Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pascrell).

Mr. Speaker, I would be remiss if I did not extend to Representative MacArthur my appreciation for his leadership and for bringing the bill to this point as well. I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from New York (Mr…

Mr. Chairman, not long ago, the Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan, said that he wanted to make the House an ``ideas factory.'' But with this bill today, it is clear that the only items being produced by the House are cookie-cutters, because…

Congress is denying Puerto Rico the ability to have an orderly restructuring of its unpayable debt.

I urge this committee to put the American citizens of Puerto Rico first and allow this island to access bankruptcy protection.

Unfortunately, it appears from the Majority's memo for this hearing, that the focus today is not going to be on the very real problem of abandoned mines.

we can't let this hearing get away from the responsibility in the first place.

This would raise hundreds of millions of dollars each year, and that's what you need to start to address this problem.

That's not a serious way to address this problem.

I want to attack the half-million abandoned mines throughout this Nation, many of which are ticking time bombs that we need to address sooner, rather than later.

If we implement the proposals in the legislation that our side of the aisle have proposed, and the President's budget, as well as make the polluters pay for that legacy, we shorten the time by 500 years.