E PL UR UM IB N U U S Congressional Record United States th of America PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 112 CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION Vol. 157 WASHINGTON, WEDNESDAY, MAY 4, 2011 No. 59 House of Representatives The House met at 10 a.m. and was sible for the vicious 9/11 attacks. Using free society calling itself a republic called to order by the Speaker pro tem- this authority and opportunity to pur- should never succumb to such evil. pore (Mr. FITZPATRICK). sue nation-building and remaking the With regard to foreign aid to Paki- f Middle East was cynical and dan- stan, the fact that bin Laden was safe- gerous, as the past 10 years have prov- ly protected for 10 years in Pakistan DESIGNATION OF SPEAKER PRO en. The sad tragedy is that it took 10 should make us question the wisdom of TEMPORE years, trillions of dollars, tens of thou- robbing American citizens to support The SPEAKER pro tempore laid be- sands of American casualties and many any government around the world with fore the House the following commu- thousands of innocent lives to achieve foreign aid. Our failed foreign policy is nication from the Speaker: our mission of killing one evil person. reflected in our bizarre relationship WASHINGTON, DC, A narrow, targeted mission under with Pakistan. We bomb them with our May 4, 2011. these circumstances is far superior to drones, causing civilian casualties, we I hereby appoint the Honorable MIKE initiating wars against countries not give them billions of dollars in foreign FITZPATRICK to act as Speaker pro tempore involved in the 9/11 attacks. This was aid, and she protects America’s enemy on this day. the reason I emphasized at the time number one, bin Laden, for a decade. JOHN A. BOEHNER, the principles of marque and reprisal, It is time to consider a sensible, non- Speaker of the House of Representatives. provided to us by the Constitution for interventionist foreign policy as ad- f difficult missions such as we faced. I vised by our founders and authorized MORNING-HOUR DEBATE am convinced that this approach would by our Constitution. We would all be have achieved our goal much sooner better off for it. The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursu- and much cheaper. f ant to the order of the House of Janu- The elimination of Osama bin Laden ary 5, 2011, the Chair will now recog- should now prompt us to bring our PROPOSED PUERTO RICAN PIPE- nize Members from lists submitted by troops home from Afghanistan and LINE A THREAT TO MOUNTAINS the majority and minority leaders for Iraq. Al Qaeda was never in Iraq, and AND RAINFORESTS morning-hour debate. we were supposedly in Afghanistan to The SPEAKER pro tempore. The The Chair will alternate recognition get Osama bin Laden. With bin Laden Chair recognizes the gentleman from between the parties, with each party gone, there is no reason for our pres- Illinois (Mr. GUTIERREZ) for 5 minutes. limited to 1 hour and each Member ence in this region, unless indeed it Mr. GUTIERREZ. Mr. Speaker, last other than the majority and minority was all about oil, nation-building and weekend I had the honor of partici- leaders and the minority whip limited remaking the Middle East and Central pating in a remarkable event in the to 5 minutes each, but in no event shall Asia. mountain town of Adjuntas, Puerto debate continue beyond 11:50 a.m. Hopefully, bin Laden does not get the Rico. There, thousands braved a tor- f last laugh. He claimed the 9/11 attacks rential downpour to demonstrate were designed to, number one, get against a proposed natural gas pipeline DEVELOPING A SENSIBLE, NON- America to spread its military dan- that the current ruling party in Puerto INTERVENTIONIST FOREIGN POL- gerously and excessively throughout Rico is threatening to build across the ICY the Middle East; two, to cause political mountains and rainforests of the is- The SPEAKER pro tempore. The dissension within the United States. land. Chair recognizes the gentleman from Seventy percent of the American peo- While I was there, I met with Texas (Mr. PAUL) for 5 minutes. ple now believe we should leave Af- Rosanna Lopez Leon, the Common- Mr. PAUL. Mr. Speaker, Osama bin ghanistan, yet both parties seem des- wealth of Puerto Rico’s Ombudsman Laden applauded the 9/11 attacks. Such tined to stay; and number three, to for the Elderly. As ombudswoman, she an act of deliberate killing of innocent bankrupt America through excessive has unusual latitude for a public serv- lives deserves retribution. It is good military spending, as he did to the So- ant in the current government to speak that bin Laden is dead and justice is viets. The best thing we can do is prove the truth about what she hears and served. Targeted retribution is far su- bin Laden to be a false prophet. sees from senior citizens across the is- perior to wars of aggression and na- We must learn from this recent his- land. Her term is 14 years, longer than tion-building. tory. Tragically, one result may be the that of the Governor’s, and the money In 2001, I supported giving the Presi- acceptance of torture as a legitimate to her office comes mainly from the dent authority to punish those respon- tool for pursuing our foreign policy. A Federal Government, from the Older b This symbol represents the time of day during the House proceedings, e.g., b 1407 is 2:07 p.m. Matter set in this typeface indicates words inserted or appended, rather than spoken, by a Member of the House on the floor. H3003 . VerDate Mar 15 2010 03:33 May 05, 2011 Jkt 099060 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 7634 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A04MY7.000 H04MYPT1 smartinez on DSKB9S0YB1PROD with HOUSE H3004 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE May 4, 2011 Americans Act, so that she is incor- farmer. Although he has been harassed OPPEA, upon attending to the needs of ruptible, unassailable, and, thank God, since last year, Mr. Guzman does not this specific population, acts as an enabling untouchable. know how to read and can barely write. agent in the search for a better quality of She presented me with a series of let- life for these residents, who on occasion are b 1010 deprived of their civil and human rights as ters she wrote to Attorney General members of our society for which it receives Eric Holder and to other Federal agen- He does not need to fully be edu- cated, however, to know the difference substantial federal funds. As a matter of cies and Puerto Rican officials. They fact, OPPEA receives 90% of its budget from are based on sworn affidavits from sen- between right and wrong. If only choos- federal sources. ior citizens residing in four towns in ing between right and wrong would The creation of this office serves the pur- the path of the proposed pipeline in come that easy to the ruling party of pose of reaffirming the importance of the el- Puerto Rico, describing how local sen- Puerto Rico. derly citizens in our country, guaranteeing iors are being pressured and intimi- I want to make it clear to you, Mr. their full enjoyment of the rights and pre- rogatives which they are entitled to. dated into signing over their property Speaker, and to this body and to Attor- ORGANIZATION for the pipeline’s supposed unapproved ney General Eric Holder that these are OPPEA was created through local public right-of-way. not powerful men and women. They are not legal scholars or real estate ex- Law Number 203, dated August 7, 2004, as a Mrs. Lopez Leon believes that ‘‘repet- governmental organism responsible for es- itive violations of the Older Americans perts. But they have made simple pleas tablishing public policy, planning and co- Act have become a danger to the lives, to the court and their complaints ordinating with other public agencies the de- health, rights, and property of the el- should be heard. They are worried that sign and development of projects and pro- derly population of Puerto Rico.’’ they will lose their homes and they grams in order to attend basic needs of the She describes illegal trespassing into will lose their crops which sustain elderly population, establishing the rights of properties of the elderly under the false them because of the laws and legal ma- the elderly people, in order to help them at- pretext of measuring a nonexistent neuvers they do not understand. They tain an enjoyable and productive life and are U.S. citizens and need our help. their maximum possible participation in right-of-way, illegal trespassing into community affairs. All funds, equipment per- the homes of the elderly with the I plan to post all of the affidavits I sonnel and other assets and liabilities pre- fraudulent pretense to generate a writ- have already received, along with hun- viously managed by OGAVE (Governor’s Of- ten authorization from the elderly to dreds of pages I have received from fice for Elderly Affairs) were transferred to allow and permit a consented purchase Federal agencies under the Freedom of OPPEA as a result of the above law. of the property to the Commonwealth Information Act, on my Web site. The OPPEA is the local organism responsible of Puerto Rico and the energy company more light that is shined on this for planning and coordinating all matters re- lated to federal awards received from federal well below market value of the prop- project, Mr.