Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 2 minutes to the gentleman from Rhode Island.

Mr. Speaker, it's my honor to yield 7 minutes to the gentleman from Rhode Island (Mr. Kennedy).

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Maryland, Leader Hoyer.

Mr. President, today I am introducing, along with my friend and colleague Senator Crapo, legislation to encourage further protection of our treasured lands, ranches and family farms. The American Family Farm and Ranchland Protection Act is…

Mr. President, I rise today to urge this body to get our priorities straight. During this trying moment for struggling families all over America, as we work to get our economic ship righted, it is our kids and schools that should be at the…

I understand that. But I would, if I were reading the things that you also are reading--I guess I will try one more time--rather than expecting that people are actually fulfilling their obligations, what are you doing to assure that people…

This committee has a serious responsibility to explore the issue of workforce safety and workplace protections generally, and BP in particular.

A great deal of attention stemming from the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon has focused on the spill.

These two tragedies took a tremendous toll on human life, and unfortunately, there are other problematic lapses in recent company history that also worry me.

Have those been changed since the Deepwater Horizon accident?

I know the tests have occurred, and we wouldn't--and if there was a problem with any of the blowout preventers that we have, then we would have looked at that, and we would have made sure that we could operate safely.

What are the tests of the blowout preventers showing?

Mr. Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to a hero: United States Marine Corps Corporal Larry D. Harris, Jr., of Thornton, Colorado. Corporal Harris, a Marine Corps veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, graduated in 2003 from Boulder High School…

I thank the gentleman from California. And really we've got to kind of not forget what we've come through, because the better days are ahead. But you can't forget where you came from. And over the course of 2007 through 2008, at the end of…

What is appalling about it, among other things, is that we really don't have much to show for it.

Do you think that it would be possible to create a legislative instrument to help manage our deficit to a percentage of GDP?

Mr. Speaker, there are hundreds of thousands of children in our country, cheerleaders on a high school cheerleading squad, members of the high school football team, students who work hard and play by the rules, get ready for college, and…

It should be common sense that with the limited dollars we have in law enforcement, diverting those law enforcement resources to hunt down immigrants detracts from our efforts to combat violent crime. However, believe it or not, some…