-6, 1105-h, 1601, 1605, 1607, 1609, 1610, 1612-a, 3002-c 3 and 4, 3006, 3119, 3206, 4205-n, 4306-b, 4501 through 4509, 46, 4905-c-8-d and e, 6003, 7203-a, 7205, 7205, 7210, 7213 through 7216, 7220, 7302, 7507, 750 9004, 9104, 9105, 9106-a, 9110-b, 9111, 9118, 9203-c and 9403 of the house bill and sections 112-b-5-b, 113-h, 153-f, 20 1,202, 205, 208 through 210, 211-a and b, 316, 502-a-3, 723-a-3, 724-b, 725-c, 728, 731, 733, 735-b, 744, 748, 763-a, c and i, 764, 767, 809-f, 922, 924, 929-b, 932, 991-b-5, c-2-3 and c-3-h. 1024, 1042, 1044-a, 1046-a, 1047, 1051 through 1058, 1063, 1090, 1095, 1096, 1098, 1151-b and 1156-b of the senate amendment. messrs. conyers, berman and smith of texas. from the committee on oversight and government reform for consideration of sections 1000-a, 1007, 1103-d, 1212, 1217, 1254-c, 1609-h-b. 3301, 3302, 3304, 4106-b-2 and g-4-d. 4801, 4802, 5004, 7203-a, 7409 and 80-

host: houston, texas. add all the democratic life of caller: wanted to comment on the election so far -- and on the democratic line. caller: i wanted to comment on the election. he said it is a republican year. i'm not so sure. it is an anti-incumbency year. the thing about the democrats in the house, a lot are pretty safe seats. only 40 or 70 actually competitive. i'm wondering it is perhaps he bought the the republican lineup too hard. i do want to comment on texas for governor. i think bill white is the best candidate the democrats have had since he and richards. he is well funded and have crossed over appeal to republicans and business people. whereas the governor in there now, only 149% in the primary -- only won 400 -- 49% in the primary. the possibility if latinos come out, that bill white will be very competitive and close. host: thank you for the call. "times-pick a new" from page. -- "the times-picayune" frontpage. but they now say interior secretary falsely implied they supported the six-month w

i don't know, who except ben and representative joe barton, the republican of texas is defending bp. >> i wasn't defending them at all, stephanie, that is made up in your mind. you made that up. >> larry: we'll get to that. >> i understand. >> larry: your read on the hearing. >> who can defend bp.? i don't know. clearly, larry, there are so many levels of liability here. maybe it was some what cathartic for the american people to watch this. they clearly, $20 billion is just a start. i think the president did a great job in starting there with that. >> larry: dana, did you learn anything today? >> i don't know what i learned except, grilling hayward and bp is a great distraction from this administration taking any responsibility at all of its own actions. sure, nobody is defending bp. bp messed up. but why make it worse by not doing anything for all most two months after the fact. people, this administration, not only sat on their hands, they sat on everybody else's hands too and prevented this, this catastrophe from being further contained. that's why we have a lot more of these oil

texas. caller: i grew up in el paso texas and moved to california with my wife. i can agree with the situation in arizona. many jobs in my field has been outsourced. i am a hard worker and went to school. many from the south, immigrants, are taking work and need the work. people say many americans do not want to do the work they do, but we do. we need to work. we need to make a living. my wife has something to say as well. she grew up in texas. >> most of my friends, i applied to a restaurant as a last resort. one of my friends has a master's in business. we work really hard. no one really cares. we went tt school. we are trying to pay off student loans. host: what was your masters' background in? caller: i have a bachelor's in web design. my friend has a master's in business. many other good friend masters in a different area. she is a bartender. we work hard. people come in on welfare and they give us a lot of crap about what we are doing. we are trying to make a living and doing the best we can. host: what is your message for the government's? caller: we have

fort worth, texas. terry, republican michael caller: i would like to agree with the last two callers. i did not think they are telling us anywhere near what is going on in the deep well that they have. and the fact that they really did mr. reed the people in and ask us so bad, because they are not -- they really did mysteries the people in alaska -- mistreat the people in alaska so bad. in alaska there was a small oil spill -- they are having problems with the salmon and the fisheries. the poison coming from the earth, they are not telling you about that. i know for a fact, i watched a program about that specifically. the materials that far deep down in the earth is a lot worse, 5,000 feet down drilling into the earth. i am -- i just think we are grateful for the $20 billion fund but i do not think it will come close to cover the cost of the damage it would do to the gulf -- texas, all along the gulf, even mexico. host: jeff, democrats line. you are on. caller: good morning. this -- this bill down there

cranberry, texas is our first call. -- grandburm,y, texas is the first call. what you think about this oil spill? you are down there in texas. caller: i am very upset in barton. i'm very disappointed in him. host: what does mrs. peterson think? caller: she thinks the same thing. i tell you, we are down here in the oil country. host: i appreciate you calling in and we will talk to you in a month or so. fort myers, fla., please go ahead. caller: i am here in florida and we are anxiously awaiting and praying that the world does not hit our beaches here in southwest florida. host: right. what did you think of yesterday's congressional hearings? caller: i think this is a lot of showboating by a lot of congressmen. we have people from michigan grilling a someone and they have no clue what we are going through in florida and louisiana. we need to put this aside and stop the oil. we had people explain how they had a similar situation on friday and dave were able to drain the oil and -- and they were able to drain the oil and contain most of it. host: has agreed to you

the gentleman from texas. >> thank you, mr. chairman. a lot of the debate we have heard recently has to do with whether we need an fdic-like regime for these large, interconnected financial firms. i don't think that the chairman of the financial institutions subcommittee is here at the motion, but i know he is saying the very language here is the language used with the fdic, and he about want to grant them this -- and we want to grant them this type of discretion. we had a hearing regarding what i believe the gentleman thought was an abuse of that discretion dealing with a bank, fbop, that i believe was in his district. so perhaps the fdic discretion is not all that it is cracked up to be. i would say that ultimately many of us believe there is a fundamental difference between insuring the plain vanilla for the of those like at bailey's savings and loan, and creating deposit insurances of the morgans, the goldman-sachs and the others of the world. why are you trial to -- trying to give the equivalent of for the insurance to these type of

it was seen in texas and alaska. in the days after i was terminated, i tried to file a complaint with the ombudsman, the department of the interior inspector general, the department of justice, and mms. i received a written response from the bp ombudsmen a year later. he found that my complaint about the lack of proper engineering documents was a valid. in conclusion, from my experience in working with the industry for over 30 years, i have never seen these kinds of problems with other companies. i have never seen another company with this kind of widespread disregard for proper engineering and safety procedures. itself investigation of by former secretary of state jim baker found that bp has a culture that does not regard safety regulations. from what i saw, that culture has not changed. mms was unwilling to enforce a law against a culture of repeated violations. thank you. >> we will begin the questions, and i will start. you stated in your testimony that the documents were incomplete. do you have any evidence that

bush, the 41st president and his library is here at texas a&m. the 43rd president with which i was privileged to serve is establishing hisibrary in dallas. two separate presidents, two different schools, two different libraries. half hosthost: democratic calle. caller: george bush started this by bombing the middle east and staging of us in saudi arabia. that is where we went wrong. ronald reagan created saddam hussein. he case - he gave him tens of millions of dollars in military aid and when the monster got out of control, papaw bush added to take them out.. that is what started al-qaida and the jihad movement and that has gotten us where we are. the fact that you can casually sit there and defend your ridiculous behavior. we have strength in iran and almost destroyed america and the process with thesezú" ridiculos illegal foreign wars that are against what this country was founded on we have no business interfering. we are using is real as our hezbollah over all these years. host: major point, let's hear from the ambassador. guest: that is a

the hope is that the texas habitat will be a safe haven from them from the spill. millions of process raw sewage seeped away into the biscayne bay saturday morning. people were warned to stay out of the water. test results should confirm the severity of the contamination. >> kids are notoriously picky eaters. marketing and commercials can be influencing their tastes. a study found that children overwhelmingly would choose a product if packaging featured a licensed cartoon character, like the explorer.xplora that brings us to our watercooler question of the day. do you think limits should be placed on cartoon characters to market junk food? e-mail your response to watercooler@wbaltv.com. again, that is watercooler@wbaltv.com. that study does not surprise me. ate wheaties.d 8 wheatie a decathlon winner was on the box. >> i remember bruce jenner. >> coming up, the morning's financial news. >> three days of rain bring about deadly flooding in brazil. >> fire in the southwest. wild fire troubles increased. >> some lane closures still in effect on the j.f.x. we'llll >> a