[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 128 (Saturday, October 9, 2004)]
[House]
[Pages H9113-H9125]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 CONFERENCE REPORT ON H.R. 4837, MILITARY CONSTRUCTION APPROPRIATIONS 
                               ACT, 2005

  Mr. KNOLLENBERG. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that it be in 
order at any time to consider the conference report to accompany the 
bill (H.R. 4837) making appropriations for military construction, 
family housing, and base realignment and closure for the Department of 
Defense for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2005, and for other 
purposes; that all points of order against the conference report and 
against its consideration be waived, and that the conference report be 
considered as read.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Hastings of Washington). Is there 
objection to the request of the gentleman from Michigan?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. KNOLLENBERG. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to the previous order of the 
House, I call up the conference report on the bill (H.R. 4837) making 
appropriations for military construction, family housing, and base 
realignment and closure for the Department of Defense for the fiscal 
year ending September 30, 2005, and for other purposes, and ask for its 
immediate consideration.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the order of the House of today, 
the conference report is considered read.
  (For conference report and statement, see immediately prior 
proceedings of the House of today.)

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  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Michigan (Mr. 
Knollenberg) and the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Edwards) each will 
control 30 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Knollenberg).


                             General Leave

  Mr. KNOLLENBERG. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all 
Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend 
their remarks and include extraneous material and that I may include 
tabular material on H.R. 4837.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Michigan?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. KNOLLENBERG. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I consider it a distinct honor to be here today to 
present H.R. 4837, the fiscal year 2005 Military Construction 
appropriations bill.
  I am grateful to the conferees in both parties in both Houses for 
acting together in unison to produce an effective piece of legislation 
that I think we can all be proud of.
  It is important to understand that this bill is not about lawmakers 
in Washington. H.R. 4837 is about people, specifically the soldiers, 
sailors, Marines, airmen and their families who serve this great 
country. We must never forget their selfless service. I firmly believe 
this bill reflects our commitment to their continued sacrifice.
  First, I would like to thank the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Young) 
for his continued unwavering support. The gentleman truly understands 
the importance of this bill and has laid a solid foundation on how to 
construct this successful legislation. The gentleman from Florida (Mr. 
Young) is a great advocate for our men and women in uniform, and his 
position is reflected in our final product.
  I would also like to commend the ranking member, the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Edwards), on the subcommittee who has been doing great work. 
We have worked together for some time now, and it is a pleasure to have 
an association with him. Both he and the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. 
Obey), whom I also salute, give the committee, I think, some real 
leadership and some dedicated advice and counsel, and I sincerely value 
the advice and wisdom they have given me. They lend a great deal to 
military construction matters.
  The 2005 Military Construction appropriations bill totals $10 billion 
and is in full compliance with the subcommittee's 302(b) allocation for 
both budget authority and outlays. It is both fiscally responsive and 
responsible, and it is focused on the quality-of-life needs of 
servicemembers and their families.
  Some key funding highlights in this bill include $5.5 billion for 
military construction; $4.1 billion for family housing; $82 million for 
chemical demilitarization construction; $246 million for the base 
realignment and closures account. H.R. 4837 also includes funding for 
family housing privatization projects. Housing privatization is one of 
the most critical and successful programs to support military families 
in years. Few programs rival the effectiveness that privatization has 
demonstrated; yet Congress instituted a spending cap that placed this 
program in jeopardy.
  Although we worked closely with the authorizers to address this issue 
earlier this year, the subcommittee was not able to remove the cap 
through the appropriations process. However, I am proud to say because 
of the work of so many people that we now have authorization language 
to eliminate the cap altogether, paving the way to quality housing for 
military families for years to come. This was the right decision, and 
it was made for the right reasons; and I believe I can speak for all 
conferees when I say that we will continue to support family housing 
privatization initiatives in the future.
  In conclusion, this year's Military Construction appropriations bill 
continues to focus on our country's greatest treasure, that is, the 
servicemembers and their families who serve our Nation.
  By supporting this bill today, you are supporting our men and women 
in uniform.

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  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. EDWARDS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the Military Construction 
appropriations bill because it provides vital funding for military 
housing and training facilities. Also in this bill is much-needed $11 
billion in emergency funding for hurricane relief for hard hit 
families, businesses, farmers, and military installations in the 
southeastern United States and $2.8 billion in drought relief for 
farmers throughout the country.
  Since others will speak on the hurricane and agriculture relief 
portions of this bill, I would like, Mr. Speaker, to focus my comments 
on the underlying Military Construction appropriations. First, I want 
to commend the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Knollenberg) for his 
dedicated leadership on behalf of our military troops and families. He 
always puts the interests of our military above all other interests, 
and for that he has my deepest personal respect.
  I also want to commend the outstanding committee staff led by Carol 
Murphy, Rob Nabors, Tom Forhan, and my legislative director John 
Conger. Their work was professional, thorough and fair. And while these 
dedicated staff seldom receive public recognition, which they deserve, 
the truth is they have made a positive difference in the lives of our 
servicemen and -women and their families.
  Our bests wishes go out to our Democratic committee staffer Tom 
Forhan who is recuperating from shoulder surgery. We wish him well and 
thank him for his many years of service to our military.
  I am especially proud of the leadership efforts made by members of 
this committee to pressure this Congress into not leaving home until we 
had lifted the cap on the public/private military housing program. This 
innovative program, started during the previous administration and 
moved forward under this administration, it is providing better housing 
to tens of thousands of military families while saving American 
taxpayers billions of dollars. New housing that would have taken 50 
years to build under the old system is now being built in 5 years, 
leveraging the strength and resources of the public and private 
sectors.
  I will never forget at Fort Hood several years ago visiting one of 
the newest homes under this program and meeting the sergeant and his 
wife who served our country so nobly for so many years. In talking to 
the wife she said, it is not only that this is a home I can be so very 
proud of to raise our children in, but this home is, as my husband is 
serving his country around the world, this home says to me and my 
children that our country has not forgotten the sacrifices we too have 
made on behalf of our Nation.
  That is the importance of this program. It is not only about new 
housing, better housing that is so well deserved by our military 
families. It is about respect for those families. Unfortunately, this 
program would have come to a halt this month or next had Congress not 
lifted the arbitrary and unnecessary cap on it.
  This committee made it clear that we would leave no stone unturned 
until the cap was lifted because it would have been a terrible 
disservice to our military families to freeze this vital military 
housing improvement program during a time of war. With the cap being 
lifted in the Defense authorization bill as a result of pressure placed 
by this committees, tens of thousands of military families will now 
have modern housing they can also be proud to call their home. And that 
happened because of the special efforts of the gentleman from Michigan 
(Mr. Knollenberg); the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Young), the chairman 
of the full Committee on Appropriations; the ranking member of the full 
committee, the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey); the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Hunter); the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Skelton); and 
the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Dicks). They all deserve our thanks 
and gratitude for not letting military families be forgotten.
  Mr. Speaker, there are numerous high-priority projects in this bill 
at U.S. military installations here, at home, and throughout the world. 
I think this committee did an outstanding job on a bipartisan basis of 
taking limited resources and placing them in the highest priority 
areas.
  I would be remiss, though, if I did not mention one major 
disappointment about this bill. I think it is sad that a year and a 
half after the beginning of the Iraqi war, with all the sacrifices 
being made for our servicemen and -women and their families, this 
Military Construction bill funds these vital housing and training 
facilities and day care facilities at a level that is $500 million 
below what we funded 2 years ago before the Iraqi war began. I simply 
do not understand a Congress that 2 days ago could find offsets to pay 
for over $130 billion in tax cuts for corporations and for fishing 
tackle box manufacturers, a tax cut bill that had a lot of good in it 
and one that I supported, but I do not understand a Congress that can 
so easily find offsets to pay for that kind of tax cut for corporations 
and fishing tackle box manufacturers, cannot find offsets to see that 
we do not cut real funding for military construction projects during a 
time of war.
  This Congress, the next Congress needs to set its priorities 
straight; and especially as we fight the war on terrorism, we should 
not be shortchanging the total funding budget for quality-of-life 
programs for our military while we can easily pass 100, 200, $300 
billion tax cuts for corporations and others that are not making nearly 
the sacrifices that are being made by our servicemen and -women.
  Nevertheless, that funding level was not decided by this 
subcommittee. That was made at a different pay grade in this Congress. 
Given the limited resources in this subcommittee's jurisdiction, I 
think it did the best job it could. It did an excellent job of seeing 
that high-priority programs were funded, and for that reason I support 
this bill.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. KNOLLENBERG. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I just wanted to make sure that we did not omit thanks 
to the staff on both sides who have done tremendous work over the past 
several months, and I want to list those now. Obviously, Carol Murphy 
on the majority side and Tom Forhan on the minority side. Tom was in 
the hospital this week, so he could not be here, but they have been 
great to work with all year. In addition, let me salute Walter Hearne, 
Mary Arnold, Eric Elsmo, Jeff Onizuk on my staff, Bernard Chau on my 
staff, and of course I thank John Conger who has also been a part of 
this process. So to all of them, thank you very, very much.

                              {time}  1230

  Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. 
Rogers), who obviously has some comments to make.
  Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for 
yielding me time, and congratulate him on a wonderful performance on 
this bill, as well as the ranking member.
  I wanted to take just a few seconds here to praise the gentleman from 
Florida (Mr. Young), the full committee chairman, for the grueling work 
that he has done to bring to this floor aid for Florida but also the 
other States who suffered damage from the recent hurricanes.
  As late as at least two o'clock this morning, the gentleman from 
Florida (Chairman Young) was on the telephone, in the office, with the 
staff, running from room to room, to make this happen. This was a 
grueling experience, and the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey) was a 
part of that effort, as well as many others, but I just wanted to say 
thank you to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Young) for caring for his 
people.
  Now, he legislates for the Nation, and he is the chairman for the 
full Committee on Appropriations for the whole Nation, but his State 
was ravaged by these four unprecedented hurricanes, with people living 
in tents, without electricity and in dire straits, and he cared for his 
people enough to work around the clock to make this happen. I just 
wanted to take a second to say thank you to the gentleman from Florida 
(Mr. Young).
  Mr. KNOLLENBERG. Mr. Speaker, I think that it is very appropriate 
that

[[Page H9120]]

we do pay tribute to the gentleman from Florida (Chairman Young).
  Mr. Speaker, I yield the balance of my time to the gentleman from 
Florida (Chairman Young) and ask unanimous consent that he be allowed 
to yield time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Hastings of Washington). Is there 
objection to the request of the gentleman from Michigan?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I 
might consume.
  I certainly would have had liked to have had more time to yield to 
the gentleman from Kentucky (Chairman Rogers). I sort of like what he 
was saying, but I think there are many people who deserve more credit 
than I on this issue of getting our job done. I appreciate the comments 
of the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Rogers) and also the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Edwards) and the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Knollenberg), 
the chairman of the subcommittee.
  They have done an outstanding job. They have produced a Military 
Construction bill that is really good, especially for the people who 
serve in our military, and for their quality of life and housing. They 
have just done an outstanding job, and I cannot say enough good words 
about the work that they have done.
  But I am going to talk about the other part of this bill, and I thank 
them for allowing the full committee to piggyback on their subcommittee 
work to include the Hurricane Supplemental Relief Act. I am not going 
to take a lot of our time. We have discussed this supplemental bill so 
many times, not only here on the floor and in committee, but in person, 
in meetings, and on telephone calls.
  Just briefly, let me say that last Wednesday when we passed the 
hurricane supplemental, I had two bills introduced in the House, H.R. 
5212, which is the one that we passed, and H.R. 5227, which I had 
stated was a much better bill. H.R. 5212, as I also said, was a very 
good bill as far as it went, but it did not go far enough. H.R. 5227 
was better. Well, what we are considering today is very, very close to 
H.R. 5227, which is the better bill, and we are excited about the 
quality of the legislation and what it does for the people of the State 
of Florida.
  Again, as I have done in the past, I want to compliment all of our 
leadership who have worked hard to help us make this happen. There were 
a lot of obstacles to get to where we are today. I have to tell my 
colleagues, for those that have been to conference and had 
difficulties, they know what I mean, but for those who have not, just 
let me say that was not easy. It was a big challenge.
  The gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey), who oftentimes we have 
disagreements on the floor on issues procedurally, has been totally 
cooperative. He has helped us move these bills along, and I want to 
thank the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey) considerably for 
everything that he has had to endure as we were preparing this 
legislation.
  I want to thank our leadership on both sides of the aisle and in the 
other body for trying to help smooth the way to get this bill to where 
it is today, and they have all helped. There were a lot of obstacles as 
I have said. They all helped.
  I want to recognize the Members of the committee, especially the ones 
from Florida, many of whose districts suffered many of the damages. 
This delegation of ours, and we have a split delegation, Republican and 
Democrat, came together to help the people of our State who experienced 
such tragedy from these four major hurricanes.
  I mentioned the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Boyd), he and I went to 
Florida together and looked at some of the damage from Hurricane Ivan. 
I went to Florida with the President to view some of the damages with 
him, and I live in Florida, so I was in Florida during several of these 
hurricanes. I had to evacuate at one point, which I did, and evacuated 
almost into the path of the storm. It has been quite an experience.
  The President of the United States made a firm commitment to those of 
us in Florida and neighboring States that were affected seriously by 
the hurricanes. We negotiated for a week to get the bill we are 
presenting today. The President of the United States made a promise to 
the people of Florida. He has kept that promise. He has kept his 
commitment. This legislation is proof positive that what President Bush 
promised, he delivered.
  I want to say also that the Governor of Florida, Jeb Bush, is almost 
a Superman in the way that he managed the response to these hurricanes, 
working not only with Federal officials, but also working with State 
officials, county officials, city officials, voluntary organizations 
like the Red Cross, the Salvation Army and so many others; Governor 
Bush managed this effort and did such a tremendous job.
  I want to thank the Florida National Guard under the leadership of 
General Barnett. The Florida National Guard responded with a fantastic 
response, and I visited with many of the Guardsmen, as did the 
gentleman from Florida (Mr. Boyd) and the gentleman from Florida (Mr. 
Miller). We visited quite a few of the Guardsmen that were working on 
the recovery and protecting property, and stopping looters. Florida 
National Guard did an outstanding job.
  Our first responders, our police, our firefighters, all did such a 
tremendous job, and I wish we had a lot more time to pay tribute to all 
of the people who helped, but especially my delegation, the people that 
I work with on a daily basis. Both sides of the aisle worked hard. They 
were committed. They were dedicated, and together, we made sure that 
this relief package came together today.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time at this point if there 
are other speakers on the other side.
  Mr. EDWARDS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from 
Florida (Mr. Boyd), who is a member of the Subcommittee on Military 
Construction of the Committee on Appropriations, and played a key role 
not only on the military provisions of this bill but as a 
representative of the people from Florida and worked very hard on a 
bipartisan basis on the Florida hurricane relief.
  Mr. BOYD. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my friend, the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Edwards), for yielding me the time.
  I want to start by thanking the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. 
Knollenberg), our chairman, and the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Edwards), 
our ranking member, for their work to get to this point. They truly 
worked in a bipartisan way. There are two components to this bill that 
we have before us on the floor, Mr. Speaker, and that is, the MILCON 
portion and also the hurricane supplemental portion. We have heard 
about both of them, but I just want to make a few brief comments.
  First of all, on the MILCON side, the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. 
Knollenberg) and the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Edwards) did the very 
best they could with the dollars given them, but my colleagues must 
know that the dollars are short. Many of the items that the President 
sent down for the MILCON request are not included in this bill simply 
because the House leadership did not set aside enough money to fulfill 
those requests made by the President to prosecute the war.
  I must tell my colleagues that there is one item in here, though, 
that the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Knollenberg) and the gentleman 
from Texas (Mr. Edwards) did bring in for a landing, and that is, the 
housing issue, to privatize the housing cap. I think all of this 
Nation, and particularly the troops and their families, owe a debt of 
gratitude to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Knollenberg) and 
especially the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Edwards) who has bulldogged 
this issue for so many years now. He has done an absolutely fantastic 
job.
  We heard our chairman, the gentleman from Florida (Chairman Young) 
speak on the hurricane side, the hurricane relief. I want to thank the 
gentleman from Florida (Chairman Young), Mr. Speaker, if I could, for 
the work that he has done. As everybody knows, the request that came 
down from the White House was insufficient. The gentleman from Florida 
(Mr. Young) made a commitment to his people that he would get the 
money, and President Bush has provided it, but he has only provided it 
at the insistence of the gentleman from Florida (Mr.

[[Page H9121]]

Young) who would not quit until he got what he needed.
  We needed that money because our beaches were destroyed. The 
gentleman from Florida (Mr. Miller) and I and our people lived through 
those hurricanes. Most of our people lived through them. We had some 
people who did not live through them. I had six constituents that died 
in Hurricane Ivan, Mr. Speaker, and this money was much needed to 
repair our beaches, to repair the transportation systems that were 
busted.
  We have all seen the pictures of I-10, to repair the military 
facilities. The naval air station in Pensacola had significant damage. 
So it is imperative that we did this, and we owe a debt of gratitude to 
the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Young) for getting it here.
  I must tell my colleagues, Mr. Speaker, though, that it has been held 
up because of several issues, but one of those issues was the offset 
which was going to be required for some of the agricultural funding. 
Mr. Speaker, that issue has been resolved with a smoke-and-mirrors game 
as the public will begin to understand as we go on. It is offset by 
directed scoring, and it is also offset sometime in the future, as many 
as 10 years out into the future, and it is offset in the farm bill, and 
we will write a new farm bill before we even get the full offset.
  Again, let me close, Mr. Speaker, by thanking again the gentleman 
from Texas (Mr. Edwards) and the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. 
Knollenberg) but also the gentleman from Florida (Chairman Young) for 
bringing this in for a landing.
  Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman 
from Florida (Mr. Weldon), from Florida's space center.
  Mr. WELDON of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for 
yielding me time, and I want to commend the gentleman from Florida 
(Chairman Young) for the outstanding work he did on this bill.
  I also want to commend the President. The initial submission the 
President had, there was not enough funds in there to take care of all 
the beaches that had been damaged in the State, and I forwarded the 
data to them, and I showed them the extent of the damage. The 
President's staff recognized that we obviously had a greater need, and 
they were willing to come along with the chairman.
  I think the system worked very, very well. I think the President and 
his people were very eager to make sure the people in Florida got what 
they needed, and it is going to take a while for us to recover from 
this hurricane, but these funds that the chairman has secured and 
everybody in this body and the other body and the President worked hard 
on is going to help get Florida back on track and all the other States 
that were damaged.
  Mr. EDWARDS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Stenholm) who is so widely respected on a bipartisan basis 
in this Congress on agriculture.
  Mr. STENHOLM. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me 
time.
  Mr. Speaker, first, I want to commend the gentleman from Michigan 
(Chairman Knollenberg) and the gentleman from Texas (Ranking Member 
Edwards) for the work they did on the base bill that we are talking 
about today, from the standpoint of Dyess Air Force Base in my 
district, and fire crash station being funded, a refueling vehicle 
maintenance shop, and then in Goodfellow and at Dyess, the 127 housing 
units which are extremely important to the troops back home. We 
appreciate taking care of those needs.
  I want to concentrate the remainder of my remarks, though, on the 
disappointment that I share in the manner in which the leadership of 
this House has chosen to deal with the emergency funding.

                              {time}  1245

  Again, I point out I am for everything that Florida is receiving. 
They deserve every penny of it. I share the frustrations of the 
gentleman from Florida (Mr. Boyd) in that, seemingly, the leadership of 
this body, not the chairman of the committee, but the leadership of 
this body has chosen to do things a little bit differently.
  I particularly am sorry to see that the bipartisan legislative 
process that worked so well between Larry Combest and I on the 
Committee on Agriculture has been sacrificed for craven political 
considerations. I think it is highly regrettable the President chose to 
help Florida producers only, and then the leadership of this body made 
sure that that was to be the way that we would proceed with this 
legislation.
  We are reopening the farm bill. And I understand the gimmicks that 
are being used and all today, but those of us that have been around a 
little while know that when you do some of the things that have been 
done in this body over the last few days, there will be another year 
and it will not be good for agriculture in America. Just a reminder. In 
the early morning hours of this past Wednesday, the leadership of this 
House told our Nation's producers to forget about assistance for 
drought. They made it clear there would be no assistance for crops lost 
to devastating weather. By 10 a.m., however, they finally understood 
the message that should have been evident long before. As a result, we 
have a drought assistance package today and we are extending a helping 
hand to farmers and ranchers outside of Florida.
  But make no mistake about it, we are also cutting the farm bill. If 
the 17 Members on the other side of the aisle, who had been original 
cosponsors of the good policy, had stayed with their conscience and not 
bent to the political will of their leadership, we would have had a 
victory for American agriculture, a victory for the process that is so 
important to this House that the chairman of the full committee has 
expressed his own frustrations about. But the leadership of this House 
had another agenda, and it turned the screws and singled out 
agriculture.
  There are no offsets in this bill for the aid that will go to 
Florida, but there are offsets of aid that will go to farmers and 
ranchers in other parts of the country. The message to this House is 
clear: the folks who provide the Nation's food and fiber who happen to 
live outside of politically important Florida are in a separate and 
lower class.
  Mr. Speaker, those of us who worked on the 2002 farm bill and those 
in the agriculture communities know how important it was to build a 
consensus. We developed a consensus policy that meets the needs of 
farmers and ranchers, that preserves natural resources and ensures the 
provision of food for those in need. While we need the drought aid in 
this package, and I support this package, the cut that will ultimately 
be made in farm conservation will have dire consequences for the future 
of this consensus.
  Mr. Speaker, it did not have to be this way. We did not have to be 
here on Saturday afternoon doing what the chairman and the ranking 
member and this committee have had to do. We did not have to do it this 
way. But this is another perfectly live, living example of the lack of 
leadership in this body to allow this House to work its will based on 
what the Members of this House want done, and not what a small group in 
a leadership room somewhere in the House determine should be done, and 
usually for political purposes, not in the best interest of our 
country.
  Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman 
from Florida (Mr. Foley), a gentleman who played host to at least three 
hurricanes in his district, and he might have had all four of them. His 
district suffered a lot of the damage.
  Mr. FOLEY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman very much for yielding 
me this time, and Florida cannot thank him enough for his hard work and 
dedication to our State. On military issues, or just name the range of 
issues that are covered for this country, and the gentleman from 
Florida (Mr. Young) has been and is such a great patriot and a 
wonderful man and we thank him.
  There has been a lot of conversation on the floor that they did not 
do enough, they did not add enough, they did not provide enough, 
whatever. You know what, people lost their lives in Florida. Some have 
lost everything they own. So what I would like to do is be thankful, 
thankful to all the people in this process that have done so much for 
our State.
  My colleague, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Boyd), and others have 
worked so hard. It is not about politics. The storms are not political. 
Neither Republicans or Democrats ordered

[[Page H9122]]

storms to hit Florida. People are suffering now, yet we still get a 
little backbiting in the room. So I would just like to thank so many 
people. The President, the Governor, Senator Graham, Senator Nelson. 
And I know I am not supposed to mention the other body by name, so I 
retreat from that; but I would at least like to say in a bipartisan 
fashion that we have worked hard for the people of Florida taking care 
of our agricultural interests, taking care of our beaches and FEMA, the 
Red Cross.
  Mr. Speaker, I can go on and on with the litany of people that have 
worked hard. The National Guard was mentioned. They have been down 
there in 95 and almost 100 degree heat and humidity handing out water 
and ice and providing MREs and things so people could just have a 
decent meal.
  Storms have a way of bringing people together. Crises have a way of 
bringing people together. My proudest moment in this House, having 
served here for 10 years, was after September 11, when both sides of 
the aisle decided America needed to come first. And in these storms we 
find oftentimes that is the same integrity that is brought to this 
magnificent body.
  So I want to thank all the people in both Chambers, both sides of the 
aisle, and recognize, on behalf of Floridians, who are watching us 
today, who are more interested in putting their lives back together and 
not necessarily who gets credit. There will be plenty of credit to go 
around. There will be plenty of opportunities to hand out the laurels 
and to receive the hardy handshakes to each and every one of us. But 
for the moment, the people working the hardest are in this room, the 
two Members who have allowed MilCon to proceed in order with this 
hurricane relief: the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey) and the 
gentleman from Florida (Mr. Young).
  So while I want to once again thank everyone involved, I especially 
want to thank these two gentlemen again for their splendid cooperation 
and integrity. And though we do have fights on policy from time to 
time, when it is important for the Nation, when it is important for our 
families, when it is important for our fighting forces, uniquely we 
come together behind this Flag recognizing our responsibilities are not 
to our political parties or to our leaders, but they are to our 
constituents who sent us here.
  Mr. EDWARDS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from 
Washington State (Mr. Dicks), who is a member of the subcommittee and 
who fought so hard for military family housing.
  Mr. DICKS. Mr. Speaker, I thank our ranking Democrat member on the 
Subcommittee on Military Construction for yielding me this time. I want 
to congratulate him and the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Knollenberg) 
for working together in a very spirited effort here to protect and take 
the cap off the residential construction initiative.
  Mr. Speaker, I enjoyed working with the gentleman from Texas a few 
years ago when we both were working to help our areas at Fort Hood in 
Texas and Fort Lewis at Tacoma, Washington, start these projects, these 
residential construction initiatives. I think both of us saw in our own 
areas just how important these projects could be, how much faster we 
could get new housing and restore old housing.
  To me, this is one of the finest programs that we have ever worked 
on. It has been worked on in a very bipartisan basis. When the 
gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Hobson) was the chairman of the subcommittee, 
he had great experience and looked into these projects in great detail. 
So I want to commend everyone here.
  I also would like to say regarding my friend, the gentleman from 
Florida, (Mr. Young), our chairman, what a great job he has done for 
the people of Florida in this bill. He has worked effectively with 
everyone. I know how difficult it is to put these things together.
  I can remember back in 1980, when we lost 57 people in Washington 
State when Mt. St. Helens blew up and my former mentor, Senator 
Magnuson, was chairman of the Committee on Appropriations, we had to 
get help for our constituents in our State; and I am glad we all came 
together in support of this effort.
  The gentleman from Florida (Mr. Young) has been a great chairman of 
our Committee on Appropriations. I have enjoyed working with him over 
the years he has been the chairman. I know he is proud of being able to 
put this bill together in the final days of this Congress and the final 
days of his chairmanship. So congratulation to him.
  Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 1 minute.
  Mr. Speaker, I had mentioned the names of the gentleman from Michigan 
(Mr. Knollenberg), chairman of our subcommittee and his ranking member, 
the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Edwards), and I mentioned my friend, the 
gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey), ranking member on the full 
Committee on Appropriations. But the gentleman who just left the well, 
I would like our colleagues to know, there have been many critical 
points as we have tried to get this legislation to closure. Last night, 
we had a number of those critical points and the gentleman from 
Washington (Mr. Dicks), who just left the well, at one point offered 
very important help, and I just appreciate the fact that he did. He can 
claim a lot of responsibility for the fact we are here today.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman 
from California (Mr. Lewis), chairman of the Subcommittee on Defense on 
our Committee on Appropriations.
  And when I talk about having critical moments last night, it was 
early this morning, at around 2 a.m., that Jerry and I talked, because 
we had another very critical problem, an obstacle that had to be 
overcome. I told him the problem, and he offered a solution. He 
provided very important help this morning in the conference, and that 
help was very obvious.
  Mr. LEWIS of California. Mr. Speaker, I have little doubt that the 
people of Florida know just how significant the work that the gentleman 
from Florida (Mr. Young) has been about all this night on behalf of all 
of them. To have the chairman of this committee be that responsive at 
such a critical moment is evidence of the lifelong work of this 
wonderful man on behalf of his State in this House.
  The gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Knollenberg) and I have had a chance 
to work with him for all these years on the Committee on 
Appropriations. It has indeed been a pleasure. I have told anybody who 
would but listen that the one quality of the gentleman from Florida 
(Mr. Young) that I would hope one day to acquire involves his almost 
incredible patience, his patience in dealing with us especially in 
times of crises.
  At a moment like this, as this very important base measure goes 
forward, to have him effectively put together the sort of response that 
we need to have in times of crises for the people of our country is 
reflective of his leadership. I know that most who have watched his 
work know just how effective he can be. But at this moment all the 
people of Florida are aware of that, and he will be here for as long as 
he wants to be here to continue with that service.
  It is our privilege to work with him, and it was my great pleasure to 
spend a little time with him early this morning trying to deal with a 
few little difficulties last night. I congratulate our chairman on a 
job well done.
  Mr. EDWARDS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 10 minutes to the gentleman from 
Wisconsin (Mr. Obey), the ranking Democrat on the Committee on 
Appropriations.
  Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, in the main, I have no real objections to 
almost all of the provisions in this bill. I would note with respect to 
the drought aid for farmers and the disaster relief for States, those 
two items were like the tail on the dog. Originally they were attached 
to one appropriation bill, and now they have come back here today and 
the tail is attached to a different dog. I would like to make a few 
comments about that, because I do not think much of the process that 
has been followed.
  This drought and disaster package was originally going to be folded 
into the Homeland Security appropriations bill.

                              {time}  1300

  The minority had doubts about that. We had preferred to have that 
package handled separately so that Homeland

[[Page H9123]]

Security could be handled separately without any attendant baubles and 
bells and whistles being attached. But in the interest of time, the 
majority decided it would be better to fold it into another bill, and 
we cooperated in that process.
  But then some very strange things happened. First of all, an offset 
was adopted. After much objection being raised by the conservative 
members of the majority party caucus, a ``let's pretend'' offset to the 
drought aid cost was attached to this bill, and that offset does not 
really offset the money in this bill until 2014. So it is a very 
interesting ``let's pretend'' operation.
  The gentleman from Florida tried to handle that in a straightforward 
way, but people who thought they knew better insisted that they go 
through this Rube Goldberg approach, so we have a ``let's pretend'' 
budget savings item in this bill.
  There is another problem, because when the decision was made to, as 
the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Stenholm) indicated, essentially amend 
the farm bill in dealing with these issues, then that raised other 
concerns on the part of other farmers around the country. Because of 
that, Senator Kohl from my own State had been asking that the problems 
of dairy farmers be dealt with by extending the milk income support 
program. The Senate adopted that amendment in conference and presented 
it to the House conferees. We had the votes for that provision on the 
House side of the conference, but rather than allow us to have a vote 
on the issue, the chairman gaveled the conference to a close.
  We then saw a Kabuki dance engaged in by the President and various 
Members of this House. The same day that that conference was being 
considered, the President said in a speech in my hometown, Wausau, 
Wisconsin, that he was in support of the content of the Kohl amendment 
to extend the milk program. Given that fact, the conference had every 
right to expect that the White House would be supporting what we were 
trying to do. But when we called down to the White House to ask whether 
or not they would be sending a letter in support of the amendment that 
had been presented to us by the Senate, the White House indicated that 
no support would be forthcoming, no letter would be forthcoming. 
Nonetheless, we tried to work with the majority, and late Thursday 
night, I was asked to sign a conference report based on the 
understanding that certain items would be in the bill and certain items 
would not be.
  One of the items that was supposed to be in that bill was this 
provision, since we had the votes for it on both sides of the 
conference. And I signed the conference report.
  The next morning when I returned to the Hill, we saw that a different 
judgment had been reached by the House leadership, and we were told 
that the Speaker and the majority whip said, ``No way. That provision 
is not going to be included in this bill.''
  What we have had, in my view, is the President talking one way in 
Wisconsin on this subject and his principal political allies are, at 
the same time, deep-sixing our efforts to try to pass what the 
President said he supported. When we asked the White House for some 
help to deal with it, they respectfully said ``no.''
  So now we have a situation in which agriculture, as a sector in the 
budget, will suffer a long-term problem, because when this program 
expires, it means that the entire agriculture baseline budget will be 
$800 million less than it would otherwise be, and that will 
substantially disadvantage every farm group when the next farm bill is 
written.
  I rise today not to talk about the fact that that individual program 
is not in this bill, because that really is less important than what 
this process has done to the House.
  What we have seen is this: We remember when the majority leadership 
held a rollcall open for 3 hours because they did not get the results 
they wanted on the Medicare bill. They lost the vote so they simply 
kept the rollcall open until the House reversed its position.
  What we saw in this case is, when it was apparent that we had the 
votes (because we had the support of two members of the Republican 
Party in this House), when it was seen that we did have the votes for 
that provision, the conference was simply adjourned and, lo and behold, 
the subject was then moved to another conference committee, and there 
we had a situation in which we did not have the votes in that 
subcommittee.
  What that means is, what the leadership has decided is that there is 
going to be a new way of operating around here. If you go into a 
committee and you lose a vote, it doesn't matter, you just move the 
subject to another committee and have the vote in another committee.
  It just seems to me that this is a fundamental corruption of the 
democratic process. It is a fundamental corruption of the legislative 
process. What it means is that no committee need bother to reach any 
judgments on anything because if the leadership does not like it, or if 
the White House does not like it, they will simply reverse the decision 
regardless of the votes in the committees.
  What has happened in my view is that this House has become a wholly 
owned subsidiary of the White House. What has happened is that this 
Capitol is really the East Wing of the White House. That is what it has 
become. No checks, no balances, no separate exercise of judgment or 
power. I would say that that is the most fundamental corruption of all 
that can occur in a legislative body.
  Mr. Speaker, I wanted to make those points to simply point out my 
concerns for the way this institution is being run.
  I also want to express regret that despite the President's words on 
the dairy problem when he was in dairy country, it is apparent that the 
White House had no intention of following through on those words, and I 
regret that, too. In spite of that, I will vote for this bill because 
it meets legitimate needs of the country, and I think we have no choice 
but to do it.
  But this is a sorry way to do business. I know the gentleman from 
Florida is not responsible, but the leadership of this House is, and 
sooner or later we need to ask whether regular procedures will be 
returned to the floor of this House and whether or not democracy will 
once again be honored in this House.
  We are trying to impress the people of Iraq that they should have a 
democratic process. At the same time we see the legislative process, 
which is supposed to be the defining measure of any democracy, 
profoundly corrupted by these procedural high jinks, and it does no 
great credit to the House to allow that to happen.


                Announcement By the Speaker Pro Tempore

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Hastings of Washington). The Chair will 
note that during debate on this bill there have been several improper 
references to the other body. The Chair must remind all Members that 
under the rules and precedents of the House, it is not in order to cast 
reflections on the Senate or its Members, individually or collectively.
  Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the very 
distinguished gentleman from Florida (Mr. Shaw). I do know that the 
gentleman from Florida lived through at least two hurricanes in his own 
home battered by the storms.
  Mr. SHAW. Mr. Speaker, the gentleman from Wisconsin just delivered a 
speech of several minutes expressing frustration as to how the House is 
run. I want to stand today to express appreciation for the expeditious 
way in which the House, with the full cooperation of the minority and 
the majority, has brought help to those who are suffering in the States 
of Florida, Georgia, Alabama and all through the terrible path that 
these hurricanes have taken. Too seldom do Members in this body get up 
to say thank you, but on behalf of the residents of Florida and all of 
those who have been made homeless or have lost substantial property due 
to the hurricane, I want to express my appreciation for the expeditious 
way in which this matter has been brought through the House of 
Representatives.
  I especially want to point out and thank my chairman, Congressman 
Bill Young, whose hand has worked this through in such a marvelous way 
and the gentleman from Wisconsin, who has given his complete 
cooperation to the gentleman from Florida in order to see that relief 
is delivered. It does show

[[Page H9124]]

the compassion of all of the Members on both sides of the aisle for 
those who suffer.
  On behalf of the people of the State of Florida, thank you.
  Mr. EDWARDS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Farr), the second ranking member of the Subcommittee on 
Military Construction.
  Mr. FARR. I thank the gentleman from Texas for yielding me this time.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to acknowledge that the underlying bill here, the 
Military Construction Appropriations bill, is really a tremendous 
improvement for the troops in America. I would like to acknowledge that 
if it was not for the terrific work of the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. 
Knollenberg), the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey) on our side and 
the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Young) on the other side, this bill 
would not be before my colleagues, doing, I think, one of the greatest 
things we have ever done in Congress, and that is to help the troops 
with housing.
  We had the pleasure of interviewing before the committee, the 
testifying of soldiers and their spouses. When the question was asked, 
what is the one thing the Congress can do to help the military most of 
all, the unanimous response--unanimous--was provide housing. In this 
bill we provide housing and really quality housing.
  In my district, 2,000 homes are being built by the military alongside 
homes that are selling for $1 million. These houses will be rented to 
men and women in uniform at affordable prices considerably below what 
the market is. We have gone on with other work of being able to create 
through the RCI an LLC so that we can build housing for civilian 
employees of the military who are mission critical. In areas where 
housing prices are going out of market, out of reach, this type of 
program is absolutely essential to maintain the military mission in the 
United States.
  I want to thank the leaders, but especially I want to thank the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Edwards), because he is the one that has been 
championing this more than anybody. He has been dogged about being able 
to make sure that we can continue building this type of housing 
wherever it is needed in the United States. For that effort and for his 
single stick-to-it-iveness on this, we need to give him a great deal of 
accolades and appreciation from all of us on both sides of the aisle.
  Lastly, I would just like to say that I do not know if this is the 
last appropriations bill we are going to be adopting in Congress, but I 
would like to thank personally the leadership of the gentleman from 
Florida who has provided an incredible leadership in the committee to 
be fair to everyone. We will greatly miss him.
  Thank you for your service, Mr. Young.
  Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the 
distinguished gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Harris), who also 
experienced the wrath of several hurricanes.
  Ms. HARRIS. Mr. Speaker, during the last month and a half, the worst 
of circumstances have summoned the best of humanity. Responding to the 
unprecedented devastation of four hurricanes, the people of Florida 
have shown enormous courage, resilience and fortitude. That is why the 
expedited process on the conference report for disaster relief is so 
imperative this morning.
  The agriculture industry in central Florida has been devastated. The 
$2.9 billion in emergency assistance for agriculture producers 
experiencing crop loss caused by natural disasters is desperately 
needed. Small businesses in our communities are being significantly 
impacted by physical damage, by inventory loss and by the lack of 
impetus to spend. The $929 million in SBA disaster relief loans will 
help to leverage $5.5 billion in low-interest loans to individuals and 
businesses.
  Rural housing, farm worker housing, waterways, watersheds and 
community facilities have been torn apart by hurricane damage. The $608 
million in agricultural and rural assistance are central components to 
rebuilding these wonderful communities. In my district, Venice Beach 
lost 15 feet of sand, threatening municipal properties as well as 
homes, so the $362 million for the Army Corps of Engineers to address 
these projects is essential. This disaster package will contribute to 
the promises made by President Bush to the people of Florida.
  I thank the President for his immediate and consistent attention to 
the needs of Florida families and, in particular, Chairman Young for 
his extraordinary and continued leadership. As well, I cannot begin to 
express the gratitude I feel for the professionalism, compassion and 
dedication of the men and women who have given of their time to help 
Floridians begin the arduous process of rebuilding their lives.

                              {time}  1315

  The rebuilding will take time, but together, we will rebuild a strong 
and more vibrant State.
  Mr. EDWARDS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 1 minute.
  Mr. Speaker, I know we have an omnibus appropriations bill to pass in 
the lame duck session after the elections, but this could possibly be 
the gentleman from Florida's (Chairman Young's) last subcommittee bill 
to oversee as chairman of the full committee. And I just want to take a 
moment to thank the gentleman from Florida (Chairman Young) for his 
tremendous dedicated, thorough, professional, and fair-minded 
leadership on all of the issues under the jurisdiction of the Committee 
on Appropriations. And I want to pay a special tribute to his better 
half. Beverly Young, the gentleman from Florida's (Chairman Young) 
wife, is the Mother Teresa of America's military families. Day after 
day, week after week, month after month, year after year, she is out at 
our military hospitals visiting wounded soldiers and their families. 
And through her example, she has reminded every Member of this House 
the importance of always putting the interest of our military families 
first.
  So I want to salute the gentleman from Florida (Chairman Young) for 
his leadership in the Committee on Appropriations and overseeing the 
interests of our Nation and, in particular, the special needs of our 
servicemen and women and their families and thank Mrs. Young for the 
example she has set for all of us in this House.
  Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 30 seconds.
  I want to thank the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Edwards) for his 
response. And he is right. My wife is a real angel and commits a large 
portion of her time to helping soldiers and especially the wounded 
soldiers, and their families. Her commitment to the quality of life of 
our military is really special, and it gives me a really great feeling 
to know the extent that she is involved, and I appreciate the 
gentleman's calling that to the attention of our colleagues.
  I do not want to overlook the fact, as we are talking about hurricane 
relief, that the underlying bill is an excellent military construction 
bill that the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Edwards) and the gentleman from 
Michigan (Chairman Knollenberg) have presented.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. 
Putnam), another Floridian who has hosted hurricanes.
  Mr. PUTNAM. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for yielding me this 
time.
  I want to just rise and join any colleagues from Florida and the rest 
of the Congress in expressing my profound appreciation for the 
assistance that is on its way to a number of States but particularly 
Florida. Words are inadequate to describe the deep sense of loss that 
people have at looking at the devastation when they have a foot of sand 
in their home or an entire roof missing. But words are also inadequate 
to describe the profound sense of relief that comes when FEMA and State 
and local officials are there in a proactive way to provide tarps, to 
provide water, to provide batteries, to provide hot food; and it is a 
community effort.
  But at the end of the day that community effort is made possible to a 
great degree in terms of resources by this Federal Government. So the 
bipartisan effort on the part of dozens and dozens of Members to help 
those drought-stricken in the Midwest and far West and those Floridians 
and Alabamans and Georgians and Carolinians who will pass on for 
generations the stories about Charley, Frances, Ivan, and Jeanne, our 
heart goes out to them, and we just express that deep

[[Page H9125]]

sense of appreciation to the hardworking men and women of the 
government who have been there making that relief happen and the 
appreciation to our fellow man, to our neighbors, to the American 
spirit that made the water and ice lines possible, that brought in 
truckloads of relief from churches and faith groups from all over the 
country to help their fellow man whom they had never met before. And it 
is just part of that great community spirit and that sense of what is 
the strength of America, Mr. Speaker.
  But at the end of the day, working out the details is always 
difficult in a government this large, and we want to certainly tip our 
hat to the efforts that the gentleman from Florida (Chairman Young) has 
put into this. It is a debt of gratitude that we owe that we can never 
repay and all Floridians and all Americans are certainly grateful for 
the service he has performed for this Nation.
  Mr. EDWARDS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
  Mr. Speaker, again, I want to thank the gentleman from Michigan 
(Chairman Knollenberg) for his leadership on the underlying military 
construction bill. He did an outstanding job along with his excellent 
staff. I want to salute the gentleman from Florida (Chairman Young) and 
the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey) and others who worked so hard, 
the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Boyd), who worked so hard on a 
bipartisan basis to provide much-needed, deserved relief to the people 
of the southeastern United States, to Florida and other States.
  I would like to finish with one note. I hope when we meet again next 
year to provide funding for military construction for our military 
families' housing and training ranges to help protect our troops, help 
them win battles and wars and come home safely to the hugs of their 
loved ones that we will not for the second year or third year in a row 
fund less for quality of life and military housing and training 
programs, construction programs, than we had funded before the Iraqi 
war began. A Congress that can afford trillion dollar tax cuts, a 
Congress that can pass $137 billion predominately corporate tax cut 
bill just 2 days ago, less than 48 hours ago, certainly can afford not 
to short-change the funding that we commit to what should be a top 
priority, and that is quality of life for our military families.
  I am proud of the work this committee did to stretch limited dollars, 
spend them wisely, efficiently, fairly on the highest-priority 
programs. But next year, we should not have to say, for the third year 
in a row, despite all the sacrifices of our military families and the 
war in Afghanistan and the war in Iraq, we are committing less total 
funding for them to military construction, much of which goes to 
quality-of-life programs, than we did before the sacrifices were asked 
of them in fighting these wars.
  So I salute the gentleman from Florida (Chairman Young), the 
leadership of the committee, the subcommittee, everyone who worked so 
well together on the underlying bill, and for those reasons, I will 
support this bill.
  Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my 
time.
  Again, I want to say this is just a great example of how our 
government and those of us who represent our respective constituents, 
can work without political involvements or political influence, and can 
work together for the best interests of our country. And the underlying 
bill, is a really great bill for military construction and to provide 
for quality-of-life for the men and women who serve in our military, 
and they deserve so much more than they get. And this Congress is going 
to continue to keep trying to get more for them and let them know how 
much we appreciate the sacrifices that they make.
  The gentleman from Michigan (Chairman Knollenberg) as chairman of 
this subcommittee, and the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Edwards), as the 
ranking member have done an outstanding job. The gentleman from 
California (Mr. Lewis) as chairman of the Defense Subcommittee of the 
Committee on Appropriations, and the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. 
Murtha), ranking minority, have also done a tremendous job for our 
military forces. And I want to thank everybody in this House for 
helping us move this hurricane disaster emergency supplemental. This 
House came together following in the manner that the Florida delegation 
came together, and we really did something good for people who reside 
in the State of Florida.
  Again, I want to thank the President of the United States for the 
commitment and the promises that he has made to deliver aid and 
assistance to Floridians and neighboring States as they recover from 
these disasters. And I also want to thank the Governor of the State; 
the Red Cross; the Salvation Army; so many other voluntary 
organizations; the Florida National Guard, which did an outstanding 
job; all of our community leaders, the State level, the county level, 
the city level, and many volunteers; our emergency response leaders, 
everybody who really came together to help people that needed help in a 
State where the entire State of Florida, was touched by these 
disasters. Seldom does a disaster strike an entire State. In this case, 
during this hurricane season, no section of Florida was spared. Every 
part of Florida, to one degree or another, was impacted by the 
hurricanes. And so it is difficult for me to express the gratitude as 
effectively as I should.
  And then there is one person who I guess, people would call a 
bureaucrat. I want to mention Josh Bolten. Josh Bolten has worked so 
hard with us, as the Director of OMB, negotiating, renegotiating, 
solving problems, creating problems on occasion, but always working 
together with us. The Director of OMB, who seldom receives praise from 
anybody in Congress, no matter who the Director is, this OMB Director, 
as far as I am concerned, is a very special person who really took the 
time to understand the needs of people who were injured and damaged and 
affected by tragedies and natural disasters. So to Josh Bolten, the 
Director of OMB, I express my thanks for the way he represented the 
President to fulfill our commitments.
  Mr. Speaker, I have talked long enough on this issue. Let us vote.
  Mr. HEFLEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 4837, the Fiscal 
Year 2005 Military Construction Appropriations Act.
  As is the usual practice, each project appropriated in this bill was 
authorized by the recently passed National Defense Authorization Act. 
In order to achieve this level of coordination, the appropriations and 
authorizations committees spent the past several weeks working hand-in-
hand together to reach matching conference agreements on our respective 
bills. Working with Chairman Knollenberg and Mr. Edwards during this 
process was a pleasure, and their efforts were essential to our 
success.
  I thank the gentlemen from Michigan and Texas--as well as the 
tremendous staff at the Military Construction Appropriations 
Subcommittee--for their extraordinary efforts in producing the 
conference report before us, and look forward to joining my colleagues 
in voting ``yes'' on passage of this conference report.
  Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my 
time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Hastings of Washington). Without 
objection, the previous question is ordered on the conference report.
  There was no objection.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the conference report.
  Pursuant to clause 10 of Rule XX, the yeas and nays are ordered.
  Pursuant to clause 8 of Rule XX, further proceedings on this question 
will be postponed.

                          ____________________