E PL UR UM IB N U U S Congressional Record United States th of America PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 113 CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION Vol. 159 WASHINGTON, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2013 No. 170 Senate The Senate was not in session today. Its next meeting will be held on Monday, December 9, 2013, at 2 p.m. House of Representatives TUESDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2013 The House met at 10 a.m. and was this year’s session facing the same co- structure. The so-called ‘‘special inter- called to order by the Speaker pro tem- nundrum: people here and back home ests’’ that are so often at odds are re- pore (Mr. LAMALFA). are divided over the direction of our markably aligned when it comes time f government; they don’t agree on how to recognize and fix this problem. Busi- to fund what a growing and aging ness, labor, professional groups, local DESIGNATION OF SPEAKER PRO America needs. government, environmentalists, truck- TEMPORE A year ago, we were engaged in a vig- ers, bicyclists all agree. The SPEAKER pro tempore laid be- orous debate on taxation. More re- The paralysis that surrounds ques- fore the House the following commu- cently, we survived the controversy tions of raising taxes does not nec- nication from the Speaker: surrounding the government shutdown, essarily need to apply in this case. and we still are at loggerheads. WASHINGTON, DC, Ronald Reagan, after all, was willing There are strong feelings by some December 3, 2013. to sign into law a 5 cent gasoline tax that now is not the time to raise taxes, I hereby appoint the Honorable DOUG increase 31 years ago when a nickel a yet the spending levels enshrined in LAMALFA to act as Speaker pro tempore on gallon was real money. A user fee is, in this day. the House budget cannot produce fact, a different category from a gen- JOHN A. BOEHNER, spending bills from the Appropriations eral tax increase. The various groups Speaker of the House of Representatives. Committee that can actually pass on that score such votes treat user fees the House floor. In some cases, they ap- f differently. pear to not even be able to pass from MORNING-HOUR DEBATE subcommittee. All the while, we are As we are attempting to resolve The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursu- looking at a sea of unmet needs and budget differences, there is an oppor- ant to the order of the House of Janu- face a floundering economy. tunity to embrace more transportation ary 3, 2013, the Chair will now recog- There is one area that can help break resources through user fee mechanisms nize Members from lists submitted by the logjam. It won’t solve all of our that will have broad national support the majority and minority leaders for problems certainly, but it will help us and not inspire the same fierce philo- morning-hour debate. significantly along the way. Congress sophical debate that has plagued and The Chair will alternate recognition should address the critical needs of our paralyzed our deliberations for years. between the parties, with each party Nation’s infrastructure deficit. Roads, It has the added benefit of being the limited to 1 hour and each Member bridges, transit systems are all increas- fastest way to put hundreds of thou- other than the majority and minority ingly at risk. We are facing an inad- sands of people to work at family-wage leaders and the minority whip limited equate state of repair, construction of jobs to help boost our flagging econ- to 5 minutes, but in no event shall de- new facilities are on hold, and we are omy. bate continue beyond 11:50 a.m. losing ground in meeting our own I strongly urge my colleagues to take f needs, let alone the challenges of glob- a step back and look at this as a way al competition. Yet this challenge is an to crack the code, to meet vast unmet INFRASTRUCTURE opportunity for some potential needs of our constituents and stabilize The SPEAKER pro tempore. The progress. We know what to do to meet a critical part of our budget. Who Chair recognizes the gentleman from this challenge. We can write a new knows, if we can find a way to thread Oregon (Mr. BLUMENAUER) for 5 min- transportation bill that will meet to- this particular transportation funding utes. day’s needs; it just needs more money. needle, how many additional opportu- Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, There is a vast coalition that sup- nities to solve problems going forward Congress returns for the final days of ports additional resources for infra- can we then address? 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. H7397 . VerDate Mar 15 2010 23:39 Dec 03, 2013 Jkt 039060 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 0636 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A03DE7.000 H03DEPT1 jbell on DSK7SPTVN1PROD with HOUSE H7398 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE December 3, 2013 I think what it takes is simply some thing history says we will ever change especially children, who have borne vision and some courage. That is why in Afghanistan, and nothing, history much of the suffering. people sent us here in the first place. says, will change in Afghanistan. It is More than 9 million Syrians are in Congress should act, demonstrating the time to end this senseless waste of need of humanitarian assistance, and a leadership to avoid the worsening in- American lives and American money in quarter of these, 2.2 million, have fled frastructure deficit, put people to Afghanistan. the country, mostly to neighboring work, make our families safer, Mr. Speaker, this poster beside me Lebanon, Jordan, and Turkey. Half of healthier, and more economically se- was in the Greensboro newspaper where those refugees, more than a million cure. Mr. MCGOVERN and I had written a let- people, are children. f ter saying it was time for us to pull our Another 6.5 million Syrians are inter- troops out. Mr. Speaker, this poster nally displaced, having fled their AFGHANISTAN says ‘‘News & Record, Greensboro, homes, but remaining inside the coun- The SPEAKER pro tempore. The North Carolina, February 2011.’’ That’s try, often in parts of Syria that have Chair recognizes the gentleman from 3 years ago. We are still there, and we changed hands on multiple occasions North Carolina (Mr. JONES) for 5 min- are talking about 10 more years. Let and with attendant civilian suffering. utes. Congress debate. Let Congress speak. While all of Syria’s people have been Mr. JONES. Mr. Speaker, during the Let Congress vote the will of the Amer- affected by fighting, it is Christians, Thanksgiving break, I wrote a letter to ican people. who make up about 10 percent of the President Obama, which I would like to Mr. Speaker, I ask God to please country’s population, who are at great- submit for the record. bless our men and women in uniform est risk, given their small numbers and The letter respectfully reminded the and to bless their families, and please, the increasingly religious nature of a President that President Karzai con- God, continue to bless America. war that started out as a broad-based tinues to thumb his nose in the eyes of NOVEMBER 26, 2013. secular movement that sought to the American taxpayer. We have seen PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA, change the character of the Syrian re- many news articles reporting Karzai’s The White House, Washington, DC. gime but not the regime itself. refusal to sign the bilateral security DEAR MR. PRESIDENT: I write today due to For two millennia, Syria has been agreement that this administration the ongoing discussion between the United home to one of the oldest Christian has proposed, an agreement that would States and Afghanistan regarding a 10-year communities in the world, a population obligate United States money and Bilateral Security Agreement to allow our dominated by the eastern churches, but United States troops for at least 10 troops to remain overseas beyond 2014. After also including smaller numbers of reading today’s Washington Post article ti- more years in Afghanistan. tled ‘‘Karzai tells Susan Rice of more de- Catholics and Protestants. Syria’s In an Associated Press article printed mands for accord extending U.S. troop pres- Christians have been comfortably and in my State paper, titled, ‘‘Afghanistan ence,’’ I once again urge you to reconsider fully integrated into the economic, po- President Delays Deal,’’ the subtitle your stance on U.S. relations with Afghani- litical, and cultural life of modern goes on to read, ‘‘U.S. says it will pull stan. Syria and, despite their small numbers, out troops if security agreement isn’t This agreement will obligate billions of are well represented among the coun- signed.’’ American tax dollars and expose American try’s elite. Tragically, this long, peace- Mr. Speaker, it is my hope that the troops to further danger overseas—all while ful coexistence has been shattered, and House will encourage the President to meeting President Karzai’s ever-growing list of demands. After 12 years, billions of dol- half a million Syrian Christians, nearly pull our troops out and stop spending lars, and President Karzai’s continued dis- one in four, have fled the country since money that we do not have in a coun- respect for the United States, many in the the fighting began.