virginia, mr. rahall, will each ontrol 30 minutes. the house will be in order. take the conversations off the floor. the chair recognizes the gentleman from pennsylvania. mr. shuster: thank you, mr. chairman. i'd like to yield two minutes to the congressman from florida, mr. southerland, who is the original sponsor of h.r. 5078, the waters of the united states regulatory overreach act, i think it is a thoughtful legislation and i yield the gentleman two minutes. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. southerland: thank you, mr. chairman. i appreciates the efforts of you and ranking member rahall which has enhanced this bipartisan piece of legislation. i'd also like to thank subcommittee chairman gibbs for giving this issue an urgent attention that it deserves. for more than 40 years, america's waters have been made cleaner and safer by a balanced regulatory partnership between the states and the federal government. the basis for this partnership was a commonsense understanding that not all waters are subject to federal jurisdiction. and that the states must have the p

pretty red state. ,> congressman rahal representing one of the most republican districts. evan jenkins, the republicans really feel like -- they have always tried to go after rahal, but never had a good candidate against him. there was heavy republican spending earlier in the spring. the congressman's numbers started to crater. now it is kind of bouncing around a little bit. democrats have been emboldened by this race. they feel like they pushed back on specific elements of the affordable care act and they feel emboldened by it. can use thatey blueprint in districts across the country. tossup, whypublican is he in trouble? it is a competitive district. the former democratic nominee and speaker of the house, a tremendous fundraiser, i think it will be a great race. what surprised me was that coming into the race, mike cotton, the congressman, his numbers are surprisingly strong. as romanoff starts to spend more money and make his case, we will see it tighten a little bit. very competitive gubernatorial election there. in the sixth district it is one of the battleground districts of a ba

adopt it. again, i thank mr. rigell, mr. barrow, mr. rahall and mr. ribble for introducing this bipartisan resolution, and i urge my colleagues to adopt it. mr. speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california reserves his time. the chair recognizes the gentleman from washington, mr. smith. mr. smith: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for as much time as he wishes. mr. smith: there are two issues important to this piece of legislation. the first, the chairman mentioned, and that is the legality of this. however, he's wrong in the idea in saying that this is, you know, clear on its face and there's no debate. there's actually considerable debate as to whether or not the president's actions were legal. the president and the secretary of defense have stated unequivocally that they believe they acted within the law. this is actually an issue that comes up repeatedly between the legislative and the executive branch. it's been coming up for a couple hu

, west virginia's three in what is becoming a pretty red state. ,> congressman rahal representing one of the most republican districts. evan jenkins, the republicans really feel like -- they have always tried to go after rahal, but never had a good candidate against him. there was heavy republican spending earlier in the spring. the congressman's numbers started to crater. now it is kind of bouncing around a little bit. democrats have been emboldened by this race. they feel like they pushed back on specific elements of the affordable care act and they feel emboldened by it. can use thatey blueprint in districts across the country. tossup, whypublican is he in trouble? it is a competitive district. the former democratic nominee and speaker of the house, a tremendous fundraiser, i think it will be a great race. what surprised me was that coming into the race, mike cotton, the congressman, his numbers are surprisingly strong. as romanoff starts to spend more money and make his case, we will see it tighten a little bit. very competitive gubernatorial election there. in the sixth district

. ,> congressman rahal representing one of the most republican districts. evan jenkins, the republicans really feel like -- they have always tried to go after rahal, but never had a good candidate against him. there was heavy republican spending earlier in the spring. the congressman's numbers started to crater. now it is kind of bouncing around a little bit. democrats have been emboldened by this race. they feel like they pushed back on specific elements of the affordable care act and they feel emboldened by it. can use thatey blueprint in districts across the country. tossup, whypublican is he in trouble? it is a competitive district. the former democratic nominee and speaker of the house, a tremendous fundraiser, i think it will be a great race. what surprised me was that coming into the race, mike cotton, the congressman, his numbers are surprisingly strong. as romanoff starts to spend more money and make his case, we will see it tighten a little bit. very competitive gubernatorial election there. in the sixth district it is one of the battleground districts of a battleground state. this mornin

, barrow and rahall for standing with me in this. i respect my colleague, the ranking member, ranking member smith. my respect for him is not diminished by the fact we have strong but different views on this matter. i don't share the ease with which he has accepted the president's -- i believe -- refusal to follow the law, and i reject outright and i must do so in this chamber the assertion that this is partisan. it is not partisan. it is in my service to virginia's second congressional district, an increasing number of men and women from a diverse audience in my district are deeply troubled by the president's continued pattern of going outside of the law and executive overreach and this is an example that hits home in my r district which is more active men and wrim in uniform than any other district. they are increasingly asking me this question, what is congress doing about this? and this resolution today is a direct manifestation of my duty and i believe our collective duty to hold the president accountable for break the law. . the ease with which some have said he hasn't